Our Business
THE SYMPTOMATIC THOUGHT PROCESS®
Historically, scholars have assumed that symbolic thought was a natural neurological process. Our research at EDGAR J. RIDLEY & ASSOCIATES has proven that assumption to be incorrect. Our research conclusions have revealed that a dramatic change in the way we solve problems and behave was required. Global conflicts, from Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, to Congo or Zimbabwe, evolve from a symbolic thought process. We know that a symbolic thought process results in superstition and mythological thinking, producing religious wars worldwide.
The research conclusions reached by EDGAR J. RIDLEY & ASSOCIATES, known as the Symptomatic Thought Process®, are far beyond the current research on symbolism and its effect on the brain. The theory of the Symptomatic Thought Process® will not only liberate Africa, but serve as a qualitative thrust for a better world.
The Symptomatic Thought Process® is the key to the problems faced in today’s civilization, because it eradicates decisions based on mythology and superstitious behavior. The absence of these behavioral components ushers in a qualitatively better world. Symbolic thinking goes hand in hand with mythological thinking. Thinking symptomatically means thinking non-symbolically, or, seeing things without attaching connotations. In short, thinking symptomatically means seeing things as they really are. By doing this, we eradicate the need to mythologize as we experience the ultimate, qualitatively. The focus of EDGAR J. RIDLEY & ASSOCIATES is on teaching clients how to achieve that eradication. The only way to eradicate symbolic thinking is to think symptomatically.
African governments must be responsible for creating an environment that is conducive to world-class business. This environment should be devoid of symbolic behavior, which produces mythological thinking, in order to be effective.
FOUNDATION
The management concepts of EDGAR J. RIDLEY & ASSOCIATES are documented in the writings of the founder, Edgar J. Ridley. Edgar J. Ridley's thesis, The Neurological Misadventure of Primordial Man©, was the precursor to a body of work exploring the impact of symbolism on civilization, and a prescription for a new dynamic. An African Answer: The Key to Global Productivity (Africa World Press), the first book, was endorsed by the world-renowned productivity expert, the late W. Edwards Deming, as a great book.
The second book, Symbolism Revisited: Notes on the Symptomatic Thought Process (Africa World Press) arrived in 2001. As is common in academia, Mr. Ridley is a contributor to other edited works and magazines; for example, he authored a chapter for Changing the Way We Manage Change (Quorum Books), edited by Ronald R. Sims, Ph.D. the Floyd Dewey Gottwald Senior Professor at the Mason School of Business, College of William & Mary. Mr. Ridley’s chapter, titled Reconciling the Dynamics of Symbols and Symptoms in Bringing About International Change, continues the theme espousing the replacement of symbolic thinking with a symptomatic approach. Mr. Ridley's cutting-edge research on the impact of symbols is the core theme in a textbook published by McGraw-Hill, titled Managing Diversity in a Global Economy.
Mr. Ridley’s third book, titled The Golden Apple: Changing the Structure of Civilization, Volume I (Africa World Press) focuses on the implementation of the Symptomatic Thought Process®.. It is the inaugural volume of his Golden Apple series.
Mr. Ridley's fourth book is Volume II of The Golden Apple: Changing the Structure of Civilization, subtitled The Evidence of Symptomatic Behavior. This second book in the series shows the destructive nature that symbolic thought has on civilization and the need for a transition to symptomatic thought and behavior. Mr.
Ridley demonstrates how the experts in the cognitive sciences, including all fields of anthropology, misrepresent the way symbols affect the neurological processes of the human brain. He shows that the traditional belief that symptoms are inferior to symbols is erroneous, and that this belief has caused unspeakable cruelty and conflict the world over.
Mr. Ridley's fifth book is Volume III of The Golden Apple: Changing the Structure of Civilization, subtitled Aftermath. Published in 2020, this is the capstone of Mr. Ridley's groundbreaking Golden Apple Series. In Volume III, Mr. Ridley continues his critique of man’s barbaric behavior from antiquity to the present, as well as man's reliance on symbolic thought to the detriment of symptomatic thought. Ridley’s discovery, the Symptomatic Thought Press ® is expanded in this Volume III to address man’s propensity for magical thinking, leading to the inability to face reality. Mr. Ridley affirms, “History cannot be told correctly unless we understand how homo sapiens, in antiquity, transitioned from symptomatic behavior to symbolic behavior, creating racism, superstition, and mythology in the world’s cultures.”
