Very cool! I’m currently working on a pitch for “design therapy” as a way to turn strangers with shared interests into a team With a shared mission. We should compare Notes!
Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 8, 2022, at 23:30, Chris Hahn <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Thanks Ernie. I hope you are doing well. My missiondevelopmentcenter.com > business has really taken off. Currently in Norway. > Chris > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On > Behalf Of Centroids > Sent: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 9:21 PM > To: Centroids Discussions <[email protected]> > Subject: [RC] Meta Crisis 101: What is the Meta-Crisis? (+ Infographics) > > First use of entelechy since I talked to your son :-) > > “The nature of the emergency, the crisis, four different kinds of meta > crisis, and what it would mean to resolve these things (what I call > entelechy, or what we’re trying to get to. What’s the purpose? What’s the > direction?)” > > > > Meta Crisis 101: What is the Meta-Crisis? (+ Infographics) > https://www.sloww.co/meta-crisis-101/ > (via Instapaper) > > What does the term meta-crisis mean? > > After repeatedly seeing the concept of meta-crisis (also spelled metacrisis > and meta crisis), I finally decided it was time to put together an > introductory synthesis to educate myself. Here’s everything I learned. Enjoy! > > Quick Housekeeping: > > All content in quotation marks comes from the original authors mentioned. > All content is grouped into my own themes. > I’ve added emphasis in bold for readability/skimmability. > Post Contents: Click a link here to jump to a section below > > > A Crisis of Crises: What is the Meta-Crisis? (+ Infographics) > > Meta Defined > > Meta means after, beyond, more comprehensive, or transcending. Meta is often > used in the form of “x about x” or “x of x” (e.g. metacognition = cognition > about/of cognition). > > If only it were that simple! Today, meta is used in a multitude of ways. > According to Jonathan Rowson (co-founder of Perspectiva): > > “Meta means many things. It’s simplest, it means after. But it’s sometimes > used to mean between. It’s sometimes used to mean within. It seems to change > its meaning slightly, depending on what it’s describing. It has chameleon > quality in that way. So the first thing about meta is to realize it means > many things.” > Some examples: > > “The meta in metanoia is mostly beyond—as in the spiritual transformation of > going beyond the current structure of the mind (nous).” > “The meta in metamorphosis and metabolism is a kind of ‘change.'” > “The meta in metaphor has the composite meaning of the term because metaphor > literally means ‘the bearer of meta.'” > There’s also the skill of going meta: > > “How we go meta—when we go meta—it can be done badly or well. And, it’s an > intellectual capacity that one uses. When other avenues have been exhausted, > other forms of inquiry have been exhausted, we go meta to get clear > perspective in one way or the other.” > In many ways, we’re already meta: > > “Giving a speech about how to give a speech is meta.” > “Writing about how to write well is meta.” > “Learning how to learn is meta.” > “If you ‘go meta‘ on oranges and apples you get fruit (or seeds, or trees). > If you go meta on fruit you may get to food, and if you go meta on food you > may get to agriculture, and then perhaps land and climate, and then either > soil and mean surface temperature, or perhaps planet and cosmos.” > Meta-Crisis Defined > > Similar to the definitions of meta, there are a wide variety of definitions > of meta-crisis. > > Daniel Thorson (host of the Emerge podcast & monastic at the Monastic > Academy): > > “The meta-crisis = the multiple overlapping and interconnected global crises > that our nascent planetary culture faces.” > Terry Patten (philosopher, author, activist, & social entrepreneur): > > “(The meta-crisis is) a single phenomenon. We may be thinking of it as an > ecological crisis. We may be thinking of it as a psychological or spiritual > crisis. We may be thinking of it as a cultural crisis and a breakdown of > community, family, etc. We may be thinking of it as a crisis of government > and economics and finance. And, it is all of these things. But, it’s not > reducible to any one of them. That’s why it’s a meta-crisis.” > Terry Patten also has probably the most accessible video out there about the > meta-crisis to date: > > Zak Stein (transformative educator & co-founder of The Consilience Project): > > “There are a large number of crises drawing increasing amounts of public > attention, such