thecreativeverse creativity is our human superpower.
These are challenging, extraordinary times. Our world is at a unique stage of accelerated, disruptive, and creative change that has the potential to transform us for the better.
For many, operating during these times will seem terrifying and destabilizing. But for those who become aware of and work with these energies, this is a grand opportunity to create transformative change for us and by extension, the world.
The Environment of Change – The Present Moment
Massive change is not about the world of design; it’s about the design of the world ~ Bruce Mau, designer, educator
In a few years’ time on a grand scale, we’ve witnessed and experienced an extraordinary array of impactful and historic global events: the deadly coronavirus pandemic that forced the world to take a knee; the thought-provoking and explosive world-wide social movements inspired by Occupy Wall Street, Water is Life, Black Lives Matter, Women’s rights battles, LGBTQ+ rights, and so many others; the ongoing global climate disasters, increased solar and geothermal occurrences, widespread political and social turmoil and divisiveness and more. These unprecedented events occurring around us near simultaneously, suggests a tremendous uprooting of the status quo is underway.
Add to this potent mix, new and ever more sophisticated technologies like virtual reality, robotics, artificial intelligence and space exploration among others, and it becomes crystal clear, that we’re entering an incredibly fast-moving cycle of monumental change across multiple areas all at once!
But you don’t have to take my word for it. This era reflects what many researchers have been hotly discussing, analyzing and debating for years. The international researchers and analysts at the Global Scenario Group (GSG) called this era the Great Transition in their keystone essay/report published in 2002. As early as the 1990s, the GSG noted that “historical time was accelerating as the pace of technological, environmental and cultural change quickens” and that as a matter of course, as “physical and biological systems develop, they undergo a period of transformation that is often chaotic and turbulent.” Sound/feel familiar?
Twenty years later, it’s no longer an academic exercise. Today we stand at the apex of the great transition or the great journey I lovingly call Humanity in Transition, Transformation and Evolution. And it is now, in the midst of uncertainty and chaos, that new creations have an opportunity to grow and flourish, old creations can be reshaped or finally let go and we, as the GSG noted: “can transition to an inclusive, diverse, and ecological planetary society.”
But before we can get there, we must prepare. To powerfully create within these times, not as victims of change but as leaders and architects, we must gain an understanding of the potent energies at play in our very rapidly changing environment. To take advantage of the momentum of change and use it for our betterment, we must understand the energies of Transition (changing state), Transformation (changing form), and Evolution (new Earth 2.0).
With this understanding, we can flow and respond fluidly to change, able to stand on our own two feet to direct our destiny rather than have the rug pulled out from under us and become its victim. As famed naturalist, geologist, biologist, and the father of evolutionary theory Charles Darwin wisely noted: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one more responsive to change.”
Our Responsibility
In the coming months, I will try my best to share my perspective on the environment of change we’re in, the elements we’re working with and how I think we as individuals and as a collective, can best navigate, shape and powerfully create in these extraordinary times.
Given the massiveness of this topic, I’ve decided to break this topic down into the 3 overlapping stages of change we will be experiencing for the foreseeable future.
Most important to remember as we continue forward in this great era of change, is that we all have a part to play in this masterful drama unfolding before us. After all, we live on this Earth to be creators, players and stewards, not passive, fearful bystanders. And right now, we are being asked to stand up and step in the arena as they say with courage and an open heart.
How our ancestors wished and dreamed they could be alive in such times, where opportunities for massive change are within reach. So, it’s up to us to take responsibility and leadership for the next steps. Because what we do next, will impact not only ourselves but our children, and the children of our children for generations to come.
If we lead with fear, we can easily regress and create oppressive structures and a dystopian future for ourselves. But if we lead with heart and creativity, we can grow and evolve to build the magnificent future we all deserve. I call this magnificent, new potential path – Earth 2.0.
Whether we like it or not, humanity appears to be on a trajectory of tremendous change, so hold on to your hat’s folks, it’s going to be quite the ride!
Hope to see you on the movement forward! ~ Carmen
Notes:
Image Source: Elena Mozhilo (Unsplash)
Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead, 2002: Paul Raskin, Tariq Banuri, Gilberto Gallopin, Pablo Gutman, Al Hammond, Robert Kates, Rob Swart
