THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY PROJECT

Janet Rodriguez
OGL 340: The Future of Humanity: Dialogue in the Workplace
Dr. Michael Pryzdia
10/08/2021

Total Word Count: 2448

 PART ONE: SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

1. Technology and influencers have made a big impact on society’s way of thinking today.
If humanity would have not been introduced to such technology and influencers would
our minds be considered “awake”, or would they still be considered “sleeping”? Even
without technology it seemed that humanities minds were close minded. Will the mind
ever be free of thinking for itself and if so, at what cost?
2. If humanity began to look at life as a hologram, would humanity start to be “kinder” to
one another since we are all just tiny figures in a big whole?
3. I usually have a vivid imagination, but imagination may potentially be negative. Kids
very often have vivid imaginations. How do the concepts of thought and dialogue apply
to them? Or are their minds still to underdeveloped? When is one able to enter the
process of dialogue and thought?
4. Thought can create suffering but cannot end them although intelligence can. If one cannot
reach intelligence, will their suffering never end? If suffering brings humanity together,
what does happiness do?
5. How do I know what is my own reality and the reality of someone else? Is the person I
am talking to truly who they say they are or are they just telling me what they think I
would like to hear? Is this other person myself and I am just struggling to trust myself
and my own choices?
6. Can the mind truly be cleansed from coming up with negative and/or positive
assumptions when communicating and if so, how?
7. Would everyone’s perspective of earth change if we all had the opportunity to fly out to
space and look at the world from a small window?
 PART TWO: JOURNALS ENTERIES

Entry 1: Week ending August 26, 2021

Before entering this course, I had not been familiar with Peter Senge’s work. I found
myself completely interested on his perspective of learning and systems thinking method. Senge
believes that in order to fully understand systems thinking, you must look at the system as a
whole instead of individually (Senge, 2006, p.6). Sometimes it is easier to blame one part of an
organization than the entire organization itself. With a mindset like this, it is bound for an
organization to never fully learn from their own mistakes, making it difficult to be successful.
This concept is demonstrated throughout the “beer game”, a simulation that people are invited to
at MIT. To summarize the game, there are three types of players, and each player has an
important role, every decision or action one of the players makes may affect one of the other two
players. I saw this game as a cycle and in the picture of page 50, it clearly demonstrates that it is.
When communication is nonexistent besides what is expected, and a person only focuses on
what they are paid to do then it is sure there is no way of avoiding a state of panic and the
aftermath that comes with it.
Senge states that “the enemy” is when a job position blames another job position, or
maybe even the customer. I can testify that such phrase exists in the workforce because it is hard
for people to look outside their job role, but it is easy to point the finger at someone else to feel
better about ourselves. Since reading about this, I have found it easier for myself to not point
fingers at my own job and accept that whatever happens, good or bad, it happened as whole and
not individually.

Entry 2: Week Ending September 2, 2021

When the physics was a big part of this week’s reading, I will admit that I was not
excited. What can I say, it is not really a strong subject of mine and makes me confused. When
Bohm started explaining about the hologram, I had to reread multiple times to understand what
he was implying. If I begin to view life as a moving hologram then every impact my life has will
not only affect me at that moment, but it will affect my entire past and future as well. Events
must happen to change and shape the entire hologram. We are all very tiny pixels in this very big
whole. If we saw it just like that, we would be gentle with ourselves and the people around us
because acceptance and understanding would be easier to achieve
Additionally, I appreciate Bohm’s view of creativity. He believes art and creativity exist
everywhere and I agree to his statement. Creativity is a never-ending cycle that has been and
forever always will be something that keeps civilization moving forward. People may only think
of painting and drawing when they see the word creativity, but it goes beyond that. Everyday
there is a person creating a new idea, building, or device that can make an impact on whoever
encounters it. I strongly believe that society cannot live without creativity, it is just not possible.
Bohm mentions that a huge conflict in our world today is society consistently bringing about
differences within people, races, social groups, etc. (Pratt, 1993, p.4). This past year has brought
such issues with race and social group high on the surface. It is times like these, especially, that
dialogue must be practiced. Dialogue allows for a much greater sense of deep thinking because it
puts judgment and biased thoughts to the side. It takes a mature person to have an open mind
when we have been accustomed to being surrounded by people who think like us that when we
speak to people who may think differently, we may take offense and refuse to listen.

