“Insighting with” and “talastasan”

“Insighting with” and “talastasan”

Groupthink can happen if all members of the group decide to stop with the authentic practice of paying attention to experiences, being intelligent in understanding, being reasonable in assessing, and being responsible with deciding and acting. It would be such a disservice to let groupthink happen because instead of covering each other’s blind spots, the group pretends that there are no blind spots.

An authentic second-person practice, or something I’d like to phrase as “insighting with”, means that we cover each other’s blind spots. The individual members of the group build on each other’s insights, comfortable with dissenting, because the group is a psychologically safe space. I appreciate the Filipino term “talastasan”, which contains the words “talas” or “sharp”. Thus, I interpret “talastasan” as a means of Filipino communication where the members sharpen each other’s insights, and that cycle of sharpening the insights unlocks a surplus of meaning that is greater than the sum of individual intelligence of the group.

This might be an exaggeration to say, but as a member of the academe, it almost feels like a spiritual experience being part of a group that pays attention to each other’s ideas and builds on them. Wisdom, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, emerges from these kinds of interactions, and it is in these moments where I feel that God and science are not a false dichotomy. For it is through insighting with each other that we allow wisdom to emerge, and through a reinforcing virtuous cycle, this wisdom can approximate, even if a little bit, what it means for the Primary Insight to visit our psyche.

Maybe, this is what it means to ascend, at least cognitively speaking.

Matthew 28:16-20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-141: MAY 21, 2023]