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Dangers @F-L-O-W
"A short story with some radical notions about
danger and opportunity…" |
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In my
previous short story, I posed an idea:
The idea?
STOP YOUR PROGRESS?
Radical notion, or paradoxical, counter-intuitive values?
Bingo.
If you can just get this simple notion, paradoxically as it
might seem, blasphemous as it may be; you will not
have an immune response @F-L-O-W.
Here’s what I mean.
What if you saw the world getting more complex at a
more rapid rate… even accelerating exponentially, and
you said, that is ok; but trying to co-evolve with
that world has more risks, than benefits; what might
you believe?
How then would you live your life?
Your answer?
Ever thought about it?
Need to wait until you are heading home in this life
to ponder such a counter-intuitive notion, or idea?
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Let’s start here with a counter-intuitive notion.Higher Is Not Happier?
Wait!
So, if higher is NOT more well-adjusted, and not happier,
then what is it?
…higher allows MORE, Bigger, Richer, Range, Scope, etc.
It’s intuitive, not WRONG, it just is…more.
I think it makes sense to remember our quote from the RED
Queen speaking to Alice?
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"Now, here,
you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in
the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you
must run at least twice as fast as that!"
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And that is the rub.
MORE IS NOT BETTER FOR MOST…for most less
is more?
It’s intuitive that we would want to keep up with complexity,
and we have, and we did…but we can’t any longer! Complexity
has now accelerated past the point where we humans have the
mechanism to cope…and there is a danger lurking?The
danger?
Why can’t this story have a happy ending?
Actually, it can have a happy ending!
But.
Let me share with you the danger first,
lest you think this is just another thing that will happen OUT
THERE, and not here.
Narrow-focusing is an amazing ability don’t you think?
…the ability to
fish bowl our lives and swim around in familiar territory, all
the while ignoring the other fish, the other fish bowls, and
the bigger ocean out there? Amazing!
[Pssst, I actually show you how this danger, is an
opportunity later, so keep reading.]
The danger is something that we have learned (all of
us have experienced ‘this danger’) over the course of our lives;
when
problems get too big–too big for me, you, and us–they have
to solve us. When they do–almost all of the time–they "put
us in our place."
That place…is where we can match who we are, what we do,
with what we have, including our next lessons for becoming, with the
contribution we can make.
Let me unwind it this way for you.
Problems are
just signals
of misalignment, where present
matches between the conditions and the codes used to solve
them
1) reach a state of diminishing returns, and
2) create a
discontinuous problem at a new level of complexity, which of
course, can’t be solved at the level it was created…remember
Einstein’s admonition?
In The New Quotable Einstein (2005), editor
Alice Calaprice suggests that two quotes attributed to
Einstein which she could not find sources for, may
both be paraphrases of his 1946 quote.
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at
the same level of thinking we were at when we created
them" and
"The world we have created today as a result
of our thinking thus far has problems which cannot be
solved by thinking the way we thought when we created
them,"
A similar unsourced variant is
"The world we have created is a product of our
thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our
thinking." |
I think without question, that these quotes, or attributions
make perfect intuitive sense, and after all, most likely
Einstein was a dominant intuitive (ENTP), possibly an
INTP, which makes him a dominant ‘thinker’… hmmmm. We can go
into that later, but suffice it to say, it appears that
Einstein effectively explains my (overly) simple linear and
non-linear condition-code algorithm, or equation.
Conditions and the code/algorithms, to match or align them,
always:
1) reach a state of diminishing returns, and
2) create a
discontinuous problem at a new level of complexity, which of
course, can’t be solved at the level it was created…
Here is a more recent reason for why we need to be
higher, intuitively.
Problems are just signals of misalignment, where present
matches between the conditions and the codes used to solve
them
1) reach a state of diminishing returns, and
2) create a
[new]
discontinuous problem at a new level of complexity.
In my original contention, I indicated that when problems get
too big, they have to solve us, and in my 25 years of
professional coaching, I have seen this in many forms, with
myself and my clients, as well as the systems we all worked in
and among.
These misalignments (problem
signaled)…cause one of two
"basic" things to happen (oversimplified), either
1) the
conditions shift to meet the code (namaste), or
2) the code
evolves to deal with the conditions, eventually bringing the
condition-code algorithm, or equation, BACK into alignment and
the problem signal goes away.
