THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY PROJECT

Cara Stroud
OGL 340: The Future of Humanity
Dr. Michael Pryzdia
10/9/2020

Total Word Count: 2167 words

 PART ONE: SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

1) If thought is the problem, how do we fix it?

2) How can we trust thought?

3) How can we combine skills in advocacy and inquiry into the workplace? (pg 17 The fifth
discipline)

4) If we are all going in the opposite direction, how are we supposed to have a shared
vision of the future we want to create?

5) How are we supposed to change our way of thinking if thought controls us?

6) How can we create a work environment where people can grow?

7) What is the importance of being a learner first?

 PART TWO: JOURNAL ENTRY

1.) It is hard to believe that we are halfway through this course. I have learned so much
already. I also think that everything that I have learned about thought will be extremely
beneficial when I take Dr. Erwins OGL 340 course next quarter. One thing that is wrong with
thought is fragmentation. "Things which really fit, and belong together, are treated as if
they do not. That's one of the features of thought that's going wrong." (Bohm, 49) I liked
the example that Bohm used when saying that our thoughts are spreading like a virus. My
questions are, how do we keep that from happening? Our thoughts control us, and they
have from childhood, without us even noticing. If we do not see that our thoughts hold us,
how are we supposed to know how to fix it when we do not see the problem's source? Out
of all the readings I did this semester, this is the one thing that caught my attention. I
mentioned earlier that we need to be able to recognize the thought, acknowledge the
thought, and to be able to see what it is. When we start to look at that, then we have
identified the problem.

2.) For us to trust our thoughts, we need to recognize our thoughts and acknowledge our
thoughts. Once we start to look at that, we will be able to find the problem's source. Ideas
alter our perceptions, thought has been and will continue to evolve, our "thoughts" ARE
part of the system. However, our "thoughts" are the source of our problems. David Bohm
sates that "our thoughts are spreading like a virus" for us to stop the virus from spreading,
we must recognize it, acknowledge it, and see what it is. The problem is that we do not
understand how thought works. Bohm also said that thought lacks proprioception. Our
thoughts tell us the way things are; we do not question it. We speak to ourselves, "okay,
this is the way it is going to be." Your feelings get hurt by a close friend, and suddenly, you
are very upset, you start thinking of something that happened in the past that you thought
did not bother you anymore. What happened was you suppressed those thoughts/emotions
until something hurt you, and your thought says, "Hey, remember this." It is hard to trust
thought when our thoughts have a mind of their own. But we can start by recognizing and
acknowledging our thoughts.
3). Balancing inquiry and advocacy is something that I found to be difficult for people. Over
the last six weeks, I have learned that people do not like to expose their thinking effectively and
be able to make that thinking open to help influence the people around them. I know I keep
going back to my old store manager, but I related a decent amount of this context to how she
ran our store. She could not open up to observation and criticism from others. She found it to
be challenging. Her main concern was being "right" even when she was wrong. In the last week
of her employment at the store, I asked if we could sit and chat, and this was after she had told
the team she was asked to step down. There was a fragile line between being her friend
currently and being and being her college. She agreed to sit down with me, asking her if I could
offer her some feedback. She refused. She could not admit that there were areas that she could
have done better. There were multiple times when I tried to coach her on a small task, and she
would immediately shut me down without hesitation. Because she was the "leader" of the
store, she could never admit that she was wrong. When I go back and think about it, I think she
was afraid of being vulnerable and coming off as weak. In her head, I think she believed that
she had to know all the answers to every situation because that was her job. Bohm said, "If
your attitude is a proper one, you say, okay. I acknowledge the incoherence. I will let go of my
past knowledge. Let me find out. You find out what is wrong, and you change it." (Bohm, 89)
She was reluctant to admit that her past knowledge was inaccurate, and she refused to be
retrained. Being right was her number one priority.

4.) Shared vision: Ahh, I can say so many things about the importance of having a shared
vision. If I am honest, I was not aware of the importance of having a shared vision and the
repercussions of not having a shared vision, especially in the workplace. I was able to relate to
David Bohm when he said, "But many leaders have personal visions that never get translated
into shared visions that galvanize an organization." (Bohm, 11) I recently had a manager who
was asked to step down from her position for many reasons. She was running a busy Starbucks
store amid a global pandemic. Although she might have had this personal vision of how our
store should be operating, it never got translated into a shared vision that exited the
organization as a whole. For the store to function at high capacity, we all needed to be going in
the same direction. The issue was that, because we did not have a shared vision, we did not
know which direction we needed to be heading. Meghan, my old store manager, most likely
had a personal idea, but she failed to make it a "shared" vision amongst her team. Until her
vision became a shared vision, any goal that we might have had as a team would have been
unattainable.

