Sense Making
An Integral Map to Navigate an Increasingly Complex WorldWhat is Sense Making and why is it important? As I type this, Barack Obama has just been announced President Elect. This is an historic moment in the history of the world. Yet if we were referencing an Integral Sense Making Map this result is not surprising. In our increasingly complex world we need intelligent tools to support our successful navigation. Many Positive Deviants have their own internal map, devised through years of trial and error. When they are given an opportunity to explore other Integral Maps, often times they feel a profound sense of gratitude, relief and the thought-"I knew this existed-I just didn't know where to find it." The Integral Sense Making Maps we will explore here are based on the work of many of our great philosophers, thinkers and scientists such as Ken Wilber, Clare Graves, Buckminster Fuller, Caroline Myss and many others. All Positive Deviants in their own way. We will use Ken Wilber's AQAL as a base point, and then I will weave in the archetypal work of Myss, with the Generalized Principles of Fuller, to give you my working map. Plus we will get contributing writers to provide their own referential maps. There is no one map, or right map. There is only the map that helps you make meaning of your world. And our maps change. The flat earth map is redundant.
From an archetypal/symbolic perspective- this election was a choice between two paths. The old, traditional, well worn path, or the new, risky, visionary path.While McCain represented the archetypes of the hero, rescuer and warrior, he also had an unresolved shadow (we all have a shadow, in various states of resolution), that manifest in addiction and gambling. The unresolved/unconscious aspects of his character seeped through his presentations, and seeded doubt. While it was apparent that he was a good man at core, with a deep commitment to his country, his inner demons left too many questions. His relationship with his wife was lacking in passion of any kind-which made him even less able to deeply connect heart to heart with people. Obama has strong archetypal representation from the Visionary, Liberator, Poet, Lover, and even Messiah (serving Humanity with humility-certainly at this very moment in history, people are wanting him to be a messiah in some form) archetypes. His shadow is more open, more resolved, creating less internal conflict. He has an innocence about him that could be viewed as naive, or as making him a clean slate. He wrote the book, "The Audacity of Hope" and stands congruently for hope in a time when the world needs that in buckets. From a developmental point of view, with the financial meltdown, the environmental challenges, peak oil, the rise of fundamentalism, all occurring in a western world that is strongly orange (built on success, more stuff, status, keeping score), we are seeing the shift from orange to green (care for environment, community, people, equal rights etc.). People want a leader who is Visionary, comes from almost un-backable odds, and demonstrates, as he said in his election speech. "Yes we can." Hope is what we crave. And it is what the American people chose. Taking the view from the Universe, the world needs leadership more than anything else. At this stage no one is sure if Obama can provide the calibre of leadership required. He faces an extraordinary task. I feel pretty confident that he will rise to the task. He obviously has the partnership and love of an incredible woman, therefore he knows how to play team. He is also clearly intelligent, and does demonstrate humility. This means he has learnt to transcend his own ego significantly. I suspect Michelle will be sure that he keeps his ego in check. An Integral Sense Making map provides a view of the world, our immediate now, world events and the coming future, that does make sense. This in its own right, is very reassuring. Humans like to have some degree of order within the chaos. We like to know where we are going in the grander scheme of things. There will never be a map to explain the mysterious. Black Swans will continue to occur. This is the part of life that is the adventure, that takes our breath away and gets us on our knees. For now, join us as we explore the world through the Integral Lens. A whole new world of perspectives awaits. All very powerful tools for leadership development around positive deviance. The Hurt Locker -The movie. Making sense of extreme stress
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