First, let’s talk about People, then systems!
In people, most of the time, what happens is that we reach our
level of incompetence producing misalignment, or being
present when it emerges, and we are not able to code-shift
quickly.
[I will get to this in another short story, but for now,
hang with this line of thinking.]
| I once read a piece in experiential learning theory that says
all learning is re-learning. And you will hear me talk
@F-L-O-W about this notion of
unlearning and how what we already know got us into
the mismatch in the first place. So it might be rather
than–as my old ‘ball coach used to say, "run that play until
you get it right"–that you step back and see what needs to be
unlearned, so to speak. |
That stage of thinking, feeling, or learning so to speak, is
what Susanne Cook-Greuter refers to in the slide captured
above, and many others suggest: until we can, we can’t…and
don’t.
Whichever state of learning is involved, most of the time, we
don’t learn to solve our problems, they solve us; often creating
suffering in the process. Some refer to this as maturity!
I often use a Teachable Point of
View (TPOV) called Signal, Message, Lesson, Crisis…to
describe a progression if we miss the signal, the message
comes, a lesson follows. If we don’t learn it (or can’t), a
crisis emerges…and often as a result, suffering
comes short-term, we experience a code shift later.
This formulaic approach to life, work, and relationships is
relevant here as we discuss the danger of not "getting
it"– the signal, failing to understand the message, or
separate noise from signal, unable to ‘grok’ the lesson and
apply it, and then required to face the crisis.
Most of us learn, re-learn, and un-learn through crisis,
often unfortunately; so I am not naive here.
Happy Ending Time?
For those who want an opportunity to be proactive, to
be designers, scaffolders and guides, we need to
help you become a signal detector. Signals are everywhere.
Messages show clear and present danger. Lessons go unlearned…and crises emerge in
many forms.
So?
What my experience has brought me, and some of my clients, is
this:
You will get compressed back to the level where conditions and
code can come into alignment. As Problems solve us–creating
new code in the process–we are usually compressed under the
weight of conditions; if we are not scaffolded well,
internally, externally, financially, or developmentally.
This is not a bad thing…it just is; and as a word to the yet
to be wise, you can expect it. All of us who move through life
get tested, beaten, and bent over.
| A mentor of mine Col. Dick Jarrett, who I wish a
fast recovery, always said that it takes heat, and a
lot of beating to temper steel, which makes it strong
and ‘fit’ for duty. Thanks for your service and
guidance Dick! |
Hint: We are forced back down that ladder of needs; the
same ladder we
have used to climb up to the level of where we can no longer
support the weight of growth and change.
Examples:
You are unable to behave well with your client or company, and
they sanction you If it repeats enough, they reduce your
behavior to a match between what you are capable of. If
you still can’t manage, they redirect your career path (fire
your ass!).
In another case, you borrow too much money.
Your bets on the
future fail you and they take away your ability to
borrow…therefore matching you with your level of
code-conditions.
In yet another case, you don’t understand why people are upset
at you. You keep messing with them. You keep imposing your
values on them; and they have a belief that you should believe
like they do…and they over time, realize they can’t stop
you. So they decide to start inflicting pain on you…and your
failure to understand the conditions-code misalignment creates
your next war over time.
All of these examples are real, and too close to home for all
of us now; as things get more and more complex; as money and
credit now becomes a problem for billions, not just millions;
and all of a sudden, our lack of understanding of values,
places us in an intuitive position, which continues to do the
same thing over and over again, and expect different results.
…danger, or opportunity?
Yes, problems will solve you, me, and US.
Are YOU, ME, and US prepared to pay the real price of this
misalignment in the conditions we have today?
…or are we just kidding ourselves?
Ok, so maybe now, I have some of your attention; and if you
have read this far, let me show you how we got here. But first, let me make this plain, so there isn’t any
hallucination about what I am saying.
 Whether
you are mainly pessimistic, optimistic, or realistic or some
combination, there are a lot of signals now. The misalignments
are beginning to become clear on personal, professional,
business, and networked levels (culture).
Personally, our happiness buckets are leaking, more and more
each day, and success requirements are growing more complex.
In general, we all face this condition and pressure in
carrying more weight in change.
