Why Myths in Safety Work As I look back across the 1000 blogs I have written there are many common themes, in a way indicating common concerns of an industry that is most confused and lost. One of the common themes throughout concerns the power of mythology. Mythology is not about fairy tales or fables. […]
myths
Standing on the Myths of Safety
Standing on the Myths of Safety Most people confuse the definition of myth with fable, when this is not the case. When I use the word ‘myth’ in the tradition of Social Psychology its meaning is synonymous with symbolic reality. In Social Psychology a myth and symbol are the flip side of the same coin […]
How the Secular is Made Sacred In Safety
How the Secular is Made Sacred In Safety The work of helping others, listening and conversation is not a sacred activity but should be an everyday activity and one that safety people need to do well. The foundation of good safety is not controlling others in our image but rather listening to others so they […]
Greater or Lesser Harm
Greater or Lesser Harm The ancient Greek cult of the Kriophoros is captured in the image of the ram-bearer’ and can teach us something about the nature of harm. The Kriophoros is also foundational in Early Christian Art (http://albertis-window.com/2017/03/the-mosocophoros-kriophoros-and-early-christian-art/). In the ancient world, the imagery and metaphor of sheep was used as a medium for […]
Visual Perception and the Camera Metaphor
We live by myths and metaphors and some of the myths and metaphors we use in risk are unhelpful. We construct guiding principles that we live by (myths-symbols) and express those myth-symbols in metaphors we use to explain what we believe. These metaphors (Lakhoff and Johnson) then become the way we ‘frame’ and ‘anchor’ our […]
