The Dali Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered "Man.... Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."
Margaret Wheatley is a community imagineer, author and fascinating specialist in engagement. She has worked in communities around the world, especially with aboriginal (First Nations) peoples, in helping them understand that "no one is coming to help them", but that have tremendous power "in and through community". She suspects that this applies to us all.
Her newest book - So Far from Home : Lost and Found in Our Brave New World (Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 2012) - feels dark. When asked why, she quietly replies that "these are dark times". Her catalogue of shadows and curtains on our world including the sense that the problems we face are increasing and the solutions we try don't appear to work; we appear to have shrinking resources as we expand our presence on the planet, but no means of increasing our ability to supply food, water and energy equitably; individuals feel an increasing uncertainty about their identity and the meaning of their lives, yet they are better connected through technology with other voices than we have ever been; people report that they are "busy, busy, busy" and that they are overwhelmed and experience fear, anxiety and distress. All of this tends to focus our sense that we need leaders and leadership, but leadership and effective leaders seem to be in short supply. Its pretty bleak out there.
Yet there is something present that we tend to overlook and that is the power of community - real community, not a Facebook group or a Linkedin network. People caring about each other locally. Wheatley points out that "nothing living lives alone" and that "we are bundles of potential that manifests only in relationship". So as to create health and move to solutions, we need to make connections and build community. Given that, in her view, "no one else is coming", its critical to realize that, in the words of the Native American Hopi Elders, "we are the ones we have been waiting for".
Rather than focus on the darkness within and around us, there is a need to focus on possibilities. These means that we need not confine ourselves to the preconceived possibilities for our future - we can "break out" and be "disruptive". Rather than ask "what's wrong and how do we fix it" we should ask "what's possible and who cares?".
"We are [as individuals and as communities] bundles of potential that manifests only in relationships" - so we need to build community and explore possibilities.
Wheatley draws attention to the prophecies of the Hopi Nation - an Arizona American First Nation. They suggest that the fourth world (our world) is about to end the fifth world is about to begin. This fifth world is one in which we stop the search for economic growth and focus instead on re-finding the balance between man and nature, between self and community and within self. This thinking is captured in this statement from the Hopi elders:
This could be a good time!There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of
the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.-The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation
The question for us is simple: are we willing to push off into the middle of the river?
Stephen Murgatroyd
Thanks for this eloquent brief insight into Wheatley's thinking. I was reminded of Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone's "Active Hope: How to face the mess we are in without going crazy" also published in 2012, whose title is incorporated into the aims of this CoRk/FTP blog. Much of the upbeat writing about redefining human purpose in a more community-based and spiritual relationship with nature and each other draws on the wisdom of peoples who avoided the constraints and benefits of 'civilisation'. Like the octogenarian Macy's call for 'a Great Turning' in our way of life in which we 'go forth to serve the living earth', Wheatley's notion of 'bundles of potentials' that 'break out' and focus on possibilities to disrupt the norms of mass society, seems wildly idealistic as human population grows by another 1 billion in the next 14 years and economic growth drives public policy everywhere. Nevertheless,educational leadership obviously has a role to play in bringing these critical perspectives to the attention of young and older people. Does 'pushing off into the middle of the river' include the act of contributing to this blog site? If so, a lot of 'potentials' remain on the banks being busy, busy, busy!
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