Professionally, a new paradigm is emerging which is going to
change everything about professional work, relationships, and
the way professionals do business around the world in every
discipline, and those professional disciplines which have not yet emerged–a domain
which is accelerating as a result if innovation.
Business is being remade as we speak. Business intelligence is changing everything about what will drive demand, supply, pricing, and the
misalignments between them.
Networks are rapidly evolving as a result of
democratization of everything from technology, finance, and
automation, to weaponry. Even values are being democratized.
For
better or worse, the marriage goes forward–against many who
are standing up
and speaking their piece!
In every danger, there is opportunity, and now that we know
some of the signals, let’s talk about some of the
noise. I want to say more about this danger, and the roots of modern
progressive thinking.
[Wiki] In the 23 June (1946) article Einstein
expanded somewhat on the original quote from the 25
May article, and wrote:
- "Many persons have inquired concerning a recent
message of mine that "a new type of thinking is
essential if mankind is to survive and move to
higher levels."
- Often in evolutionary processes a species must
adapt to new conditions in order to survive. Today
the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature
of the world as we knew it, and the human race
consequently finds itself in a new habitat to
which it must adapt its thinking.
- In the light of new knowledge, a world
authority and an eventual world state are not just
desirable in the name of brotherhood, they
are necessary for survival. In previous
ages a nation’s life and culture could be
protected to some extent by the growth of armies
in national competition. Today we must abandon
competition and secure cooperation.
- This must be the central fact in all our
considerations of international affairs; otherwise
we face certain disaster. Past thinking and
methods did not prevent world wars. Future
thinking must prevent wars."
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I’m going to couch what I’m going to say next in what
I think would be a radical notion. Although if I’ve convinced
you about the counter-intuitive nature of certain realities,
then you might not think its so radical and might even think
about how you can incorporate it into your life, work, and
relationships.
(That’s the idea, btw, hehe)
Four Political Parties?
If progressivity is not the ONLY answer and can be our
biggest danger, what could we do that might substitute and
actually obliquely cause to emerge more answers to complexity?
What if we had four political parties, each representing the
core elements that several researchers have identified. Take a look at this simple slide I’ve
created to show you these four systems which have emerged
with homo sapiens.
[In fact, I will suggest to you that the reason the
Neanderthal and others didn’t make the momentous leap, was
due to the absence of ego emergence that is reflected in our
theory of mind and it’s generative valuing process, but more on
that later.]
You say we could never get any agreement right?
Of course, and!
…instead of stalemate, what would emerge would be the
fifth system, bingo, an oblique development.
I have come to a conclusion that was counter-intuitive for
me, as I also was only enamored, entrained, and suited for
progressivity; but I drove my guests, clients and students
right down that freeway.
Yet, what occurred to me over the past decade is that most
can’t, which doesn’t mean we don’t. But in order to emerge the
systems to align us with accelerating complexity, we must
honor, make strong, be strategic, and collaborative; yet not
move people beyond their values–those intrinsic needs that
epigenetically emerge from biology, psychology, sociology, and
economics, to name a few.
With two political systems, we get this or that, conservative,
or liberal; when life now is multifaceted and
multi-dimensional in the least; and we are unable to coax a
transcendent emergence as it is now.
With four systems, entrained by people who are most likely
to be representative of those systems, which by the way,
would in fact contain independents, republicans and
democrats, conservatives and liberals, and every other
designation you want to use, gay and straight, black and
white, brown and Asian…because what these researchers
found was that it wasn’t any of these things that sorted people
into "how they lived their lives out of their beliefs," but
their unconscious value systems.
This slide does show my labels.
But I don’t claim the position
of these giants, whose systems I found compatible, arrived at
around the same time, but independently.
In this simple depiction, I show you research from three
different systems, which independently emerged from
experience with reality.Truth is often a perspective:
PROGRESS is not inherently GOOD or BAD, it just is.
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Often, our "truths" are born from our prejudices,
from our will to deceive; they are born from our
falsehoods.
For instance, conscious thinking is usually
contrasted with instinct, but Nietzsche
argues that most conscious thinking tends to be
informed precisely by instinct.
Instinctively, we value truth over falsehood, but
perhaps falsehood can be a valuable–even
indispensable–condition for life. While
philosophers generally would like to proclaim their
objectivity and disinterestedness, their instincts
and prejudices are usually what inform them. At
the bottom, we find a bunch of old prejudices
called "truths" and a whole system of philosophy
built up after the fact to justify these "truths."
