THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY PROJECT

Kristin Keeby
OGL 340: The Future of Humanity: Dialogue in the Workplace
Dr. Michael Pryzdia
10/10/2019
Total Word Count: 2608 words
 PART ONE: SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

1. How are we to be able to discern between a problem and a paradox in everyday life?

2. If thought is a material process, would proprioceptive thought and meditation affect our

physical as well as mental well being?

3. Is it possible to begin putting Bohm’s teachings into action in today’s world? If so, what

would it take to do so?

4. Would the implementation of Bohm’s teachings, such as the emphasis on participatory

thought, in today’s world impact our technological advances, since they rely so heavily

on literal thought?

5. What is truly absolutely necessary? Does it vary between individuals?

6. Would the aversion to fragmentation of thought make it possible for us to take away the

borders or distinctions between countries and just have one whole world?

7. Would the concept of suspension help those with emotional regulation disorders such as

those with Borderline Personality Disorder?

 PART TWO: JOURNAL ENTRIES

Journal Entry 1: Week Ending 08/29

The whole concept of life in relation to “The Matrix” is incredibly profound to me. Sure,
I have been exposed to the idea numerous times in my schooling such as in English class when
discussing “The Truman Show.” However, I mostly applied that to the media and the way it
shapes our reality. I had never considered that my own way of thinking might be the source of
my false reality. The idea exemplified in the film and touched on at the end of the syllabus of the
“red pill” and “blue pill” further sparked my interest. I found myself thinking “well obviously I
choose the red pill” and then doing so. After all, aren’t we all here for an education? To become
more aware and knowledgeable of the world around us? I was then struck with the realization
that some people would honestly not want the red pill, and I was baffled. I felt that I could not
wait to explore this notion further, hopefully in this course. Why would people want to live in a
lie created by their own way of thinking? Was it because it was more comfortable? Was it
because it was safe? What was the point of any of that if not of it was the truth?
I was pulled further into this study by the concept of being a prisoner of the system. This
was told through a tale known as the beer game. I had seen this constantly be nearly avoided and
exemplified in my own workplace and, thus, was truly intrigued as to how to succeed should I be
one of the players. I am still unsure as to how to succeed fully in the game, but I did have an
idea. Coming strictly from the position of retailer, as I am a retail worker, if you notice sales
doubling, then double your order from four cases to eight. If only four cases are delivered, order
under the assumption that the other four are still on the way and will be delivered in the
following delivery. Thus, you would only order four cases. I feel as though this would give the
wholesaler and the brewey time to catch up on their backlogs while not over ordering due to
backlogs on delivery and having too much, as is what happened in the story. Though I am unsure
whether this would be ultimately successful in the beer game, I think it is definitely a start.

Journal Entry 2: Week Ending 09/05

I never really thought that I would be reading about quantum physics in my

organizational leadership class. That being said, after completing the readings for this week, it
entirely makes sense. After reading the Pratt article, I understood exactly why it was being
mentioned. Suddenly, I could relate it to our other readings in ​On Dialogue​ as well as other
ideals expressed in the class. Being a part of the whole, the implicate order, related so strongly to
the Beer Game and to being a prisoner of the system or a prisoner of ourselves. In Bohm’s
article, when he mentioned that Bohr’s interpretation did not really give a clear sense of reality, I
was reminded of the Organizational Learning Disabilities including becoming your position. In
the beer game, when they players became their positions, they did not have a clear sense of
reality and how they were a part of the whole; how their actions affected the other players in a
sort of implicate order and enfoldment. The topic of mechanism relates to the system discussed
in the beer game as it is sort of a mechanical system.
I was also in awe when Bohm further related quantum physics, which I was relating to
organizations, to art and Impressionism. I have studied art before and was an Art History major
for a while so not only was this a nice reminder and a sort of familiar face, but it also helped me
further understand the implicate order and how everything is everything. Impressionist paintings
are meant to be viewed at a distance, for when they are viewed up close, all you see are splotches
of color, but when you step further away, the pieces unfold into the whole and you see the work
of art as a whole painting, and it becomes beautiful.
Making all of these connections and becoming so aware of all of these realizations, I felt
like a person with a string map on a wall trying to make wild connections and explain it to
others, like one would see in a crime drama. I think I liked it though. I liked being so aware and
making connections left and right so that everything in the world is a part of a whole and makes
sense. I suppose I felt like I was learning. For a moment there I even considered studying
quantum physics instead of organizational leadership because I thought it would allow me to
have more of this feeling. I am sort of addicted to it now. Can knowledge be a drug of choice?
After being able to relate quantum physics to organizations and economics to art, I think I can
confidently say I am one step closer to becoming aware of the Matrix.

