Freedom and Spirit
                         by Peter Bloch

                                                  April 29, 1994

     [This reflection is in response to Tom Glenn's essay on
behaviorism (behav.zip on the TQM BBS).]

     Human freedom is an inalienable characteristic. 
Regrettably, most people act as if their behavior is determined. 
They do this either out of choice or out of ignorance.

     One of the prime examples of determined behavior is the
phenomenon of addiction.  The addict believes that they are
unable to resist the substance to which they think they are
addicted.  They consider themselves diseased.  They share the
flaw of Adam and of Eve in the Eden story, in which both blamed
their own shortcoming on an external force.  Eve blamed the
snake.  Adam blamed Eve.  God accepted neither excuse.

     One of the principal solutions to addiction is through the
agency of Alcoholics Anonymous.  The paradigm AA uses is curious. 
Step One in the AA paradigm is to admit that you are powerless
over alcohol or drugs.  After making this declaration, you then
become committed to a series of steps and actions designed to
turn your life over to a "higher power".  Once you do that
successfully, then you are a recovering alcoholic.  You continue
to admit "your powerlessness" and yet, curiously, you no longer
use because "you" are no longer in control -- your higher power
is in control.  You choose a new course of conduct and implement
it by redefining who you are.

     The principal initial problem for the alcoholic is denial. 
No matter how much alcohol or drugs have ruined their life, they
do not look at that.  They refuse to consider themselves
alcoholic or addicted.  They define their life as fine.

     To a lesser extent, people not addicted to substances do the
same.  They refuse to make a close examination of their own
behavior.  They do not acknowledge their failures and
difficulties as flowing from their own responsibility.  In the
interpersonal realm, in particular, they tend to blame all their
problems on others.  They do not identify the subtle ways in
which their own attitudes and actions -- often learned as
children -- cause the unwanted effects in their lives.

     To become truly free, one must become an observer of
oneself.  This may at first be painful.  It may involve
acknowledging failings and responsibility for serious ill
effects.  It may even require communicating with others about
past mistakes and even making amends for those mistakes.  The
upside is tremendous, however.  One becomes free of past mistakes
and becomes a true learner in life.  Instead of proceeding from
"knowing" everything, one's basis for interaction is from not
knowing.  Every interaction becomes an opportunity to learn. 
Every experience becomes an opportunity to identify what works
and does not work and to do something better the next time.

     In my life, it was painful to learn these lessons and to
become free.  My struggle is recorded in a book I have written
about my life, One World * One God * Many Faces, which you may
download from the Church Without Walls (202-966-2824) as
1wld1gd.exe (a self-extracting file).  For me, it was necessary
to change from a person who thought his mind was his whole
personality.  I learned to be able to become an objective
observer of my mind and myself.  From that vantage point, I
became free to have a new form of responsibility and a new
ability to choose.  I could see the patterns of my life and learn
from them.

     I invite everyone to obtain and read the story of my life
and to see whether it is applicable to your life and to TQM. 
Learning about our own nature enhances our ability to get along
with others.  Changing our organizations to assumptions
consistent with human nature could make a big change in our
world.

     I invite open commentary on my thoughts.  My sense is that
these ideas deserve to be explored and that many people could
contribute to their constructive development.  How do we learn to
exercise our inalienable freedom?

     How can organizations cherish and nurture human beings?  How
can we learn to work together better in order to improve our
companies and our world?


________________________
     Please acknowledge the author for his ideas.