Theory of Indivisibility: How Did We Get Here? (Part 1)
Welcome to Theory of Indivisibility: Solutions-focused evolutionary analysis of our social, economic, and political systems…originally delivered as a podcast, now transcribed to offer a visually engaging and interactive experience with the content. This is a place where I hope the research that I’ve done to answer questions I’ve carried for almost 20 years can reach more people.
I’ll never forget the day that I realized I had a huge calling on my life. On that day, I felt a sense of purpose and a sense of duty that I was called to do something really impactful in the world. It was during the 1999–2000 school year when I was a junior in college. I was disrupted from sleep by a sudden feeling that I needed to do something impactful, and I was overcome with emotion. I was emotional because the sense of duty felt so real and I knew somehow, someway I had to answer the call. I also sensed it was a tall task that would be really hard to accomplish.
At that point in my life, I began to see and experience poverty and all of the ways conditions of poverty impact people and their communities negatively — it really angered me. I felt a strong desire to figure out a way to help people who were oppressed and do my part to help end their suffering.
Every morning while growing up and attending Martha Washington — a K-8 public school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — my classmates and I were taught to stand up, face the flag that represents the United States of America, place our right hand over our hearts, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It quickly became routine and I never questioned why we were doing it or what it meant. But the Pledge of Allegiance would forever be ingrained in my psyche.
Shortly after the day I woke up with that emotional revelation in college, I wrote a phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance in a notebook where I kept ideas, “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty & justice for all.” I stared at it and wondered, why?
If most Americans grew up like I did, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance daily, and it states “One nation, under God, indivisible“ why is our country so divided? If it states, “with liberty and justice for all”, why does racism, poverty, sexism, classism, & crime exist? Why are so many people unhappy? Why is there so much injustice?
Since that moment, I’ve been consumed with finding answers to my questions, and I have sought to understand why we as a nation fail to live up to these lofty ideals. For the past 18 years, I’ve been daydreaming, researching, debating, dialoguing, learning, and reflecting about solutions to my questions.
When I would share my questions, anger, and concerns with others, most people would respond with something like, “that’s just the way society is”…
“I can’t see it ever changing”
“You just have to play the game the best you can,”
“Just make as much money as possible for you and your family and don’t worry about what you can’t control.”
Those sentiments never provided me comfort or contentment, nor did they stop the questions from permeating my mind.
One of the most nagging questions was how did we get here — how and why did all of these problems start?
In this publication, “Theory of Indivisibility”, we will analyze the dominant social, economic, and political systems that influence our collective lives and experiences as Americans and global citizens.
Each piece will explore the evolution of the following systems:
Power-over, patriarchy, religion, ownership, capitalism, democracy, racism, & education.
Each of these systems will be examined on three levels:
1) How did we get here? Step one is to explore the origins and evolution of each system.
2) Where are we now? Once we understand the origins and evolution of each system, we will look at the current realities and complexities of each system.
3) Theory of Indivisibility: Looking to the future. Finally, we will explore how to apply my Theory of Indivisibility to each system. We will look at ways that people are creating new systems rooted in sustainability, equity, freedom, and unconditional love.
Before the systems analysis begins, I’ll share how I got here — and by here I mean, how I got to this place in my life where I wanted to create a solutions-focused podcast and publication that deeply examines our current social, political, and economic systems. We will also get acquainted with the tools needed for our systems analysis.
Notice how I wrote we will use for our analysis. I want to share up front that I am not an expert. I’m simply a solutions-focused, life-long learner inviting you to join me if you share an interest in helping to solve similar problems. This series is designed to be part of an authentic dialogue. I’m sharing my best evidence-based thinking knowing that my readers’ evidenced-based reflections will help improve my thinking.
We are building community around this work on Patreon. That is where you can become a patron to help fund the continued production of my podcast and publication, plus gain access to a discussion group for ongoing reflections and authentic dialogue about my Theory of Indivisibility.
Let me introduce you to the tools that I will be using for each analysis…
The first tool is Systems Thinking.
