Blog 6

Blog 6

Once again, while reading this article, I found similarities to other articles we’ve read, and namely the religion one and the synchronicity article. There is a common theme of people feeling stuck and then having the resource of career counselors to promote that their goals have meaning. In terms of religion, the meaning was a divine purpose, in synchronicity it was connected things that were present to give a push in the right direction, and in this article it is coming across in the word “absorbedness,” or giving people of all ages meaning for why they are doing what they are doing. The article also presents the idea of a “complex adaptive entity” (2005, pg. 195) which, Bronowski talks about in almost the exact same language as Guindon used to describe synchronicity when describing the interconnectedness of all people and events in the world (Bloch, 2005, pg. 196).

I think these connections are so important to see because it is a pattern that we will come across in all aspects of life. As I pointed out in class, some of us had strong negative reactions to the religion article because of the fanaticism about choosing a career because of a call from God, while others had the same hard-to-believe attitude about synchronicity. The fact that these articles are saying almost identical messages but with different labels creates strong reactions in people, and I strongly connect that to my LGBT group. So many times people will be working toward the same goal (maybe not a specific, tangible goal because then we have to factor in the contact hypothesis), and different groups of people are judged differently or not welcomed into the group because of their sexual identity.

It was stressful to think of all 11 points relating to the complex adaptive entity (and it probably isn’t a good sign that every time I want to type that phrase I need to go back into the article to remember exactly what it is called) but it really helped me when Bloch gave examples that didn’t relate to careers. To anyone who is having a hard time grasping the concept, think of it the way she explained it: CAE could be anything from cells to world economies (2005, pg. 197). Once she started relating it to careers it all made sense with the fluidity, growth, and limitations that we’ve learned about in other theories, but I am excited to challenge myself into finding ways to remember all 11 points leading up to the actual application.

Bloch, D. (2005). Complexity, chaos, and nonlinear dynamics: A new perspective on career          development theory. The career development quarterly, 53, 194-206.