Dialogue Methodology and the Physics of Thought

Courses and workshops taught by Tayria Ward, Ph.D.

Dialogue as I speak of it here is a technique for speaking together in a group that was developed by physicist David Bohm. Bohm realized that thought is an actual substance in the explicate order, our physical reality, that we breathe in similar to the way we breathe in oxygen. Though we think we are the author of our thoughts, in most cases, the thought that runs through our heads is an energy or substance that exists in a field, generated by the masses, historically and presently. He observed that “thought runs us” rather than the other way around. Until we begin to understand the nature of thought, and the effect that thought has on our brain chemistry and physiology, we are unable to think truly for ourselves. This he saw as the root of most of our vast problems as a species.

To address this issue, Bohm began to articulate a method for getting people into conscious and meaningful dialogue for the purpose of discovering how thought works. As humans, we construct mental models based upon past experiences, and often faulty perceptions, from which we draw conclusions which we tacitly assume to be “truths.” We then begin to interpret the world through those models, to the extent that very often we cannot even hear or see evidence that would contradict our reality and the assumptions born out of them. When we hear thought that confirms the certainties we have established, endorphins are released in the brain. Endorphins have a chemical structure similar to morphine. Therefore we become physically addicted to familiar thoughts, no matter how erroneous or even harmful they might be. When we hear thoughts that conflict with our mental models, endorphin levels drop. This produces a subtle anxiety, and causes us to think they are wrong, maybe even evil. Our own brain and body chemistry locks us into assumptions and faulty conclusions that have been developed overtime by our own experience and the thinking we have inherited from family, culture, religion and society. Bohm says that we often bring “the instincts of the jungle” to the defense of our own thinking. As instinctively as a lion defends his young, we demolish opposing thought systems. This may happen at a completely unconscious level of activity.

Dialogue is a method and a practice whereby a group comes together to speak about whatever arises in the field, and then works together to attempt to articulate each one’s own thinking, identifying assumptions being made by themselves and others, listening respectfully to even very opposing points of view, inquiring into them, paying attention to one’s own reactions, suspending those reactions for inquiry. Dialogue goes on the theory that every point of view is partial, and only when all points of view are held together with equal respect can we begin to think effectively and create new, efficacious, informed thought. The old story of the five blind men and the elephant illustrates this. Five blind men are taken to an elephant to discover what it is; one touches the trunk, the other a leg, the other the side, the other an ear, the other the tail. They have each touched and experienced personally what an elephant is – but it is not until they put all of their very different experiences together, respecting each one equally, that they can comprehend the truth of what an elephant is. Individual thought works the same way, it is partial. And only when we can listen respectfully to every differing point of view can we successfully comprehend the nature of our mutual reality, the field of which we are all a part.

I have taught college courses in this technique with great success, and can teach day-long or weekend workshops as well. Dialogue takes practice, practice, practice; but even the shortest amount of time spent in intentional dialogue can produce powerful insight and transformation. What if the world could practice this – in families, in religions, in the United Nations, in governments? What if we all understood that each of us is an important part of the whole and worked together with this awareness?