Richard GOODALE wrote:
>John, you wrote eloquently in a recent posting of your organistion as an
>"wormhole" for others (i.e. as a vehicle for allowing young people to be
>brought in, to learn, and then to move on to some other "level"). If you
>now have "faith," will you be able to know if some other person opens up a
>wormhole for you?
Your question is a fair one, Richard. I do believe that there are levels
of learning as well as levels of Knowledge. Dr. Deming's "Profound
Knowledge" as well as our own "team" or "organizational" learning are on
different levels than single loop learning in the same way that data or
information are on a different level than knowledge or wisdom. Belief and
faith have similar properties. The distinguishing characteristic is the
lack of explanatory adequacy which comes with certain synergies. It is
belief in the good side of mind that allows the worm hole to open, that
creates the synergy which allows the system to give up one of its own
creations, to suboptimize itself, to optimize the greater system. I have
been through the looking glass of faith enough times to "know" what I
"believe" and consequently to believe that I know.
When I speak of belief in an organization, it is a synergistic "belief";
the Christian, the Jew, the Bhuddist, the Muslim, the animist, the
pacifist, the communist using their own faith to believe in the
organization and to bring the spirit to bear on the work and the
community. A factory, a basketball team, an infantry platoon can become a
"faith community" in my understanding of faith. Don't confuse At's
understanding with my own. We are, as yet, very different in our seeing
of systems. But we do allow each other access to the wormhole!
John Zavacki
jzavacki@greenapple.com
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