Patterns of connectedness & meaning

All eras and ages have aspects and context that make them unique, however I find the time we are in now fascinating, and while there are some deeply disturbing developments there are at the same time some amazing things happening in the world, that in spite of a largely unconscious and *default fear focus as status quo, I believe has the potential to be fully, rock on, awesome!  

*The default fear focus state I refer to, is the context I believe most of us unconsciously live in as normal, I see it as what we get used to reading, hearing, eating, unconsciously absorbing, breathing in and soaking up, morning, noon and - if you are like me listening to the radio before you go to sleep - at night.

It seems that most of our/humanity's issues, through whichever  prism we happen to be looking at them from - (whether global, local, cultural, social, political, industrial, economic etc) boil down to how we look at life, how we see what it is we are experiencing every day, meaning from which conceptual place in our Selves we approach interpreting what 'comes at us' from the unknown in every moment, and to which we then react, respond or ignore!

I regularly have a sense how I create the future potential or lack of it, in the presence of every moment. I am coming to the realisation that if I believe something is possible - the vision of it being possible makes it so, which also is true of taking the opposite belief, for example that we are 'heading for hell in a hand basket'. If I lean into 'possibility' versus 'impossibility' then I ignite that respective belief - even if I don't have the luxury of predicting the outcome.

I am also coming to the understanding that if I want 'possibility' and hope to be where it's all going on - while it really helps to surround myself with people of the same mindset. I also need to be responsible for finding that place in myself - again and again in spite of an 'apparent' lack of support in  this mindset, and making it visible for others to recognise as themselves.

So assuming we are not happy with the negative messaging and conclusions surrounding and within us every day - then the question for each one of us needs to start being more along the lines of: 'in which mindset am I personally locating myself?' and just keep observing with a view to familiarising myself with my inner architecture.

Of course if it were that easy to point at where it is in ourselves that we see things from, then we would likely always seek to correct the angles so that we see things clearly or simply 'as they are', free from:

1. What similar situations we have been in the past (perception through the lens of memory)
2. What we wished they were (perception through the lens of desire)
3. Fear they are (perception through the lens of fear)
4. Assume they are (perception through the lens of believing we already know, in my view the most insidious condition to be free from)

What seems clear, is that it doesn't occur to many of us that there is any other way to see things than how we currently see them, and because we believe our view is how things are, then it only takes listening to the news every day for us to justifiably feel reasonably (or deeply) depressed (depending on how sensitive you are) about our (humanity's) prospects or ability to cope, change, adapt or respond to so many key shifts that have been and are in play as we speak, seemingly shifting and disrupting the ground literally from under our feet. 

So why (in the face of such apparently overwhelming evidence seeming to prove otherwise) am I optimistic? I have been asked this by people, and I am never sure whether I've been able to explain it in a way that makes sense. I have attempted to outline a few key headings around concepts that hopefully help to understand (because I'd like to understand myself too!) 

I don't think what I think is unique - it is simply how I perceive the 'network of being' from my particular position and from my own reasonably intense experience and experimenting with my own Life, amidst a hub of multiple connections and conflicting interpretations of meaning. (That's the disclaimer in case you didn't notice!)

Key Shifts as context:

• The Speed of Realtime

The degree to which our lives have speeded up since .....well....since email, since the internet, since the speed facilitated by broadband and the incredible miniaturisation of physical products through nano technology; all things which individually are already not insignificant - and together I think justify being seen as 'outstanding'.

Meaning, when we think about what it means to be alive today, for example where supply and demand can be a second apart instead of 1-2weeks, if only to give ourselves a break, we should acknowledge that being in an almost constant state of alert most of our waking days and sometimes nights - is not what our bodies - including those born into it - are used to sustaining on a consistent basis; or could consider being normal and without long term consequences (should we choose to remain unaware.)

• Unsustainable growth

The western world has served an economic model of exponential growth, based on thinking and assumptions that have for the most part gone unquestioned, one could say, on models treated as the truth. But they are starting to be revealed as best guesstimate models that few people were in a position to question - so became accepted norms, but are now being reviewed by many very clever and technologically enabled people. Because this same model has in most peoples minds become unquestionably unsustainable, especially when it's understood that we are consuming 1.5 worlds worth of natural resources, in a world that we are slowly destroying -on too many fronts- that it sometimes feels unbearable to contemplate.

• Knowledge, Information & Power

The phrase "scientia potentia est" is a Latin aphorism  claimed to mean "knowledge is power" and for the better part of human history global society and structure has been maintained, supported and controlled by the fact that information and knowledge has been kept in the hands of the few. 

There are too many recent examples of how this status quo has been and will continue to be disrupted, undermined and fundamentally changed. As is always the case with how the future evolves, the evolution very much depends on how we relate to this seismic shift of context. History has shown that those who have the power are usually reluctant to give it up, but what history also shows is that those who replace the status quo are regularly no differently motivated in their desire for power either, with the key differences tending to be the tools or narrative used. 

