[Host's Note: At, it is so nice to hear your voice again in our dialogue
here! All the best in your continued recovery! ...Rick]
I want to thank all who have written to me in private, wishing me a well
recovery with my illness. I had an attack of influenzia seven weeks ago
which incapacitated my pancrease. The result was that I became a full
diabete (high glucose) in less than a week. The glucose concentration in
the blood is measured in miilimol per liter (mmol/l). For a normal person
it is between 4 and 8 mmol/l with 6 mmol/l the average figure. But in the
high glucose diabete it can jump up to 16 mmol/l. Such a person can fall
into a coma when the glucose level gets higher than 20 mmol/l. I was very
lucky because on my first visit to the doctor it was a massive 28 mmol/l.
The pancreas produces insulin. The insulin is necessary for the osmosis of
glucose (a basic form of sugar) from the blood vessels into the cells of
every organ in the body. The glucose in the cells serves as the primary
source of energy. With too little insulin the cells become energy starved.
The result is that a person tires more easily. Another result is that the
limbs shake easily, trying to step up the osmosis of glucose from the
veins to the cells.
Furthermore, unless a person follows a diet poor in glucose (no sugar,
little starch), the concentration of the glucose in the blood rises
sharply, making the blood thicker. Hence the flow of blood in the thin
capillary veins become less. This effect on the various body organs is
disastrous. The kidneys, for example, loose their ability to remove excess
salts from the blood. The result is that the osmotic pressure in the blood
rises so that the person becomes increasingly thirsty. A further result is
that the person have to urinate more frequently.
A person's body can serve as a "physical example" of a learning
organisation. Think of the various organs of the body as the members of
the body as organisation. In his book The Ffith Discipline Peter Senge
discusses a number of learning dissabilities pertinent to learning
organisations. One of them is the parable of the boiled frog. If a frog
in a container with water is heated very slowly, the frog will boil to
death because of failing to notice the slow change in temperature. On the
other hand, if the frog is dropped into a container with hot water, it
will jump out to save itself.
In my case my pancrease began to produce less insulin about 9 months ago.
But it happened very gradually. For the next six months the glucose level
rose from an average of 6 mmol/l to approximately 9 mmol/l. As a result I
became more easily tired. My body weight also increased without eating
more. Since I am 55 years old, I thought it was merely the result of
entering the "male menopause" -- not serious enough to mention to a
doctor.
Then, during November/December my dear wife became very ill. For several
days she battled with death. After this ordeal I told her that I cannot
handle illness in the family anymore. I said to her that we have to take a
vacation as soon as possible to get rid of the stress of her illness. I
was strangely surpised that her illness caused such "stress" within me and
that I was not able to reduce it as usual by irrevrsible
self-organisation. I was constantly tired and my hands began to shake on
several occasions. The stress of her illness caused my pancrease to
produce even less insulin. The glucose level in my blood rose to perhaps
12 mmol/l after eating or drinking. But I suspected nothing. I even read
posters on the hospital walls describing the symptoms of diabetes without
realising that I was fast becoming a candidate myself.
I was a frog heading for disaster because the "water was heating too
slowly". I was used to working 16 hours a day and thought that finally I
had to live a more normal life because age was catching up on me. But my
body was not working like a learning organisation any more.
Fortunately, God threw some very hot water in the container. Suddenly the
"temperature of the water rose perceptively". How?
About seven weeks ago I had an attack of influenza. Strangely enough, it
affected my lungs for only a couple of days. But then the ordeal began. I
became more thirsty by the day. I began to lose energy and power at such a
rate that it surpirsed me. I had to rest after every 100 yards of walking.
After the sixth day I drank apprximately two gallons (eight liters) of
liquid. My eye sight became so bad that I had difficulty to make out even
the large letters of street names. To write on the computer became a
nightmare. Worst of all, my mind (the brain cells also need energy to work
properly) began to falter. I felt like having Alxheimer's disease,
forgetting things easily. I wanted to sleep day and night, not realising
that I was rushing towards a dangerous coma. I finally decided to pay the
doctor a visit because almost every organ in my body began to fail. This
includes the manager -- my brain. I suspected the immergence of my brain
least, not realising that with less energy the neurons will function less
efficiently.
I feel much better now. I have to follow a diet low in glucose -- no sugar
and little starch. I take pills which are intended to activate the
pancreas again. It is slowly increasing the production of insulin,
probably now at 25% the normal rate. It is also beginning to produce it
more evenly on demand. Unfortunately, my eyes were the organs which took
the worst hammering.
The doctor is surprised at the rate of my recovery -- one of his best
cases ever. I explained to him that it is the manager of my bodily
organisation which is now learning what is wrong and taking the correct
actions while helping the other members of the body to learn a new way of
living. He frowned, probably thinking that I am using an unusual metaphor
-- the body as a learning organisation.
While recovering, I had ample time to think secludedly -- not having to
cope with the day to day "assault" of the information explosion on my
mind. I now have a vivid mental picture of what happend with the Great
Influenza eoidemy after WWI. Approximately 25 million people died in the
developed countries alone as a result of this epidemy. Their bodies
ceased to function as learning organisations. The same thing can happen
again. The present flu in South Africa (coming form the far east as usual)
is like a minor version of that great epidemy.
The next strain might be more virulent. If so, are our organisations
geared to deal with such an epidemy? What will happen to your organisation
if one out of every three members are incapacitated in a couple of weeks
while one out of every eight members will die? Will the health, funeral
and insurance services in your region be able to cope with such a large
number of cases? What about yourself? Which strained organ in your body
will be the most likeable victim?
But let us look beyond the possible illness of our bodies. What about
possible "illnesses" in our technologies? Take as example our reliance on
fossil fuel in the transport, farming and chemical industries. Have you
noticed how the price of energy has gradually increased, far more than the
inflation rate? Have you noticed how you gradually consume more energy?
How much of your budget depends directly and indirectly on energy? What
will become of you when the price of fossil fuel doubles in less than a
year? I your energy consumption is 3% of your budget, you will probably
handle another 3%. But if yor budget is 30% (taking into account all
indirect consumption), what will another 30% do to you?
Last, but not the least, what about spiritual illnesses rather than
physical illnesses? Crime, violence, unemployment, drug abuse, depression
and other social mishappenings are rising in almost every country. The
water gets hotter, but we as the frogs fail to do anything about it
because it is happening so slowly. What sudden heating is necessary to
take corrective measures? We here in South Africa have moved from the
ideology of apartheid to an open and free democracy. Yet, even for this
mighty positive change, in less than four years our figures for social
mishaps have increased immensly -- in some sectors up to 600%. Recovery is
not yet in sight.
Although the pancreas is a relative big organ in our body which plays a
vital role through its production of insulin, we are unaware of this until
the pancreas shuts its activty down. Suddenly every cell is starving of
energy. In my case it was an infection by the ordinary flu virus. But
there are also other possible causes. For example, in the past few weeks I
have learned of several women who became full diabetes because of the
shock of child birth. Any severe shock, physical or psychological, can do
this to the pancreas. Let us think of the shock of a spiritual birth --
the shock of an emergence in the world of mind. What future emergence will
shock us so much that we will become aware how much we have drifted away
from learning as individuals and organisations? What shut downs will make
us aware of the dangerous path we had been following? What role will
Internet be playing?
Best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>