Peter Senge, an MIT professor, consultant, and author of The Fifth Discipline, a preeminent text on systems thinking used in several leadership and MBA programs across the world, defines systems thinking in the following video clip:
I was first introduced to systems thinking during my doctoral studies in a class I took called “Thinking in Systems”. My worldview and understanding of problems haven’t been the same since… and it is my exposure to systems thinking that gave rise to the transformative work I do today.
Three Keys to Understanding Systems Thinking
1. Everything is a system
Everything — literally, everything — is a system. In the book Thinking in Systems, Donella Meadows explains that a system is an interconnected set of elements — people, cells, molecules, companies, beliefs — anything organized to achieve a purpose.
A system consists of three things: elements, interconnections, and a purpose.
The human body is a great example of a complex system. The human body consists of interconnected & interdependent systems that all work together cooperatively to maintain life. We have a respiratory system, nervous system, neurological system, skeletal system, digestive system, and several more. None of these systems functions independently of the others. They only achieve their purpose — maintaining life — when they work together as part of a whole.
2. All systems are interconnected & interdependent
Each system exists within a larger system. So in essence our world consists of a web of interconnected systems and subsystems. Visualize a set of nesting measuring cups. The ¼ cup sits inside the ½ cup, which sits inside the 1-cup. Imagine that each measuring cup contains several additional systemic elements. Every system functions with this principle.
3. Our world consists of natural systems & human-made systems
Natural systems begin with the observable universe. Using the measuring cup analogy, the entire observable universe is the 1-cup; the galaxies, solar systems, planet earth, earth’s ecosystem, & humans are each examples of smaller cups that each exist within the previous larger cups.
Natural systems evolve and change gradually over time. For example, the study of plate tectonics suggests that the continents, like North America, that make up the landmasses on Earth are always moving. They were once joined together about 500 million years ago to form a supercontinent called Gondwana. Over the course of millions of years, the landmass separated to form the continents we know today.
With natural systems, each subsystem is interdependent with its subsequent subsystem and vice versa. Larger and smaller systems are part of one another and they play an equal role in each other’s survival.
For example, humans are a subsystem of a larger ecosystem, and that ecosystem is just as dependent on humans as humans are dependent on the ecosystem. Our ecosystems provide food, natural resources that we use to build shelter and power machines, and inorganic chemical elements, like oxygen, that we need to breathe.
Our ecosystems depend on humans for the production of carbon dioxide, which happens when we breathe. Plants need carbon dioxide to produce their food. The carbon dioxide — oxygen cycle is an example of a balancing feedback loop.
Another easily recognizable balancing feedback loop in nature is the water cycle. Evaporation, condensation, precipitation…repeat. The cool thing about balancing feedback loops is that they are naturally sustainable. All natural systems consist of balancing feedback loops.
Now, let’s discuss human-made systems…
Human-made systems support the development and governance of societies and cultures. Human-made systems consist of social systems and industrial systems.
Social systems are created by humans as a means of communicating with one another and supporting each other’s existence. Elements like language, writing, government, hospitals, and marriage are examples of social systems.
Industrial systems are the manufactured, material-based systems that provide the infrastructure for our social systems. Elements like homes, roads, vehicles, boats, clothing, and buildings are examples of industrial systems.
Remember, everything is a system, all systems are interconnected, and our world consists of natural systems & human-made systems.
“Hunger, poverty, environmental degradation, economic instability, unemployment, chronic disease, drug addiction, and war, for example, persist in spite of the analytical ability and technical brilliance that have been directed toward eradicating them. No one deliberately creates those problems, no one wants them to persist, but they persist nonetheless. That is because they are intrinsically systems problems — undesirable behaviors characteristic of the system structures that produce them. They will yield only as we reclaim our intuition, stop casting blame, see the system as the source of its own problems, and find the courage and wisdom to restructure it.”
- Donella H. Meadows “Thinking in Systems”
Systems thinking has taught me that everything evolves from something else. So, to set the stage for the analysis of each system that we will discuss, let’s first explore how we got here…literally. Let’s find out how all of the systems, natural as well as human-made, got here — starting with the universe — in the next transcription, Theory of Indivisibility: How Did We Get Here? (Part 2).
Until next time,
I love y’all — peace!
Dr. Sundiata Soon-Jahta
2022. Podcast brought into written form by Ray Lightheart
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Resources and references:
Books:
The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
Videos:
