I, John Dale Eugene Carter, was blessed with the opportunity to be president of John D. Carter and Associates for forty and years and to have served as part of the leadership team that created the GestaltOSD Center as a part of the former Gestalt Institute of Cleveland (a professional organization that dissolved itself in 2006.  As President and CEO of the GestaltOSD Center I want to welcome you to our web site and hope you will spread the word that the GestaltOSD body of knowledge is available on this website for the general public for their personal use without charge.

Since I was a young boy of four or five I have wondered why the wrongs of the world go unrectified if in fact there is a God or Ultimate power.  My search for the answer to my internal struggle led me to organize my life around three practices.  My search for God, my search for meaningful work and my search for truth, represented by a body of knowledge that would support me being centered, grounded and connected to the Original Source.

I have spent most of my life journey searching for God in all the wrong places, although I had my first experience of Grace in my freshman year in college, unrelated to any religious practice.  Grace ultimately led me to my current spiritual practice. After receiving an earned PhD at Case Western Reserve University and study at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, I met a man, William Bradshaw, who made it possible for me to break the concrete floor that barred individuals like me from doing corporate consulting.  Working with organizations became my second area of practice.  My third area of practice grew out of my search for knowledge and skill and led me to being an educator committed to innovative education, especially in the area of higher education.

GestaltOSD is a body of knowledge based on natural human processes that integrated gestalt perception concepts, with systems thinking and organization development practice. This body of knowledge integrated with meditation has provided me and my colleagues with an integrative perspective that used as an internal operating system will enhance one’s self-mastery and increase their awareness, knowledge and skill.

One intent of this web site is to share to the fullest extent possible my personal journey and the history that led me and my colleagues to creating the OSD training and development programs and the GestaltOSD body of knowledge.

The GestaltOSD Center purpose that I share is the transformation of humankind. Simply expressed: Each person makes a difference with their presence one step at a time by attending to their personal and professional growth in a manner that enhances the self-esteem and self-worth of self and others.

We are all one.

POWER RULES, LOVE WINS is the title of the book I hope will someday be written from this story and these shared journeys. My personal journey is not a straight line.  It is about walking the line, walking beside the line, being above and below the line and crossing the line.  One of my passions in life has been the plight of the African American male.  I hope by sharing my story and journey that it will make a difference by what it evokes or provokes in those who chose to take the time to be interested.

And finally, my sharing this information is a letter to my unborn son. I hope my story will inspire young Black men to know that you can become who you are meant to be and to never give up. My father was the first in his family to finish high school.  I was the first in our family to receive a doctorate degree. This is not a story about success. It is a story about learning, having a compelling picture and making one’s dreams a reality.

You are loved.

I hope you enjoy learning about my journey which is represented by edited and unedited articles, video tapes, audio tapes and interviews.