21st Century Enlightenment
For many years now, I have contemplated what it means to be living in today's society and the world at large. I wonder what my place is in it all. Asking myself questions about where we are going as a global society and if we are bound to repeat history or learn from our past mistakes shifts my perception to one of greater self-awareness. It is not enough to just be happy with your friends. We, collectively, must share a vision that contributes to the world writ large. As we all learn what it means to share and come from a common framework, we will make better decisions as they relate to each other with empathy being the foundation.
The work conducted by Taylor (2010) addresses multiple concepts drawing on history's previous enlightened periods to highlight today's current need for our global society to conscientiously apply what we have learned so that we may forge beyond what we have been able to achieve socially, technically, economically and humanistically. I think the title was meant to invoke a call to a new awareness; an awareness based on a change in the way we think in order to perceive the outside world in a new light, thus making new decisions based on a new perception. It is no longer a good idea to believe we are just by continuing to ride the coattails of our founding forefathers.
Albert Einstein is credited with the quote, 'the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result." Change will not come about in our lives until we make different decisions. As creatures of habit, humans tend to repeat their behaviors and in turn, see the same world we have always seen when it comes to healthcare, civil rights, minority groups, gender inequality, racism, and religious persecution to name a few. I believe Taylor (2010) meant, when he said, "to live differently, you have to think differently," a person cannot truly change their lives until they look at their lives differently. The type of conscious decision making Taylor is eluding to is mindfulness. We must become more mindful of ourselves and those around us. If we continue to react to our environment out of some humanistic ritual behavior, we will be doomed to see history's results. Whenever I intended to change my diet in hopes of detoxifying my system and eating healthier, I would often find myself reverting back to the same old eating habits. Inspiration is the fuel to initiate change. Motivation is the force to sustain it. However, motivation must be nested in the root thought or the thought behind the thought. It must touch us on an emotional level so that we may continue to be moved by it.
When I returned from Germany in August of 2018, I moved to an area different than I had prior to moving to Germany. In the new area, I looked for a diesel mechanic workshop for my truck. After a few weeks of shopping around, I found myself defaulting to my original mechanic that was outside the area. The reason for choosing him again despite the distance was because I had no idea what the reputation and work history was of these other diesel technicians. I chose to go with who I was familiar with instead of taking the risk of choosing an unknown quantity. I was afraid of changing mechanics because I did not know what would come of it, so I deemed it the wrong choice. However, I know if I continue to make the same decisions, I will never learn what may come from new and different ones. Similarly, I think Taylor is saying the same thing when he argues that we need "to resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that of which is only strange" (2010).
In the case of welcoming new service members to the command, consideration of their new environment must be helping them find a comfortable shift into the new culture as they adapt to the norms. According to Brown (2011), if the adaptation period is ineffective, "...a new member may choose to rebel, to reject all values, or to leave the organization altogether."
It is not only possible to "...eschew elements of pop culture that degrade people and ... spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens," it is a moral imperative that we do so if we are to help people grow from a culture of insensitivity to one of empathetic morality (Taylor, 2010). It seems the framework from which most people come from is that of an egocentric perspective that builds walls of insensitivity and moral blindness; where people disassociate from personal responsibility and point fingers.
In my experience of team-developing, mentoring, and guiding within my organization as a Navy Chief, the implications of atomizing any given collaborative effort could be numerous depending on what the objective is within the organizational change effort. Normally, if we were to see it as potentially a destructive effect on their growth, then the implications could be a breakdown in cohesive teamwork, a disruption of collaboration, isolation of team members, and possibly an increase in feelings of insecurity and incompetence.
As a senior enlisted member within the ranks of my organization, I am at a place in my career where I am not only expected to take initiative to make changes that foster teamwork, professional development, inter-department collaboration, and improves organizational efficiencies, but I am also inclined to leave the organization better than I found it. Seeing I have been around this command for over five years, I find it necessary to provide insight and a holistic look at how they are conducting business in terms of evaluating both pivotal and peripheral norms. One area of contention is a lack of genuineness on behalf of their senior officers. Unfortunately, the concept of the 'good 'ole boy club' is still flowing through many of these types of organizations where the fair treatment of all does not always apply. However, it has been ever evident that the rotational inertia has been such that new people with new ideas can and will come through on their two to four-year tour and change once again all that has been developed. This begs the question, to what avail am I taking the time and effort to develop something anew just to have it all undone after I depart? If change development is to be recommended, yet the Headquarters element is not all in agreement, development processes can become stagnant at the first signs of 'strange'.
Reference
Brown, D. R. (2010). An experiential approach to organization development. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Taylor, M. [Matthew Taylor]. (2010, August 19). Rsanimate: 21st-century enlightenment. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo
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