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January/February 2012You may need to
click "load images"
or something similar to see the photos WelcomeWe are already into the New Year, and 2012 at that. We spent our first Christmas in Wagga Wagga, linking in with family through Skype. The temperatures are certainly hotter than we have been used to reaching 39 degrees. As I wait for my PhD application to be processed, I just keep reading and doing background work that will be useful for later. We are aiming for a official starting date at the beginning of March.
Best of the NetIf you have access through a university library, World Futures Vol 67, issues 4-5, P219 gives great background into the life and ideas of Ervin Laszlo with writings from Ervin Laszlo and his two sons, Christopher and Alexander.William Irwin Thompson is interviewed by Jeremy Johnson (one hour video) Books I have Read this Month Evil and World Order by William Irwin ThompsonW.I. Thompson writes a lot on mythology, a bit like Joseph Campbell, but is willing to say things that are more controversial in the academic world. The work is full of historical, literary and mytholgical allusions. It is a short book of around 100 pages and was published in 1976. It took a while for me get the direction of the book. He writes of David Spangler and Findhorn and saw the work being done there as bvery positive and progressive. He writes of how we often start with good intentions but end up creating evil in our deeds. The French Revolution was meant to usher in a time of liberty, but instead they got Napolean. It also talks of how he thought General Systems Theory stated with good intentions, but got caught up in the cold war politics.  The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light, Mythology, sexuality and the origins of culture by William Irwin ThompsonThis book by W.I Thompson is similar in many ways to Joseph Campbell again, but has it's own perspective. It looks at Western civilisations in particular and looks at the underlying mythological patterns. He divides history into the Age of Chaos, Age of Men, Age of heroes and the Age of Gods, giving four levels of understanding mythology. |
Subscribe to this newsletterIf you would like to receive this newsletter as a monthly email just send me an email. You may choose to email me to Unsubscribe. Previous NewslettersNewsletter archive Old "Recent News" Books I read this monthNow that I am getting into full time study mode I am reading more.
This is the classic book on Grounded Theory, but because it was the first book written on Grounded Theory some of the ideas are not fully formed as in the later books. This was written when the two authors were still able to work together. It was good to get an understanding of the concepts, but not as good for learning the practice of Grounded Theory.  Futures for the Third Millenium: Enabling the Forwartd View by Richard Slaughter.Richard Slaughter is an Australian futurist. It gave me a good background into futures study. It is not so much about predicting the future as have a wide range of perspectives to look at what the future could be and how we might get to those desired futures. He notes that so much futures work is about the proctical impact of technology, but not so much on the psychological and social side of technology. |
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Victor's webpage Victor's complexity website Subscribe Email Victor Victor's first book |
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I
flew to the University of Queensland in Brisbane for the Theosophical Society national convention. It
was great to meet up with Theosophists from all around Australia and
get a feel for the movement in Australia. I presented a workshop on
Complexity and got a good response. I then traveled to the Sunshine
Coast and met with my PhD supervisor, Marcus
Bussey. It was very good to have a face to face meeting before
starting. We mapped out the initial stages of the work and I met all
the people I will be needing to contact as the study progresses. I was
hosted on the Sunshine Coast by Jean and Kevin Carroll and really
enjoyed the being in the area.
We
also had a two day trip to Canberra, where we saw an exhibition of
Renaissance art and a handwriting exhibition with handwriting from
famous people like from Einstein, Beethoven (his 9th Symphony
pictured), Newton, Hegel and many more. I have been doing some tutoring
for a Saudi Arabian student studying business communication.
The Discovery of Grounded Theory by B Glaser and A Strauss