I also find interesting the connection to Marshall Rosenberg and NVC. Words DO have meaning. I lived and worked for some years within an educational community which based its practices of communication and conflict resolution on NVC. Over time I have developed a fundamental question as to the possible displaced meaning-making effected by…
I also find interesting the connection to Marshall Rosenberg and NVC. Words DO have meaning. I lived and worked for some years within an educational community which based its practices of communication and conflict resolution on NVC. Over time I have developed a fundamental question as to the possible displaced meaning-making effected by translating ourselves through the NVC medium. Notable is the use of "needs" as a foundational, ritual, and formative concept. The word "Need" carries within it, for example, the precept of a lack, incompleteness. It is within the meaning of the word and is used as such: "when you X, I feel Y. I *need* Z."
A good discussion of the societal creation, usage, and effects of "needs" can be found in John McKnight's book "The Careless Society," though he makes no over application to the realm of NVC. I have yet to encounter someone exploring this issue in application to NVC, and I would very much like to see this exploration with the help of many inquisitive minds.
John McKnight is also from the intellectual lineage of community of Ivan Illich, and is well worthwhile. He is a beautiful writer and expresses his ideas quite compellingly, and so would be a pleasure for anyone to look into. He also has interviews accessible through David Cayley's website from his CBC Ideas series.
Yes, Rosenberg bore his choice of the word “need” as a bit of a burden in the later years, as it correlates so easily to “needy” - not an expansive or inspiring angle on ourselves and one another. I have come to use “longing”, “valuing”, “aspiration”, hoping to relate more closely to, say, a need arising from the soul as opposed to from the wounded ego. The actual words of the needs themselves are much more elevating than the word “need”. My experience of nearly 20 years as a certified trainer has afforded me a deepest conviction of the power of shifting our focus to this dynamic layer of one’s experience and how much it can foster agency, creativity and togetherness. Thanks for the link to McKnight’s book, I was not aware of it.
I also find interesting the connection to Marshall Rosenberg and NVC. Words DO have meaning. I lived and worked for some years within an educational community which based its practices of communication and conflict resolution on NVC. Over time I have developed a fundamental question as to the possible displaced meaning-making effected by translating ourselves through the NVC medium. Notable is the use of "needs" as a foundational, ritual, and formative concept. The word "Need" carries within it, for example, the precept of a lack, incompleteness. It is within the meaning of the word and is used as such: "when you X, I feel Y. I *need* Z."
A good discussion of the societal creation, usage, and effects of "needs" can be found in John McKnight's book "The Careless Society," though he makes no over application to the realm of NVC. I have yet to encounter someone exploring this issue in application to NVC, and I would very much like to see this exploration with the help of many inquisitive minds.
John McKnight is also from the intellectual lineage of community of Ivan Illich, and is well worthwhile. He is a beautiful writer and expresses his ideas quite compellingly, and so would be a pleasure for anyone to look into. He also has interviews accessible through David Cayley's website from his CBC Ideas series.
Yes, Rosenberg bore his choice of the word “need” as a bit of a burden in the later years, as it correlates so easily to “needy” - not an expansive or inspiring angle on ourselves and one another. I have come to use “longing”, “valuing”, “aspiration”, hoping to relate more closely to, say, a need arising from the soul as opposed to from the wounded ego. The actual words of the needs themselves are much more elevating than the word “need”. My experience of nearly 20 years as a certified trainer has afforded me a deepest conviction of the power of shifting our focus to this dynamic layer of one’s experience and how much it can foster agency, creativity and togetherness. Thanks for the link to McKnight’s book, I was not aware of it.