Dialogue/Meditation

By Bill Angelos

True Dialogue, in the “Bohmian” sense of the term, like true scientific inquiry, is essentially a perceptual enterprise, with the act of listening as its functional centerpiece. Although cognitive elements are also very much a part of it because of the structure—process we call “ego,” which is a necessary adjunct to its successful operation, the resulting “cognitively-oriented self” cannot dominate it.

This is the missing piece in most people’s understanding of the endeavor, and the hidden trap in its successful implementation. It is also a basic requirement for what Bohm called “Proprioception of Thought” and J. Krishnamurti called “Meditation.” It is in essence what Psychologists James J. and Eleanor Gibson identified as a form of “Discriminational Empiricism” as opposed to “Associational Empiricism.” Meaning is derived through “Direct Perception”—both inwardly and outwardly; as opposed to being filtered through the self-image and perceived as “sensation” by the “Me.”