Modern capitalism is absolutely irreligious without internal union, without much public spirit, often, though not always, a mere congeries of possessors and pursuers.
~ Maynard Keynes
Are we confronted with a tragic, insolvable dilemma? Must we produce a sick people in order to have a healthy economy, or can we use our material resources, our inventions, our computers to serve the ends of man? Must individuals be passive and dependent in order to have strong and well-functioning organizations?
~Eric Fromm
I look at Zen not as a religion but as a way of thinking, and at scientific breakthrough-the joy of creating something-as a form of enlightenment
~The author
Conflict is the very source of creation; thus, what is most to be feared by the company that wants its management to remain creative, is loss of a sense of conflict through the resolution of conflict by an old man’s methods.
~The author
Zen and Creative Management, by Albert Low, is the best book that I have read and is the most interesting to me in bringing a system of spirituality into the business world. Interestingly enough, Buddhism is not mentioned in detail other than the very beginning and then sprinkled throughout the book and the last three chapters. Interesting that the author waited to cover Zen in more detail til the end. One doesn’t have to be an expert at Zen to understand the concepts.
It’s been 3 years since this book first appeared at the Happy Dragon Book store. After devouring it a couple times, it now is read on a deeper level. This will probably happen for a while, i.e. going back and re-reading to get in on a deeper level. Areas that were too complex feel easier to grasp the 3rd and 4th time around. It really feels that this book could be laid out into a manual where exercises are drawn out from the concepts. I am working on a .ppt. It is a lot like Steve Hagen’ s book Buddhism Plain and Simple. Much of understanding the message does come from reading the author’s writing style. I have written an overview of Buddhism Plain and Simple so I guess I can with this. Recording my thoughts might be the start. It really flowed and I had an urge to come back to the book. I was able to finish it where many books lately have been hard. I have been looking for a system. One of the initial points is “Dilemma” and Zen is helpful in that arena to deal with dilemmas.
So, the dilemma is often times businesses wanting to decrease the tension that exist within it. Businesses like family and other entities have tension. It reminds me of contrast-desire is created by the contrast of the universe. We have to get comfortable with tension in business. Businesses try to relieve the tension by coming up with systems, among other things, without taking into account the whole that businesses are a part of. Throughout the book, he talks about different aspects of a business. He breaks down work and different types of work – The work is not about the “right” solution. There are no right solutions.
More from the Foreward:
Dilemmas arise out of the whole; problems come with the luxury of being able to reduce the whole to component parts. With dilemmas, unlike problems, there are no right solutions; one can only choose the most suitable decision. This has always been the case but nowadays managers do not simply have to wrestle with dilemmas that arise within their own companies, but also with those that arise from the interaction of their companies with society as a whole.
~ The Author
Karl Marx said that every system carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. … Pollution is fast becoming the number-one threat to the future- (Note: it is the number one issue here in 2019). “Outpacing other threats such as overpopulation, depleted resources, and nuclear disaster. Pollution, however, is but one horn of the societal dilemma. The need for full employment is another. The present specters of depression, unemployment, poverty, and disillusionment are the other side of the story. The pendulum will swing again, jobs will once more become plentiful, but how much more litter, discarded chemicals, waste material, and waste gasses can our planet survive.” This was written back in the 70’s.
A full dilemma, moreover, as this book will show, has four horns, not just two. The societal dilemma also includes the need to control inflation, which still threatens the financial structure, and also free access to credit, which has become a principle feature of that structure. Each of these four is dependent on the others and none can be resolved in isolation. Each is a dimension of the whole.
~ The Author
I remember back in the 70’s how inflation was so impactful. I was 12 and the gas crisis hit. Since then, there has been this fear of inflation coming back to hit us. Alan Greenspan was always trying to limit inflation. He tried to limit the economy when things were heating up with regulations and not raising the interest rate. Then in the 90’s the banks became so big and so did the investment banks and they allowed to be in the others industry. Was it Glass Spiel Act and derivatives? I think this is what we try to do. We fix something here but we don’t take the whole into account. This is the beauty of Albert Low’s book. He comes up with systems that I wouldn’t have come up with or thought of. He links certain actions with certain departments. For example, he as a really good diagram in the appendix. What this book has proven to be is a wonderful blueprint to view working in a business, not just as a consultant but in an actual business.