Journal Entry 3: Week Ending 09/12

I have never read so many pages on the topic of dialogue. I will admit, at first I thought it
was going to be very repetitive in nature. However, once I got about 10 pages in, I noticed the
meaning in each section and how deeply it delved further and further into the topic. I was able to
feel my mind growing with all of the knowledge flowing into it. It was an awesome experience;
that is really the only way to describe it: awesome. It was almost as if I was engaging in a
dialogue with myself as Bohm suggested is possible in his writing. Ideas were flowing in and out
of my thoughts in a sort of movement. I was attempting to pay attention to my thoughts as
discussed in the reading. Through this sort of mindfulness, I found myself exhibiting a lot of the
ideas Bohm presented as “blocks.” For instance, I had thought a lot of doubts about how a
dialogue would work. In these doubts, I also blamed other people in ruining the essence of the
dialogue, never myself. This brought to light a lot of what Bohm was mentioning and helped
further my understanding and expand my knowledge.
I have begun to realize the stamina required in this class. While it is very much enjoyable
and a great educational experience, it does take stamina. The readings can sometimes be long
and arduous to get through but, like running a marathon, I was better after I completed it. While
my body, per say, is not growing in stamina, my mind is. It is able to comprehend more in a
shorter amount of time and is able to take in more information. This is something I have always
longed for; this is why I came to a university.

Journal Entry 4: Week Ending 09/19

Oh my, I feel as though I have never dealved so far into a topic before.
I feel as though the sort of high I felt in my previous journal entries has been addressed;
although it was addressed as part of the incoherence of thought. This hurt me; I was excited
about what I was learning and was excited that my mind felt expanded. I felt that I was getting
closer to understanding coherent thought. Bohm mentioned that putting your reflexes into words
is a step towards making them explicit, which would help lead to coherent thought and gaining
control of reflexes. I am unsure as to whether or not I was successful in that just then. I would
like to think I was. Tying off of my feelings, Bohm also stated that if one is getting pleasure or
pain from a thought then it is no longer coherent, as the main criterion for something being
coherent is that it is true and correct, not if it brings us pleasure or pain.
This was my first clue that I was not as close to discovering coherent thought as I had
previously thought. I decided to stay mindful of my disappointment and my sadness, as I
hypothesize that this relates to the awareness Bohm mentioned in relation to thought, as was the
main idea of Krishnamurti. I have also noticed that, this week, I feel betrayed by everything I am
writing down, everything I am thinking; even the word “thinking” feels like a betrayal. I am
unsure if I am making connections and understanding the material or if my thought is simply
telling me that I am. I feel as though I am in a sort of a crisis with all of this new information,
bringing to light my incoherence. I do not know yet how to overcome it, but I hope some peace
will come to me in later modules. Maybe this is all a part of seeing the matrix, of discovering the
true reality. Maybe this means I am close.

