Shifting Patterns
Small shifts can change the world. Given the gravity of today's situation, can small pattern shifts contribute to a world that we all love?
This matters
We’re waking up, day after day, to news about the violence, destruction, abuse, and corruption unleashed by a small group of deeply disturbed people. It’s exhausting and heartbreaking. Some days this dysfunctional world leaves me almost speechless, muttering only four-letter words.
Intellectually, I understand where the dysfunction is coming from. In my heart, I know we can do better than this.
Over the past weeks, I’ve been thinking about how [I/we] can contribute to a world where we respect and protect the rights of humans and nature, grounded in a recognition of oneness and an ethics of care.
I imagine a world where damaged people receive help before they hurt others, and where those who have been harmed receive the restorative care and justice they deserve.
A world where children go to school to learn how to use their creativity, intelligence, and imagination to thrive together. A world where they do not face gun violence and bombs.
In such a world, love would be the four-letter word of choice.
What do we need to do to make this world a reality? And how do we do it before it’s too late, especially at a time when it feels like it is already too late?
It’s time
I’ve been thinking about these question for a long time.
Five years ago, after I finished You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World, I was not sure what to do with it. I self-published the book, but a quiet voice in my head said:
Wait. You will be ready in five years.
So, now is the time to make that quantum leap.
A quantum leap
The premises of quantum social change are simpler than they sound:
Non-linear. Small changes can make a very big difference.
Non-local. Change doesn’t only happen through direct physical interaction. It also spreads through shifts in meaning, values, and consciousness.
Changing patterns, not people. When we focus on shifting the habitual assumptions and actions that shape our lives, we reconfigure relationships and open space for agency, possibility, and potential.
Small groups, big difference. When people act with integrity and wholeness, they create coherent patterns that others can align with.
Every person matters. As entangled parts of a larger whole, each one of us is both substantial and significant.
When we are in integrity—as in whole—we generate fractals of change. These are self-similar patterns that are context specific, yet replicate across scales when they embed and embody universal values. Buckminster Fuller once wrote that “we are pattern integrities.”
Quantum social change involves consciously shifting patterns so that humans and nature not only survive, but thrive. Unfortunately, the stories dominating the news right now demonstrate a complete lack of integrity. They create nothing more than fragments and destruction that threaten our present and future.
The Future
If we want to create what Buckminster Fuller describes as a world that works for all of life, we are going to have to shift some patterns in ourselves, our communities, and our systems. This means both breaking old patterns and generating new ones. One small step at a time.
What patterns can I shift, starting today?
I can, for example, shift my pattern of keeping things to myself. I feel awkward about sharing things, especially on social media. I’m not sure why — maybe because deep down, I’m happy in my bubble. I really don’t want to be visible. Hmm, I may have to explore this in relation to quantum bubble theory.
This week, as part of my “pattern shifting,” I’m going to share a few things that matter to me:
A conversation I had with David Tynfield for his excellent Science for the Anthropocene – Learning to Fly podcast.
The PDF and audiobook of You Matter More Than You Think. You are welcome to read or listen to it—and share it with people who matter to you.
An invitation to join a six-week course on Scaling Transformative Change that I am offering together with cCHANGE. You are warmly invited to participate or share it with someone who might benefit.
Some personal news: I recently accepted a part-time position as Zennström Visiting Professor of Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University. I’m excited to collaborate with researchers, staff, and students at UU on scaling transformative change for a just and thriving world.
An interesting article that someone shared on how we internalize and embody patterns: How Embodiment Transforms Systems Change: “Embodiment reveals how many of our responses are conditioned by past fear, survival strategies, family dynamics, and intergenerational trauma. If we do not interrupt these patterns, they will continue to shape our systems as much as they shape our lives.”
These are small things, but they interrupt a deep and persistent pattern. We all know that patterns of sharing and caring can send ripple through our economy and society. Transformations rarely begin with big things.
And today, on International Women’s Day, I’m especially grateful for the countless women who embody an ethics of care and courageously and persistently shift patterns, every day.
Gravity
Given the gravity of the current global situation, we need powerful solutions that contribute to a world where we can all thrive. Love might be the solution — Buckminster Fuller compares it to gravity:
“Gravity is inherently integrative: it pulls together. And to me, there’s a good possibility that love is what I’d call metaphysical gravity. It really holds everything together.”
What pattern could you shift to contribute to quantum social change, and to help create a world where we greet the news each day not with “sh#*!” but with love?
My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
With no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.
A passion to make, and make again…
From “Natural Resources” by Adrienne Rich
Love is always the solution!