Annie Gonzalez

Business 1050

Edward Engh

April 11, 2018

Signature Assignment

In the Foundations of Business course, a few writers have assisted me in

understanding mindfulness as an essential tool for business survival and to create a

professional life of substantial value. These writers are, Leonard Read who wrote “I,

Pencil”, Edward Engh who wrote “Critical Thinking”, Studs Terkel who interviewed

steel worker “Mike Lefevre”, and Karl Marx who wrote “Alienated Labor”. During my

personal dark age, I experienced a traumatic event and experienced depression. It

was through learned tools such as mindfulness that ultimately lead to my recovery.

Each author contributes to the practice of mindfulness through the use of critical

thinking. Critical thinking coincides with mindfulness because both are used to

understand reality clearly; critical thinking is the process of error detection and

mindfulness is the practice of awareness of the present moment, which

acknowledges thoughts, feelings, and sensations. The consistent practice of

mindfulness in personal and professional life will not only prevent a “dark age” but,

will more importantly lead to a future of depth and purpose.

Leonard Read’s “I, Pencil” is most influential to my renaissance because it

perfectly describes the process of practicing mindfulness. Read describes the

process of the creation of a simple pencil. Through his narration, speaking from the

pencil’s point of view, the audience is able to understand just how complicated the
process of creation is. Read’s main point is to assist in understanding how many

factors and people are included into this “simple” creation. It is the awareness and

understanding of all the factors that are included in this creation that allow for a

deeper thought process and provide the potential to change one’s actions. Read

states, “if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can

help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing.” I use this quote to explain

the importance of mindfulness. An action born from mindfulness may change the

future to reflect a deeper purpose. For example, to understand and to be aware of all

the components that go into the process of creating the pencil may change what one

would do with this creation. Read’s anecdote inspires me to reflect on the sincere

use of my pencil, what it creates, and what I write.

Part of the art of mindfulness is the practice of understanding reality through

the five senses. By consistently evaluating the five senses, I am able to understand

reality in real time and more importantly understand that what had effected me

during the event, is not currently happening. This practice allows me the freedom of

opportunity in the current moment. In “Critical Thinking”, Edward Engh writes, “The

Universe is everything, and it exists whether humans know about it or not. It is

experienced by all living things through perception, using the five senses: sight,

hearing, touch, taste, and smell.” This quote directly defines the practice of critical

thinking to understand reality, which can be directly related to the basics of the art

of mindfulness.

Mindfulness contributes to my personal life because it offers growth and the

consistent desire to improve. The Foundations of Business course inspires me to

incorporate mindfulness into my professional life. Karl Marx writes in “Alienated

Labor”, “Estranged labour reverses the relationship such that man, precisely because

he is a conscious being, reduces his life-activity, his very being, to a mere means to

his existence.” This quote inspires me to include the practice of mindfulness in my

professional life because it analyzes how humans choose to spend their lives. Karl

Marx writes within a politically charged society to outline the severed relationship

between man and work in order to address the lack of intellectual nourishment

among laborers. I choose to include this quote to champion the benefits of

mindfulness as it pertains to business and conscious beings.

Mike Lefevre, the steel worker interviewed by Studs Turkel is an excellent

example of a person who realized the benefits of critical thinking late in his career

and suffers the consequences because of it. Lefevre emotionally says, “Yes, I want my

kid to look at me and say, ‘Dad, you’re a nice guy, but you’re a fuckin’ dummy.’ Hell

yes, I want my kid to tell me that he’s not gonna be like me…”Lefevre’s honesty about

his experience as a laborer in a steel mill drives me to rely on critical thinking as the

true source that can direct me to a life of substantial value. In the interview it

appears that Mike Lefevre lives in a dark age and cannot manage to escape. His

believable feelings about being a laborer influence me to reflect upon the plans of

my professional future.

Each author assisted me in understanding the necessary use of mindfulness

in professional life. The opportunity to change circumstances such as my personal

traumatic experience and the opportunities of my future is the direct benefit of

opening myself to mindfulness. Mindfulness congruent to critical thinking is the

means to understand reality, which grants a life of purpose and depth and which

prevents dark ages.

 Bibliography

Engh, Edward G., “Critical Thinking”, Module 1 “Foundations of Business”, Salt Lake
Community College, 2018
Marx, Karl. “From the Paris Notebooks.” "Self-Estrangement" Marx: Early Political
Writings (Cambridge Text in the History of Political Thoughts), Edited
by Joseph J. O'Malley, 1844, pp. 71–78.
Read, Leonard E. “I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read | Leonard E. Read.” FEE, Foundation
for Economic Education, 3 Mar. 2015, fee.org/resources/i-pencil/.
Terkel, Studs. Working. Management Editions, 1972.