What's different now are the stakes. It doesn't matter how rich you personally are, even if your wealth is enough to keep you and your nearest protected - who in their heart of hearts would want to live in a world we would be reminded each day that our greed destroyed. We know too much not to co-operate with each other over the age old habit of being the best, having the most, competing and needing to win. If we (in the Western world and world generally) all want to reach the finish line before the grass under our feet dries up, before the air is too hot for the majority us to breath and be able to drink clean water as our prize for completing the race. Rather than trampling over each other, we need to find a way to change our mindsets, recognise, step up and use our underestimated 'individual power'; stop denying the information available and what (we know) we already know.

• Distributed networks review the relevance of centralised 

While there are different brands of governance in our democracies, I struggle to think of any where power was or is not in some way centralised, where governance was not in some way top down, even within a democracy. 

The fascinating implications of knowledge and information being available to and in the hands of many has primarily been facilitated through consistently evolving and innovating of channels - starting with the written word (literature), the spoken word (radio), the visual world (Television & film) all of which have now been further facilitated, evolved and innovated through digital channels, supported by a giant distributed network (the internet). This distributed availability of information simply dilutes historic power structures (how could it not?) and subsequently disrupts the culture built around those structures. 

So again, unless we take a different mindset and simply recognise how things are, adapt our thinking to accommodate this new context or reality we will make bad decisions and suffer greatly in our fear (or avoidance of our fear) of the implications and of change generally.

• Fear is the great divider while curiosity & trust are the great connectors

"Enough said right!"

• There's nothing that's not connected, which means everything is!

Everything of significance to us from whichever way you look at it is, happens where and when connections are created. Neural connections; Nature's connections; Matter based connections; Energetic and Gravitational connections; Social connections; Spiritual 'metaphor' connections (Net of Indra); Our Globe (land masses connected by water); Internet connections; Blockchain (distributed ledger connections); Marriage; Networks of meaning (sharing experience); Electric connections; Mobile connections; Wifi; Radio; Connected Ecosystems e.g. business, financial landscapes and 'that ol Devil called Love!' 

So it seems interesting to me that we behave in ways that promotes disconnection

• Make work play

So like any insect on the web of life, are you going to send out signals of distress and awaken the inevitable fact of becoming Life's metaphorical lunch, or will you look around you and see what opportunities the current situation brings you, and what you can do to 'entertain the metaphorical spider' with your own sameness in needing to survive versus continuing to run away from it.

• Motivation

In my view, motivation will be the key differentiator in deciding those who thrive and those who fail in today and tomorrows business world. Motivation is not something we can fake when it comes to living in an almost fully networked world, in a world where perspective (like indra's net) is the lens which only the light of authenticity & inspiration passes and subsequently reflects in and through all the others.

In a world where everything is visible now pretty much all the time - why don't we take this opportunity to just start admitting it if we make mistakes, say sorry when we in our hearts we really are, and if we are not in that place of being able to see our motivation - have the humility to ask for help, maybe even from the same person we see as our nemesis, because doubtless they are seeing something about ourselves that we don't yet see, or not! 

So assuming success is a place we want to share and inhabit as part of a living conscious planet, then we need to start getting clear on our own motivation, where are we personally coming from, and when through this simple self scanning we start recognising the choice we have in every moment to do something differently, that we start trying to make sure that the decisions we make are genuinely motivated by a vision that does not need success to be at the expense or use of others, where success is seen as what we share with others. It's really not that difficult or crazy. 

If individually and collectively our motivation does not catch up with this simple fact, this will be where we feel our disconnection from the whole in a more accentuated way, or as I have found in my experience the complete opposite when it does. The ironic, beautiful and simple fact of the matter is that our individual success will be limited only by how much we don't care. We know on a personal level we care - so the good news is that it's absolutely now and in everyone else's interests to stop thinking we have to hide it, and if everyone is activating that sense of personally caring, getting out of our comfort zone more and more - then there really is no limit to changing everything for everyone's better - including the mother of all creation - our planet. How awesome is that?

This is why I am optimistic? I'm still not sure I'm clear why....but I know I'm trying to point to something. It's a big picture I am attempting to paint - I think maybe I've simply succeeded at pointing to key reference points - but I think it's up to us to fill the gaps in this article with our lives.

So let's find and take our personal values seriously, let's talk about them at work, let's recognise that:

1. We are our institutions, like it or not! 
2. Nothing is inevitable.
3. Networks of meaning simply exist with synchronicity and flow being the result
4. We already have all the answers
5. The answer is 'You' - What do you want?
6. Connection to Ourselves is Connection to Others

Lets take Corporate Social Responsibility and bring it into AR (Actual Reality) the four dimensions by embedding it into everything we do, processes, products, but ultimately ourselves.

We do this, and the future is looking good people. But lets let go of our world weariness, lets dare to let go of our cynicism, lets dare to believe in a positive possibility, I struggle with doing this every day, but I'm sure I am not alone - and neither are you. 

YOU MATTER!