Gregg, thanx for sharing, Greg, thanx for contributing to the Global Bildung Festival and for writing that piece! Music is the foundation for language and human cognition; keeping a rhythm and literally tuning in on others shaped our brains, and it seems overlooked in psychology--please correct me if I am wrong. / Lene On 29-03-2022 16:31, Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx wrote: > > Please check out the latest from Greg Thomas, which involves > connecting with Lene…good to see these connections grow! > > *Blog - Tune Into Leadership* > > Latest posts from https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.tuneintoleadership.com_blog_&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=GICLsYImaA_DY0fHcvxn8fnguCT9pJgSei1Aqxrg9q8&e= > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.tuneintoleadership.com_blog_&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=GICLsYImaA_DY0fHcvxn8fnguCT9pJgSei1Aqxrg9q8&e= > on 03/28/2022 > > *A Speech: “Bildung and the Blues” > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3Df353e64c43-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=8s-yx7tJiehCqvJsN1pqWjkK9cISdn34MCxqkL9Tjx4&e= >* > > /By Greg Thomas on Mar 28, 2022 07:39 am/ > > /Lene Rachel Andersen/ > > Last week, upon the invitation of philosopher and author Lene Rachel > Andersen, I gave a short address as part of the Global Bildung > Festival > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D02b74aecf8-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=-1NJ0CAUPAcksg2rzk0v_deHWa8IsrdC_02TSTZBDxc&e= >. > Having studied two of her many books, /Metamodernity: Meaning and Hope > in a Complex World /and /The Nordic Secret: A European story of Beauty > and Freedom /(co-authored by Tomas Björkman), I was honored that she > asked me to participate. > > I titled my presentation “Bildung and the Blues.” The relation between > a term of German origin such as “Bildung”—a concept that relates how > individuals and groups of people learn and grow through education and > self-development to cultivate skills, habits, and values that > contribute to society—and the American form of music called the blues, > innovated by Black Americans, is likely not readily apparent. The > intention of my short speech was to highlight connections between the > Blues and Bildung beyond the distance posed by geographic and cultural > origin. > > What follows is the address, plus some content that I would have > included if I’d had more than the allotted eight minutes. Given that > I’ve coined an expression—the /blues idiom wisdom tradition/—I figure > it’s about time I began fleshing out that tradition as I perceive and > conceive it. This is a small step in that direction. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *The blues is a wisdom tradition* deriving from the Black American > people in North America. The blues has many dimensions: musical, > poetic, literary. The blues is also an attitude, way of life, and > worldview. My mentor Albert Murray coined the expression “blues idiom” > to capture the richness of the blues. > > I’ll explore these dimensions and connect the Blues Idiom directly to > Bildung in the latter part of my brief remarks. > > From a planetary perspective, the so-called blues scale is close to > the pentatonic scale, which is practically universal in human > cultures. The blues, then, connects to music culture globally. > > In the United States, the blues is the roots music of many of the > nation’s styles, from gospel and jazz to country & western and rock > and roll. As a form, the blues most often has a repeated 12-bar cycle, > a call-and-response melodic structure, a American Negro or Black > American vocal timbre, and a harmonic system that connects to > Christian church music tradition, and, as mentioned above, other music > across the world. > > /Jonathan Batiste/ > > Blues and jazz musician Jonathan Batiste received the most nominations > for the 2022 Grammy Awards, set to air on April 3rd. > > He happens to be a colleague of mine via our connection to the > National Jazz Museum in Harlem. His song for Record of the Year, > “Freedom,” is a blues. It’s not happenstance that the title of that > song, “Freedom,” is fundamental to not only Black American life and > history, but to American democracy itself. For Black Americans, > there’s a direct connection between the lack of social, political and > economic freedom of our early sojourn here and the manifestation of > the blues form at the turn of the 20th century. > > But when you listen to Batiste’s “Freedom > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D56a8d85feb-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=NUylm5PIhWJ6XH0PIGGlezcajgAuN2sfUkJVsBozcQM&e= >,” > you don’t feel down and out, depressed, or downtrodden. You join his > celebration of life despite the pain in life. Albert Murray called > this nuance the distinction between the blues /as such/ and the blues > as /music./ > > The blues is also poetry. The great American writer and democratic > theorist Ralph Ellison once said—“As a form, the blues is an > autobiographical chronicle of personal catastrophe expressed lyrically.” > > The sentence preceding that basic definition is a classic poetic and > literary description, with customary Ellison eloquence: > > /The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a > brutal experience alive in