<Replying to LO9323 --
<The question that is running through my mind is can dogma and learning
<co-exist? Is this going to turn into a creationism vs. evolution type
of
<debate?
Bill asks a very good question: Can dogma and learning co-exist? To me
getting to this question is the constructive fruit of this thread. It
transcends all division between religions. Bill told me, after reading
my previous post, "probably not." I'd like to expore this further.
Peter Drucker, in the Post-Capitalist Society, used a term "Organized
Ignorance" when describing the need for a theory for knowledge
production. From my own deep personal experience, dogma and learning
can co-exist, if dogma is defined as "organized ignorance" or better
"organized humility." We need organization, but we also need humility.
Success breeds arrogance, then failure. Success breeds humility, then
learning.
Quest for certainty or the reduction of variation is very necessary and
important. After my divorce, everything seemed meaningless. I needed
some form of certainty. Christianity with its dogma, met my deepest
needs. Meaning, purpose, and direction was restored. The drifting
became organized around the love, acceptance, and forgiveness embodied
in Jesus Christ. I needed security and belonginess. I found it at my
church. For this I am very grateful. But as I grew the dogma was not
enough, I saw something more than that in Jesus. I wanted his wisdom.
If I seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures. If
I make my ear attentive and incline my heart to understanding...I will
find it. (Proverbs 2:1-5).
I'm finding it in the amazing and profoundly human and pragmatic way
Jesus related to people with an authority that amazed them. This
authority was not from an office. It was not from hierarchy. It was by
the courage to speak honestly about the things we already knew deep
inside. Very simple, yet revolutionary, questions. So revolutionary a
child could understand. This is truth that set me free and continues to
do so here and now. Against the barriers of the paradigm of the law or
good and evil, he transformed me to a new paradigm- the law of life.
This "law" of life embodied love, acceptance, forgiveness, humility,
respect, dignity, kindiness, peace, and most of a unity that I needed
and still need. I now had a "dogma of humility" organized around these
laws of life. Nothing can change that for me, so it is dogma. The only
people he judged were those, like the Pharisees, who focused solely on
the dogma of the law of good and evil, calling everyone else, like
Jesus, deceivers. The Pharisees are alive and well today. I believe
within historical Jesus, dogma and learning co-existed in a dogma of
humility.
Is that a "cop-out" in answering whether dogma and learning can
co-exist? I don't know. Is it moral relativism? I guess it is, if I
define relativism as the study of relating to people as Jesus did.
Is this going to turn into a debate over creation vs. evolution?
Depends on which law I'm using. If I use the law of knowledge of good
and evil, it surely will. If I use the law of life, I would say I'm
humble enough to know God could have used a big bang if he wanted to!
Yes, this is from my own approximate description of reality and I will
not appologize for its limits. I never suggested that anyone must see
it exactly as I do, as was suggested in reponses to my last post. My
mental model, the way I view the world, does include my spirit and the
spirit of God, just as all of yours includes your own beliefs, whether
or not you consider it emanating from your heart, eyes or your
underwear. (The NASA acronym for Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness is
LAF!)
To me, the essence of systems thinking is a that it is a tool that helps
me pragmatically practice my dogma of humility. Deming's System of
Profound Knowledge is "profound" because at the same time you are
reducing variation, you know deep down it is organized ignorance calling
you to produce new knowledge...continually expanding your capacity to
co-create the future with God and others.
Have a Great Adventure!
Don Kerr
--"Kerr, Donald" <Donald.Kerr@alliedsignal.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>