Constructing a New Narrative

We are in the process of trying to cultivate a new world. This is a daunting process and oftentimes it seems absurdly ill considered. Yet, reflection consistently indicates that it is our task whether we like it or no. And so . . .

The discussion thus far has identified the central importance of “sensemaking” to the formation of effective communities. In a (potentially futile) effort to break this massive task into bite sized pieces, I’ll try to separate it into a series of “smaller” posts. In the present post, I’ll try to quickly sketch out more fully the nature of sensemaking, how it develops and how it fails. In the next post, I’ll attempt to map out the parameters of what an optimal (or at least “much better”) sensemaking environment might look like. And then in the third, I’ll begin proposing concrete initiatives that have a reasonable chance of implementing some of this optimal sensemaking environment in the near term.

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Reinvent Everything

In my last essay, I looked at the coming “Great Transition” which, I believe, is the kind of event that happens every 1,000 or 10,000 years. In such a disruption, we must understand that most of our “civilization toolkit” will have to be entirely re-invented. I find that it can often be difficult to process this level of reinvention. Even when we consciously try to hold ourselves to a high standard, our habits of mind inevitably impose themselves on what we envision — and we unconsciously smuggle much of our current world into our imagined future. We look to the future and imagine flying cars.

The approach that I’ve learned to take when tasked with a deeply disruptive imagination is to tear contemporary institutions down to their baseline fundamentals. “Boil off” the medium and mechanism and get to the core social or human-level functions that these institutions are attempting to satisfy. From here, we can dip into our provisional “toolkit from the future” and invent new institutional architectures that satisfy the fundamental needs — but in an entirely rethought fashion.