Surface Level, Systems and Deep Structures: A Dialogue with Norie Huddle

This past week I spent almost three hours in recorded conversation with Norie Huddle who created and continues to unfold the Best Game on Earth.  The basic idea of her game is for us

"to  consider that if we (humans) consciously agree on a few basic goals and rules, we can introduce a new "life game" which is much more enjoyable and effective for everyone." 

Norie was trained in systems thinking back in the 1960s and has used this training in designing The Best Game on Earth.  The project in Ecuador is intended as a "seed crystal" of The Game - i.e., a tiny unit that manifests all the principles and aspects of The Best Game on Earth. 

  I first met Norie through John Steiner.  We hit it off as John probable figured we would.  We met a few times at a cafe in WV to discuss various issues including foreign policy, human psychology and healthcare.  

She and her partner, Richard Wheeler, a gifted Rolfer  and artist invited my wife and I to visit their retreat center in Ecuador called El Jardin.

El Jardin. is situated on 350 acres outside of Vilcabamba.  Their intention with El Jardin.(pics) is multifold including: land preservation, organic food production, sustainable and innovative design,  health and wellness retreats,  spas and healing services,  economic development, learning community and incubator for new projects.

We visiting them in the summer of 2008.  Their place is amazing  and it was a great trip.  I got rolfed, we went hiking, horseback riding,  and sat in hours in great conversations.

The request for the interview by Norie came when I told her about my talk I gave at the National Dialogue and Deliberation Conference a few weeks ago in TX.

The interview focused on a few basic themes including monetary policy, healthcare and education.   We differentiated between surface level issues, systems and deep structures.  

For instance in healthcare, a surface level issue is who pay for what type of conventional medical intervention and the  basic debate is about government vs. private insurance.   (You also have some who approach this issue from a more transpartisan perspective and see both private and government insurance programs as problematic such as AAPS.

The next level is systemic and we discussed the different systems of medicine.  Such as the difference between the disese model of health which is what is mostly promoted by the government, private medical institutions and insurance companies ( symptom management with drugs mostly)  and other models.  

This was followed by the more basic question which is deep structural in nature and that is what is appropriate and necessary for human beings to live optimally. This question which we spent time answering seeks newer models (while also realizing they are ONLY models) about health in all areas of human activity.  This is where something like an integral medicine model might come into existence such as the one that the Integral Institute is developing.   

The idea is that the interview is the first one of a few to come which we will turn into a book.   I enjoyed the dialogue with Norie and look forward to the next set of them. 

Pictures of our trip to El Jardin are below.