Mission Statement

Ontology Development teaches individuals and organizations to explore the unconscious metaphors that shape our beliefs, values and decisions. By cultivating metaphoric awareness we discover that:

1. We develop many of our ideas about the world from metaphors so powerful we unconsciously assume they reflect literal truths.
2. Metaphors only partially explain the world, so we unconsciously develop a number of different metaphors to guide our thinking. Since metaphors don’t need to be consistent, we often develop conflicting values and beliefs that cloud our thinking until we examine them more closely.
3. Assuming that our metaphors reflect literal truth can lead us to make decisions that we might not make otherwise
4. Communication breaks down between people who build their values from different metaphors.
5. Metaphors influence the values and policies of governments and communities as much as they influence organizations and individuals.
6. Exposure to new metaphors illuminates the metaphoric nature of our values and beliefs, making it important to cultivate metaphoric awareness and expression.

Ontology Development uses a method called total thinking to help clients:

• Develop new metaphors to break down barriers of misunderstanding caused by competing values and objectives, and
• Foster metaphoric awareness, creative thinking and expression.

| Mission Statement | Total Thinking |
| Metaphoric Thinking | Belief Systems |

| Link One | Link Two |

Copyright 2001 by Phillip T. Stephens.

This page was last updated on 11/07/2001 -->