Journal Entry 5: Week Ending 09/26

Meeting the Oracle helped me to piece together the puzzle Bohm’s teaching created for
me. Personally, the Oracle served as a sort of personification of thought in my mind. This
allowed me to grasp more readily Bohm’s claim that ​thought is a system creating an image of an
individual who is the source of thought. I began to feel as though, in my personifying thought in
the image of the Oracle, was my thought doing just that? Was it thought attempting to keep itself
hidden by further instilling in me the image of a “thinker” or the image of an individual who is
the source?
 I then began to wonder if this was the intent in showing us that clip. Was it a harmless
intention simply to help us assimilate the knowledge from the Bohm’s writing? Or was it to
gauge whether or not we would be aware of the trap that the personification places us in? This
then led to the question: how would we get out? If we were unaware that we were even in a trap,
would we ever be able to escape? Would we want to? Would the simple fact of being stuck be a
problem or a paradox?
What else in my life had I seen as a problem which, in reality, was a paradox? When had
I been unable to discern between the two? If I was able to stay aware of the fact that a “problem”
may indeed be a paradox, then I would be able to resist getting stuck in an endless search for a
solution and more easily dissolve the paradox? The question then becomes, would I be able to
escape the trap and become aware of the repercussions caused by my personification of thought?
If I am aware of whether or not something is a paradox or a problem, would that also make me
aware of the trap, itself? I suppose this ties into the age-old question: if a tree falls in a forest and
no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Journal Entry 6: Week Ending 10/03

I believe an insight just took place. Throughout this course, I had become increasingly
more aware of thought, seeing it as this evil entity controlling me. Thought was driving me and
was purposefully telling me that it was not doing so, that it was just reporting on what was “out
there” in order to avoid discovery. It was afraid of the power that would arise from the shared
meaning of the collective, as would be possible through dialogue. However, this insight proved
that to be false. Thought is unaware of what it is doing. As proposed by Bohm, if I did not know
what I was doing, everything would go wrong. Such is happening with thought. Thought is
telling you it is not doing something because it actually does not know it is doing it. This made
thought much less threatening to me. I am less scared of uncovering the matrix, per say.
Thought, to me, is sort of childlike. It is unaware of its actions, so it tells you it is not doing
anything. This unknowingness of thought makes it seem like it has a sort of childlike innocence,
where it just does not know.
I do not need to be afraid of thought, just as I do not need to be afraid of a child. The
more aware I am of thought and the system it is, the more aware it becomes of itself. Thought
would thus grow into understanding and sort of, outgrow its childlike innocence through
proprioception. Just as Bohm related proprioception and tacit thought to riding a bike, a pivotal
point in coming-of-age, thought would sort of come-of-age through this proprioception, or it
would become less childlike. Thought needs to be nurtured through suspension, not punished or
forced through suppression. I am now relating the attention to and awareness of thought to
helping a child mature and grow up. This makes it much more tangible in a way, and much less
frightening of a concept.
Journal Entry 7: Week Ending 10/10
I have chills, “goosebumps” as I called them as a kid. I was never extraordinarily
interested in astronomy, it became more so interesting to me as I got older. I simply never
understood the appeal. Why did I need to know what was up in space when everything I needed
was down here on earth? As I got older, I began to notice the wonder of it all, how there are
things out there that I could not possibly even fathom at this moment in time. Reading an
astronaut recount about his or, “our,” time in orbit around earth was a supposed
“earth-shattering” moment for me. I think this could relate to our study of thought, as I was never
truly interested in seeing reality for what it was, or being able to recognize the incoherence of my
thoughts. For a long time, I was happy living in my ignorance. However, as I grew older, I began
to notice. Just as I began to notice the wonders of our universe, I began to notice the wonders of
what lies beyond my representations, of what I may be missing due to preconceptions or errors in
thought.
Rusty Schweickart’s story tied together what I had been searching for with ideals taught
to me this past session. I can identify with where I am from, where I grew up, where I am now,
but to see all of earth as just that: earth, and identify with all of it struck something in me. I live
in a world where borders are discussed daily on the news, where fragmentation is a constant part
of my existence. I am different from them because of this, this, and this and they are different
from me because of that, that, and that. Separation and differences are what seemingly keep us in
line, keep us going, keep us functioning. But to look at it from another perspective, to identify
with just the whole, with everything, is a feeling I am unfamiliar with. To think that this
fragmented society, this fragmented world that I live in, could be seen by another as a whole is
incredible. Rusty Schweickart looked at the earth without being able to see the borders that are
constantly in my view. Perhaps that is the purpose or goal of a dialogue, of a language of systems
thinking: that we should be able to, through a free flow of collective thought, be able to see the
whole just as Rusty was able to.