Theory U

From Chris Chapman

"What is striking me this week is that there is as much need for people to be hospicing the old that is dying, to allow it a graceful death with suitable ritual and compassion, as there is to midwife the new.
 
And that this works at multiple levels, we need to hospice the death of the parts of ourselves that need to die, with suitable ritual as much as we need to be out there doing it in our society.
 
And then, after burying the corpses, there will be more fertile space.
 
And while I am here, thank you so much to the people who came back to me on my posting about 'A Powerful Conversation' and the potential for citizens to initiate a global climate trust - quietly, at this stage, that all feels to be going incredibly well, great links are being made and it is a crazy enough plan that it might just work !

From Steve Ryman

Wow, what a rich conversation that keeps showing up in my mailbox today.  Makes me think that maybe we need systems collapse more often to stimilate our thinking <just kidding!>.
 
I want to weigh in on the issue of generational leadership.  I was recently at the Pioneers of Change Intergenerational gathering at Axladitsa where we lived this issue as well as talked about it.  As one of the older generation (though I still have trouble realizing it), I was impressed and amazed by the new style of leadership, the effectiveness and the innovation demonstrated by the younger pioneers.  At times I was ready to follow Chris' suggestion to cede leadership to them.  But, there is something about this new model of leadership that defies such old-fashioned categorical either/or thinking.  As Karen says, it is more a question of maturity than of age and then I am reminded of the multiple types of intelligence (cognitive, emotional, relational, spacial, spiritual, moral, etc.) and think that there are probably multiple forms of maturity.  And maybe this can be summarized as levels of consciousness.  I was also struck (and personally moved) by the desire of these younger leaders to validate the role of elders and to invite conversation and co-creation across generations.  I felt a bit chagrined by my generation's adage to never trust anyone over 30 (now increased to 60 due to inflation).  There is some incredible wisdom in the desire to avoid categorization and to join hands in getting on with the work.  And I am looking forward to more opportunities to learn the art of this new leadership through first-hand intergenerational co-creation.
 

Susan, thanks so much for joining us in this conversation, and welcome to Evolutionary Nexus and the Art of Hosting community! And thanks for the heads up on the Transition Handbook... I'll get it today!

In the mean time, Conn Mulvenna has sent a lovely response to me which he has given me permission to post here. It really chimes in with what you have been feeling, Susan, and made me think of that phrase western buddhists sometimes use for really advanced practice: "surfing samsara" - which is what we are called to do in this transition time:

"This is such a real cracker of a conversation and so close to much of where I am sitting at the moment.
 
I'll preface my remarks, with the notion that I'm sitting on a beach on the north coast of Ireland, gazing out into the expansive Atlantic, beyond the mythological ninth wave of celtic tradition, where the sea meets the shore.
 
I often watch the surfers as I walk the beach, delighting in their skill and sheer joy of riding their own very physical waves of uncertainty. Having tried to learn to surf on a number of occasions, I am brought back to the learning process. The hard swim with the surfboard, the struggle to reach that place of calm, the gauging of the waves, the choosing inexpertly, the rush to catch the wave, the pull and tug of the flow, knowing I'm kneeling in that flow and my determination to stand for just that one moment, the standing, the falling, the exhuberance as my body crashes back into the water, failed again, yet somehow gloriously succeeded, exhilerated and so very very happy. The failure and the success of riding the surfboard become somehow irrelevant, the joy of learning and doing, the being there,  and being this close to the edge of sea and shore and transcending both of those distinct forms, engage hardwired receptors and ancient software as nothing else quite captured but untamed can express.

I've struggled with these notions of uncertainty since early childhood. A mix of violent conflict, bereavements and difficult events brought me to facing a reality of having no certainties, no reliables, no safety nets, from a very early age. Yet I was formed in a way of thinking that said there ought to be certainty, or fixed points of reference, or codes or rules; and in facing and struggling with this, I became aware of of the capacity to choose, crumble or struggle. Often I have danced between both and as each failure hits home, I am reminded of success. As each success is celebrated, I am tempered by the knowledge of those failures.
 
Some things need to be broken before they can be remade.
 
I admire those surfers and their transcendence. The choosing of their brokenness as an integral part of each moment of learning, because no two waves are ever the same.
 
