Crossroads: Summer Conferences

Sweetness

This summer has been dedicated to the presentation of my short paper 'Tasting the Sweetness' at various conferences in the world. It has been a joyful and inspiring experience. Traveling can be such a rewarding and inspirational experience!

[Download IFTDO-ICQM-Paper-Marc-Antoni-van-Roon.pdf]

The title of the presentation comes from Fritjof Capra's book the Hidden Connections. He talks about what happens when we start to look for the sweetness in sugar. After some research we will find the elements carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. But where is the sweetness?

The sweetness resides neither in the C, nor in the O, nor in the H; it resides in the pattern that emerges from their interaction. it is an emergent property,

Capra writes. He continues;

Moreover, stricktly speaking, the sweetness is not a property of the chemical bonds. It is a sensory experience that arises when sugar molecules interact with the chemistry of our taste buds, which in turn causes a set of neurons to fire in a certain way. The experience of sweetness emerges from that neural activity.

This phenomenon of emergence is like an dance between us - the experiencer of our experiences - and the objects of our experience and perception, their interactive molecule dance, and the space in between 'us' and 'that other thing' - in Capra's case the sugar. This dance interconnects us to the object we experience and the space in between us and them, more than we often realize.

Similar to sweetness, other emergent qualities are happiness and love. In music and art we find emergent qualities such as flow, groove and swing. Emergent qualities can not be controlled, grabbed or dominated. That makes them challenging to deal with. You cannot make people love you instantly. You cannot be happy or sad whenever you want it. Objects, other people, the environment around you, all are interconnected with you and will influence the possible emergence of these qualities. But we can learn more about these qualities, under which circumstances they emerge, how it makes us feel when we experience them, how they change our perception of the world around us when we experience them.

In my presentation I make a humble effort to connect systems theory and cybernetics with art and artistic human qualities. I talk about the desire in most companies and organizations for more 'passion', 'passionate employees', more 'creativity' and more of this magical 'flow'. These are qualities that cannot be demanded or willed by executive order. The can only emerge when the space is created in which the can emerge. Part of creating this space - of allowing this space to be - is to become co-players in finding and discovering new ways of explaining the world we life in. Co-players who create new sets of rules together. Co-players that start alliances to play together. Co-players who accept each other as equally intelligent and creative. Co-players who can experience the space in between them as something instead of nothing (no-thing). Co-players who can truly listen to each other. Co-players who embrace mistakes and transform these into innovative gems. Co-players who value passionate play and creative interaction highly. Co-players who by experience understand the interconnectedness of life.

Music, I feel, and especially making music together, can help us to get in touch with our creative talents and with our passion for living in the present moment. Making music together gives us the experience of operating in a constantly changing, in-stable, and creative environment in which flow, beauty and love can emerge. Music is that universal language that everybody can speak and in which everybody can communicate and explain feelings, emotions and events of life.

Lancaster, UK

The first conference was the Tenth International Experiential Learning Conference hosted by the Brathay Academy in partnership with ICEL (International Consortium for Experiential Learning). It took place at the Lancaster University. Marieke started our presentation with a beautiful short vocal session. The participants seemed to enjoy the combination of actively experiencing the singing and music making we did together, with the theory presented by me on the screen.

We did took some time of to visit the gorgeous Lake District. My friend Victor lend us his Land-rover which made driving through the countryside a joy for Marieke and myself. We stayed in a lovely B&B in Ambleside. The whole experience felt like walking in a 3-D painting.

Tehran, Iran

We spent July 16 - 21 in Tehran. I presented 'tasting the Sweetness' twice at the 7th International Conference of Quality Managers, the ICQM. I was very happy to finally meet with the organizer and chairman of the ICQM, mr. Hesam Aref Kashfi, after many months of corresponding about the presentation, the paper, and logistic details.

It was a fascinating experience to meet with all those wonderful people, both the conference organizers and students, who made us feel so very welcome in their country. I also realized how little I understand and how small my knowledge is of the Islamic culture. Iran has such a rich history of art, poetry, music and architecture. One day we could visit Ispahan, but surely that isn't enough time to fully appreciate all the marvelous buildings, palaces, mosques and people. Hopefully we can visit Ispahan and other cities in the future.

The beauty of Isfahan inspired jazz musician Duke Ellington and his collaborator Billy Strayhorn to write a song in its name, as part of The Far East Suite.

At the conference I met many inspirational speakers. One of them is Steve Unwin. Speaking of synchronisity! Such meaningful 'coincidences' are the food for my soul. We discovered that Steve and I share an interest in interconnectedness, flow, play and change. We endured the burning sun walking and talking - sharing insights - about these topics. We found that we use some of the same examples. We celebrated this moment by exchanging short films and other stuff we can use in our slides and sheets. I learned a lot from that meeting.

Another inspiring meeting we enjoyed was with Ehsan, the one of the founders of the Soroosh Project - a platform for students and lovers of art, culture and poetry to get together and learn about foreign cultures, composers and artists. They organize concerts and study groups and facilitate learning processes. For those of you who read Farsi, check out their 'Kanoon-Khorshid' site. Together with his friend Jeyran he took Marieke and me to some wonderful sites in the Tehran area.

Something that definitely inspired me and brought me many smiles was the strong emphasis the Iranian people put on the spiritual poetry of the Persian poets such as Rumi, Hafez, and Shams Tabrizi.

During the conference, many verses were quoted and recited. I strongly believe that when art becomes part of any meeting where information and ideas are exchanged and communicated, and learning is involved, a better balance is established between the head and the heart - between knowing and feeling - between actively doing and cognitive reflection - thinking. Hearing Rumi's poetry quoted at the conference gave me the inspiration and hope that these meetings of art and business could occur much more frequently in our 'Western' business, management, and conference world.

Here's an Rumi poem I read this morning:

We can't help being thirsty, moving toward the voice of water. Milk-drinkers draw close to the mother. Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, shamans, everyone hears the intelligent sound and moves, with thirst, to meet it.
Clean your ears, Don't listen
for something you've heard before.

Invisible camel bells,
slight footfalls in sand.

Almost in sight! The first word they call out
will be the last word of our last poem.

(#837 - translated by Coleman Barks)

France
Just some valuable space in between. Time to read.
Reading Yann Martel's Life of Pi. What a great read. I love that book.

Kuala Lumpur

After enjoying the relaxing sunny moments in the Provence in south of France, with Marieke and my parents, my friend Victor and I boarded the plane to Kuala Lumpur. There I presented at the 35th IFTDO conference at the KLCC, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre which is situated right in the middle of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. IFTDO is the International Federation of Training and Development Organizations. In that same area are the famous Petronas Twin Towers with the shopping malls and the magnificent concert hall, home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Again, this conference proved to be a meeting place for kindred spirits. I met with people who too are spreading the message of play and flow. I was struck by the sheer amount of university students in Malaysia. Many students are enrolled in programs at the University Teknology Mara and assisted with the logistic organization of the conference.

For me, it was interesting to be part of the post-conference meeting and brainstorm together with other attendees about bridging the gap between the level and experience of graduating students and the expectations of the level and experience of new employees in the professional industry. For this purpose, a government supported platform is in creation, all very exiting developments.

One the last day we visited the old town of Malacca. We found residue of the Dutch such as an old Stadthuys. This one day gave us the chance to relax a bit before embarking on the twelve hour return flight.

I am grateful for an unforgettable summer filled with meeting wonderful inspiring people and visiting all those fantastic places!