Rex Barker – The Role of Enculturation in Shaping our Reality

If physics, and specifically quantum theory, is the primary means to understanding reality, would you consider indigenous wisdom to relate to ‘field,’ and western wisdom related to ‘particles’ according to their scope?

As someone who has experienced the reality of living within two different cultures, I am often aware of the division that our cultures create in our sense of reality. At the age of 6 I was shocked to experience the full nature of reality, and subsequent spontaneously occurring events had a significant impact on my life. Brought up in post-war London, my education was challenging because I questioned everything to the consternation of many ‘teachers.’ 

The core issue was their lack of ‘lived experience’ as they pushed their subject into us. A failure at school, and bullied by my contemporaries, I became a paramedic and found myself in Sarawak with a Commando group during the mid-60’s. There I asked the village to teach me their language and was later asked by their headman to be adopted as a son by him. I agreed and became more and more integrated into their culture/world. This and subsequent experiences have brought me to challenge what seems to be a descent into chaos by the dominant modern western appreciation of reality.

 I am aware other members also have to navigate this difficult path, between different cultures, and wondered what impact it has had and what and how we can better contribute to society through sharing our experiences.

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About the speaker:

Rex Barker: My working life was in public service in the UK’s Royal Navy, then National Health Service and finally as a regional director of the National Care Standards Commission.  I also for some 20 years, delivered a module exploring complexity and uncertainty to senior executives at Ashridge Business School, and later was Chairman of an Austrian consulting company as well as director of several specialist charities. I now provide mentoring and consultancy to projects and people who intrigue/inspire me.

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