Untitled - Awaken Video

Chapter 2. Connections 28
The result will be a lessening in the tension between us and will allow for, at least,
acceptable working conditions.
The idea of altering the relationship between things to alter the end product
works. My own personal difficulty is that I like to think that I am right much of the
time, and it rarely occurs to me to simply drop the seriousness of the topic. I work
with handicapped children a lot, and they can often be a challenge behaviorally. I
had a professor who sensed my frustration so he described to me a pair of concepts
which he called “First and Second Order Change.” A first order change was what
I was trying to do most of the time; that is, I was trying to force the child to
simply alter his behavioral pattern, such as screaming at the top of his lungs, at
my request. When the request failed, I would try again and again, and of course,
I failed. My professor suggested a different tack, a second order change—scream
with (not at) the child, for example. Find out how it felt to scream. Perhaps the
acoustics in the room are interesting. Perhaps the acoustics of the voice. Maybe it
feels good to stretch the limits of the vocal system. Who knows, but altering my
behavior worked and was far less frustrating to both of us than my original method.
Changing relationships between things produces an altered set of results (though,
perhaps, not quite as predictable).
The Germanic idea of fjölkonngi 12 (ON.,trans. sorcery, literally “much knowledge”)
may have had something to do with this idea of altering relationships between
things. Not much is known about how Germanic sorcerers went about their jobs, but
many, including myself, suspect that Germanic wizards much like their circumpolar
counterpart, the shaman, used trickery and psychology in addition to their craft
to achieve results. The trickery and psychological techniques are important to the
circumpolar shaman because by these (especially if they are done well) the audience’s
belief system is either temporarily or permanently altered. The change in the belief
system results in a change in general behavior leading to the individual interacting
with the world differently. The change in interaction, i.e. relationship, results in
different outcomes. Marionette shows are interesting. Done properly, with the right
lighting, good puppetware, and good puppeteers, the figures present the audience
with the illusion that one is looking at a slice of real life. People are able to suspend
their belief that puppets are just lifeless wooden figures and are really dependent
on the movement of strings behind the curtain. And children, yes, children “know”
that the personages on stage are real within their worldview even after they have
been shown the strings and the operators; for them the illusion is complete. It’s
true that it is difficult to “fool” children when performing a weak stage magic trick
(this is common knowledge among stage magicians), but when the trick is “pulled
12 Fjölkonngi actually means ”much knowledge” but, as the word was used in Old Norse, the
word means ”magic” or ”sorcery.” The literal translation serves our purpose well, however.