[Vnbiz] Leadership -- Knowledge in Human Affairs (used to be "Nha Trang Bay")

Tue Jun 12 18:17:17 PDT 2007

Let's move away from heart and mind and talk instead of feelings vs. 
reasoning to we can bring greater clarity to this discussion.  The native 
Vietnamese concept of "bu.ng" or stomach/guts may be a good integrated 
approach, substituting for heart/mind.  It may also be part of the problem 
because it is heavier on feelings and instinct than on reasoning.  This 
approach is more vulnerable to both internal and outside manipulation by 
those who are more strategic in their thinking.  And Vietnamese have 
always been susceptible to such manipulation.
There are good reasons for separation of Church and State at this stage of 
human development.  Religious teachings are good moral/ethical guidelines 
for the political leadership, but are no direct substitutes.  Otherwise, 
we have theocracies and no religious freedom.  The best we could come up 
with so far to regulate human affairs is secular law and the rule of law, 
and until we progress to the next level of development, it's best that we 
keep religion and politics and the respective leadership as separated as 
possible.
I do not follow that emotion produces knowledge.  Your common sense 
example of a mother and her child rearing does not follow through to your 
conclusion.  Love doesn't automatically tell her what to do, most young 
mothers learn child rearing from their own mothers or other female 
friend/relatives with experience, as well as from books.  Excessive love 
sometime makes the mother spoil the child.
Certain kind of "love" can cause a man to "kidnap and rape" his wife.
Your Bush example is also too simplistic and overarching when you say the 
entire administration, Congress .  There were plenty of contrary 
information and opinions, but they were overrulled, in the wake of 9-11. 
If everybody agreed, you wouldn't be seeing dissenting views.  Now I bet 
you that President Bush believes that he has the right heart, and brave to 
boot.  This metric is just too subjective.

"Tran Dinh Hoanh" <tdhoanh at gmail.com> 
Sent by: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com
06/08/2007 11:18 PM
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[Vnbiz] Leadership -- Knowledge in Human Affairs (used to be "Nha Trang 
Bay")

[ Vietnam Business Forum ]

Dear CACC,

This message is from a comment brother Phong made to my quote "what comes 
out of the right heart will be right." 

I have said previously that leadership training is really the training of 
the heart.  So this is a key point that we need to cover, as a part of my 
series on leadership

We may think of the heart as a counterpart of the mind, like they are two 
different things--the heart is emotion and the mind is logic.  But that 
thinking is scientifically wrong.  Both our emotion and logic are in the 
brain and they are not independent of each others, although may reside in 
different parts of the brain. 

In the Buddhist language, it is the word "ta^m," or heart/mind, or heart, 
or mind--all indicate the same thing--our mental capacity.

Now let's look some common sense examples of how emotion produces 
knowledge.

Our mothers: Most of our mothers know very little about child psychology 
or education or fancy training methods.  Most of them simply love their 
children dearly.  And most of them raise their children well.  Conclusion: 
 Their love shows them what to do with their children, even though they 
have very little training or knowledge on child rearing.  In other words, 
love produces knowledge. 

If a man truly loves his wife, he may be dumb in women psychology, may not 
know how to communicate, may not know how to act properly, but if he 
really loves her, he will eventually find ways to keep her happy.  If a 
man doesn't really loves his wife in his heart, he may understand all the 
psychology of the world and may be the great communicator, but he will not 
be able to keep her happy. 

Bush wanted to attacked Iraq, so the entire administration and Congress 
saw lots of reasons to attack Iraq, and the entire US intelligent 
system--CIA, FBI, the best of the world--saw only reasons to attack Iraq 
(which now are said to be wrong). 

If you truly want to have a lot of money to the degree that you dream 
about money day and night, eventually you will know how to make a lot of 
money.

A man donates 100K to charity, if you love him you say "He is a great 
man," if you hate him, you say, "That is how he does self advertising."

The Vietnamese government has the tradition of giving amnesty to prisoners 
on holidays, you would say that is a very humane and living tradition. 
Many anti-communists out here say the government have to get rid of some 
prisoners because it has no more room to arrest more people. 

And if you are a lawyer going to court every day, you know that each 
sentence of the law can be interpreted at least two different ways and the 
"facts" of the case are understood completely differently, depending on 
what side you are on. 

So does knowledge come independently or knowledge simply follow the heart?

Let me finish this message by a quote from the two persons who, in my 
opinion, are the best masters on the human heart--Jesus of Nazareth and 
Shiddartha the Buddha:

Jesus said, 

"You may be hearing but never understanding
You may be seeing but never perceiving
For your heart has become callous."

And the Buddha said: 

Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
        ruled by the heart,
        made of the heart.
If you speak or act
with a corrupted heart,
then suffering follows you -- 
as the wheel of the cart,
    the track of the ox 
    that pulls it. 
Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
        ruled by the heart,
        made of the heart.
If you speak or act
with a calm, bright heart,
then happiness follows you,
like a shadow
    that never leaves. 
        (Dammapada -- Kinh Phap Cu
         http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/texts/khuddaka/dhp/1.html )

So, work on your heart.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

On 6/7/07, Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov <Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov > wrote: 

[ Vietnam Business Forum ]

Welcome back from your European adventure. 
Please share the 3 most important/impressive things from this trip. 
The idea of "what comes out of the right heart will be right" is an 
attractive, but somewhat Utopian notion.  That's not to say that it's 
wrong, just that it is too subjective by itself to be reliable and 
predictable.  Many of Vietnam's previous generations really believed and 
followed their hearts but ended up with disastrous consequences or bitter 
disappointment.  They would have been better served listening to both 
their hearts and minds. 
People everywhere has the right to petition their government, the 
difference is whether or not their government listen to them, which in 
turn directly depends on whether or not the people has the power to change 
those in power.  Culture plays a role, but there are more fundamental 
principles that transcend culture.  One of those principles is that no 
authority would willingly yield its power without a certain level of 
resistance.  In such an environment, raising your voice will ineviaby 
cause friction.  The critical difference between different system is 
whether or not violence is needed to affect changes in government. 
Best,  HPP 

-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
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