ON THE MEANING OF WORDS

In and of themselves, words have a life of their own. Just as does each person,
situation, and context, each word also has three dimensions: the meaning it has
for me; the use I make of this meaning and its interpretation within a context;
and, what is accepted universally, that is, what the dictionary says it means. In
my mind, and in my mind-set, where lies the sediment of all my knowledge, I
believe that everybody else understands the same as I do, and if they don’t, it is
because they know less, or because they know more. Or perhaps they
understand it differently. In that case, if they understand it differently, it is
because they have different mental processes, or because their experience with
the use of the word has given them a different comprehension.

Another possibility occurs to me: perhaps the person has transcended the
meaning and sees all the meanings, or sees many meanings simultaneously and can
situate them in different contexts, proposing different “truths” and “realities”.
This person, then, has much more autonomy and freedom and many more
possibilities to choose from. This person can also comprehend a greater number
of different points of view allowing him or her to live and to see with more
intensity, and to be conscious of the limitations of certain contexts as well as
the potential unfolding of others. But, as with everything else, there is at least
one disadvantage for those who have the capacity to “see more” – the loneliness
of the one who sees more, until many others have seen as well. This loneliness, at
the same time, pushes the one who sees more to share and to transmit his or
her vision with as many people as possible with the purpose of being able to unite
with others, to come together, to share knowledge, wisdom, love, business,
prosperity…

The need for the “critical mass” that would permit a new form, a new paradigm
to become visible to as many people as possible puts the human machinery to
work, through “a body of desire”, (that I spoke of in my last writing). Until we
achieve the critical mass, only the few who see work within the new context.
For the others who don’t see yet, the new paradigm is only experienced as an
urge. As we approach the critical mass, more people have and feel this urge,
and some also begin to see and this accelerates exponentially the establishment
of a new paradigm, or simply of a new idea or a new fashion.

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Rosana Agudo, 2008
www.tti-transformacion.blogspot.com
With this in mind we can test “what has already happened but hasn’t yet become
visible to all” in the language. The words that correspond to the new paradigm
appear, but without new meaning, they may even manifest themselves in the
form of ideas, not very coherent as yet but that do express the yearning for
change.

In our case, I would like to say, we who are living this change in paradigm, that
is, everybody, every man and woman, we beings, who are evolving on the planet
through our minds have the handicap of living in this paradigm with the
contradictory mind that must fragment everything in order to understand it.
(This means that we are not able to unify philosophy and practice, that is, either
we think or we do.) Of course, for Socrates, for example, who didn’t act from
the contradictory mind, but rather from the mind that we are destined to reach
(thanks be to God), Philosophy meant to “learn to learn”, or to “learn to see more
and more and more.” It meant that understanding wakes the mind and leads us
to wise, conscious and responsible action. This active comprehension, this
entrance into other realms of the mind, provokes transformation and a change in
paradigm, a profound social change at all levels. It transforms not only the
exterior social realm but even provokes in each of us a change in our brain, new
connections are formed in the mind that has learned to learn, that has learned
to see.

Therefore, a change in mentality means more than just accepting the idea that
change is necessary and that we must change. I have commented on other
occasions that a transformation takes place once enough changes have occurred
for this to happen. A change in mentality or a change in mind-set implies being
disposed to a passionate Change. It means becoming a tractor for preparing the
way so that a more advanced society can become a reality. All this occurs in the
realm of the mind.

But this doesn’t mean that “now this is no longer correct, now we must do the
opposite”, for example, because this reasoning belongs to the dual mind, the
contradictory mind, the mind that only sees in terms of opposites. For concepts
as vast as the ones with which we are dealing in the Knowledge Society, such as
those established in the recent Lisbon Summits, the contradictory mind is no
longer an adequate tool; it is suffocating, drowning the arrival of the future and
postponing the imminent achievement of the critical mass which is trying to
crystallize.

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Rosana Agudo, 2008
www.tti-transformacion.blogspot.com
Therefore, when we speak of a change in mind-set, we are really speaking of
something as innovative as learning to access that state of mind in which we
experience opposites as complementary. I am going to try to explain by way of
example using the “win-win” concept with which we are all familiar:

For the contradictory mind, or the dual mind in which we live and which we have
been using for some time… if one wins, the other looses, and that is the way
things are. In order for one to win with me, he/she must be my friend, or I
must be interested in him or her for one reason or other. At the same time,
other lose, or, at best, they don’t win as much, or I let them win something, or as
much as I – for the good of the market.

When I make a deal or form an alliance of the type we are all accustomed to, my
partners and I win. This is what we call win-win (that is to say, it is better that
we each loose a little and that everyone wins something). We could continue this
way for some time, this is business as it is: make deals so as not to lose, or loose
a little, or win… In the old days (but not so long ago and still practiced today), a
handshake was the guarantee; there was nothing stronger than the honor
implied by one’s word.

But now, and with this I return to the concept of words and their meanings, can
somebody please tell me what “win-win” means? Do we really think that saying it
in English (rather than Spanish) changes the significance, or gives it more
depth? Isn’t this the same thing we saw in the paragraph, above? Yes, it is the
same. Only now my allies with whom I win-win are European, and there are more
of them. But those who lose-lose are also more numerous and, unfortunately,
they are the usual ones.

In the greater context of the emerging Knowledge Society, once transcended

the meaning given it by the contradictory mind, Win-Win is more all
encompassing. It speaks to us of Sustainability, of Innovation in People, and of
Social Inclusion, of Vastness of mind or, at least for now open mindedness and
flexibility in the face of change, of our search for the common good, including
that of the animal and plant realms, of our objective of improving the world we
live in and of contributing wealth and well being of all kinds. Win-Win in the
Knowledge Economy, in the superior mind, means to go from

TIME = MONEY to TIME = ART

This is the new paradigm - in which money will evolve from being an end in
itself to being a means to an end, in which the economy, education, politics will
become an art form.

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Rosana Agudo, 2008
www.tti-transformacion.blogspot.com
The key to the tool I propose, the tool I have to offer, lies in the “other
possibility” described above, in learning to see more, that is, in developing
“Increasingly Integral Vision.” And I understand that simultaneously, it is
necessary to sensitize, to show what is happening, where it is happening, from
what cause and for what purpose.

Rosana Agudo
Manager Director
TTi Tecnología para la Transformación Interior
rosanaagudo@gmail.com
www.tti-transformacion.blogspot.com

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Rosana Agudo, 2008
www.tti-transformacion.blogspot.com