The Future Of Humanity

Austin Halvorson
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Questions

1. If in some places the very nature of collective thought is disrupting and polluting thought, will
recognizing and fixing the issue at the source be enough to change the course of thought? How
can we impact thought as a whole with just recognizing our own thought patterns?

2. Can we as thinkers stop the paradox in thought between societies? Will we be able to relieve
the overwhelming Nationalism that stems from the paradox of thought?

3. Can a society change assumptions over time? Meaning, will a society be able to break
assumptions and stereotypes by taking hold of assumptions in households and teaching children
to do the same? Or will assumptions and stereotypes always reign?

4. If we become aware of thought, can Dialogue be had without ulterior motive or agenda? Or
will there always be an agenda whether small or large?

5. In a society that uses strong participatory thought, can one person who does not have those
participatory thoughts have an impact on the whole? Such as missionaries who go to different
countries.

6. Can one have a discussion with oneself, or would this merely be considered an inner dialogue?

7. Are we as a people controlled by thought, or do we control thought?

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Journal Entries

08/30/2020

While reading this week’s readings I came across one of the most influential things that I feel as

if I can apply to leadership. I read about building a shared vision. I have always thought that as a

leader people will only want to work for someone that they want to work for. I know that

sentence sounds confusing, but I mean it in the context of, if somebody buys in to the message

and the vision of what the company stands for, then they will continually produce at a high level

because they genuinely enjoy working for that certain company or individual. I look at in the

view of where I work now. I currently work at Starbucks and truth be told the company

sometimes is a hard place to keep my head up and keep grinding at. Yet I stay because I think

that the vision of the company is amazing, and I can make it a part of my daily work. I feel as if

everybody when they work needs to find a job where they align with the vision of the company.

The other thing that stuck out to me in this week’s reading was team learning. As Peter Senge

puts it in “The Fifth Discipline”, “When teams are truly learning, not only are they producing

extraordinary results, but the individual members are growing more rapidly than could have

occurred otherwise.” (Senge, 2006) This gives me the first look at dialogue as a team. This

dialogue allows a team to have meaning in the group and allows for greater cohesiveness. I love

the statement about how this type of team learning atmosphere also allows for individual

success. It just goes to show that when the whole group is flowing together that the individual

can thrive.

09/06/2020
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The reading material this week was extremely heavy. I find that from this reading that David

Bohm is a man of extremely high intelligence. (I really wanted to say he was a freaking genius).

I found it interesting while I was reding through the life of David that he invented the dripless

teapot, an amazing idea, yet as soon as he heard that he had to go door to door for sales he

decided to become a theoretical physicist instead. Two things that could not be further apart yet

here they were. I also enjoyed reading about how he wrote the textbook Quantum Theory, and

how he continually was learning and having a dialogue with himself over the concepts presented

by Niels Bohr and what he perceived. What really hit me was the fact that he continued to press

for the answer. Bohm could have given up and just took the research of Bohr and let that be the

end, nut he had an inkling which turned into one of the most regarding theories in all of physics.

While reading the other material this week I got into the heaviness. He talks in the interview

about what the connection between the arts, spirituality and the implicate order and how they can

change the economic model. In this he states that if we look at the Greek word economy, the

definition is a household, if we put that into context we see that he whole earth is our household

and we are all part of the whole. As Bohm says it, “We need the implicit order to see that

everything enfolds everything.” In this we see that nothing is apart from being a part of the

whole. We are all part of the same thing, we are all one.

09/13/2020
 

Going through this module I have learned about having to actually H.E.A.R someone. This gave

me a lot of insight into the process of actually listening to someone and doing more in the terms

of an actual conversation. I used to interject when I wanted to share my opinion or flat out just

interrupt. Through using the exercise I learned that there was more than just speaking. Non

verbal’s play an essential role in the processes of having a dialogue.

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Another thing that I learned throughout this week was the inner workings of dialogue. Dialogue

has many different working features that I never thought about before. Such as he fact that we

are constantly having an inner dialogue with ourselves. Thought is also something that you never

seem to pay attention to. We need to be aware of our thoughts throughout dialogue, we need to

suspend our assumptions and that happens when we are aware of the thoughts we are continually

having throughout our dialogue. It is important to be aware of assumptions but not discourage

opinions. These two things are not evidence of one another. The latter is just something we have

come to the conclusion on because of evidence, while the former is a pre conceived notion that

can hinder success of a conversation.

Dialogue has so many faucets. I originally came into this course believing that dialogue was

something that happens, and that was the end of it. Except, there are so many different neurons

firing in your brain, as well as thoughts that you continually have whether you are aware of them

or not. Dialogue is a complex being, that one can have, but better yet, one can be successful at

when they realize all of the inner working that contribute to communication and dialogue as a

whole.

