Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry
Deconstructing Lack: A Buddhist Perspective on Egocentric Organizations
San Francisco State University
Abstract
This paper advances the Buddhist insight of ‗no-self‘ as a foundation for theorizing the phenomenon of lack, and how such a sense of lack is symptomatic of a more fundamental and primary repression: a fear of no-self, or egolessness. Egocentric organizations depend on the reproduction of collective lack and underlying ontological insecurity, which manifests as a desire to be real, enduring, and self-existent. Egocentric organizational dynamics bind anxiety by channeling ‗reality projects‘ which feed compulsive desires for power, territory and control. The Buddhist perspective offers a liberative path as a counterforce to dominant egocentric organizational narratives. Rather than accepting lack as cultural condition, the Buddhist path focuses the mind directly on the source of lack, which, paradoxically is a gateway to seeing through the delusion of the egocentric self.
Keywords
Metadata
Journal | Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry |
Volume | 10 |
Issue | 4 |
Issue date | 2012 |
Type | Article |
Language | en |
Pagination | 17-27 |
ISSN | 1532-5555 |
Copyright info
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