Nietzsche
believes that every philosophy is, essentially, the
confession of a philosopher, and it gives us more of
an insight into that philosopher’s character than
anything else.
…"He who has a why to live can bear
almost any how."
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I find this quote, from a description of what Nietzsche
thought, interesting and applicable.
Essentially, philosophers project through their instincts
what they believe to be truth, but
that which is only a perception of
the truth. It’s interpretation, is thus subject to our
instincts, and that is precisely the counter-intuitive
paradox I want to show you.
BECAUSE progress is occurring, doesn’t mean progress is good,
or bad?
It just is…and we can’t stop it.
It is the evolution of
content, context, conditions, code, culture, and our core
epigenesis as it attempts to adapt.
The intuitive notion is to be pulled along by it, and we are
and will be…yet we assume that we have no choice about it,
that we must as participants, and designers accept this as the
only truth.
There is a momentous leap available, as Dr. Graves declared
in his 1974 Futurist Article…
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Human Nature Prepares
for a Momentous Leap
by Clare W. Graves
[From
The Futurist,
1974, pp. 72-87. Edited with embedded comments by
Edward Cornish, World Future Society.]
A new
psychological theory holds that human beings
exist at different ‘levels of existence.’
…Now, Western man appears ready to move up
to a higher level of existence, a distinctly
human level. When this happens there will
likely be a dramatic transformation of human
institutions.
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…but it may be different than you
might expect…it is not the lion, but a lamb of our times
that is softly presenting us with the paradox of what
appears to be a HUGE MOMENTOUS LEAP. But in fact, the leap
is a leap into paradox, a leap that will SOLVE us, that will
‘put us in our place’.
The paradox is presented to us and the radical notion will
be counter-intuitive?
There is no momentous leap for us, in human kind, in
consciousness; but what remains an OPPORTUNITY, a
recognition of a paradox: complexity will
accelerate; we will not, and don’t need too!
In my book @F-L-O-W, I teach you about how to differentiate
the paradox of happiness and success, and instead of closing
the gap by changing our "selves" we scaffold and retain
those differences; allowing them to mature, without chasing
complexity, which emerges the opportunity in paradox.
Caveat: It doesn’t mean laissez-faire!
People who are motivated intrinsically, who will have
particular instincts as a result, then construct reality and
their experience in a way that is reflective of that
intrinsic system, will be different. This is both nature and nurture,
yet
genetically guided, which automatically creates immune
responses from systems which are entrained and conditioned
@BS, to see everyone as equal.
Once you make a very basic paradoxical assumption, and hold
this counter-intuitive idea, which may be difficult for most
(to go against what appears to be true, but is a perception
you have been conditioned to feel comfortable with)
…that to
continue to try to chase complexity is a ludicrous notion,
when our natures are linear, rather than non-linear in
nature; for reasons that help us remain stable, coherent, and
able to manage our small brains and its activities, mostly
subconsciously, irrationally, and automatically. While our brains have enormous power, the
limitations of our consciousness, are most likely designed
for human existence and not the machine existence that is
emerging and connecting all of us.
It’s been shown that people lose their identification with
large groups and prefer to fractionalize around small
groups.
As I’ve pointed out in prior presentations, we are no longer
governed @F-L-O-W by bell curves, but by long tail
distributions. The graphic that follows depicts this shift.
The reason I draw your attention to this notion of a shift
in distribution is that the shape of the Pareto curve is directly
proportioned to the inverse of complexity. Let me
demonstrate this as my final point.
This long-tail, or Pareto distribution called "power-law"
distribution is the inverse relationship of non-linear
exponentiality…
What do you need to know about non-linearity?
In both power law distribution, or the long tail, and in the
non-linear curve above we see that it is impossible to
maintain a relationship with larger and larger parts of the
relationship.
The only way to adapt in this kind of environment is to
fractionalize reality, and work with a manageable part of the
system. If you are limited to linear adaptation in a
non-linear environment…or you have limited resources and
capability, then the "best" you can do is probably more,
in
a limited area. Maybe that fishbowl is not such a
bad idea after all?
Join me for my next short story about The Sum of All Fears @F-L-O-W.
