Hello all.
On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, William J. Hobler, Jr wrote:
> John Paul Fullerton posted a deeply felt and well documented comparison
> that closely equates the Fifth Discipline with Christian beliefs. As a
> Christian I am uncomfortable with the post, perhaps it is my problem.
>
> My discomfort is rooted in awareness that the five disciplines can be
> found in all major religious and philosophies. In fact the Eastern
> religions probably place more emphasis on self mastery than does Christian
> practice or thought.
>
> I would like the subject of this thread widened to seek parallelisms with
> Hindu, Buddhism, and Islamic thought. IMO this would add richness and
> value to this thread and to an understanding of the human journey
> envisioned in the Fifth Discipline.
OK... Hows this. A couple of years ago, a jordanian analyst named
Abdallah joined our computing architecture group, and the subject of Islam
came up (he was very devout). Having never met a muslim before, I asked
abbie (as we called him) about the concept of Jihad-particularly since
there had been a number of bombings by islamic extremists that same year
and I was a little nervous about it all.
His response was that those who carried guns and went to war in the name
of Jihad were "crazy" and that true Jihad was an internal thing within a
man - he called it "the inner struggle". The idea of personal mastery was
very strong with Abbie. He had posted on his computer terminal a note to
himself about "seeking perfection". Now I recognize that we all may have
different interpretations of what "perfection" is all about, but the idea
of "personal mastery" is very much an inner struggle and a process of self
discipline (which is why it's called a "discipline" in the learning
organization context).
Now Abdallah has strong views about the politics of the middle east, and
being that he lives in america (where it is legal to do so), made no
apologies for his practice of carrying a handgun-in order to protect his
family-and being that he grew up in the middle east-I understand why he
would feel such a strong need to do so) and his wife wears a veil, per the
middle eastern practice, things I would not do or enforce in my family.
Yet abbie has turned out to be a good friend who I have learned much from,
and has allowed me to develop an appreciation for the moslem way of life.
They are into learning as much as any of the rest of us are.
Is this the kind of "widening of the thread" you were looking for?
later...
Michael Erickson
sysengr@atc.boeing.com
--Michael Erickson <sysengr@atc.boeing.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>