09/20/2020

“You can see that Nations are established by thought.” This statement by Bohm set something

off inside of me. It got me pondering the very power of thought itself. Is thought something that

can control not only us as humans but control the world at large? People are constantly at war

with one another based on boundaries and borders, resources, and land. Except all of these things

are true, but only in the concepts of our mind and thought. If we push forward we can see that,

then we could accomplish so much more as a society. If we were somehow able to stop thoughts

in the action of thinking then maybe wars could be prevented, or disputes could possibly be

easily rectified. Can we as thinkers change the course of history forever by understanding the
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power of thought? Or will we be continually in a loop that sees thought control not only

ourselves but the people and atmosphere around us? Bohm goes on to say that thought is always

doing something but convinces us that it is just telling us the way things are. This seems like an

extremely dangerous notion. The notion that thought can even convince us that it holds no power

in our perceptions, yet it holds the power to persuade our perceptions. When we look at the

example of a nation, we learn that there are several different patterns of thought, such as this

nation sent a force of aggression, when the perception from the other side could have been an act

of peace and now you have a war. This passage from “Thought as a System” by David Bohm

made the power of thought step into the realm of reality. You never truly thin about these things.

09/27/2020

During the discussion this week we watched a very interesting clip from the movie the matrix. I

had to ponder on the meaning of this clip for a while. I remember first watching the clip and

thinking “is the professor trying to play a trick on us?” The more I thought about it though, the

more I came to my own conclusion. The oracle was talking to Neo about being aware. Being

aware of the thoughts we have, but more so, being aware of the “why.” Why do we end up

having the thoughts that we have. I said this point in the discussion, but I feel it pertinent enough

to write twice so I can fully grasp it into my brain. The oracle asks if Neo wants a piece of candy

and Neo responds basically saying you already know if I am going to take it or not. Finally the

oracle responds by saying that he already made it and he was there to figure out why he made it.

I’ve come to realize from reading the chapters in “On Dialogue” by David Bohm I realized that

the chapter about the problem and the paradox play into the realm of the discussion by talking

about getting to the root of why you react or make decisions in a certain way. As a thinker this

week I tried to bring that into my own life. I tried to understand the root on why I think in certain
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ways, or think in certain patterns. I came to the conclusions that I have done things such as

having thoughts about the handy man at my apartment complex that once I had the thought and

got to the why. I realized that the thoughts I was having were negative thoughts brought on by a

previous friends father who was always rude and worked as a handy man. Maybe I need to

become a counselor, or maybe I just need to understand thought better.

10/04/2020

In “On Dialogue” by David Bohm, chapter six struck a nerve within my soul. When it come to the

suspension of thought. David Bohm talks about how thoughts that are thought over and over create a

pattern that then turns to an automatic reaction. He uses an example of somebody who has thoughts of

anger and violence then acts in violence, the more this person does this action the more the automatic

response turns to violence. This person alone can say I won’t show anger anymore but in turn they turn

their anger inwardly instead of outwardly. Instead you need to grab hold of the thought and get to the

root, switch the pattern of thought to something positive. I have been on a journey this past year. I started

this year with a terrible situation. I was diagnosed with cancer at the end of last year and underwent

Chemotherapy this year. Under the stress of fighting the cancer that was in my body and the destruction

of the world around us due to the pandemic of Covid-19 I had lost hope. Not hope in life but hope in joy.

I felt as if there was nothing that was going to get me out of the situations and all of my thoughts become

hopeless. Through this journey I have been learning how to suspend my thoughts and change the root of

them to something filled with hope and positivity. David Bohm and this book have helped me figure out

the dialogue I have within and the way I can change thought patterns. When thought becomes self-aware

it makes your mind such an easier place to rest in. Applying the things I have learned this week will help

me when it comes to the thoughts I currently have about my situation, but just like negative thoughts

come from patterns of repetitive thought, I need to channel that to my positive thoughts.
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10/08/2020

This week started out with a bang. I awoke to a runny nose and fever, and what do you know? Covid-19

was knocking on my doorstep. I got my test results on Wednesday and have been in isolation ever since.

This dawned in me a couple things. First, I can’t catch a break, and second, the very nature of perception

and dialogue and the ignorance between people’s very misunderstanding of the two have changed the

very atmosphere of the United States. I know a am not drawing from this weeks material, but I felt this

very pertinent to release. The media is a cesspool of different peoples thoughts and dialogue, and whether

you pay attention to Fox or CNN you will have your thoughts invaded by peoples opinions. When this

happens we tend to apply that to our lives without ever figuring out the reasoning why. We live our lives

believing this about the virus or that about the virus, when if we could suspend our thoughts and learn

where the pollution of thought originates we can switch the narrative that the United States is currently

going. Politics have been controlling thoughts and assumptions in people for years, but this year it has

been happening at an unprecedented level. The amount of people who don’t understand that thoughts

have a greater impact on those around them then they think is indescribable. We as a people need to learn

how to look past the narrative that the media spins and plants into our heads, and decipher the thoughts

and make our own decisions. Then after that is done we need to suspend our thoughts about the people

who disagree and understand that we are all part of one whole in the context of implicate order.