He uses the term Life Force in the last paragraph of the Foreward, which is why I like this book and how it is unique for business:
“The life force that organizes species, organs, and organisms also molds organizations,. Human beings cannot conquer nature-they are nature in action. The creative leaps made by man and the creative leaps made by nature are of the same kind. Nature makes use of what may be called “un reculer pour mieux sauter,” a recoiling, in order to leap that much better. When nature’s evolutionary drive has reached a cul-de-sac, it withdraws and breaks out from a new point in a new direction. I am suggesting that Zazen is a discipline that uses un reculer pour mieux sauter; this approach provides greater facility in dealing with those organizational cul-de-sacs that are both frustrations and opportunities. Zazen seems to be as old as mankind; what is new today is its availability to the West, and specifically, its availability for dealing with the complex, multifaceted problems encountered in organizations. “
~ The Author
Sometimes you see this with businesses where you or they want to implement a quick fix when there are problems or they want to jump on an opportunity when it arises. With Zazen, you absorb or make whole when tension comes about. This term from Steve Hagen in Buddhism is not what you Think. That is where the Creative Management comes into play. When you absorb, heal and make whole the tension, you are more at ease and you do from a place of being. The result is a higher level of creativity. You are not trying to fix things. You are creating with a real sense of the whole. This is not easy. We are such a doing society.
November 5th, 2019 ~ The writer is not a person with high intellect, at least the intellect that is admired by today’s workplace. It is frustrating for the writer to have such a high goal: to fix the world economy; to come up with a new system that would transcend the current cash system and bypass the problem that is the inequality gap between the haves and have-nots. So that we could have a society that is economically more fair and equal. The question I am asking myself starts with: “What does the customer want?” Do we really want to go down the path that we are going down? I just watched a show called “Frontline” on PBS and the topic was AI or Artificial Intelligence. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google know everything about us. China has something like cameras everyone in their country to keep from facing any uprisings from its 1 billion plus citizens. Plus, they are spreading the technology to dictatorship countries. It is becoming the 2 AI superpowers: the US & China to battle it out.
Zen & Creative Management has some good points to make that give the writer a few ideas. Mainly, that technology is the cause of our problems and can’t be the solution to our problems. That science breaks problems down to parts and life and nature are not like that. Rather, life is about dilemmas: trying to find the best solution out of a group of so-so options. That a viable business exists because of an idea that can be turned into a product that has a demand. That businesses consists of 3 entities: shareholders, employees and customers, all with equal value. So, I am asking: What does the customer want? Do we really want this to happen?
The writer was fortunate enough to have an email exchange with the author of Zen and Creative Management: Albert Low, before his death. I wondered if anyone was utilizing his system anymore because the writer wanted to learn more about it. He said companies are so focused on profit. He was not optimistic.
Finally, Krishnamurti responded to a young woman who wanted to be a social worker. He recommended she ask herself “Why.” Was it because she felt bad about herself and wanted to make herself feel better? Was it because she wanted to please her parents? Was it because there were many Social Work programs available to her? Was it because she was ignoring her own issues? The list could go on and on. He said when you go inward, not just superficially, but really inward and learn about one’s mind, the creative social work juices will be flowing out of you and people will get it.
It seems like we require a collective inquiry into Why We Want to Do What We Are Doing. . . .
The writer is asking himself: Why He Wants to Create A System That Transcends the Current Cash Economy. . . Is it because the writer feels bad about himself and this would make himself feel better? Is it because he feels that is what the world needs now? Is it because he is out of any regular, substantial 9-5 work and has been for quite some time? Is it because the writer is feeling pressure from family and/or society to do something? Is it because he feels like he wants to utilize his education of Economics, Chinese Relations and Pscychology in order to justify his parents paying for his education 20-30 years ago? Is it because he wants to have power like he read about in his first major novel The God Father? Why do you want to come up with a system that would transcend the long-standing economic system of Cash?
November 12th, 2019 ~ I have been doing a daily blog based on Jiddu Krishnamurti’s “The Book of Life.” I have enjoyed it very much, especially the typing. My baseball coach taught me more in his Typing class than anywhere else. I am now wanting to add to this process and create an additional blog for “Zen & Creative Management.” I will basically type the book, all 200+ pages and comment along the way. I am debating whether to create a new website for this or do it here.
Book-Summary