one aching consciousness, to finger its > jagged grain, and to transcend it, not by the consolation of > philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near comic lyricism. / > > The blues as music also plays a vital social function. In Murray’s > /Stomping the Blues/,//he describes this dimension of the culture of > Afro-Americans, in a ritual domain, as the /Saturday Night > Function/ and the /Sunday Morning Church Service/, two sides of the > blues idiom, secular and sacred. > > On Sunday morning, rituals of devotion and propitiation were enacted > by the souls of Black folk “making a joyful noise unto the Lord.” On > Saturday nights, the other side of the tradition, a community of blues > people engaged in purification rituals to banish the mess and cruelty > of life, and in fertility rituals . . . to continue the human species! > > You play the blues to get rid of the blues by facing your troubles > straight-up and straight ahead, admitting that life can be unfair and > random, but yet and still: you dance, groove, have a good time, and > get it on, baby, lettin’ the good times roll—to stomp the blues, even > if just temporarily. In the blues idiom tradition, you know those > shadowy blue devils will likely be back tomorrow to try to get you > down and throw you off course. > > The blues idiom, as an orientation to life and worldview somewhat > similar to Stoicism, understands that tragedy, pain, death, and even > injustice are givens, yet creates beauty in form and meaning to affirm > the sheer fact that we’re alive. In the collection /Conversations with > Albert Murray/, Murray defined the blues idiom as “an attitude of > affirmation in the face of difficulty, of improvisation in the face of > challenge. It means you acknowledge that life is a low-down dirty > shame yet confront that fact with perseverance, with humor, and above > all with elegance.” > > *From Schiller and Goethe to Ellison and Murray* > > On p. 144 of /The Nordic Secret, /Lene Rachel Andersen writes about > two iconic Germans who extended, elaborated, and refined the idea of > Bildung, Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. “If we > talk about scaffolding personal development, Schiller and Goethe are > an example of two geniuses who became each other’s ladder and > scaffolding as they both climbed, each in his own way,” she wrote. > From Goethe derived the literary tradition of the /bildungsroman/; for > Schiller, the relationship between moral and aesthetic education and > freedom, personal to political, was key. > > With respect to the blues idiom, the same can be said for Ralph > Ellison and Albert Murray—they were two geniuses who became “each > other’s ladder and scaffolding as they climbed, each in his own way.” > Over the course of their relationship and in their writings and > interviews, they honed and developed concepts and perspectives that > synthesized their lived experience as Black American men with the > highest of American values and meanings within a Western humanist > tradition. I’ve come to call this dynamic relationship the > /Ellison-Murray Continuum. /The two attended the historically black > college Tuskegee Institute together in Alabama in the 1930s. > Ironically, they became two of the most important literary minds and > cultural theorists that America produced in the 20th century. What’s > ironic is not the fact that they accomplished this while being > racialized as “black,” rather, it’s that they both attended the > Tuskegee, a college in the deep South founded by Booker T. Washington, > who advocated for the development of trade and industrial skills > primarily, not artistic and intellectual mastery. > > The great scholar and co-founder of the NAACP, W.E.B. Du Bois, was a > product of another institute of higher learning for Negro Americans > built in the aftermath of the Civil War, Fisk University. He attended > and graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of > Berlin thereafter in the late 19th century. Du Bois, in comparison to > Booker T., was more in favor of the cognitive development provided by > a liberal arts education. > > Historically, Black colleges were a manifestation of the intense, > life-giving hunger for education by formerly enslaved persons, so they > could advance from being illiterate peasants to educated contributors > to their communal group and American society. Though many, many > obstacles were put in our way, slowly but surely we began to rise, > with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, and, among many other > examples, the Negro debate students at Wiley College, who defeated the > national debate champions from USC in 1935, a story depicted in 2007 > starring Denzel Washington, /The Great Debaters./ > > /Charles Hamilton Houston/ > > At the law school of one of the most prestigious historically black > colleges and universities (HBCUs), Howard University, the legendary > Charles Hamilton Houston devised the legal strategy that ultimately > ended legalized racial segregation. Thurgood Marshall, who argued and > won the Brown v. Board decision at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954, and > who became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1967, was a > student of Charles Hamilton Houston’s. Significantly, also > contributing to the legal brief in the case for Linda Brown, a > ten-year old girl from