Classroom Talk
Fall 2001 Archive
Part Two (B) Beginning to listen for the music of the types. Posted by John on November 07, 2001 at 22:30:50:
Now we approach our exercise, to see whatever it is that pops up for us in high relief as we go over a series of game-tapes while listening for the
music of personality.
Way back on September 6th, you had made your first attempt to spot your types, Bruce.
>The Lover/Martyr component of my personality came out early with praise for John and an assurance to you all that I am indeed in harmony with the spirit of Love.
Okay.
>The healer/kind helper component came out and tried to offer some balm so everything would be Ok among the family members.
Yes! You came forth to try to heal Mommy and Daddy from fighting.
>The Student/Believer jumped in to show John my obedience, loyalty, and respect.
Yep! Good one.
>My player/judge compnent wanted to tell you the RIGHT way to go about this work.
Very good. The music of that seemed to me to be "the loudest" in that earlier posting you were referring to.
And there was no Doormat in your posting that day. Instead . . .
>To me, the best thing about my post was my willingnes sto jump right in and contribute without knowing the temperature or depth of the lake I dove into.
Yes, you got up off the mat, rose up and did the thing.
>I'm usually a look before you leap kind of guy . . . so for me to just wing it for me was a testimony to relying on the strength and will power of my essential self.
Yes. There was no Doormat in that conversation, because you found strength in you at that time that you weren't used to knowing was in there.
Interesting isn't it? You realized there was a strength there that you weren't used to having.
Then you signed off:
>Whatever,
Bruce
Now that got me wondering. You had just had a smart little insight into an experience of your own strength. But . . . "Whatever." (?) What did you
mean by that? You seem to "give up on it there," as if thinking it maybe wasn't important after all. Only you might be able to remember what you
meant when you said that, perhaps. Yet it sounds to me that you were moving along with great strength through that posting and then . . . . . poof,
the strength seemed to go out of you there at the end with that "Whatever." Maybe I'm reading it wrong. Was it a moment of Doormat in the
doorway as you were on your way out? Could be.
Now we get to the first posting in the game-tapes exercise I suggested, "Not-so-funny Stuff" --- Beaucoup" on September 28th.
Usually, when people start quoting Latin, Greek, French and a few others of the foreign languages to me, my immediate take is Con Artist. And
whenever, in any context, someone is talking over my head, my first take on that is Con Artist. Although I know "beaucoup" means "much," try as I
might I can't figure out why you said that like that (therefor, it's "over my head."). The music of the Con Artist is *intellectual*, highly-highly educated.
When we hear the Con Artist talking, it's easy to imagine the person standing behind a podium teaching, giving a lecture to all those who are hearing
him or her in the audience below.
By far the longest paragraph in your post, that is, the preponderance of your post, space-wise—where you started out, "What stands out in high relief
for me on the Political scene" . . . That paragraph is "a speech." Look it over, and you will see what I mean. It is your "Cooler Heads Must Prevail"
speech. Remember: What is the person doing here? (Our wheelbook mantra.) The person is lecturing, giving a speech, teaching . . . all of those, it
seems to me.
Now don't get me wrong, please. I'm NOT complaining about this, or saying it isn't appropriate. It's fine! And I agree with the things you are saying
here. I'm just looking at *the form of* what people are doing when I'm looking at this this way.
So, can you see what I mean when I say that the form of what is being done here is "giving a speech?" When the music that we hear is that of "giving
a speech" like this, that is usually the Con Artist on the wheel. And Con Artists tend to use very rhetorical langauge—is that the right term for it? I
don't want to say "flowery," because the language in this post is well-chosen, colorful, bright. For instance, you had said:
>As I observe the collectively ego-driven phenomenon which has been titled "America's New War", I worry (my Kind Helper) that the one-eyed Cyclops of mass mindlessness will act out (on a Hiroshima like scale) a self-defeating cycle that is too horrible to ponder.
I like hearing you and others here talk this way when you do! So let's not feel any need for restraint about it, please. But can you also see that this is
sort of "high-blown language," so to speak. It's got a bit of the blarney in it, the Irish might say. It's a political speech. You could be addressing the
United Nations. (And I'm sure you would find a very receptive audience to the points that you are making, if you were!)
I'm just calling attention to the music of it here, the sound of talk like this. There's no blame, no criticism. It's only *characteristically* Con Artist music,
such as we might hear in any kitchen, business office, club meeting, classroom, bar, or hall of Congress in any Land on any day.
And this does NOT mean that the Con Artist is one of your three most prevalent types, Bruce. But it does seem to be a sign that you've got at least
some of this in you. I'll watch out for more of this as we go along with this exercise, and we'll see.
