On Dialogue [Paperback]

Bohm has a certain style in his writing which makes him stand out from others who write on similar topics. One aspect is his willingness to suspend his own viewpoint, at least to some degree, by introducing his approach to communication on an intimate level. This does not mean the kind of intimacy between lovers but it is of the same kind. What does this mean ? It means that it is communication without the presence of walls/barriers which interfere with the ability of one person to give rise to the same meaning in the mind of the other. This is the essence of communication at its most basic. The 'normal' mode of cummunication which takes place between people nowadays is way short of this ideal. The social barriers and thought constructions which are firmly embedded in the mind of most induce various automatic or reflex reactions when questions or comments are made which are in some way outside of the "allowed" list. These reactions can vary from fear, the most common, to anger and eventually in extreme cases to violence. How do they arise ? Through purely reflex reactions generated from countless experiences which promote a protective response because of the "existence" of the self. I say existence in inverted commas because Bohm denies this has any reality. Bohm uses his dialogue mode of communication to let people face their thought reflexes and stay with them ie staying aware while their mind and body undergoes its automatic reactions. Only this allows the mind to go beyond these usually unconscious reactions and proceed into a place where creation can occur. This means the creations of new ideas rather than a fallback into the old ones. This form of communication is far from easy to undergo and reactions of fear would be common as would eventual anger and frustrations as the self attempts to dominate in some way by either trying to control the dialogue or hide from it. This is overcome by staying with the discomfort until it dissipates by itself.

Dialogue offers much more than the current ways of communication such as discussions or negotiations which never face the serious issues. Bohm stresses the pathless approach, ie one where no direct goal is provided and no leader selected. This has some similarity to tribal councils practised by native Americans for example.

In this book Bohm through examples and ideas develops this mode to something useful for all of society. Bohm always leaves room for ideas to be generated from his own beginnings. As usual a superb book.

Author Bohm, David. Year (1996) Title On Dialogue, Publisher Routledge: New York, NY Pages 95 Comments On Dialogue provides the reader with the feeling of dialogue. The effect while reading is akin to the movement from alpha to beta brain waves. An aura develops around one's thinking and experience that is qualitatively different than usual. It has the feel of the deep night dialogues round the campfire. It engenders thinking on a different level. Read this book if you are interested in the story behind the story on dialogue as mentioned by Senge and if you are attracted to exploring ideas on thinking about thinking. Do not read this book if you are looking for a quick, easy, step by step requiring no egagement process for developing dialogue. The writing style is a flowing narrative. The complexity lies in the topic not in the language usage. Highligts: · A clear understanding of suspending assumptions. · Experiencing the mood of dialogue for self dialogue. · Dialogue means no purpose, no agenda, and not doing anything. · Thought is the problem- it's the ideas that matter. · The importance of observation of content and process. · The introduction to the concept of participatory thought. · The increased understanding of the concept of the implicate order

I read this book from two perspectives (1) is it useful for business? (2) Does it present some innovations in modern Buddhist thinking?
Every substantial business holds innumerable internal meetings. The participants will all say that they waste a lot of time in those meetings. Why do they waste so much time? Jack Welch in his book "Winning", in chapter two, "The biggest dirty little secret in business", writes that the problem is LACK OF CANDOR. "People do not express themselves with frankness". "They just don't open up; instead they withhold comments or criticism". "It is absolutely damaging". "Yet, lack of candour permeates almost every aspect of business."
David Bohm explains why this is the case and what you can do about it. The cause is that people hold opinions to which they are attached and when another person expresses another opinion and criticises the opinion of the first person, the instant reaction of the criticised person is to defend his opinion. This leads to an incredible waste of time and emotional energy. Instead the person whose opinion is criticised should suspend immediate reaction and try to understand what the assumptions are on which the opinion of the other person is based and suspend judgement and reaction. Before reacting he should also examine the assumptions on which he based his different opinion. This does require control over one's emotions and thought process.
David Bohm, being a great scientist, includes an amusing story about scientists. Max Planck a German Nobel Prize winning physicist, said about dialogues between scientists: "New ideas don't win, really". "What happens is that the old scientists die and new ones come along with new ideas". If that happens in business, that is no innovation, the company dies sooner rather than later.
This is one of the best books to understand and learn about creating candid dialogues.
Buddhism and new ideas.
The Dalai Lama refers to David Bohm as his guru. They met many times. Some useful ideas you can not easily find in Buddhism are the following.
Buddhism emphasises that you must try to reduce negative thoughts and emotions like, anger, jealousy and greed. Bohm emphasises that you must learn to observe your thinking process including the influence of emotions. Observing the thought process is a step beyond reducing negative thoughts and emotions. Another insight is that thoughts are from the past and so are feelings for which there is no word, he suggests the word "felts". Thinking is a current process that is influenced by thoughts and "felts". Also something you have to watch.
Bohm recommends that that if you talk and listen to other people you have to observe their body language, people do not communicate only with their voice. Candid dialogue depends on the ability to listen, to ask questions, almost more than on what you say.
Bohm explains the importance of coherence. Incoherence means that your intention and your results do not agree. Ordinary light is incoherent, the light goes in all sorts of directions, and if it is coherent it becomes a laser that is very powerful. Most groups are incoherent; the thinking of the members goes also all over the place. If they can think coherently and constructively the group develops enormous power. The power of coherent thinking in a group is an important concept. Coherent does not mean that all follow the leader. It means the group of many thinks creatively as one.
The book actually concentrates on dialogue on the level of society, so you have to modify some of the ideas to fit in a business environment.

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