2.1.1 Being Human — Awakening to Interconnectedness
Chapter 2 of Design for Human Connection within Global Communities — An exploration through digital experience design and participatory action research
Humans have shown their capability to manipulate the environment, accumulate and transfer information beyond generations. According to Eisenstein (2007), these capabilities are technology and culture and are central to our humanity. On the other hand, “if our true being is the totality of our relationships and includes everything in the cosmos, then when we cut ourselves off from any aspect of nature, other people, we create a wound” (Eisenstein, 2019). This disconnection shows up as the existential crisis we live in, and considering the economic and cultural systems, the reconciliation needed is not easily accessible to us.
1.1.1 Awakening to Interconnectedness
Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader and pioneer on mindfulness teachings. Hanh (2012) advocates that we have to keep learning and be open, releasing our knowledge to come to a deeper understanding of reality. He also points out that “there are people moving around us who are consumed by their past, terrified of their future, and stuck in their anger and jealousy. They are not alive; they are just walking corpses” (Hanh, 2012, p.8). According to Hanh’s teachings, happiness and peace are possible every day when we learn how to access the present moment, dissolving our fears and suffering by allowing them to come to the surface.
Ruiz and Mills (2008) affirm that attention is the capacity we have to distinguish and concentrate only on that which we want to perceive. The authors studied the spiritual beliefs held by the ancient Toltec people and advocate that we learned everything we know and how we behave in the world by having our attention hooked by society, putting knowledge into our minds thought repetition. Moreover, the authors recommend that the first step towards freedom is awareness: “if you are not aware that your mind is full of wounds and emotional poison, you cannot begin to clean and heal the wounds and you will continue to suffer”.
In the book “The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible”, Eisenstein talks about the awakening of the interconnectedness of all our systems. According to the author, “all of our externals institutions reflect our basic perceptions of the world, our invisible ideologies and belief systems” (Eisenstein, 2017, p.19) and all crises we are facing are of a spiritual nature, involving all aspects of our humanity. The narratives, conventions and representative systems that contain the answers to life’s most fundamental queries were not authorised to be questioned. For instance, the understanding of who we are, as individuals, comes from the perspective that “you are a separate individual among other separate individuals in a universe that is separate from you as well” (Eisenstein, 2017, p.21). Additionally, the author states that if we are not connected to our interbeing, we do not feel like we are home or safe (Eisenstein, 2019). Daniel Wahl, the author of Designing Regenerative Cultures, agrees with Eisenstein, stating that “only if we heal the entirely mind-made separation of nature and culture, only if we truly understand our interbeing with all of life, can we reconcile humanity with the rest of nature” (Rapid Shift, 2017).
Scharmer (2016) explores the concept of separation in terms of three divides: ecological, social, and spiritual. According to the author, these divides represent the time of crisis that we live in, creating results that no one wants. The author invites a new perspective, shifting the level of awareness from “ego” to “eco” and from “me” to “we”. This method, called Theory U (Figure 1: Theory U — Crossing the Threshold by Kelvy Bird. Scharmer, 2016.), represents a global movement that aims to empower individuals to see themselves through the perspective of the whole, connecting the present moment to the future that wants to emerge in all spheres.
The leap from our current state to our emerging future state should be understood not only as individuals, but as groups, institutions, and as a global community. To bridge that divide, Scharmer understands that we need to activate our more profound levels of humanity.
