May we live in interesting times

I can’t remember who said the statement above, but it definitely seems to be relevant today.  As we look around the world we live in a few observations can be made.  One, the world at large is beset by many problems.  As people look into these problems, they are finding that most of these problems are related.  Two, many of our problems don’t seem to fit into old frameworks.  Old theories don’t seem to explain things.  The maps that guide us into the future seem to be distorted.

The anthropologist A.F.C. Wallace calls these internal maps "the mazeways."  We look around and see old familiar forms falling apart.  One just has to glance at the daily paper to read about the problems.  War, crime, inflation, pollution, unemployment, the list goes on and on.  What is troubling about all these phenomena is that the old, tried and true solutions do not work anymore.  It seems as if old solutions make our problems worse.  In other words, as Korzybski said, "the map is not the territory."  Our internal maps instruct us to act a certain way.  In the past this "way" might have been appropriate, but reality is always changing.  The old ways of thought are good for a time, but as time moves on we may find ourselves rigid, static, and fearful.  Eventually, the evidence becomes overwhelming.  Change is imminent

This is a recurring cycle in history.  A society starts off with new ideas.  These ideas become the vision for the majority of the people. There is a common consensus that all will work out.   The future always looks brighter.  As time moves along though, certain anomalies keep popping up.  People begin fragmenting into different parties.  The synergy so necessary for a healthy society, starts to loosen.  Everyone  perceives their needs to be different from everyone else.  This leads to many breakdowns.  In government, powerful special interest groups become the norm.   The future looks increasingly darker.

In his book The Image of the Future, Fred Polak, a Dutch futurist, wrote that our images of the future play a crucial part in what shapes our society tales.  In healthy societies, the images were positive.  When there were weak images, the culture was decaying.  He ended by saying, ‘bold visionary thinking is in itself the prerequisite for effective change."

With a positive vision of the future, crisis opens the door to understanding.  Problems become opportunities to which we can open to new ways of seeing, to visualize new maps, maps that fit the new territory.  This new territory is much different in many ways.  It will take cooperation in all spheres of life.  In this way humans will be able to work together to solve our many problems.

The above essay is a brief description of the context we are in.  It is a ever-changing world.  We are at a crossroads.  We need a restructuring of the way we tend to view the world.  Humankind is going to have to let go many of its past assumptions.  Failure to change these basic assumptions can only lead to more problems.