At an even deeper (and in some ways spiritual level), we are witnessing a parallel emergence of what we may call “bio-centrism.” This is an objectivist perspective defining human beings as an objective and stable reality. From this static and objectivist perspective, we begin with the assumption that our identity and our decisions are “wired in” to our neurological structures and basically pre-set at birth. While we certainly should acknowledge that we are not a “blank slate” at birth (Pinker, 2002) we also must realize that much occurs after birth, and the environment impacts in a profound manner even on neurological development prior to birth.
Furthermore, neuroscientists (cf. Rose, 2005) are coming to realize that the level of complexity in neurological structures and processes make it very difficult, if not impossible, to equate mind with brain. There is a level of analysis that moves well beyond neural structures and well beyond the “wet-mind” (biological base of mind) to a “dry-mind” that is transcendent and perhaps even spiritual in nature. Drawing a parallel to the world of economics, we might declare that the static objectivist perspective regarding money suggests that there is such a thing as “dry money” which remains stable and immutable (the almighty US dollar). “Wet money” would that which is dependent on many very human and biological forces such as fear, regret and fast thinking—which is the domain of behavioral economics.
The bio-centric, objectivist perspective has served us well for several centuries. It has enabled us to make great advances in medical and cultural science; however, this perspective has also created many problems with which we now live. From a bio-centric objectivist perspective, the human body, including the brain, was (and is) perceived as an advanced machine that can be altered and repaired. This perspective can be retraced to the central principles of modernity: determinism and progress. While there is a tendency for professional coaches to operate from this perspective, this is a very limited (and limiting) approach to professional coaching—especially when the people we are serving base their notion of “self” and “being” on this perspective – “being” as a given, with some potential for improvement.
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