"...it is
proposed that a form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of
investigating the crisis which faces society, and indeed the whole of human nature and
consciousness today. Moreover, it may turn out that such a form of free exchange of ideas and
information is of fundamental relevance for transforming culture and freeing it of destructive
misinformation, so that creativity can be liberated."
Dialogue, as we
are choosing to use the word, is a way of exploring the roots of the many
crises that face humanity today. It enables inquiry into, and understanding of, the sorts of
processes that fragment and interfere with real communication between individuals, nations and
even different parts of the same organization. In our modern culture men and women are able
to interact with one another in many ways: they can sing dance or play together with little
difficulty but their ability to talk together about subjects that matter deeply to them seems
invariable to lead to dispute, division and often to violence. In our view this condition points to
a deep and pervasive defect in the process of human thought.
In Dialogue, a
group of people can explore the individual and collective presuppositions, ideas,
beliefs, and feelings that subtly control their interactions. It provides an opportunity to
participate in a process that displays communication successes and failures. It can reveal the
often puzzling patterns of incoherence that lead the group to avoid certain issues or, on the
other hand, to insist, against all reason, on standing and defending opinions about particular
issues.
Dialogue is a way
of observing, collectively, how hidden values and intentions can control our
behavior, and how unnoticed cultural differences can clash without our realizing what is
occurring. It can therefore be seen as an arena in which collective learning takes place and out
of which a sense of increased harmony, fellowship and creativity can arise.
Because the nature
of Dialogue is exploratory, its meaning and its methods continue to unfold.
No firm rules can be laid down for conducting a Dialogue because its essence is learning - not
as the result of consuming a body of information or doctrine imparted by an authority, nor as a
means of examining or criticizing a particular theory or programme, but rather as part of an
unfolding process of creative participation between peers.
However, we feel
that it is important that its meaning and background be understood.
Our approach to
this form of Dialogue arose out of a series of conversations begun in 1983 in
which we inquired into David Bohm's suggestion that a pervasive incoherence in the process of
human thought is the essential cause of the endless crises affecting mankind. This led us, in
succeeding years, to initiate a number of larger conversations and seminars held in different
countries with various groups of people which in turn began to take the form of Dialogues.
As we proceeded
it became increasing clear to us that this process of Dialogue is a powerful
means of understanding how thought functions. We became aware that we live in a world
produced almost entirely by human enterprise and thus, by human thought. The room in which
we sit, the language in which these words are written, our national boundaries, our systems of
value, and even that which we take to be our direct perceptions of reality are essentially
manifestations of the way human beings think and have thought. We realize that without a
willingness to explore this situation and to gain a deep insight into it, the real crises of our time
cannot be confronted, nor can we find anything more than temporary solutions to the vast array
of human problems that now confront us.
We are using the
word "thought" here to signify not only the products ofour conscious intellect
but also our feelings, emotions, intentions and desires. It also includes such subtle, conditioned
manifestations of learning as those that allow us to make sense of a succession of separate
scenes within a cinema film or to translate the abstract symbols on road signs along with the
tacit, non-verbal processes used in developing basic, mechanical skills such as riding a bicycle.
In essence thought, in this sense of the word, is the active response of memory in every phase
of life. Virtually all of our knowledge is produced, displayed, communicated, transformed and
applied in thought.
To further clarify
this approach, we propose that, with the aid of a little close attention, even
that which we call rational thinking can be see to consist largely of responses conditioned and
biased by previous thought. If we look carefully at what we generally take to be reality we
begin to see that it includes a collection of concepts, memories and reflexes colored by our
personal needs, fears, and desires, all of which are limited and distorted by the boundaries of
language and the habits of our history, sex and culture. It is extremely difficult to disassemble
this mixture or to ever be certain whether what we are perceiving - or what we may think about
those perceptions - is at all accurate.
What makes this
situation so serious is that thought generally conceals this problems from our
immediate awareness and succeeds in generating a sense that the way each of us interprets the
world is the only sensible way in which it can be interpreted. What is needed is a means by
which we can slow down the process of thought in order to be able to observe it while it is
actually occurring.
Our physical bodies
have this capability but thought seems to lack it. If you raise your arm you
know that you are willing the act, that somebody else is not doing it for or to you. This is called
proprioception. We can be aware of our body's actions while they are actually occurring but
we generally lack this sort of skill in the realm of thought. For example, we do not notice that
our attitude toward another person may be profoundly affected by the way we think and feel
about someone else who might share certain aspects of his behavior or even of his appearance.
Instead, we assume that our attitude toward her arises directly from her actual conduct. The
problem of thought is that the kind of attention required to notice this incoherence seems
seldom to be available when it is most needed.
1. Dialogue This!
