I have always been a scientist at heart. Perhaps I owe this to the hours I spent in my father's laboratory (a research chemist by trade) observing, though rarely understanding, his experimentation. Maybe it's part of my DNA to approach the world mathematically. All I know is that early on in my collegiate quest to become a a mechanical engineer...to completely apply myself to the Newtonian conviction that the world can be best understood by dissembling it, studying its various parts and then putting it all back together again...the Holy Spirit grabbed and rerouted me.
Today I consider the irony that Margaret Wheatley has introduced me to the world of quantum science in order to better understand the life and dynamics of organizations (I believe she might say "organisms"). This is heavy reading. Mired in this mixture of philosophy and the new science my decision to pursue ministry (or have it pursue me) has been heartily reaffirmed. I trudged through half of this book today, paying most attention during the commercials of the Tour de France coverage. I really didn't mind putting it down late this afternoon. (If interested in exploring, see the link on this page.)
(Bob and Pat Schroeder...I am thinking that you might enjoy this. Perhaps you could give a quick run through ...borrow my copy if you wish... and then give me some coaching.)
It's a wonderful feeling to truly believe that you are following God's intended path!
Today I consider the irony that Margaret Wheatley has introduced me to the world of quantum science in order to better understand the life and dynamics of organizations (I believe she might say "organisms"). This is heavy reading. Mired in this mixture of philosophy and the new science my decision to pursue ministry (or have it pursue me) has been heartily reaffirmed. I trudged through half of this book today, paying most attention during the commercials of the Tour de France coverage. I really didn't mind putting it down late this afternoon. (If interested in exploring, see the link on this page.)
(Bob and Pat Schroeder...I am thinking that you might enjoy this. Perhaps you could give a quick run through ...borrow my copy if you wish... and then give me some coaching.)
It's a wonderful feeling to truly believe that you are following God's intended path!
2 comments:
I'm curious how you saw this book benefiting your studies. To me, Wheatley's book explained why some things happened in organizations - trying to use chaos theory to explain some of the seemingly random reactions of organizations (organisms).
But it didn't seem to help much from a predictive or proactive sense, other than to say "there may be a causal relationship involved in your situation which is obscured by the randomness of the causalities involved." That may very well be true, but at the time it seemed massively unhelpful.
It very well could be that I missed the point, however...
The link I am adding here is for a book by Malcom Gladwell called The Tipping Point. It discusses Epidemics, and how and why some things just catch on. It was very interesting, and a really short light read.
http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/002-1359354-3850458
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