Peter J. Jessen

"Goals Per Action" Success Consultant

peterjj@peterjessen-gpa.com · peterjjgpa@icloud.com · 9931 SW 61st Ave., Portland, OR 97219 · Tel: 503.977.3240 · Fax: 503.977.3239

ApPlication of Peter Berger

Key Principles of Peter L. Berger: Vis a Vis Sociology of and the Sociology of Knowledge as they Relate to Social Roles, Social Stratification, Social Inequality, and Justice, Peter J. Jessen, Reader, 1993

“calculus of meaning” and “calculus of pain”

From  Solution Paper #45a, about planning:  The terms “calculus of meaning” and “calculus of pain” are taken from Chapter 17 of The Minneapolis Story and were coined by Peter Berger in his book Pyramids of Sacrifice:  Political Ethics and Social Change, a book that he followed up later with a book entitled, The Capitalist Revolution:  Fifty Propositions About Prosperity, Equality, & Liberty, both discussed in The Minneapolis Story.  Can we not say that all of us, regardless of where we stand politically and fiscally, want prosperity, equality and liberty?

Too many on the political left and political right believe we are locked into some kind of political death struggle.  We are not.  To repeat, the big question for planning is whether it should be top down or bottom up or some combination of these two.  It is not “either/or”.  It is “both/and”.  The question is how.

When preachers in their churches and pulpits, whether Black or White, whether one denomination or grouped together with others ecumentically, the ministers of Minneapolis too often work against what is best for the sons and daughters of the African. And we don't mean newly immigrant Blacks, we mean slave descendend Blacks. Ministers are in the middle of most planning discussions. 

What to do? Review the 50 Solutions Papers by Peter Jessen, with Ron Edwards