Setting in Motion a New Renaissance
This is part two of COVID 19, Launching Pad of a New Renaissance.
“COVID 19, like any disruption, essentially confronts each of us with a choice:
1) to freeze, turn away from others, only care for ourselves, or
2) to turn toward others to support and comfort those who need help.”
Dancing With Problems
Fortunately enough, there are people in the XXI Century who have different stories to tell, such as the Humanists in the 14th century. Those stories are called Systems Thinking, Complexity Theory, and Awareness-Based Systems Change.
According to this way of thinking, there are significant differences between complicated problems and complex ones. Sonja Blignaut, of Cynefin, in her article 7 Differences between complex and complicated, quotes Roberto Poli, who establishes those differences in the following statements:
“Complicated problems originate from causes that can be individually distinguished; they can be addressed piece by piece; for each input to the system there is a proportionate output; the relevant systems can be controlled and the problems they present admit permanent solutions.
On the other hand, complex problems and systems result from networks of multiple interacting causes that cannot be individually distinguished; must be addressed as entire systems, that is they cannot be addressed in a piecemeal way; they are such that small inputs may result in disproportionate effects; the problems they present cannot be solved once and forever, but are required to be systematically managed and typically any intervention merges into new problems as a result of the interventions dealing with them, and the relevant systems cannot be controlled — the best one can do is to influence them, or learn to ‘dance with them’ as Donella Meadows rightly said.”
COVID 19 Under the Complexity Lens
…they are such that small inputs may result in disproportionate effects…
One infected rat started the Black Death that killed 75 million people in Europe, Asia, and Africa. COVID-19 started when an animal, probably a bat infected a single human, causing results similarly to what was described above. Stopping the world in its tracks, this virus has considerably lessened environmental pollution, but it is also showing us that solving climate change is not a matter of diminishing our carbon footprint alone.
…the problems they present cannot be solved once and forever, …
Almost all the leaders in the world today think that once this is over, we will be back to business as usual. We probably will temporarily, but history has a distinguishing characteristic — it repeats itself.
…but are required to be systematically managed and typically any intervention merges into new problems as a result of the interventions dealing with them…
It repeats itself until we get the message. As a species, we learn the lessons the hard way, as we have done in every major crisis during the course of history. In the 14th century, we were able to change our collective consciousness progressively during fifty years, at a cost so high in human lives that we can not possibly fathom. Here and now, in the XXI Century, very few leaders around the world, if any at all, are aware that after COVID19, life will not be the same. But as we have seen so far, they are most likely going to repeat the same patterns of the past until we, as a global society, realize that we will be living our lives in a completely new reality.
…and the relevant systems cannot be controlled — the best one can do is to influence them, or learn to “dance with them”…
If we treat COVID19 as a complex problem, instead of a complicated one, we could focus on solving it by dancing with it, as Donella Medows said, especially with the advances in science and technology, specifically in biology, communications, and AI. On the contrary, if we use those very powerful tools to try to control COVID19, and later to go back to business as usual, we will only make things worse, with unpredictable consequences for humanity. In the latter case, the result could be compared to an elephant dancing in a crystal shop. As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Writing the Story of the Emerging Future
Otto Scharmer has been developing Theory U, an awareness-based system change methodology, for the last 25 years. He is a Senior Lecturer in the MIT Sloan School of Management and a co-founder of the Presencing Institute. He took the less-traveled road in 2015 when he offered his Theory U MIT course, “u.lab. Leading From The Emerging Future,” free of charge to the world through the EDX platform.
Today, that initial course has evolved into the U.School, a year-around learning platform hosted by the Presencing Institute that includes other programs that complement u.lab, like u.lab 2X and the GAIA Journey (Global Activation of Intention and Action). They are all free of charge. The U.School hosts live sessions that are attended by up to 10.000 people a day in five languages, and has a thriving community of more than 150,000 change-makers, who prototype societal, business, and educational change initiatives in more than 190 countries around the world.
More than a school that teaches Theory U, Otto Scharmer has created a global movement whose intention is to sow the seeds of a new Eco-System awareness. He believes that “Awareness Based Collective Action, a new superpower in the making, is the seed for a new, awareness-based form of coordination and governance that is already taking root in many places.”
“Regarding the movement,” Dr. Scharmer writes in his April 8 article, A New Superpower in the Making: Awareness-Based Collective Action (ABC), “it is the activation of a deep and widely held longing for profound societal and civilizational renewal. Wherever I go on this planet, whomever I talk to, I hear people express the equivalent of these three simple realizations.
