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July/August 2009You may need to
click "load images"
or something similar to see the photos Welcome 
This last month has been incredibly busy with running a rehabilitation
programme in Invercargill four days a week. The photo is of a sunset I
saw on the way south. In the middle of all of that I had a week over in
Brisbane,
so I could attend the 53rd conference of the International Society for
the System Sciences. At one point I had only spent one hour at
home in over two weeksI had a day before the conference started when I could travel up to Elimbah and see Emerald, who had been working picking fruit in Queensland for the last 4 months or so. Then I went down to the conference.  There was a wonderful mix of people from
all over the world and talks on a wide range of topics. Climate
change and the environment were high on the list. While much of the
talk about the environment was rather scary with climate change happening much faster than previously predicted, there was
also many postive speakers talking about how we can make changes to the
way we live. I stayed at St Leo's university hostel. It was a
Catholic hostel with a dining room that came right out of Harry Potter.
There was a group of us staying there, especially Mary from Washington
DC, Naresh from Nepal and Will from Perth. We had great talks every
evening after the official programme. I presented my paper
on how the concepts of Systems Theory might form a spiritual philosophy
for the 21st century. the photo below was at the banquet.   I
met up again with Matjaz Mulej, the retired professor of Economics from
Slovenia, who suggested we might be able to meet up in Brisbane. He has a great
presence and a joy to see again. next year the conference is in Toronto
and I'm feeling pretty tempted to go. After the conference I had
a day spare and went down to Corrumbin Wildlife Park which had all
Australian animals. It was really well presented with shows and all the
animals to see. I have lots more photos of my trip on the internet. The Theosophical Society here in Dunedin is shifting to new premises on Princes Street over the next months, so we will have working bees to get the new building ready and shift everything from the old building. I shortly take off on a week long speaking tour of the South Island for the Theosophical Society. It takes me to Nelson, Wellington and Christchurch, so I'll be able to catch up with lots of freinds and family. My sister Rowena and Max are off on a trip to Canada, Switzerland and Japan for the next couple of months. they will also get to meet up with Stefan and family in Hungary. Books I read this month - continuedThe Brother's Karamazov by Fyodor DostoyevskyI have wanted to read this for a long time. I virtually never read novels and this is a major tome to get through, but I downloaded it in audio and listened to it on the way to and fro from Invercargill. The Russian link of course made it more interesting, but I really enjoyed following the story of the three brothers which led to the murder of their father and followed the outcomes for those involved. The three brothers represented different philosophical views of life and how each of them responded to the challenges posed by the patricide. One of my projects for my retirement is to read the book again, but in Russian! |
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 archiveOld "Recent News" Books I read this monthEvolution's Edge by Graeme TaylorGraeme was one of the plenary speakers at the conference in Brisbane. His book, Evolution's Edge looks at the situation of the world at present and says that unless we act swiftly and decisively to combat the many threats before us, we may have very dire circumstances indeed to have to face in the future. but, this is a positive book, focussing rather on what we can do to trun things around and creat a liveable, sustainable world for the future. Adventure in Complexity, for Organisations Near the Edge of Chaos by Leslie KuhnI was sent this book free by a publisher in the UK, who found my website and liked what I had written. They may also get me to write a booklet for them on Complexity. I am just starting this book, but it also appears to be a good readable book focussing on how an understanding of complexity can be linked to organisations and how to make them more effective. Thinking in Systems, A primer by Donella MeadowsThis is a very easy to read book outlining the basics of Systems Theory. She actually died before the book was completed, so it was completed by Diana Wright. Reading this book and Panarchy gave me a useful background to Systems Theory rather than Complexity. Actually I am still figuring out the difference between the two. the good gives a good outline of the basic principles with lots of examples of how those principles can apply to all sorts of systems in all sorts of situations. |
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Victor's webpage Victor's complexity website Subscribe Email Victor Victor's first book |
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