Entry 3: Week ending September 9, 2021

I found the H.E.A.R. exercise to be extremely helpful, not just in my workplace but in my
everyday life considering how important communication is. Bohm points out that although we
have a variety of ways to communicate in society today, the process itself has changed
dramatically. I completely agree with Bohm’s thoughts on such a matter since the form of
communication through technology is very different from the communication we encounter in
person. The efforts it takes to actively participate in a conversation is much more distinct than
the efforts it takes to reply to a text. I believe that technology has taken away the vital process of
truly connecting with someone and finding a deep level of thinking.
I took the opportunity to practice and apply the H.E.A.R process in my work setting. The
process was super easy for me to follow. I actively listened to my lead when discussing a new
layout that they had in mind. While they explained the layout, I ensured not to think of anything
else but rather try to actively imagine the layout she was explaining. I made eye contact, my
body faced theirs, and I nodded so they knew their words were being processed by me. Towards
the end of the explanation, I asked questions and made suggestions. This helped me to fully
comprehend and clarify what was shared. The H.E.A.R. exercise is a tool I will use often when
communicating with others because I found it have positive outcomes.
I would be lying if I said that my listening skills are always in tip top shape. Like
everyone, I have days where my energy is super low as well as my concentration. Even if my
body language and eye contact seem to be 100% there, I can be in my own world and pay no
attention whatsoever on what is going on around me. I noted that this is a habit I would like to
improve because I would not like that the person, I am speaking with feel like they’re being
ignored or not listened to.

Entry 4: Week ending September 16, 2021

Krishnamurti’s teachings were intriguing to me but also confusing at the same time. I say
confusing because he made his lifestyle sounds so much less complicated than mine, which made
me question how he could live the way he did. In one form or another, it would be fascinating to
apply such teachings to my life and see the affects it has. He was confident in his beliefs but
never tried to push his own views on other people. I found this to be respectful because many
people who may have such a high influence like Krishnamurti may take advantage of their
followers, but he never did. It is obvious his teachings had a positive impact on many people
since everyone who appeared in the required videos was amazed and inspired by his perspective
on thoughts.
Krishnamurti’s comparison of thoughts being like scattered pages was a perfect example
of how I view my own thoughts. Most days I feel like my own thoughts are like scattered pages
because of how often I think about what I must do today, tomorrow, next week, etc. Sometimes I
must remind myself to just breathe and be in the moment before I can even think about my next
steps. I would think that this is common in most people today since our society now is moving in
such a rapid pace. Such scattered thoughts may come from thinking where we should be instead
of where we are right now.
Watching the videos and reading the required material made me feel if I were to be stuck
in a room with Krishnamurti, I would feel the most comfortable and at peace. I say this because I
think his confidence and open mind would reassure me that I am with someone that I can speak
freely too without the feeling I am being judged.

