Subject: Religious Stories

Posted by Heather Blau on 7/12/2005
In Reply To:Religious Stories Posted by Delbert Adams on 7/12/2005

Message:

Niall,

Are you familiar with the story of the blind men and the elephant?
When a group of blind men meet an unknown creature, they each describe one part (the tusk as a spear, the leg as a pillar, ear as a
fan) and end up in quite a disagreement. Only when they put each of their descriptions together can they see the whole and have peace
between them. There are many retellings of this story, but I know
of one children's picture storybook called "Seven Blind Mice" by Ed Young which is accessible to very young children. Also, the story of King Solomon suggesting to cut a baby in half when two women each claim s/he belongs to her, is an example of a "quick fix" which which clearly does violence to the "system" (which, of course, is King Solomon's point).

I recognize neither is exactly what you are looking for. There are
just the ones that immediately came to mind. I am new to systems
dynamics, so I still don't recognize the archetypes easily. I
suspect the patterns you describe might be hidden in some of the epic tales, such as The Mahabharata, but is not easily pulled out and made simple. I work with a private school in New York City, which uses stories from many religious traditions, so I will look further.

Your project is of great interest to me and i would love to take a look at your collection and how you use it. Please keep in touch.

Heather Blau

Follow Ups:

Religious Stories - Jan Morrison 7/12/2005 
Religious Stories - Robert P. Giebitz 7/12/2005
Religious Stories - sharada 7/12/2005
Religious Stories - Prof. Dr. Niall Palfreyman 7/14/2005
Religious Stories - Linda Booth Sweeney 7/15/2005
Religious Stories - Clelia Scott 7/20/2005
Religious Stories - Robert P. Giebitz 7/19/2005
Religious Stories - Bill Ellis 7/17/2005
Religious Stories - Bill Ellis 7/14/2005
Religious Stories - Bill Ellis 7/13/2005