An
Attitude of Aspiration
More
than 256 years ago, the founders of The RSA (2010) established a mission,
posted on the RSA 21st Century Enlightenment’s (n.d.) website that
continues to move the group forward with its latest call for an attitude of
aspiration through future “philosophical & spiritual debates of who we
might… aspire to be”. Whereas the Age of Enlightenment that occurred during the
eighteenth century was known as the Age of Reason and brought core ideals such
as: human autonomy, reason, universal enlightenment, progress, secularism,
centrality of politics and economics, and the concept of popular government to
the forefront of a movement that shaped the “values, norms, and
lifestyles” that spanned the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the same “small
group of thoughtful, committed citizens”, capable of changing the world, now
calls for a reflective look back on those lessons from the Age of Reason; and,
asks us to consider new ideals such as: sustainability, inclusion, a more civil
society, governance, and solidarity for what could be termed as the Age of
Aspiration; thus the title, “21st Century Enlightenment” (The RSA,
2010).
As
The RSA’s (2010) Chief Executive, Matthew Taylor, explains, the founders and framers
of the Age of Reason knew that in order to view issues differently then, they
had to be willing to view both the world and themselves from a novel and innovative
perspective. Brown (2011) chronicles the “rapid pace of technology” and
outlines the challenges facing many firms (p. 33). Just as the values from the
Age of Reason spanned several centuries, “proprietary invention” from companies
were once sufficient to allow for a “long lifespan”; but, in the twenty-first
century, today’s innovations “are often quickly overtaken by competitors” (p.
33). Hence, instead of being able to rely on “who we need to be”, both as an
organization and society, the focus, in order to anticipate the rapid pace of
change, must be “who we aspire to be” (The RSA, 2010). Taylor reasons by
understanding, by assigning different frames to the same issues, we become
better capable of addressing needs rather than satisfying an instant appetite
(The RSA, 2010). Reflection and understanding allow us to ask how a certain
action is right, how a life can be fully lived, and how to determine not where
the endpoint is; but, where that endpoint should be (The RSA, 2010). How do we
begin this process?
Developmental
Psychologist, Robert Kegan, opined the ability for one to function successfully
in society requires individuals to “have a relationship to our own reactions…
rather than be captive of them” (as cited in The RSA, 2010). As Taylor’s
artistry demonstrates, when a veteran of the World War is offered garlic bread
by his wife, he immediately repudiates the idea of eating “foreign muck” (The
RSA, 2010). It would be analogous to a veteran joining Google and clinging to
an orderly styled work environment, typical of past centuries. Imagine that
veteran announcing neither he nor she had fought in Desert Storm to come home
and work in a chaotic environment. As Taylor notes, it was “Copernicus,
Galileo, and Newton” who assisted in establishing the “Laws of Nature” that
proved many religiously held beliefs were false (The RSA, 2010). This was the
beginning for many myths and beliefs to be challenged and why Taylor advises
that same boldness in questioning is needed today in order “to resist our tendencies
to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that
which is only strange” (The RSA, 2010). Purple hair and body piercings may be
strange; but, are they wrong?
Pop
culture has often been the root of many fads. Purple hair, body piercings, and
tattoos are just a few. Recalling pop culture from the 1960s, song lyrics often
served as a call for empathy, especially during the Civil Rights and Viet Nam
Eras. Those lyrics, at times harsh, were not degrading; they were the calls to
do better i.e., “war is not the answer” eloquently sung by Marvin Gaye. Many of
today’s song lyrics are rather disturbing, particularly those directed at
women; but, is restrictive speech the answer? Recalling the efforts of Tipper
Gore from the 1980s that led to the labels now found on music CD cases, music
sales are all time highs. Did government and record industry regulations stem
the flow of songs with degrading lyrics to today’s youth? Perhaps a bit. Is
there anything government could or should do to have such words deliberately
avoided? Our nation banned liquor sales; yet, people still found ways to drink;
and, the Constitutional ban was ultimately repealed. That change, in this
writer’s opinion begins with that same attitude to aspire. Should we aspire to
be a society that avoids such degrading words for any person? Yes. Will be
achieve that goal? Only time will tell.
Taylor
concludes by reducing the span of mankind to include the beginning, which
answered “who we are as human beings”, a middle, which introduced “political
debates about who we need to be”, and the future which challenges us to
determine “who we aspire to be” (The RSA, 2010). In order to do this; however,
we must rely on Michel Foucault and his understanding of Kant’s depiction of
enlightenment, “It has to be conceived as an attitude, an ethos, a philosophical
life in which the critique of what we are is at one and the same time the
historical analysis that are imposed on us… and an experiment of possibly going
beyond them” (as cited in The RSA, 2010). Change in any context, mankind,
organizational, or even within one’s self, requires an attitude, one that
aspires to go beyond satisfying a simple appetite and fulfills needs such that
the result is a “life fully lived” (The RSA, 2010).
References
Brown, D.R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organization
Development. (8th ed.). Upper
Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
RSA 21st Century
Enlightenment. (n.d.). The
mission of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement
of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) is to enrich society through ideas and action. In About Us. Retrieved
from https://www.thersa.org/about-us/
The RSA. (2010, Aug. 19). RSA
Animate: 21st Century Enlightenment. [Video file]. Retrieved
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