It is often tempting for us to look back to idealised times in the past when certainties existed, even though they become like chains to the past. Toke's beautiful poem of cuts and cutting, so tenderly and firmly reminds me to cut those chains.
 
As we journey into the U, I discover through my mistakes more skillful ways to cut those anchoring chains and to trust more firmly in my presence.
 
The Waterboys shared a beautiful song, "Strange Boat," that has often reconnected me to my presence in the past. Yet now, I feel compelled to jump from that strange and beautiful and safe boat and to dive and swim and surf to new shores, new meetings, new learnings and new re-beginnings.
 
Our uncertainty is our question, our ability to articulate the "I don't know anymore" is our breakpoint, our willingness to enter the flow of the wave is our strength, our experience of transendence is our choice.
 
love and peace,"

From brother Mushin

It's really a strange situation - here I sit in my Berlin appartement, reading and hearing about the financial meltdown and the dollars some people want to pour into that fire... I hear the German Finance Minister state very clear that "this is entirely US made, and we are not going to participate in this bail-out." I hear the rest of the G7 is also not going to spend one penny on that "home made problem of the US".

And I walk the street and go shopping and really there is no difference at all to, say, a week or two ago. People are not worried. They are not touched. These are incredible numbers, and they don't mean anything to the people on the street, in the super market, in restaurants etc.

And then I look at Twitter and the blogosphere that I participate in, and all hell is loose, it seems. People falling over each other to proclaim large scale change; new needed leadership. And I hear a Mr. McCain even stopping his campaign for presidency to help stop... what exactly? To do what exactly?

As a German whose father has actively participated in WW2 - on both sides, one after the other, both times out of out of idealism - as an ex-guru who had his enlightened litle community running in the Czech Republic for a couple of years before letting go of that; as a person having weathered tons of prophecies of doom: peak-oil, Millenium bugs and the like... I want to send out a call to take back all kinds of authority to your self. We do not need new leadership at all - and also, I don't mind new leadership coming in and doing good...

It is becoming apparent to me that rather than following or being any kind of new leaders we need to become comfortable with the understanding that we do not know and neither do we understand what's going on. We might, rather, want to welcome the wisdom of evolution moving within our species as a whole. Doomsdays or apocalypses are individual happenings, and sometimes group happenings, and very, very rarely happenings that touch the world as a whole. But this is not, definetly not, what's going on right now.

Maybe we need to whole-heartedly welcome being mostly out of control - we can't properly predict what's coming, we don't know if what is reported to us as happening on the planet is a catastrophe or blessing. (Being a non-convertible optimist, I think the latter).

We are surrounded by mystery inside and outside, and in spite of the wide spread idea that it is otherwise, we have been embedded in that mystery since the very beginning (if that ever existed). The whole idea of 'natural laws' has been comforting but mistaken, turrning beings (alive and non-organic) into things that are governed thereby. But really, neither natural laws nor financial statistics nor a relationship, no matter how peaceful, with "things" make reality less of a mystery.

The lesson that I'm taking from the happening that is being covered so much in the old mass-media and a little bit in the new media is being much more comfortable with not knowing; boldly doing what I love to do most (supporting people in finding what they want to do and be) and trusting that humanity will beautifully rise to the occasion.

So let me bow to this wonderful community here, and thank all of you for so passionatly going your diverse ways, passionately expressing your mind and heart and helping us all to move, we know not where but trust it will be a path making our world an even more creative place steeped in a "wefullnes" with all beings in this mystery that we cannot fathom...

~mushin

Reply from Helen TB

"Chris,  I know what you mean about 20 year-olds. I'm pretty in awe of my 13-year-olds, and know many wonderful, creative, dynamic and visionary young people.

One thing, though - they don't construct their world the way we do. And I don't mean "the old way". You have to live some more years in order to develop the complexity of thinking that comes with maturity. So what I would say is not "the world needs to be run by 20-year-olds" but that the world needs to be run by EVERYONE. In particular, the intergenerational mix is crucial - and respectful intergenerational conversation can teach the young-uns as much as it humbles the elders.