- We know that our current civilization is not sustainable. It’s about to hit the wall. In fact, it’s already hitting the wall. And that process of collapse will deepen dramatically if we don’t change direction.
- We want to be part of a different story of the future. We want to contribute to redirecting where we are heading as a society.
- I don’t know how…”
“…Individually, almost everyone wants something different. Yet collectively, we keep producing the same results, manifested in the deepening of the three major divides of our time: the ecological divide (the disconnect between self and nature), the social divide (the disconnect between self and other), and the spiritual divide (the disconnect between self and self).” See the figure above.
How to Be Part of a Different Story of the Future
In relation to the GAIA Journey, the new impromptu initiative of the Presencing Institute, he says:
“COVID 19, like any disruption, essentially confronts each of us with a choice:
- to freeze, turn away from others, only care for ourselves, or
- to turn toward others to support and comfort those who need help.”
“That choice between acting from ego or acting from eco-system awareness is one that we face every day, every hour, every moment. The more the world sinks into chaos, desperation, and confusion, the greater our responsibility to radiate presence, compassion, and grounded action confidence.” Otto Scharmer
He shared, “when I thought about what is really clarifying over the last few days, these five sentences came to my mind.
- We are all connected. We are many. We are one.
- We change the system. Our behavior matters: it impacts the system.
- When we face disruption, we have to be AWAKE.
- When we face disruption, we have a CHOICE: We can either turn AWAY/CLOSE DOWN, or We can TURN TOWARDS/OPEN UP.
- The future we ENACT is determined by the inner place from where we act.”
He explains them further.
1. “We are all connected. We are many. We are one.”
It is self-evident.
2. “We change the system. Our behavior matters: it impacts the system.”
“We all knew that from Systems Thinking, and now it is apparent to everyone because it affects all of us. We need to change our own individual behavior to collectively deal with the situation.”
3. “When we face disruption, we have to be AWAKE.”
“Not only individually, but also collectively. When we look at the different responses (to Coronavirus) of Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, their collective response took a few days. Here in the U.S., it is taking six to eight weeks.”
4. “When we face disruption, we have a CHOICE:”
“We can either turn AWAY/CLOSE, or We can TURN TOWARDS/OPEN UP.” Our Ignorance, Hate, and Fear cause us to turn away and close down. Whereas, activating our Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage, makes us turn towards and open up. That is what we are practicing here. The GAIA journey is about practicing a deeper state. It is a capacity that we need to practice individually and collectively. We live in that tension, which intensifies as we speak.”
“The GAIA journey is about reaching in towards a deeper state of Open Mind, Heart, and Will, not only at the level of the individual but also of the collective.”
“Reimagining our civilization, creating:
- New learning infrastructures, Whole Person, Whole System,
- New democratic and government infrastructures that make Democracy, Direct, Distributed, Dialogic,
- a shift in the economies from Ego-centric to ones that are Eco-system awareness, serving the wellbeing of all.”
“That is the collective action dimension of reimagining our civilization.”
A Collective Journey
Otto shared that, “the GAIA journey starts in that spot of Sensing and Staying with…where we connect with our deeper levels of resonance and then move with what is beginning to emerge. This is all at the level of the individual and the level of the face to face relationship. But also on the collective system level.”
“So, the GAIA journey really is about deepening our connection to ourselves, to each other, and to the place we are living in — our mother Earth.”
5. “The future we ENACT is determined by the inner place from where we act.”
“That inner place from where we operate is defined by ‘turning toward and opening up, or turning away and closing down.’ That is true individually, but also at the collective level. The investigation of that inner place is one of the most important activities of our time.”
A Call to Act on Our Emerging Future Story
He asks, “What is it, when you look at your experience in the current situation that calls you to let go? What are you noticing about your own response, and what is it that you feel that wants to emerge to yourself in your own context, but also to us as a larger global community? I have three questions for you:
— What am I being called to let go of?
— What am I noticing about my inner state and response?
— What is beginning to emerge now?”
Dr. Scharmer’s questions leave the field open for you to explore that inner place from which you are going to act, thus, creating a new story for you and your community.
To be part of the GAIA global community, which is immersed in building the story of the future as you read this article, go to the GAIA landing page (www.gaiajourney.org)
(1) Dark Space and Our Own Light. “we look into the darkness first, and then the light comes, which might relate to how we hold absencing and presencing. I had the urge to draw the roots strongly and was wondering about the relationship between the earth and the universe, and how it’s so much to hold, but that’s what our times call for… By connecting into what the planet’s really wanting now, and staying rooted, we rise through that, through our focus and through our open awareness, and grow into the dark space with our own light.” Kelvy Bird at the final session of u.lab1x. Dec. 2019.
