In this essay, I’m taking a step back to a wide view of all that is happening in the world today, seeing both an inspiring outpouring of wisdom, insight. and activism for a better world–and a terrifying increase of violence against humans and the natural world along with amplifying lies and misinformation intended to justify the violence.
I feel inspired and uplifted on the one hand, and horrified and frightened on the other. Are we humans in the midst of the Great Turning or the Great Unraveling? Or are they both happening at the same time?
Polarities Abound
All dimensions of human potential seem to be coming to the surface now: defensiveness, hatred, greed, confusion, and at the same time, good will, love, generosity, intelligence, commitment to the common good. I see movements for justice, peace, and sanity arising everywhere, such as Black Lives Matter, the Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and more–even while Republicans are passing voter suppression laws in many states, police are killing unarmed black people, and the Senate Republicans refuse to investigate the January 6 invasion of Congress (to name three of many harmful trends in the USA alone). So many conflicting perspectives and emotions to hold in our awareness!
Another contrast: I read every day about extreme suffering and destruction happening near and far. I see evidence of trauma blighting the lives and behavior of so many people at all levels of society, giving rise to addiction, greed, confusion, and violence. I have the extreme good fortune to be nearly free (so far) of direct impacts from the Great Unraveling in my personal life, in my home, extended family, and circle of friends and colleagues. Likely because of our relative privilege and good fortune in life, my family and friends and I are able to live fairly simply and creatively, investing in relationships and service to the world rather than trying to accrue lots of money and/or power over others. We enjoy fulfilling lives and believe this would be possible for nearly everyone, given supportive social, economic, and political conditions. The contrast is dramatic between the fortunate and relatively happy on the one hand and, on the other, those who have been severely traumatized by our destructive socio-economic system, some of whom even end up spearheading it. (I am presenting a polarity for what in fact is more of a continuum between two extremes.)
All dimensions of human potential seem to be coming to the surface now: defensiveness, hatred, greed, confusion, and at the same time, good will, love, generosity, intelligence, commitment to the common good. I see movements for justice, peace, and sanity arising everywhere, such as Black Lives Matter, the Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and more–even while Republicans are passing voter suppression laws in many states, police are killing unarmed black people, and the Senate Republicans refuse to investigate the January 6 invasion of Congress (to name three of many harmful trends in the USA alone). So many conflicting perspectives and emotions to hold in our awareness!
Another contrast: I read every day about extreme suffering and destruction happening near and far. I see evidence of trauma blighting the lives and behavior of so many people at all levels of society, giving rise to addiction, greed, confusion, and violence. I have the extreme good fortune to be nearly free (so far) of direct impacts from the Great Unraveling in my personal life, in my home, extended family, and circle of friends and colleagues. Likely because of our relative privilege and good fortune in life, my family and friends and I are able to live fairly simply and creatively, investing in relationships and service to the world rather than trying to accrue lots of money and/or power over others. We enjoy fulfilling lives and believe this would be possible for nearly everyone, given supportive social, economic, and political conditions. The contrast is dramatic between the fortunate and relatively happy on the one hand and, on the other, those who have been severely traumatized by our destructive socio-economic system, some of whom even end up spearheading it. (I am presenting a polarity for what in fact is more of a continuum between two extremes.)
Strange Attractors
Dynamical systems theory offers some concepts I find quite helpful in understanding the polarities in today’s world. One is the concept of “attractors” that attract the trajectory of a living system in a certain direction. In the contrasts I am addressing here, one attractor would be financial wealth, material possessions, and power over others; the other attractor would be relationship, cooperation, and love. These attractors seem to arise from very different consensual realities or world views. On the one hand, life is viewed as a competition among separate individuals (or temporary alliances of individuals), with only a win/lose outcome possible. On the other hand, life is seen as radically interconnected, based on cooperation and relationship, with the individual’s health and benefit arising from the health and well-being of the community (local and global, including ecosystems and other species).
People find themselves more or less attracted to one or the other attractor/world view according to the community in which they were raised and/or in which they now live. It’s not simply an individual’s built-in propensity or choice. Resmaa Menakin describes how unhealed trauma can be “blown into the bodies” of children, so they grow up determined to amass as much money and power as possible in self-defense. (Menakin, My Grandmother’s Hands, 2017)
According to dynamical systems theory as I understand it, when a living system is confronted with two conflicting “strange attractors,” the trajectory of the system will switch back and forth between them–in what is called “bifurcation.” I believe that may be what’s happening now in today’s dominant global society as the conflict between these two attractors becomes every more intense. I experience that conflict in my own life, when faced with decisions that impact both my material comfort and my desire to be of service to others. Sometimes I decide to buy something desirable and convenient, disregarding that it might harm the environment or be produced by exploited labor. At other times, my concern for others wins out and I choose not to buy something because of the harms done to people and planet in the item’s production.
Bifurcation!