Entry 5: Week ending September 23, 2021

I have watched bits and pieces of The Matrix, but the clip of The Oracle was new to me. I
had to watch a couples of times so that I could understand. The Oracle to me was a metaphor for
my own thoughts, the general humans own thoughts to be exact. The Oracle proves to know the
future by knowing exactly what decision Neo is going to make, despite his want to go against it
just to prove her or possibly himself wrong. As people grow up, the begin to formulate their own
opinions, ideas, actions, and so on. Even though people formulate such judgments, they allow
other judgments to go up against theirs. I feel this is where people become confused or become
hard on themselves.
With the focus on dialogue in this course, thoughts are a major part of how dialogue may
not meet its full potential in the first place. As someone who can “overthink” or allow my own
thoughts to affect my emotions it can acknowledge why dialogue can be difficult to achieve
sometimes. I truly enjoyed Corey Anton’s video and his explanation of Bohm’s words. Anton
made the concept of dialogue make so much sense in such a small matter of time. Anton explains
the concepts of suspension and suppression in his video. We should be able to suspend the action
without suppressing it, if not possible we must observe the suppressing without suppressing that
suppression, he shares from On Dialogue by David Bohm. The challenge in this concept is to try
and not overthink what someone else may say to you, despite its negative or positive remarks.
Personally, this would be challenging for myself because I feel my thoughts have a mind of their
own sometimes. As a society, we have normalized having our own opinions and making the
world out by what our own thoughts have created. We have permitted our minds to go to "sleep"
as explained in the video, A Light to Oneself, because society has led us to believe what they
want us to believe.
I hope that one day I can go a full day of having an open and clear mind that is not
interrupted by own thoughts when communicating with another person. It is vital for people to
learn from one another, to listen to other stories, and their view on certain topics but that will
never be achievable if we keep out minds asleep.
Entry 6: Week ending September 30, 2021

The left-hand column exercise was interesting. I say it was interesting because it gave me
a perspective of myself that I had never really noticed before. With this exercise, I realized I
filter myself when I speak out loud in comparison to what I say to myself in my head. Which I
think happens to most people but what goes on in my mind is more blunt/sarcastic than what is
said, and I don’t like that. I practiced the exercise when speaking to the other lead of mine at my
work. The conversation we had was about a project that the older kids at my job did with my
lead. Since COVID, we have been short staffed which means one out of the two leads has to take
charge of the 4-6th grade group. We work on projects and curriculum with the kids. There are
some days where my lead decides to change the curriculum to make it “easier” or decides to not
do it at all. At times the “easier” route they decide on ends up not working or becoming a failure.
There was a certain day that I saw this occurrence happen and I just felt the need to question
them about it. A lot of ifs and whys kept coming up in my head, but I picked and chose which
one of them got to be said out loud. I learned that throughout this conversation, I hold myself
back from saying what I am really thinking. This may be because I am speaking to someone who
is in charge, and I would not want them to feel like I am insulting them or second-guessing their
choices. As I worked through the exercise, I realize I could have gone about the conversation in a
different manner. Next time I could voice my concerns on how sudden changes in the curriculum
can have a negative effect and create confusion. Doing this, I could open another door that leads
to having a conversation about curriculum in general and how we can make changes that suit
everyone. My biggest realization was that I allowed myself to get irritated when I didn’t have to,
I have full control of my emotions and I let my thoughts control them instead.

Entry 7: Week ending October 7, 2021

This chapter was short, but I found that what Rusty Schweickart had to say about his
journey to space was very deep. He gathered a whole new perspective of planet earth, little by
little his appreciation for it grew bigger. Just by reading his chapter I feel like I was viewing
earth from space. My understanding of the reading was that us humans literally live on this big
rock that over the course of many years have been able to live and survive on so we should view
ourselves as one instead of categorizing ourselves so often. His statement of seeing the earth
from such a perspective and comparing it to a baby about to be born was so pure to me. I believe
that babies are too pure and innocent for this world, and with them comes an open mind because
they have not been influenced by society yet. Rusty seems to shake all the good and bad from
what he knows of earth so that such biases won’t allow him to ruin his image of seeing the earth
as one. It seemed that the farther and longer away Rusty was from planet Earth, the more he saw
the planet entirely instead of separately. After a while, the border lines disappear for him, and he
begins to admire the different perspectives he sees. Dialogue is about having an open mind and
being judgment free. With his new views of earth, I think his ability to practice dialogue will be
much easier because he looks at the world as one and has an interest in different perspectives.
The moments spent in space are memories that Rusty is going to look back on for the rest of his
life. These are the memories that will aid him back if he begins to think of earth separately again,
and if I were him, I would hold onto those memories very tightly.
 References

Pratt, D. (1993). David Bohm and the Implicate Order.

Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth Discipline. Random House Business.