5.) Everything is finally starting to click! I have been able to take context from, The Fifth
Discipline, Thought as a System, and Bohm on Dialogue, and relate it to real-life issues, inside
and outside of my place of work. I find it funny how I am now more aware of my actions and
the actions of other people around me, especially when it comes to my ways of thinking.
Thought is something that we do every second of every day. We think without realizing it. Our
thoughts are in a constant whirlwind. I never realized how much my thoughts controlled me
until after taking this course. Our thoughts have controlled us from the beginning of time. Until
we can understand thought, it will continue to control us. "Thought is always doing a great deal,
but it tends to say that it hasn't done anything, that it is just telling you the way things are."
(Senge, 5) You see, this is the problem! Our thoughts tell us, "This is the way things are," and
because of that, we do not question our thoughts, but we should be. How are we supposed to
change our way of thinking if thought controls us? I met one of my best friends last week for
lunch. I ended up getting a reservation because of the limited seating due to COVID. I sent her a
text and told her I was leaving my place, and I would meet her at the restaurant at 12:30. She
replied, "I am on my way." I get to the restaurant 15 minutes early, 12:30 approaches, she is
not here yet. That is okay. She probably hit some traffic. I wait for 10 minutes and send her a
text to see where she was at, no reply. It is now at 1 o'clock. We have lost our reservation
because the whole party needed to be there to be seated. At this point, I was fuming! How can
she not text me and tell me she is running late? We have been best friends for quite some time.
How can she be so inconsiderate of my feelings and my time? As I am walking to my car to head
home, I see her walking to the restaurant. In my head, I am going to tell her exactly how I feel
and how disrespected I feel. Tara hurt my feelings. Before I could get one word out, she
apologized profusely and said that she would have texted me, but she forgot her cell phone at
home. She did not want to turn around and grab it because she did not want to keep me
waiting and that there was a car accident on the main highway that had traffic backed up. I
then started to feel bad for her, which shows how our feelings are affected by our thoughts. I
could change my way of thinking by taking a moment and saying that there is no reason for me
to be angry anymore; she did not blow me off. She had a valid reason why she did not show up
on time. "If thought goes wrong, everything goes wrong" (Bohm, 58). If my thought had gone
wrong, I would have gone off on her, and I would have had more significant issues than her
showing up late. We would have gotten into an argument that could have been prevented.
Because I recognized how I was feeling and acknowledged it, I handled the issue with a clear
mind.

6.) I was reading The Fifth Discipline, and there was a quote by Teerlink, "Being truly
committed to growing people is an act of faith." (Senge, 262) We have to believe that people
have visions of their visions that matter, and they want to be a part of the result. People who
are committed to growth will look inside themselves and find where their shortcomings are and
correct them as they see fit, they ask for feedback. Senge explains that these beliefs are not
taken lightly by control-oriented managers. When someone is committed to growing, they are
committed to being a lifelong learner. However, if you are working in an environment where
your learning is being undermined, you stop growing. When you stop learning, you stop
growing. It is a vicious cycle. "The discipline of dialogue also involves learning how to recognize
the patterns of interaction in teams that undermine learning. The patterns of defensiveness are
often deeply engrained in how a team operates." (Bohm, 12)

7.) My major is in Organizational Leadership, and I felt it essential to read The Fifth Discipline
from cover to cover. I am always looking for ways to improve myself mentally and physically,
inside the workplace, and at home. I received my certification in personal training and a
certificate as a weight loss specialist last year. My passion for fitness comes from a love for
people. I did not know what it meant to be a learner until I got into the fitness industry. I
learned the importance of genuine relationships, vulnerability, and the importance of inspiring
passion in others. When I look back to my first weeks as a personal trainer, I think of my
commitment to my clients, myself, and the gym I was working. I realize that my commitment
kept me from learning. I begin to stand back and "learn" from my clients. I learned how to lead
and how to be vulnerable in situations that caused me fear. "Change naturally induces fear in us
all: fear of the unknown, fear of failure, of not being needed in a new order of things." (Senge,
335) When COVID hit, and the gyms closed, I was induced with an ample amount of fear! What
am I going to do next? What if I am not able to get another job in a gym? I have worked in a
gym for quite a while. What if I fail at a new job elsewhere? Bohm mentions how we are our
position, and that holds so much meaning. I felt like training was all that I knew at that moment
in my life, and because of that, I was panicked and feared what to be the worst in my eyes,
failure. I am now a shift supervisor at Starbucks, and I could catch on quickly, but I was only able
to catch on as soon as I did because I was a learner first.