There is no one group that has the answers. But you're right, Chris, that what the 20-somethings are doing (and the teenagers, too, often) is worth our serious attention and attempts to understand and embrace. They have skills which I, for one, have been unable to acquire. But we need to understand that they cannot construct the world with the same degree of complexity that more developed adults do (there are adults, of course, who do not display complex thinking...)  - and we mistake that at our peril."

From Helen TB

"Thank you, Martin, for seeding this community with Otto's wisdom.

There is something missing, though, in what Otto says - although perhaps he is presupposing it. He seems to be speaking of the individual. And while individual deepening is crucial - without it we will fail - it is not enough. What is missing is the "WE". That is something that this community has in spades - possibly more than any other community on the planet, since at the bottom line, that is what we are about. Learning how to do it together."

From Chris Corrigan:

"This is great thinking....

For me, I'm not so sure the world is heading into the bottom of the U.  It feels to me as if lots of us are standing around looking at the ENTRANCE to the U which has a big sign pointing at it saying "Hope Lies This Way."  Everyone is scratching their head and wondering why they should enter that tunnel and where it might take us all, but somehow we know that without consciousness, a new world, a true shift, will not be born of this mess.

So for me it feel like, gradually, but with increasing speed, many people are being sucked into the U.  It seems to me that two things have to happen if we are to really shift into something else, even into the conditions that make Bernaerd's thinking possible.  First the old world has to pass away and old thinking has to die as well.  Giving $700 billion dollars to old thinkers delays this passing away I think, even while it might be necessary at some level to keep SOMETHING stable.  But this bailout was not done with awareness.  Yesterday I read in Forbes that a Treasury Department spokesperson said they just picked "a really large number." That kind of "make it up on the spot" thinking has to die away.

The second thing that needs to happen is that space needs to open up for new thinking, and this is the role of young people and those of us that are a little older who can help it to happen.  A new FORM of leadership and organization is needed if a shift to sustainability on a global scale is to take place.  This might be the best opportunity in the last generation for that to truly happen, but it won't happen if we give in to those who say "don't panic, we'll get everything fixed up in a a few months/years."

Like Martin, I'm not panicking nor am I suggesting panic, but I'm also not expecting the old world to die so easily.  It's painful to leave the world you believe in.  And the current generation of leadership that got us into this mess, has a sense of generational entitlement that is hard to shake.  It's just taht now more than ever, we need the world to be run by 20 year olds.  

And if that prospect frightens you, then take a look at what is happening to your retirement savings (if you have any) and see which scenario is more scary.  Doing what we can to assist the generational shift in leadership is an imperative.for our world, and it has to happen before this current generation of emerging leaders is bought in to the old way of doing things.

I think that is what it will take, and I think that is work we can do in all the communities and organizations where we are working.  Where are the new leaders?  If they are on the sidelines, what are doing to help them get front and centre?

Let's roll.

Chris 

(editor's note: Chris has written a great blog about this here.

Reply from Max Lorraine:

"Strikes me that at the present moment, the whole world is diving rapidly down to the bottom of that deep U.

Everything we thought was certain is now uncertain. Things we knew to be true are now untrue. Things are turning and standing on their heads.

In Britain we have a saying 'As safe as the Bank of England'. That no longer seems very safe!

Huge, almost unquantifiable amounts of wealth and value have simply disappeared, other huge chunks of wealth are being shifted, when we never imagined they could exist. The turmoil of the financial system is matched by the bizarre changes in the global weather patterns: ice caps melting and storms becoming more intense and more frequent, seismic shifts happening in the balance of world power where erstwhile superpowers become impotent bystanders in world affairs.

We've no idea how things will be in 3 months time, let alone 3 years, or 30 years.

For many people this is a place of fear. Trust and confidence is evaporating, our banks don't even trust each other, and people no longer trust them, or any of those institutions charged with political, legal and economic power.

Somehow we need to move out of that fear, and instead use our position in the dark and uncertain world we're groping around in to get that sense of reaching into the future, and somehow finding a feeling of what is trying to happen so that we can do the work of climbing up the other side of the U, bringing it into reality.

What are the opportunities this new world is presenting to us? What is formless that is crying out to take form?

Whatever it is, it's something big.

Any suggestions what it might be???"