Now . . . don't stop doing it, for Heaven's sake. I hope all you students understand me in saying this. I give my own rhetorical speeches, with plenty
of blarney in 'em! We all give our speeches around here from time to time. I'm *glad* that we do! Don't stop being colorful, articulate, and rhetorical
whenever you feel like it around here, students. Please! What would the world be like without this colorful talk? But if you happen to wake up some
day when you're doing it, just for the fun of it, you could close off that time by saying, "And that's my blarney for today!" {wide grin}
After that speech, you got down to some nitty-gritty stuff: "beating myself up for having the Doormat as my chief feature." . . . "I hate myself for
being a doormat!" Yes, that's heavy-duty Doormat music, all right. You'd spoken of "my mostly miserable (door Matty) days."
You said, "the Martyr and Kind Helper are other principle types." Could be. You are suffering this day. That could be the Martyr. Each of the eight
types has it's own distinctly characteristic way of suffering. The Martyr's kind of suffering is the most obvious. It's the "woe is me," "how could this
be happening to me?" most obviously melodramatic kind of suffering. The suffering of the Martyr nearly always connects with the idea that you have
loved and given love, but you aren't being loved back, you aren't getting love in return.
I'd need some more corroboration to be sure that you were playing the Martyr that day. I'll keep watching out for the Martyr as I continue through
these game tapes and see what else I see. Also, your diagnosis of Kind Helper here . . . . I'm not totally sure at this point either. I think you do
worry about unfortunate people and people caught up in war, and care about them. Yet, your speech today didn't quite convey to me the sound of
Kind Helper music. It is a speech with concerns about possibly catastrophic consequences, but it doesn't quite sound like "a worrying song."
"What's gonna happen to the little children? We need to take care of them. They need blankets. We should get blankets to them. How are we going
to feed the hungry? We should get moving faster with the relief effort. How will they get enough needed medical supplies in to them on time?"
Deirdre made some remarks about this subject a week or so after September 11th, and I remember hearing Kind Helper music in her "worrying" much
more clearly then. You usually hear some theme of *treating*, and *healing* more characteristically from the Healer/Kind Helper. When they worry,
they treat and heal. In asking what is the person doing? when re-reading your post, Bruce, I hear a poignant cry of alarm, yet I don't hear specific
talk of treating and healing in it. You hope cooler heads will prevail, but are you prescribing the medicine that should be given for the situation? Well,
maybe you are, after all. When you say that "expedience requires diplomacy, restraint, and essence to prevent letting Cyclops loose," maybe that's the
"medicine" you are prescribing after all. I don't know . . . Look it over again, and see if you can understand my hesitation here. I'm not at all sure
here, but . . . possibly anxiety about the situation??? . . . maybe more anxiety than the Kind Helper's typical "worry" and guilt??? I don't know!!! I'll
keep an eye out for this theme as I go along, too.
You sign off this post:
>Working Hard to stop my Funny-stuff,
Bruce.
Ha! Good! There you are coming from the strong side, within—"working hard" with the essence side of your Hard Worker/Doormat.
........................................................................
Well, this is as far as I've gotten this evening (Wednesday). It's not a very good breaking off point from my point of view. There are still so many
loose ends. I haven't come to any conclusions so far. But I've just been called in unexpectedly to work out in the country tomorrow. It's a frustrating
interruption to me!
Your main impressions up to this point in the gametapes have been Doormat, Martyr, and Kind Helper, Bruce. My first impressions at your debut in
class had been Judge and Con Artist, if you recall what I said yesterday. Today, I've seen that obvious Doormat stuff, and I've imagined I've heard
some more Con Artist sounding off in that "speech." But you saw that as Kind-Helper. So, I'm not coming to any final conclusion about that, I assure
you! The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are still rather scattered on the table. And I'm still scratching my head.
I won't be able to get back to working on this puzzle now until Friday. I'm gonna go ahead and post this much of it tonight, anyway. Call this "Part
Two (B)." I know you may be itching to make some comments about this process already by now, Bruce, but I wonder if you'd mind waiting awhile
longer before you do. Would you hold off on posting, please? Let me get as much work on this exercise done as I can next Friday, at least, and post
"Part Two (C)" at that time. And let's see what we've got on the table by then.
Thanks for your patience. Sorry for the interruption, but it can't be helped. I love you all. See you on Friday.
Coach
I know this is confusing at this point, but it's going to get much clearer.
Continue with Fall 2001 Classroom Talk or
Post a new discussion in the current Classroom Talk
Archived 01/08/2002