as the ecological, economic, immigration, geopolitical, and > energy crises. But there is also an invisible crisis unfolding within our own > minds and cultures that is getting much less attention. This is the > metacrisis, which has to do with how humans understand themselves and the > world. It is a generalised educational crisis involving a set of related > psychological dynamics; systems and societies are in trouble, but it is the > psyche—the human dimension—that is in the direst of straits.” > Jonathan Rowson (co-founder of Perspectiva): > > “The metacrisis is the underlying crisis driving a multitude of crises.” > “We have to better understand who and what we are, individually and > collectively, in order to be able to fundamentally change how we act. That > conundrum is what is now widely called the meta-crisis lying within, between > and beyond the emergency and the crisis. That aspect of our predicament is > socio-emotional, educational, epistemic and spiritual in nature.” > “You could say the meta crisis is the crisis of perception and understanding > that lies within the range of crises humanity faces … However, this is > another reason why I think the meta crisis language isn’t very helpful. > Because things are getting so much better in so many ways, to talk of the > meta crisis as if everything was going wrong just doesn’t ring true. It’s > altogether more complex than that. So many things are going extremely well > that we shouldn’t think that somehow everything is inherently flawed. What’s > going on is altogether more tragic. It’s that there’s a hidden pattern laced > within what’s going on that’s to do with how things are connected, how > they’re evolving, and how they’re coming to a tipping point in which the > positive effects will turn negative. And some seem to perceive that more > keenly than others.” > Unpacking the Meta-Crisis > > The most comprehensive attempts I’ve seen at unpacking the meta-crisis come > from Zak Stein and Jonathan Rowson. > > 4 Aspects (Zak Stein): > > This breakdown comes from the Perspectiva article: Education is the Metacrisis > > “Welcome to the metacrisis. This is a generalised educational crisis in > which, despite all the concrete problems faced by society, the most pressing > problems are actually ‘in our heads’ (i.e., in our minds and souls, we are in > a crisis of the psyche). This can be made clear by differentiating out the > following four aspects.” > > 1. Sense-making crisis (what is the case?): > > “Confusion at the level of understanding the nature of the world. Everyday > people and experts are struggling to say things that are true, unable to > comprehend increasing complexity.” > Worst-case scenario: “complete epistemic unmooring and descent into the > cultural vertigo of an inescapable simulation.” > Best-case scenario: “emergent forms of post-digital individual and collective > sense-making spreading on a massive scale.” > 2. Capability crisis (how can it be done?): > > “Incapacity at the level of operating on the world intelligently. In all > social positions and domains of work, individuals are increasingly unable to > engage in problem- solving to the degree needed for continued social > integration.” > Worst-case scenario: “results in catastrophic infrastructure failure due to a > brain-power shortage.” > Best-case scenario: “revivification of guilds and technical educational > initiatives for a new economics of social system integration.” > 3. Legitimacy crisis (who should do it?): > > “Incoherence at the level of cultural agreements. Political and bureaucratic > forms of power are failing to provide sufficiently convincing rationale and > justification for trust in their continued authority.” > Worst-case scenario: “complete citizen-level defection from all organised > political bodies.” > Best-case scenario: “new forms of governance and collective choice-making > that are built out from first principles, factoring in dynamics that are > digital and planetary.” > 4. Meaning crisis (why do it?): > > “Inauthenticity at the level of personal experience. Individuals from all > walks of life are questioning the purpose of their existence, the goodness of > the world, and the value of ethics, beauty, and truth.” > Worst-case scenario: “peak alienation and a total mental health crisis.” > Best-case scenario: “democratisation of enlightenment, sanity and > psychological sovereignty.” > 4 Patterns & 10 Illustrations (Jonathan Rowson): > > This breakdown comes from the Perspectiva article: Tasting the Pickle: Ten > flavours of meta-crisis and the appetite for a new civilisation > > “I give 10 kinds of meta crisis