Will the old world order collapse?
Will the old world order collapse? Or (as in the financial crash of 2008) will it be bailed out by massive injections of borrowed cash?
One of the biggest features of our current world is our tendency to divide everything into either/or. Capitalism or Communism. Republican or Democrat. Men or women. Control or Chaos. Security or Risk. Which is the lesser of two evils? In reality they each have positive and negative aspects.
We maintain this status quo of duality, because on an unconscious level, there are questions that we haven’t found answers to.
Big businesses are corrupt, greedy and favour self-interest but if everyone was paid the same, would anything get done?
Command and control leadership belittles and humiliates, but if everyone was nice and democratic, would any decisions be made?
Care and compassion are a good idea, but what if people use these principles to be lazy or easily offended?
All these ideas come about because most of us were socialised and educated via the polarised method of the carrot or stick. Study hard, be obedient and follow the rules if you want to be rewarded (carrot) or you want to avoid punishment (stick). There’s a right or wrong answer to every question. It’s my way or the highway. Win or lose.
This concept of “either/or” is ingrained in us. The concept of “both/and” is unfamiliar, paradoxical and abstract. It comes from the realm of creativity and vision, not data and statistics. It pulls us towards the future, not the past.
We’ve pretty much accepted that life has changed, but the polarities remain. Either people want life to go back to normal as fast as possible, or they think the Coronavirus was an early warning sign, telling us that we radically need to change our ways.
There is no doubt that the way humans inhabit the planet is unsustainable, but we currently have no vision of how we could “do life” any other way… because we’re welded to either/or thinking. Which is the lesser evil — 500 old people dying of Covid, 50 young people dying of suicide or 5,000 people having years of hardship? The nation’s health or the nation’s economy? There’s no answer to these questions.
Creativity goes beyond the either/or to a both/and framework. Creativity isn’t a fancy job title, or an arts and crafts hobby, it’s a way of thinking, feeling and perceiving life from a different perspective.
Life is “both/and”. The natural world isn’t just a serene, picturesque background on a motivational poster, it’s a creative and destructive force.
Life is dynamic and constantly changing, but humans prefer to go in the opposite direction — accumulate and defend. They think that with enough control mechanisms and enough money, this strategy can be maintained… “Better the devil we know”.
Mother Nature, on the other hand, is creative, and could already be cooking up something that would inform us in no uncertain terms, that we’re not top of the food chain, because there is no “top” in a chain.
If we start now, we could ignite the unlimited potential of our creative nature.
When we play the game of life well, we inspire ourselves and we entertain others; we entertain ourselves and we inspire others. It’s a win/win. On the other hand, if we get scared and bail out the billionaires a second time, life could unleash something very small and far more powerful.
And the phrase “3 strikes and you’re out” could become a reality.