At this point, I want to quote extensively from a book my spouse Jim Brown has been working on for the last several years, titled Mindleap (publication pending). I have learned what I understand about dynamical systems theory from his work and writing, so it makes sense to let his words convey the message directly. This passage describes what is meant by the term “bifurcation”.
It is the “switching back and forth” that illustrates what bifurcation means: the forking of a system’s trajectory when one attractor ceases to hold sway over the system, either by ceasing to exist or by losing out to a more compelling attractor.
Bifurcation can be equated with radical change, transformation—and all these terms point to the heart of what is meant by evolution.
To bring these abstract terms into a real-world example of a complex dynamic system, think of a musical performance that you have experienced. A jazz ensemble performance would work very well for this thought experiment, largely because of the improvisational nature of jazz. A jazz number often begins with a recognizable melody, after which various players take turns improvising an interpretation of the melody, or theme. If each player’s series of musical notes were to be scored, that score could be thought of as a trajectory of notes, and the theme melody around which the players build their improvisations would represent an attractor for all those trajectories. The performance of the theme melody and its variations is thus a complex dynamic system.
Now, to illustrate what is meant by the novel term “bifurcation,” let’s imagine that the chosen theme melody is similar in some ways to another melody known to all the players, and that one of the players begins to riff, either deliberately or not, around this alternative melody (I have actually heard this done, and was entertained by the surprise it brought on). The other players would no doubt notice this, and might choose to bend their improvisations toward this alternative theme. Such an occurrence would constitute a bifurcation in the performance—a shift in trajectories toward a competing attractor.
Here’s another example… a subtle bifurcation that every reader of this book has undergone whether or not they noticed it.
…The autonomic nervous system (ANS)… has two branches: the sympathetic branch and the parasympathetic branch. During most of a person’s waking hours the sympathetic branch tends to predominate, especially if that person’s life is busy and full of challenges, large or small.
All of us must sleep sometime, but when we lie down to sleep the onset of sleep can be delayed if the sympathetic branch of the ANS is still firing away. At some point, if sleep is to come, a shift must take place from sympathetic to parasympathetic dominance. That shift can be noticed by people who are mindful of their physiological and mental processes. Among other phenomena, the shift can be signaled by an abrupt slowing and deepening of one’s breathing, a rapid release of skeletal muscle tension, and, sometimes, awareness of hypnagogic images with eyes closed.
Anyone fortunate enough to have noticed such phenomena has received the gift of being aware of a subtle bifurcation, a phase shift in which one attractor, the functions of the sympathetic branch of the ANS, suddenly gives way to the functions of the parasympathetic branch—the alternative attractor—enabling sleep to come and internal repairs and housekeeping to begin.
…Complex, dynamic, living systems change as time goes on. Often—more often then you might think—the change is dramatic. The above examples are intended to give a sense of how one kind of change, bifurcation, occurs, and what the system becomes as a result of the bifurcation. (Brown, MindLeap, Chapter 3.)
Moving Toward Love and Interconnectedness
I remember learning in my study of psychosynthesis counseling that resistance comes up the strongest when change is about to happen (when bifurcation is occurring). I have seen this demonstrated in my own life and in the lives of many clients and friends: a dense entanglement of conflict and confusion giving way to expansion and flow, sometimes suddenly. May that be the case now, because without transformative change, we may not survive as a species–or if we do survive, it is likely to be with a drastically reduced quality of life for everyone.
It is my earnest prayer that the conflicts, polarities, and confusion of today’s world signal a coming bifurcation away from the dominant global socio-economic system that is wreaking so much harm on people and planet, and in the direction of the strange attractor of love and interconnectedness– which I am convinced is the basis of life itself. I believe that those of us who have experienced the attractor of love and interconnectedness can help strengthen it through our personal choices, in our communications with others, in the causes we support, and in the quality of our activism. Remember the flower children’s slogan from the 60’s: “Make love, not war.”
~~~
References–and very partial list of recommended reading
Abraham, Frederick D. “A Beginner’s Guide to the Nature and Potentialities of Dynamical and Network Theory.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281101793.
Brown, Jim. Mindleap: How Neuroscience and Systems Thinking Can Transform Education. Psychosynthesis Press, 2021.
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Beacon Press, 2014.
Heinberg, Richard. Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival. Post Carbon Institute, 2021. https://power.postcarbon.org
Kelly, Sean. Becoming Gaia: On the Threshold of Planetary Initiation. Revelore Press, 2021.
Lent, Jeremy. The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning. Prometheus Books, 2017.
Lent, Jeremy. The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom To Find Our Place in the Universe. New Society Publishers, 2021.
Macy, Joanna. World As Lover, World As Self: Courage for Global Justice and Ecological Renewal. Parallax Press, 2021 (30th Anniversary Edition).
Menakem, Resmaa. My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press, 2017.
Mitchell, Sherry. Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change. North Atlantic, 2018.