Mary Catherine Bateson
Mary Catherine Bateson
Mary Catherine Batesonis an American writer and cultural anthropologist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
CountryUnited States of America
Mary Catherine Bateson quotes about
christian imagination religion
The Christian tradition was passed on to me as a great rich mixture, a bouillabaisse of human imagination and wonder brewed from the richness of individual lives.
memories thinking games
Wherever a story comes from, whether it is a familiar myth or a private memory, the retelling exemplifies the making of a connection from one pattern to another: a potential translation in which narrative becomes parable and the once upon a time comes to stand for some renascent truth. This approach applies to all the incidents of everyday life: the phrase in the newspaper, the endearing or infuriating game of a toddler, the misunderstanding at the office. Our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.
teamwork sports women
Traditionally in American society, men have been trained for both competition and teamwork through sports, while women have been reared to merge their welfare with that of the family, with fewer opportunities for either independence or other team identifications, and fewer challenges to direct competition. In effect, women have been circumscribed within that unit where the benefit of one is most easily believed to be the benefit of all.
problem depends solutions
Solutions to problems often depend upon how they're defined.
food humans human-beings
Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food.
inspirational memorable stopping
Of any stopping place in life, it is good to ask whether it will be a good place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain.
commitment democracy politics
The capacity to combine commitment with skepticism is essential to democracy.
caring animal self
A glad welcome to this affirmation by a group of psychologists that the self does not stop at the skin nor even with the circle of human relationships but is interwoven with the lives of trees and animals and soil; that caring for the deepest needs of persons and caring for our threatened planet are not in conflict.
done steps needs
The caretaking has to be done. "Somebody's got to be the mommy." Individually, we underestimate this need, and as a society we make inadequate provision for it. Women take up the slack, making the need invisible as we step in to fill it.
knowledge giving sometimes
Sharing is sometimes more demanding than giving.
past parent realization
When parents die, all of the partings of the past are reevoked with the realization that this time they will not return ...
color vision world
What would it be like to have not only color vision but culture vision, the ability to see the multiple worlds of others.
goal blinkers defined
Goals too clearly defined can become blinkers.
age important way
Improvisation and new learning are not private processes; they are shared with others at every age. We are called to join in a dance whose steps must be learned along the way, so it is important to attend and respond. Even in uncertainty, we are responsible for our steps.