Personal development catalysing collective change
Have you ever heard or even said, “I cannot change the world, but I can change my world”. What if I tell you that you are a world by yourself and by evolving your being you are transforming the whole universe. What would you do in this position of responsibility?
Why to develop ourselves?
Let me generate a context to this affirmation. I will introduce the concept of Holon:
Holons are considered the building blocks of the universe and by definition a “holon is a whole of smaller parts and a part of a larger whole”.
Let’s use an example to make it clearer, a word is a self-existing entity and simultaneously an integral part of a sentence, which is part of a paragraph, which is part of a page; and so on, and in the scale down, the word is composed by syllabus and syllabus by letters.
That concept give us the idea that actually everything is subordinated to a scale perception.
Applied to the human experience, we are a whole by ourselves composed of smaller parts, organs, moleculas, atoms… And also we are a part of a bigger whole that can be a couple, a group, a community, a society, the Earth, Solar system,… always depending on the scale we want to explore.
On this following picture we explore the different relationships a holon can perform with other holons of lower, same and higher scale, according to their ability to be balanced:
In this picture we will differentiate between the holons in harmony or disharmony to study:
Center → Tendency of the holon. Inner pre-disposition
Horizontal → Communication and relationships. Interactions between same level holons.
Vertical up → Based on the evolution of the holon, or the ability to become a bigger holon.
Vertical down → Based on the involution, or the ability to become a smaller holon.
From this recognition we could assume that the ability of a holon to be harmonized, is determining if the built relationships with smaller, bigger and same level holons are nurturing conditions for life to thrive (regenerating) or if they are degrading the systems they participate in.
This concept leads to the insight that to care for ourselves is inside the care for others. And to understand why “healthy societies are composed by healthy individuals”.
In the human dimension, personal development and self-care is impacting constructively the relations we generate
With higher scales that we participate in. Building healthy and resilient relationships with family, friends, local community, bio-region and in the longer term the world.
How to catalyse change?
Let us first understand how change happens.
Can you connect with a moment in your life that you were learning something?
It can be to play an instrument or sport, to speak a language or whatever…Probably, the process started quite confusingly, difficultly or slowly. Somehow, if you thrive to continue persistently enough, you would have arrived to actually do it. You learn the basics, chords and positions if we talk about music, rules and moves if it is sport and practical words and expressions in case of the language. You got it! You interiorised those resources in your “toolkit”. And keep them over time, using them over and over again. The conservation of what you have learned is very important to consolidate what you already know. The matter is that you might fall into what can be called a “rigidity trap”, the capacity to do the basic is not allowing you to go deeper in your learning process.
Maybe at some point you have the capacity to see further, new information arrives and it does a “click”. Let’s say (for the sake of the example) that you find out the scales and improvisation in music, or the strategy in the sport, or the conjugations in the language. This suddenly opens up a completely new paradigm and makes you feel that you actually know barely nothing and that you are just in the beginning. The feelings inside could move from desolation to enthusiasm, it will depend on your attitude towards it. After this stage, a new world of opportunities and ways of doing emerge. Now, much more possibilities are available to you, things that you couldn’t even imagine before are now at your reach.
This repeats again and again. In the beginning the process is confusing, difficult and slow. If you persist long enough, you will improve. At some point you will stabilise this learning, arriving at a “rigidity trap”. And sooner or later new information might come in, bringing with it a new world of opportunities. Does this talk to you?
Can you see the similarity between this process and other processes you might have experienced in your life?
In this example we explored the development of an individual in relation to learning over time. What if we try to explain how changes happen over time in relation not only to individuals, also to collectives, communities, ecosystems or even the Earth?
To understand how change happens in natural processes, we can look at this graphic of the Adaptive Cycle that Daniel C.Wahl shares in his book Designing Regenerative Cultures:
This Möbius strip or infinite symbol is used to explain how changes happen over time. It is a periodic, rhythmic dance between order and disorder, between stability and transformation.
