Everything Is Connected

“My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room.”

John Mayer, 2006 (Continuum)

We are not living in a linear, Newtonian world where actions cause predictable reactions. We are in fact part of a complex system of environmental, socio-political and economic systems that we are constantly reconfiguring and that is constantly affecting us. But we’re not seeing this and so #TeamHumanity muddles along from one crisis to the next, seemingly doomed to be putting out fires that are thought to be separate though they are deeply interconnected.

Somehow we have not developed the skill of systems thinking, “a holistic approach to understanding the way parts fit together in dynamic relationships to make up a whole system. It's the opposite of reductive or linear thinking, which reduces the world down into parts. Thinking in systems involves a series of practical approaches and mental models that enable a more complex view of the world, focusing on relationships and synthesis. Systems thinking is about understanding the connections and relationships between things so you can see how the world works. It's about flows, dynamics, and interconnections.”?(Leyla Acaroglu).

We lack - what?Marita Fridjhon calls - Relationship Systems Intelligence (RSI): a form of intelligence that “incorporates Emotional and Social Intelligence and then expands the focus to a larger paradigm, the capacity to see oneself as part of a Relationship System. A Relationship System is an interdependent group of people with common identity or function. Identifying with and aligning with a system is a holonic shift up from simply connecting effectively others. It is the difference between relating with bunch of individuals in a group, to seeing the group as a single integrated whole.”

She goes on to outline some of the key components of RSI:

• RSI is the ability to maximize one’s relationship with a group, team or system and to relate to it as a whole.?
• RSI involves the ability to move from seeing a group of individuals to seeing the system itself, as a living breathing entity.?
• Conflict is not seen as a problem, but is seen as a signal that change is needed in the system. Conflict is handled skillfully as a midwife to constructive change. It’s not about “who is doing what to whom; it’s about what is trying to happen.”
• RSI includes the ability to read the emotional field of the system and accurately identify the emotional climate in a given situation. Once the system is revealed to itself it can begin to self-correct.
• RSI requires deep democracy (Arnold Mindell 2002). Deep democracy is the practice of recognizing that all voices in a relationship system need to be heard – including the unpopular ones – as they are a part of the knowledge pool of the system. Every voice carries data, information and wisdom in some way for that system.?
• Everyone is a voice of the system. The ability to shift from a personal perspective (“it’s Larry’s opinion)” to a systems perspective (”Larry is expressing something that lives in the system and it’s not personal”) is a cornerstone of high Relationship Systems Intelligence.
• An overview of Relationship Systems Intelligence would be that it’s not about “me”, and it’s not about “me and you”, it’s about “us” in this system and what is trying to happen.

An oversimplified view of our world that has dominated our decision-making has long stood in our way of understanding the long-term consequences of our actions and policies. Our socio-economic system is complex, multi-layered, and deeply intertwined with the world around us. We need to take the time – especially now – to develop our RSI and to look at our world anew using the lens of systems thinking. "Only by understanding the deep interconnections between institutions, people, and the environment will we be able to craft pathways toward a genuinely sustainable and resilient model; one that works for all people and supports the flourishing of all living beings." (Eva Gladek)?

#ukraine #foodcrisis #collapse #covid #inequality #climate #etcetera