These short stories are brought to you by Mike
R. Jay, the world’s most innovative coach, and
self-proclaimed developmentalist. Mike’s new book
@F-L-O-W: Find, Design, Use TALENT to Emerge
Happiness & Success in a PostModern World is
available now.
In the book, Mike explains why Blank Slate, as
adopted by CORPORATE, and leveraged by "propaganda"
has conspired to create the life conditions we now
co-evolve with–all for good reason–and that the
risks and the benefits are now diminishing rapidly
with the escalation of complexity.
What was a good idea for its time, has now become
loaded with potential risks for mankind, buoyed by
limits to growth, and irrational decision-making at
the highest levels of leadership, now leave you, me,
and us at a crossroads.
Influenced by the best selling book The
Blank Slate: The Modern
Denial of Human Nature, by Steven Pinker in
2002; a decade later, Mike helps us understand what
to do about what has become the most dangerous
memeplex of our time. He guides you @F-L-O-W to hold
an optimistic view of our individual futures based
on a way to "produce happiness" and consume less
success, while navigating the shallows between.
Mike cautions you about continuing our conditioned,
intuitive approach to reality; and how this memeplex
in play @BS will lead to accelerating losses of
happiness globally, while decreasing success
locally; and gives reasons why this is occurring,
throughout the book.
In the book, Mike identifies 15 Primes, 12 of which
are outlined in detail in this first book, and shows
you the tools within each, which you apply one or
more combinations directly suited to your talents to
get off this RAT RACE of co-evolving with
complexity, and running harder to keep up.
Mike knows that the notions in the book are
counter-intuitive by nature, and that CORPORATE
wants us all to dig in and hold on, as we ride the
roller coaster of money and credit, in a memepark of
growth and more.
While Mike contrasts the CORPORATE Memeplex @BS, he
doesn’t make it the scapegoat because fingers
pointing there, leaves more fingers pointing at US,
literally and figuratively.
This book can be used by people who influence for a
living, as well as intellectuals and leaders.
Just as they
have used the 1928 Bible of PR, called PROPAGANDA,
by Edward Bernays (offered free to members, btw) to
propagate @BS for the public good during the 1930s
to increase demand for wants, instead of needs; Mike
believes the same mechanics, with a different
object–happiness, not just success–can be used to
disperse the dangerous components of the memeplex to
decelerate complexity anxiety across the planet.
In a very practical manner, Mike demonstrates in the
book, what you can do as an individual and in the
collective to begin to replace the intuitive notion
that growth and more are the ONLY answers to our
co-evolution with complexity.
Mike
provides a very specific roadmap for each of us to
use while navigating through the dissonance that
will emerge both now, near, and far as complexity
reigns, and life becomes so.
This is a novel approach that represents an obliquely
powerful way to decelerate @BS @F-L-O-W, and allows
for APPS to be constructed for this new
"paradigmatic operating system." If the book is not
enough, Mike has created a platform of guidance of
varying levels of experience which he and others use
to guide you in your own Journey @F-L-O-W. With more
than 25 years of professional coaching experience
around the world, Mike has benefited from the tens
of thousands of hours with clients, students, and
peers; and thanks them for their contributions to
this seminal work.
Mike welcomes comments and ideas on his
teleseminars, and all book owners get access to his
free FastStart @F-L-O-W, which these short stories
are a part. Welcome @F-L-O-W! |
The paradox of choice.
When we look at some of the ramifications of all of the
choices we can make, if we are not clear on why we make
those choices, or don’t, the how really doesn’t matter, as
it becomes part of the problem.
ValuSYNC™ @F-L-O-W is a system of
values engineering to help us understand how our values
create a fishbowl which is important for us. However, we need to
be clear on our ends values, and our means values, and what
that means.
In order to get started in this process of being, having,
doing, becoming, and contributing @F-L-O-W, our FastStart
@F-L-O-W is suggested. In FastStart, we link you with the
book, why the book establishes a key (back)ground for the
figure of ValuSYNC @F-L-O-W.
You can register for our FastStart @F-L-O-W program by
purchasing the book @F-L-O-W now, or if you have already
purchased a book, your ‘Schedule of Events‘
Link in your Member Area has your FastStart @F-L-O-W Event
information.More Info
@F-L-O-W |
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