Just what is the mind? How is it related to the brain? In what way is the mind important for success? These are questions that I should have asked before progressing this blog. However, often we become conscious of the deeper questions only after we have the answers!
This line of thinking led me back to my favourite book of answers: The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge. He quotes Bohm to inform that in the natural state the mind is an indisciplined body prone to selecting thoughts from an external stream and building on them. In the process it makes assumptions and leverages generalisations that have settled in the sub-conscious. To effect a change of mind these can only be accessed via collective thinking with the aid of disciplines practiced by way of dialogue.
It follows that in the natural state the human mind is prone to Folly where it can act against its own interests despite its best intentions. To tame the mind the individual must belong to a collective that must be organized to surface assumptions and mental sets. The individual must be aware of the possibility of Folly and belong to an organized collective to surface a shared reality.
The thinking ties in beautifully with my favourite quote from Sun Tzu: If You know yourself and know the enemy then you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
But that means that the greatest enemy resides within!
This line of thinking led me back to my favourite book of answers: The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge. He quotes Bohm to inform that in the natural state the mind is an indisciplined body prone to selecting thoughts from an external stream and building on them. In the process it makes assumptions and leverages generalisations that have settled in the sub-conscious. To effect a change of mind these can only be accessed via collective thinking with the aid of disciplines practiced by way of dialogue.
It follows that in the natural state the human mind is prone to Folly where it can act against its own interests despite its best intentions. To tame the mind the individual must belong to a collective that must be organized to surface assumptions and mental sets. The individual must be aware of the possibility of Folly and belong to an organized collective to surface a shared reality.
The thinking ties in beautifully with my favourite quote from Sun Tzu: If You know yourself and know the enemy then you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
But that means that the greatest enemy resides within!