as a way of showing how ridiculous it is to > try and pin it down to one thing. Because once you really understand what > we’re talking about here—we’re talking about what’s inside of the crisis, > what’s in some ways between different aspects of the crisis, all of these > different meanings of meta, what might lie beyond the crisis that we haven’t > quite seen—all of the crises come together, it means all of these things, and > therefore there’s a sense in which the way to approach the meta crisis is as > a living, dynamic experience of being human in this historical moment.” > > If you want to watch/listen to Jonathan explain everything: > > Pattern 1: The socio-emotional meta/crisis (meta as with/within; the crisis > of ‘we’) > > “Concerns the subjective and intersubjective features of collective action > problems relating to management of various kinds of commons, not least > digital and ecological. In essence it’s the problem relating to the limits of > compassion and projective identification, and of the world not having a > discerning sense of what ‘we’ means in practical, problem-solving or > world-creating terms.” > > Illustration 1: Meta/Crisis of Cosmopolitics (we don’t have a viable we): “We > keep on talking about we as human nature when there isn’t really any such > thing. The we is something to aspire to, to be fought for. We have to create > the global we. It doesn’t exist already. One of the meta crises is that we > think it’s already there, but actually it isn’t. So, we talk about we have so > many years for climate change, or we have to do X, Y, or Z—it’s not adequate.” > Pattern 2: The educational metacrisis (meta as after/within and between; the > crisis of education) > > “Concerns the emergent properties arising from all our major crises taken > together, which entail learning needs at scale, particularly how to make > sense of the first planetary civilisation; how to confer legitimacy > transnationally; how to do what needs to be done ecologically; and how to > clarify collectively what we’re living for without coercion.” > > Illustration 2: Metacrisis in World System Dynamics (we’re not good at > joining the dots): “We don’t typically see how the economy, and psychology, > and sociology, and technology all fit together. It takes a certain cast of > mind to do that.” > Illustration 3: Metacrisis in Historiography (modernity and postmodernity > struggle to procreate): “The major features of our world—and modernity and > postmodernity—are struggling to procreate, to create something like > metamodernity; or something that’s a new kind of civilization is struggling > to be born because we’re caught up in the patterns of modernism and > postmodernism.” > Illustration 4: Metacrisis in Philosophy of Education (we are failing to > learn how to learn): “There’s a meta crisis in the philosophy of education, > and here I owe a debt of gratitude to Zak Stein. Basically, if you look > enough at the world’s problems, you begin to see they all have educational > aspects. They’re all calling out for some implicit skills and capabilities > that are currently lacking. And, there’s a crisis in education which is, as > (Zak) would put it, ‘autopoetic process of societal renewal in which one > generation teaches the next how to live, is arguably breaking down.'” > Pattern 3: The epistemic meta-crisis (meta as with/self-reference; the crisis > of understanding) > > “Concerns ways of knowing that are ultimately self-defeating, underlying > mechanisms that subvert their own logics. In essence it’s the problem of > ideological and epistemic blind spots.” > > Illustration 5: Meta-crisis in Ideology (our underlying mechanisms subvert > their own logics): “We have what Rowan Williams calls ‘underlying mechanisms > that subvert their own logics.’ That’s something like: democracy is too > democratic, capitalism has problems knowing what to do with money, liberalism > has been too liberal.” > Illustration 6: Meta-crisis in Epistemology (the territory is full of maps): > “David Rook put it very elegantly when he said, ‘The reason the map is not > the territory is because the territory is full of maps.’ That speaks to our > crisis of meaning-making today because we’re trying to describe the world, > but we all have different maps and those maps are somehow already in the > world. They’re a part of what we’re referring to.” > Illustration 7: Meta-crisis in Design (we have a suicidal generator > function): “This is Daniel Schmachtenberger and Jordan Hall territory, which > is we have a suicidal generator function. The world seems to be designed—or > it seems to have an underlying logic—that’s leaning towards collapse and we > have to redesign it.” > Speaking of the meta-crisis in design (suicidal generator function), here’s > an infographic that tries to capture this particular take on the meta-crisis: > > Source: Potentialism > Pattern 4: The spiritual meta crisis (meta as beyond; the crisis of > imagination) > > “Concerns the cultural inability or unwillingness to ‘go meta’ in the right > way, for instance to think about the political spectrum rather than merely > thinking with it, or for economic commentators to question the very idea of > the economy or the nature of money. More profoundly, it is about being cut > off from questions about the nature, meaning and purpose of life as a whole > as legitimate terrain in our attempts to imagine a new kind of world.” > > Illustration 8: Meta Crisis in Consciousness (we are increasingly disabled by > dissonance): “We’re disabled by dissonance, and dissonance is arising because > there’s a challenge in making sense of the world as it is—and an inability to > go meta in the right way at the right time for the right reason.” > Illustration 9: Meta Crisis in Arts and Humanities (the imagination is > limited by the imaginary): “We struggle to imagine a future world. We’re > stuck in some way by the existing imaginary. Our vision of society is somehow > stifled. We’ve run out of metaphorical resources, and visions, and symbols, > and images that will help us imagine something radically new.” > Illustration 10: Meta Crisis in Cosmovision (a weakness for one of two kinds > of spiritual bypassing): “Our apparent inability or unwillingness in public > life to speak about the predicament as a whole, seen cosmologically, seen as > this wonderfully unique and anomalous planet that may or not be unique in its > life forms and consciousness and meaning-making capacity.” > And, that’s not all! > > “In addition to these challenges, we have the underlying crisis in > governance, which includes things like what to do with pervasive inequality, > and how do you redesign the economy so that it’s no longer about indefinite > economic growth? And then it’s also about the emergency. It’s about, what do > you do about incipient climate collapse? … These things are all happening at > the same time. They’re all part of one predicament that we need to somehow > feel our way into and grow into so that we can become what we have to become > to deal with these challenges of our time.” > > What does it look like when you put it all together? Jonathan Rowson provides > the infographic below which shows: > > Horizontal axis: “The nature of the emergency, the crisis, four different > kinds of meta crisis, and what it would mean to resolve these things (what I > call entelechy, or what we’re trying to get to. What’s the purpose? What’s > the direction?)” > Vertical axis: “What it’s asking us to do, what the path might be to get > there, what the obstacles are, what the virtues in play are that we’re called > upon to do, and some illustrative examples.” > Source: Jonathan Rowson (Perspectiva) > How to Help in the Meta-Crisis > > Whew! If you made it this far, you may be wondering how you can do your part > to help in the emerging meta-crisis. > > There are countless people and projects already working on various aspects of > the meta-crisis. In an attempt to interconnect all of them, I launched a side > project: > > Introducing the “Meta-Crisis Meta-Resource”: A Digital Directory of all > People & Projects in the Wisdom Web > > You May Also Enjoy: > > 8 Profound Podcasts Introducing the Meaning Crisis, Sensemaking, & Game B > The Consilience Project 101: An Introduction to the Catalyzing of a Cultural > Renaissance > 35+ Deep Daniel Schmachtenberger Quotes on Civilization Design, Game Theory, > Sense-Making, Sovereignty, & More > Sources: > > systems-souls-society.com/tasting-the-pickle-ten-flavours-of-meta-crisis-and-the-appetite-for-a-new-civilisation > systems-souls-society.com/education-is-the-metacrisis > whatisemerging.com/opinions/how-to-think-about-the-meta-crisis-without-getting-too-excited > jimruttshow.blubrry.net/currents-jonathan-rowson > jimruttshow.blubrry.net/the-jim-rutt-show-transcripts/transcript-of-currents-041-jonathan-rowson-on-our-metacrisis-pickle > > > Sent from my iPhone > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/RadicalCentrism/1200B088-75E9-49E3-BB04-33C1058F2393%40radicalcentrism.org. > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/RadicalCentrism/005601d87bca%24594fc580%240bef5080%24%402chahn.com. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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