thecreativeverse creativity is our human superpower.
Originally written: 2015, Updated: 2020 and 2023.
Within this incredibly volatile chapter of historic change and evolution, there exists a powerful silver lining that contains the potential for significant opportunities if … we can learn to recognize them.
Turmoil and Chaos – An Environment Ready For Change
I’m not ready … No one ever is. We don’t get to choose our time. ~ Doctor Strange
Unprecedented, collective events like the global pandemic, increases in extreme weather events, crumbling centuries-old institutions and systems world-wide, global protests, the transforming economic systems, new, advanced technology changing our way of life, the great resignation, war, political and generational divides, the rise of extremism, and individual events like our changing values, ideas, definitions and so on, has been revealing to us for some time, that our world is on the brink of a blockbuster-worthy metamorphosis.
We are no longer “business as usual” and will likely not be again. Rather we’re in a dramatic cycle of fast-paced, persistent change which is driving instability and tremendously disrupting our status quo whether we like it or not.
But rather than look at ourselves as victims at the whim of these tumultuous times, we have an opportunity to look at ourselves as architects and directors. Because it is in this state of chaos and volatility that we have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to push for the change we’ve always desired and therein … lies the opportunity.
A Powerful Silver Lining – The Opportunity
Sun Tzu, the master strategist and general is widely known for saying, “in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” And if he was alive today, he would surely remind us as much. While these times are devastating, challenging and chaotic, driving significant fear and division, they are also brimming with limitless opportunities to use the momentum and energy of chaos to our advantage.
In science terminology, chaos is the formless and disordered state of matter before the creation of the cosmos. And it’s precisely this formlessness, this fluidity, like clay that provides an opportunity for shaping new ideas and shifts we desperately need.
We know that for years our current state – our systems, structures, values, ideas have become outdated, entrenched in old thinking, refusing to be looked at or changed namely – stuck and stagnant. This stagnation in fact causing these issues to become bigger and more explosive to deal with later. We also know that over time our pace has increased due in part to the introduction of new, sometimes radically different technologies and ways of being and an evolving Planet Earth. Mix these elements together and you get a combustible, volatile stew primed for new creation and new ideas.
The powerful silver lining in this environment of change, is our ability to use this opportunity and this tremendous boost of explosive momentum, like a rocket, to swiftly push us towards the new choices we know we must make to manifest positive change. New choices that tackle the issues of today with a modern eye, with an aim towards improving the environment while using wisdom and experience as our guide.
Do Better – Taking Responsibility
Responsibility is accepting that you are the cause and the solution of the matter ~ Anonymous
Wisdom relies on the application of experience, knowledge and good judgement”. And we can’t make new, creative choices anchored in wisdom, if we lack the courage to look at what is without excuses, if we lack the courage to take responsibility for our previous experiences and learn to do better.
If we’re endeavoring to smartly use the energies of the moment with wisdom at the forefront of our new choices and new change, we need to accept that we are indeed the cause and the solution to what we’re now facing. And we need to understand that we didn’t get this point in a day. It’s been generations, decades, years worth of entrenched thinking and being which has brought us to this point. So if we aspire to create the wisest solutions possible on the path forward, we need to brave enough to accept some honest scrutiny.
For example, as we tackle the issues of our changing systems and structures and look to new innovations, perhaps we can acknowledge the centuries worth of prejudicial, discriminatory values and practices deeply embedded within them that favored some over others. And perhaps we can strive to create new and inspired, forward-thinking systems and structures that are more equitable, inclusive, modern, creative and truly humane.
And for example, as we tackle our devastating environmental issues, perhaps we can recognize the detrimental practices that may have driven imbalances to the Earth’s natural cycles and strive to introduce visionary, trail-blazing practices that work in partnership with Earth’s systems rather than against them. And perhaps we can use technology in a way that stewards and sustains resources for today and the future rather than depletes it.
And so on…
An Inspired New Story – The Architects
We are called to be architects of the future not its victims ~ Buckminster Fuller, futurist, engineer
What’s most important about this time of historic change is that as challenging and scary as these times are, we have an opportunity to use this momentum and urgency to take action towards an innovative, inspired, enlightened way forward that can change our societies for the better.
We are more than just sitting in the sideline, in the audience watching the play unfold. We’re the playwright, the director and the actors in the play all at once! Which means we have more power than we think to craft a powerful new story.
While the uncertainty of our time will naturally drive acts of fear, extremism, and distrust from all sides for some time, it will also drive acts of courage, creativity, empathy and leadership. We can overcome the inherent fear that comes with collective and individual change, by recognizing and trusting that we are similar in our fundamental desire as humans, to live freely, safely, creatively, and prosperously. And we are similar in our capacity and talents for creativity, leadership, intelligence and advanced consciousness. We are one human race after all. And what one has, we all have to varying degrees, and what hurts and benefits one, hurts and benefits all. That is the inter-connectedness we are growing to understand and the wisdom we are here to learn.
These are truly remarkable times and I have no doubt that the historians of the future, will look at our time as significantly as the middle ages, the renaissance, the scientific revolution, the industrial age. And they will read our story either full of pride for our monumental achievements or with tremendous heartbreak and disappointment for our destructiveness and lack of courage.
The time to choose whether we’re the architects and directors of our story, or its victims is now. And the dream of our ancestors and of our children for a better world is in our hands. I trust we will choose our next steps wisely.
~ Love to all, Carmen