Are you able to think about changes that you have experienced in different levels and scales during your life and experience, and fit it in this cycle? (Explore this now and then continue reading)
This cycle consists of 4 phases:
Growth (r), is focussed on the exploitation and accumulation of resources. In our individual example could be information and knowledge. In a world perspective could be for example money.
Conservation (k) , about establishing patterns and resource distribution. In our example, the creation of repetitive actions and connections. In a world point of view, the generation of relationships, power positions and privilege.
Release (Ω) , collapse, liberating from the rigidity. In our example is about finding out that there is much more to learn. In the money example, can be a crack a collapse or a big crises (f.e 1929 in USA).
Reorganisation (α) , it is time for creative redesign and renewal of the old. In our example, is to find new ways of doing. ln the money example, can be the complete restructuration of the economic system.
It is important to notice that in the release (Ω) beggins what is known as “the edge of chaos”. In this moment, transformative innovation, pioneer ideas and creative change have a big chance to generate new paradigmas and narratives. As the rigid structures break, there is the opportunity for redesign, reorganization (α) and renewal.
In this reorganization, we prepare ourselves for the next iteration of the adaptive cycle, and we must consider design for resilience (persistence, adaptive capacity and transformability). So we improve our ability to resist the collapse or release,changing conditions and the capacity to respond wisely and creatively to disruptions and change.
Connecting with the holon concept we find the pattern that, the bigger the scale is, the less predictability and control we can have over the changes. In smaller scales, we can receive feedback quicker and learn faster what is generating health and what is not. That invites us to experiment innovation at the local level before trying to implement globally, or the same to experiment first in ourselves before trying to share it with others.
Here, you can see the adaptive cycle that interconnect different spatial and temporal scales:
Here we can see that changes in smaller scales is impacting changes in higher scales, for this focussing on our area of control and influence can have a bigger impact that what we normally imagine. Did you already hear about the butterfly effect?
“If you want to change the world, first have a walk around your house” — Chinese proverb.
Reflective questions:
Where are you at in the adaptive cycle at this moment?
What is in your hand to do to better participate in this phase?
How can your individual action influence the change in other scales?
Where are the bigger scales placed in the adaptive cycle right now?
Are those cycles giving you any clarity related to the current situation in the world?
What are the insights you can have with the current situation of the world?
How can we catalyze change?
The questioning happening inside of us before any change includes the variables what is the desired situation, what is the current situation and what I need to do to move from current to desired.
We accept the challenge and start the change consciously or subconsciously when this formula is true inside of us:
In a nutshell, this means that the transition (change) to go from point A (current situation) to point B (desired situation) should worth the walk (cost). It is also relevant that by adding the word perceived we acknowledge that this is subjective and comes from the mind that is already a condition by the current situation.
Then the question is, how can we increase motivation to start walking? There are at least three different ways to approach it, and the combination of all of them will give a quicker response:
- Decrease the perceived value of the current situation (A point).
- Lift the perceived value of the new (B point).
- Enjoy the path, it means to reduce the perceived cost to change. Find processes that are pleasant, and remember, if it is not fun, it is not sustainable!
How do “I” catalyze change?
Lao Tzu said more than 2500 years ago that:
“The way to do is to be”
There is no other way, you cannot inspire others by telling something that you are not being.
What to do?
You can join us in this 7 days challenge for personal development to explore together what each one of us can do to be the change we want to see!
It starts on 15th of April — apply here.
To deeply find what you can do and find your development path, answer the question:
What is the change “I” want to see in the world?
Share your vision with us in comments!
About Nomadways
We craft international workshops for artists, educators and youth workers. Together we create pedagogical artwork, share and invent practical solutions to social problems.
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This article is written by Jose Donado, a contributor, friend and artivist, part of our Nomadways family.
Sources:
Designing regenerative cultures (Daniel C Wahl).