Topeka, Kansas, was law professor Charles Black > Jr., who at the age of 16 in Austin, Texas in 1931 had a mind-altering > experience by witnessing the power and blues genius of the > paterfamilias of the jazz idiom, Louis Armstrong, in person. I > recounted this incident in “Jazz, Social Justice, and a White Boy from > Texas > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D6fbca3c125-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=yTNxrH9hkzAESB4xiOI1tDfQhyNs9VOISvNXsBsLjfQ&e= >.” > The example of Charles Black demonstrates a direct link between > aesthetic insight, cultural education, moral development, and social > advance. > > These accounts of educational and artistic excellence contributing to > social change and advancement, moving the U.S. closer to the promises > of the social contract contained in its founding documents and > principles, laid the ground for Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will likely > to become the first Black American woman to serve on the Supreme Court. > > /Ketanji Brown Jackson/ > > The Global Bildung Manifesto defines Bildung as: /the combination of > the education and knowledge necessary to thrive in your society, and > the moral and emotional maturity to both be a team player and have > personal autonomy and also knowing your roots and being able to > imagine the future/. This definition, considered in light of my > comments above, definitely aligns with the blues idiom, for Black > Americans imagined a better future and innovated a culture both rooted > and cosmopolitan. > > And, as CEO of the Jazz Leadership Project, I can assure you that jazz > music epitomizes in principle and practice the emotional and moral > maturity to exercise both personal agency and autonomy while being a > member of a team, an ensemble. By engaging one another with soulful > skill and mature collaborative capacities, respecting the individual > voices and sounds of each musician while subordinating ego for the > sake of the group and the music, jazz musicians have resolved the > dualistic divide between the personal and the social, through culture. > > Thank you. > > > Read in browser » > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D893ff5d22b-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=dDgYQRQ9nbuZXRvET8DAt3-yn-RK8NZn7DUwkw1O7Lo&e= > > share on Twitter > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3Ddc82aed1ac-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=qRxHmZtKbU67-lw81JDFXpLUsrsSGdDvpfU9_2qSoF8&e= > > > > > *Recent Articles:* > > The Power of Participation and Belief in Second Chances > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3Dac28571906-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=SMe-UpCl7sD_bZq32SQcZ0_NROhS-ieMAvbIAXstH0M&e= > > From Liabilities to Assets: Trabian Shorters’ Transformative Work > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D7417a5d0a3-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=jWAmd5gM7E8tjUjTk31x3mtqWueZi3b1uNvw_6lH-VA&e= > > Choosing the Hard Way: Displaying Vulnerability and Courage > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D91dd783a17-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=SbzGjLiYg-Kt37JqTWwebXEaj_ldVoNMSty97qhxNOg&e= > > Narrative Warfare: Black Americans in the Crossfire > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D4b691615c7-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=xh94rkXnOI7JGe9u81Tnmc_6BmomXltJeygTJ8aVEO0&e= > > A Beautiful Lesson in Humility > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jazzleadershipproject.us3.list-2Dmanage.com_track_click-3Fu-3Dc8cf02468a29b3d1abd1880a4-26id-3D75a8a78174-26e-3D83f057da1c&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=yEM0_RN7B4tis3lNnr6y1KSe9Zgit1Y1y5JBvvAmYY4&e= > > > > ___________________________________________ > > Gregg Henriques, Ph.D. > President of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy > Integration (2022) > > Professor > Department of Graduate Psychology > 216 Johnston Hall > MSC 7401 > James Madison University > Harrisonburg, VA 22807 > (540) 568-7857 (phone) > (540) 568-4747 (fax) > > > /Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity./ > > Check out the Unified Theory Of Knowledge homepage at: > > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.unifiedtheoryofknowledge.org_&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=x6xXTD5XZWEg9q94X09fh04GZvGqLBBZXJurYGc16U4&e= > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.unifiedtheoryofknowledge.org_&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=4CwS0WzbU9il9jyUFCdWSyhnta4XML05n3PZNk1MmxM&s=x6xXTD5XZWEg9q94X09fh04GZvGqLBBZXJurYGc16U4&e= > > > ############################ > > To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > <mailto:mailto:[log in to unmask]> or > click the following link: > http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1 > <http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1> > -- *Lene Rachel Andersen* Futurist, economist, author & keynote speaker President of Nordic Bildung and co-founder of the European Bildung Network Full member of the Club of Rome *Nordic Bildung* Vermlandsgade 51, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark www.nordicbildung.org +45 28 96 42 40 ############################ To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following link: http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1