View ‘Maintaining Poise in the Uncertainty of Complexity’ Workshop description
POISE
to be balanced or suspended; to be ready, a state of readiness; equally weighted, weight bearing, good ‘bearing’.
A migratory translibrium.
Complexity
Structural complexity vs/and Perceptual complexity
I’m approaching complexity as an ‘experience’ we have, rather than an ‘objective phenomena out-there’.
“Complex systems are defined by entangled connections and unpredictability.”
‘You don’t have causality. Whatever you do will have unintended consequences.’
– Dave Snowden
Rough Sketches of Demergent & Emergent Feedback Loops
Emergence
“emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors which emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.”
Origin late 16th century (in the sense ‘become known, come to light’): from Latin emergere, from e- (variant of ex- ) ‘out, forth’ + mergere ‘to dip’.
“Negative feedback [demergence] introduces constraints that serve to fix structures or behaviours. In contrast, positive feedback [emergence] promotes change, allowing local variations to grow into global patterns. “
– Wikipedia entry on ’emergence’
Overwhelm
Simple solutions to complex challenges fail.
This results in:
1) overwhelm, a form of cognitive impairment, results in even simpler solutions (neurology of overwhelm – Fight/Flight/Freeze/Fawn);
2) the original complex challenge changes it’s behaviour in response to the simple response, and becomes more complex (ie.polarisation).
Procrustes Bed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes
Procrustes was a malevolent giant, a son of Poseidon who, stationed on the sacred path between Athens and the temples of Eleusis, invited pilgrims to spend the night in his ‘guest bed’. If the guest proved too tall for the bed he would amputate the excess, if they were too small he would stretch them to fit. No one fit the bed.
Hercules & the Hydra
Using his sword (a simple ‘Procrustean’ tool) over and over only makes the problem worse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lernaean_Hydra
Addiction
Addiction is any cyclical behaviour which provides temporary relief or pleasure, but which results in negative consequences, and in which there is an impairment in controlling the behaviour. This definition is not restricted to substance abuse but can include almost any human behaviour: eating/not eating, sex, shopping, gambling, gaming, emotional dependencies, emotional outbursts, extreme attachments to ideologies and religions, profit and power…
The Elements of Poise
PRESENCE
You can only start from the ‘mountainous quagmire’ of the ‘here & now’.
You can’t start anywhere else.
Radical Acceptance.
“It is only in the present moment that you can create the future that your heart and soul desire.” – Tommy Rosen
“We map the evolutionary potential of the present.” – Dave Snowden
CURIOSITY/HUMILITY/PERPLEXITY (LEARNING)
The statement “I don’t know” introduces the possibility of novelty and curiosity:’Quest-ioning’.
“Perplexity is a very elevated spiritual station.”
Perplexity permits ambiguity and contradiction, awe and wonder, and an openness to ‘revelation’.
“In the beginners mind there are many possibilities. In the experts mind, there are few.”- Shunryu Suzuki
CONFIDENCE/HUMILITY
con + fides = ‘with’ + ‘faith’
Cultivating basic trust in your self, your crew, and in your possible future reality, to open to, enable and guide, a new, unknown, emergent reality.
COMPASSION/SELF-COMPASSION
Cultivating basic respect, kindness, care, patience and understanding towards your self, your crew, your ‘Enemy’.
Deep Listening.
PRACTICES
Cultivating ‘Practices’ that promote poise & emergence: connection with others, physical health, emotional well-being, healing, spiritual restoration…
COURAGE
The Grit to Bear the Unbearable.
Cultivating the capacity to bear with uncertainty, ambiguity, vulnerability, hurt, pain, fear.