Thanks to underwriting from IGS member Mr. B.K. Parekh, Chairman of Pidilite Industries Ltd, two seasoned general semantics instructors, Andrea Johnson and Steve Stockdale, recently returned from an 18-day trip to India to introduce general semantics. They gave seminars and workshops at seven different venues in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Anand, and Vadodara, to a total audience of about 350 individuals.

Video

In the following video, Steve Stockdale presents a multimedia montage of images from the trip to India.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-l8Y2-MyM

News Articles

Daily News & Analysis Article

Read an account of one presentation as printed in the daily newspaper DNA (Daily News & Analysis), November 20, 2007, edition.

Click here to read the Daily News & Analysis article.

Gujarati Language Article

The following text is an English translation of an original Gujarati language news article from November 6, 2007.

6 November 2007
Gujurat, India

Chirantana Bhatt Reporting (translation by Professor Sitanshu Yashchandra)

NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON GENERAL SEMANTICS

General Semantics is a topic somewhat unfamiliar to the common man, but it concerns something that plays a very significant role in our daily life. The twelfth National Workshop of the Forum for Contemporary Theory, titled "Cognitive Language Skills for Twenty First Century," discussed extensively details of General Semantics.

Dr. Andrea Johnson, President of the Institute of General Semantics, U.S.A., and Dr Steven Stockdale, its Executive Director, conducted the workshop.

This distinguished National Workshop was planned and organized by Mr. Balvant K. Parekh, Chairman of the Pidilite Industries, India, and President of the Triveni Kalyan Foundation. Speaking to Divya Bhaskar, Mr Balvant Parekh said that he had first read about General Semantics, some twenty-five years back, in the journal, "etc.". General Semantics, Mr. Balvant Parekh said, has been useful to him in every aspect of life, personal, social and professional. "In my professional work within my industry, I had noticed that my employees would, at times, understand what I had told them quite differently from what I intended to convey. General Semantics was useful at such times in solving problems of communication."

Dr. Steven Stockdale, Executive Director of the Institute of General Semantics, told Divya Bhaskar that General Semantics is of key importance in our keeping away from the conflicts, which result from unfulfilled expectations of our subconscious arising out of multiple possibilities before it. General Semantics enables us to keep away from generalizations and to avoid evaluating situations through prejudices."

Talking to Divya Bhaskar, Dr Andrea Johnson, President, said, "General Semantics is not limited strictly to academic reading and information. Only when it is assimilated into life through meditative processes, could it be put into action. General Semantic enables us to avoid coming under undue influence of any single factor and to examine all the different aspects of a situation in order to reach a proper conclusion. People who can question themselves are more readily able to grasp this subject. They are then able to understand that language is a symbolic expression, not a final verdict."

Click here to view the original Gujarati source.