July 05, 2006
not servility but fidelity...
Tradition is like the conscience of a community or the principle of identity that links one generation with another; it enables them to remain...the same people as they go forward through history, which transforms all things...tradition is memory, and memory enriches experience. If we remembered nothing it would be impossible to advance; the same would be true if we were bound to a slavish imitation of the past. True tradition is not servility but fidelity.
--Yves Congar, The Meaning of Tradition
I found this quote in another book, and I've ordered Congar's book mostly on the strength of it (plus he has a mighty reputation, and I've never read anything by him).
Peter Drucker always taught that the key to making decisions is figuring out what the question actually is. It more and more seems to me like I'm in a world that is constantly coming up with right answers to the wrong questions. One of our top questions should be: How do we deal with being carried along towards an unknown future like chips floating on a torrent of change? How do we stay "ourselves," how do we know who we are when every landmark is shifting?
Posted by John Weidner at July 5, 2006 06:39 AMPeter Drucker always taught that the key to making decisions is figuring out what the question actually is.
I learned this when I started working alongside of engineers for a few years. It's probably the single most important thing I learned during that time.
Here's another key: things are defined as much by what they are, as what they are not. For example, when somebody suggests a new product that does A, B, and C, we take pains to clearly specify that the product will not do X, Y, or Z. This additional step is crucial in defining the problem we are trying to solve.
In engineering terms, it's the difference between a product specification, and a wish list.
In more abstract terms, it's a great tool for detecting fuzzy thought. For example, as a 9/11 conspiracy buff what the conspiracy could not have accomplished. What are its limits? If he says that anything was possible, then he's hoist in his own petard - "How do you know that Bill Clinton wasn't behind the whole thing?".
Well-formed thoughts have edges. Poorly-formed thoughts are like clouds that endlessly shift and fill the available space.
Posted by: Mike at July 6, 2006 06:33 AMThanks Mike. Good thoughts, which I may blog if I get a moment...
Posted by: John Weidner at July 8, 2006 09:44 AM
