The Course of Knowledge: a 21St Century Theory
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The Course of Knowledge A 21st Century Theory by Dr. Alex Bennet and Dr. David Bennet with Dr. Joyce Avedisian Mountain Quest Institute i The Course of Knowledge A 21st Century Theory by Dr. Alex Bennet Dr. David Bennet with Dr. Joyce Avedisian Mountain Quest Institute MQIPress (2015) Frost, West Virginia ISBN 978-0-9798459-6-3 ISBN 0-9798459-6-3 The Knowledge Series In this book we explore the course of knowledge. Just as a winding stream in the bowls of the mountains curves and dips through ravines and high valleys, so, too, with knowledge. In a continuous journey towards intelligent activity, context-sensitive and situation-dependent knowledge, imperfect and incomplete, experientially engages a changing landscape in a continuous cycle of learning and expanding. i Table of Contents Cover Title Page Table of Contents ..................................................... i Figures ...................................................... ii In Appreciation ...................................................... iv Foreward Section I: Laying the Foundation ..................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Levels of Knowledge ..................................................... 9 Chapter 3: Types of Knowledge ..................................................... 21 Section II: The Voiced and Unvoiced ...................................................... 27 Chapter 4: Explicit, Implicit and Tacit Dimensions ...................................................... 28 Chapter 5: Engaging Tacit Knowledge ...................................................... 37 Chapter 6: Living through Context ...................................................... 49 Section III: The Neuroscience of Knowledge ...................................................... 60 Chapter 7: The Magnificent Mind/Brain ...................................................... 61 Chapter 8: Social Knowledge ...................................................... 68 Chapter 9: The Fallacy of Knowledge Reuse ...................................................... 82 Section IV: Values, Wisdom and Knowing ...................................................... 93 Chapter 10: Knowledge as Values ...................................................... 94 Chapter 11: Moving from Knowledge to Wisdom ......................................................108 Chapter 12: Knowledge and Knowing ......................................................115 Chapter 13: Sub-Personalities as Knowledge ......................................................133 Afterward ......................................................140 Appendix A: The KMTL Study ......................................................143 Appendix B: Glimpses of Consciousness ......................................................146 References ......................................................153 Endnotes ......................................................164 About Mountain Quest ......................................................168 i Figures Figure 1-1: Cone of acceptable outcomes with varying levels of goodness. Figure 1-2: Knowledge (Informing) and Knowledge (Proceeding). Figure 2-1: Brief descriptors of systems, experience, learning (internal reflection and comprehension), knowledge and action in terms of surface, shallow and deep. Figure 2-2: Characterization of organizational knowledge needs. Routine decisions made in organizations are at the surface level. Decisions requiring deep knowledge are much fewer, and tend to be more critical. Figure 2-3: Nominal shift in focus of levels of knowledge from 2000 to 2020. Figure 3-1: A knowledge taxonomy for grouping types of knowledge from the viewpoint of what knowledge is needed to do a particular type of work or take a particular action. Figure 3-2: The KMb process and knowledge flows. Figure 3-3: The eight steps of the generic KMb process. Figure 4-1: Relationship of levels of knowledge and dimensions of knowledge. Figure 4-2: Continuum of awareness of knowledge source/content. Figure 5-1: Building extraordinary consciousness within an individual. Figure 6-1: Visualization of the eight avenues of context. Figure 6-2: Descriptions of the avenues of context. Figure 7-1: Neurons in the mind/brain. The picture shows a typical neuron and one of its synaptic connections to the neuron. It has been estimated that the average brain contains 10 billion neuron cells with each neuron connected to about 10,000 other neurons through synapses or small gaps through which neurotransmitters may flow. The pattern of neuron connections, the flow of small electrical impulses through the neuron axons and dendrites, together with the flow of molecules through the synaptic junctions, creates the patterns within the mind/brain. Figure 7-2. Associative Patterning. the intermixing of the external patterns with internal patterns creates recognition, sense-making, meaning, and ultimately knowledge. Figure 8-1: The social creation of knowledge. Figure 8-2: Representation of the relationship between knowledge creation and arousal/stress. Figure 10-1: The nexus of knowledge comprehension and moral development. ii Figure 11-1: The change model based on the seven levels of consciousness. Figure 11-2: Conceptual model relating knowledge and consciousness. Figure 12-1: The eternal loop of knowledge and knowing. Figure Afterward-1: Theory as deep knowledge. iii In Appreciation We are so appreciative of the times within which we live! Conversations crisscross a global world, and we can see glimmers of knowledge moving toward intelligent activity. Neuroscience continues to explore the power of the human mind/brain, a microcosm of the Universal brain. Science and Spirituality are colliding as the exploration of Quantum theory opens to the potential of All That Is. We are so blessed. We live on a beautiful farm in the middle of the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, with many of our children around us, and dear friends who visit us often, all of whom are supportive of our work. They are such an important part of our lives and our learning. Thank you all for being you. And from all three of us, a special thank you to all of our families and friends, and deep appreciation to our colleagues. We love you all. Alex Bennet, David Bennet and Joyce Avedisian iv Foreward Knowledge is at the core of what it is to be human, the substance which informs our thoughts and determines the nature and course of our actions. Our growing focus on, and understanding of, knowledge and its consequent actions is changing our relationship with the world. Because knowledge determines the quality of every single decision we make, it is critical to learn about and understand what knowledge is. Meta-knowledge—or knowledge about knowledge—is essential to our ability to efficiently and effectively manage information and apply knowledge. This book lays the groundwork for exploring different ways of understanding, creating, sharing, and working with knowledge. We explore a theory of knowledge that is both pragmatic and biological. Pragmatic in that it is based on taking effective action, and biological because it is created by humans via patterns of neuronal connections in the mind/brain. It has only been in the past few decades that cognitive psychology and neuroscience have begun to seriously explore our unconscious mental life; and even more recently that we have begun to relate knowledge to both the conscious and unconscious workings of the mind/brain. This new learning includes the recognition that conscious experience, thought and action are influenced by unconscious concepts, memories and other mental constructs, mostly inaccessible to our own conscious awareness and somehow independent of voluntary control (Eich et al., 2000). Research in neuroscience is also digging deeper into the understanding of the emotions, working memory and the unconscious processing that occurs within the mind and throughout the body. Since knowledge is what makes our actions successful, it is critical that we tap into the best knowledge possible to help us achieve our goals and dreams, both as individuals and as participants in a global world. We live in a complex world that is shifting and changing with every breath we take. Now that we understand more about the way our mind/brain works, we realize that knowledge is created (and re-created) for the moment at hand (see Chapter 9). The mind/brain is an associative patterner (see Chapter 7). In the multidimensional unconscious processes, the association of incoming information with internal information is a powerful form of learning. We as humans—continuous learners anticipating the outcome of our decisions and actions—are verbs, not nouns, ever expanding and maneuvering our way through life as we continuously learn and work to create a better future. So we ask: How do we make best use of this process for ourselves, our organizations and our world? The search for an answer leads to thinking beyond what is described as ordinary consciousness towards what we will call extraordinary consciousness, with knowledge the currency of our journey. Life is indeed a journey! We are in a continuous cycle of knowledge creation such that every moment offers the opportunity for the emergence of new and exciting ideas, all waiting to be put in service to an interconnected world. Ordinary consciousness represents the customary or typical state of consciousness or awareness, that which is common to everyday usage, or