“You are who you are! From the time you were born, and I don’t think it changes. It never did for me.”
“I don’t know what it is..
I don’t know..”
Yes, Larry, I know you don’t know: it’s called Temperament
“When you are working hard, and focused. You don’t think about it. You just do it.” — Larry
“If it is funny to me…”
yada, yada, yada…
David West Keirsey: Self Portrait
(August 31, 1921 – July 30, 2013)
My father died on July 30th, 2013 and I intend to honor him, if I can, by writing a blog about him and his ideas every year. First year. Second Year.
“I regard myself as the last living Gestalt Psychologist”
— David West Keirsey
Gestalt: German word for form or shape
He wrote a short autobiography at the bequest of us, it was titled: Turning Points. It chronicles some of the turning points of his life. I want to write “an intellectual history” of him using some of that material plus my fading memory about the ideas we discussed in those many years, since it might be instructive to see how and why his ideas were formed and evolved. Moreover, I think that his developed “methodology” of qualitative factor analysis and synthesis can contribute to the progress in science.
“Character is what you know you are,
not what others think you have.”
She knew what to do.
“Determination and perseverance move the world; thinking that others will do it for you is a sure way to fail.”
She did not fail, in the long run, despite all the obstacles. Just ask her numerous, successful, students.
He said to them in effect:
“That’s Fine. You made your point. The thing is I can go home, you have to live with each other when I leave.”
Yes, they had been living in that same land for nigh 400 years: Fighting.
How was it working for them?
Not very well.
Both sides could protest the appointment of George as mediator, walk out with big fan fare. Heck, they could strut like battling Peacocks for another 400 years — pride a’ struting. Not listening and talking over each other. Power parading and violent protesting. George would just go home, where he belongs, back to America — just as my namesake ancestor had done about 300 years ago.
What goes up must come down
Spinnin’ wheel, got to go round
Talkin’ ’bout your troubles, it’s a cryin’ sin
Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin’ wheel spin
You got no money, you got no home
Spinnin’ wheel, all alone
Talkin’ ’bout your troubles and you, you never learn
Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin’ wheel turn
— Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Or — enough with the violence and the peacocking. The world is moving out, if their people can’t get down to business — the business of living, get with the business of dying.
If it’s peace you find in dying, when dying time is here,
— Laura Nyro
They had publically walked out on him. But George called them afterwards: he was still here, he would provide mediation between the two sides…
Many people have asked why is Keirsey Temperament Theory not known broadly as “it should be.”
For a long time, I couldn’t give a good answer.
The answer is: “It’s a Slow Idea.”
My father outlines “The History of Madness” in his lectures. And the Wholistic Theory of Madness is a slow idea, its roots going back to over a century with my father adding the idea of Temperament in the last half century. Fast Ideas about “madness” have been around since Homo Sapens possessed language.
The roots of the Idea of Keirsey Temperament also go back to ancient times.
In addition, there is the idea of: Slow Ideas <=> Fast Ideas
The root of this idea appeared just recently, thanks to Atul Gawande.
They had to be discrete. Tongues will wag. For their idea is a slow idea, not well accepted in the world even today. Their slow idea on the human element, Hu, analogously called latent heat in physics and chemistry, generated a lot of heat by others, full of sound and fury at the time, for these other people vigorously opposed the idea: On Liberty – moral|economic. It wasn’t the fast idea at the time: the conventional wisdom of Victorian, Anglican, England: the idea of nationalised merchantilism — tariffed moral, economic, political, and social trade: locally culture restricted and centralized regulated trade of ideas and things: Oh Britannia.
Green ideas sleep furiously: latent heat
“I am a dreamer and having a dream is sometimes challenging,
but I never look at a situation as too difficult.”
— Sister Rosemary
“She is an extremely affable and compassionate personality who will go out of her way to help no matter what. She radiates with energy and iron determination.”
Northern Uganda had suffered from civil unrest since the early 1980s. Hundreds of people were killed in the rebellion against the Ugandan government, and an estimated 400-thousand people were left homeless. Uganda’s military battled the two main rebel groups, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Thousands of children fell victim to the war, abducted by both the LRA and the ADF to serve as fighters, porters, and in the case of girls, fighters and sex slaves.
“We can still walk in hope.” -Sister Rosemary
Observing her as a child, her family always knew she would be a leader of children when she became a adult.
We do what we do, what we do best. [For good or evil] Continue reading I am a Dreamer
When he talked, people listened, including Warren Buffett. For he was very wise and successful in business and life.
And he was a mentor and beloved by many of his employees, especially Roberto and Muhtar.
He was all about his family, his employees, his community, and his alma mater.
And he was regarded as the Protector of the BRAND.
However, he made a mistake… So, they wrote letters to “THE SUPREME IDIOT”
He listened to his customers, even the one who addressed him as the Supreme Idiot.
The Wise learn from their mistake(s)…
She is mostly right, and he is dead wrong in this case. However, this case is only about the future of humanity.
Who would have thunk it! He had been billions and billions right, before.
However, She is an inconvenient woman. Damn Dambisa, what’s logic and data got to do with it?
They say they know better, it’s their belief — er — political assumption [Greek: hypothesis] — er — political ?religion?.
‘… Bill Gates weighed in with his condemnation. “I think that the book actually did damage the generosity of rich world nations,” he said in a 2013 interview. “I have read it and I think she didn’t know much about aid and what aid is doing.” ‘ [My emphasis]
Sorry Bill — think again, haven’t you got that the other way around?
“Don’t just read it; fight it! Ask your own questions, look for your own examples, discover your own proofs. Is the hypothesis necessary? Is the converse true? What happens in the classical special case? What about the degenerate cases? Where does the proof use the hypothesis?” – Paul Halmos
There is a schism…
Suffer little children
No, Mary’s little lambs were not children.
Mary’s “little lambs” were medical researchers that she herded together: adults who were driven to find a cure for cancer, even as the children were suffering and dying: by the thousands. It was a dilemma: how to cure childhood leukemia, where the medical doctors could do nothing — they didn’t understand what cancer was. Experimenting on children with a cocktail of toxic chemicals was heart rendering, such that the original doctor who opened the door to that reasearch method, couldn’t do it.
I cannot make one child suffer and die, to save two others.
— Sidney Farber
Robert Moses said about Mary: that she had it all—intelligence, vision, generosity, charm, kindness.
Neen Hunt added this: “she also had courage, passion, and indefatigable energy, and the heart and will to apply her gifts and talents to reduce suffering from disease for people all over the world.”
“The strength of our nation depends on the health of our people. We must once again place the priority on research. It’s good for trade, good for jobs, and vital for all Americans. Medical research is our hope for our children and for the building of a healthy America.”
Mary was strategic… For that vision was for the future…