“We have to understand the difference between a complicated system and a complex system.”
A mentor and friend of mine shared this with me recently. He went on to say that complicated systems are like cars.
“When they’re malfunctioning we can check various aspects of the machine and have an overview of what’s causing the problem.
On the other hand, in a complex system, when we change something the whole system changes as well. So we can never have the full picture.”
Even though complex and complicated are synonymous, he used the words to differentiate phenomena. To make the point that we sometimes navigate life thinking it’s possible to have the tour d’horizon as we do with a machine.
However, every step we take is changing what we previously knew. Energy spent on trying to nail down the ins and outs of what’s to come beyond the step in front of us is left to a hypothesis.
That’s why it’s crucial that we focus on the next step. It’s so often that we place our energy down the line because being here is uncomfortable. So we worry about x,y, or z that’s 10 steps ahead of where we are.
This is a pitfall for two reasons.
One, we don’t get any further in our progress because we avoid looking at the step right in front of us.
The second is that we miss the signs, messages, and information from life that help us complete the next step. Because we are too busy focused on the future, we miss the support we have here and now.
We will never solve a problem that is in the future. It’s impossible. We would need to go through whatever the next step is before addressing the roadblocks of the future. So we usually have no business trying to solve something further down the line because we don’t have the capacity nor the capability to do so.
Solutions come naturally when we walk step by step. We try to solve our difficulties through the mind but often this is a defense mechanism to take us out of a currently uncomfortable situation. We chase the future, but end up staying in the same place because the step in front of us is avoided.
Walking step by step is a humbling way to travel. We constantly want to be ahead of where we are. The gradual approach requires us to bow down and meet the moment.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t hold onto the potential that we feel or tether ourselves to better futures. We can see where we want to go and allow that to give us the strength to bear with the challenges we face now. If we find ourselves focusing too far ahead we can remember that our understanding will come through doing what we can right now.
It takes courage to take a new step. A step forward leaves behind our current life. Which may be comfortable, even if it’s distorted. So we have to respect this too. Not to put pressure on ourselves and say that we should take the next step already. Rather, being with the fear of the next step may be a part of it.
Commonly our evolution is hidden by the fear of pain we experienced in the past. So our worries may not be directly linked to the step we take now. Therefore, giving space to fear of a change process is required for us to get anywhere.
Otherwise, we will get into the habit of pressuring change which leads to hardening. That looks like demanding ourselves and others to be different than we are, which invalidates or casts off how we currently exist in the world. This is disempowerment in a nutshell.
Simultaneously, we are less available for life to inform us (again, the second pitfall). So even if we seemingly take a step through the means of pressure it’s likely that we missed something and will have to repeat that step.
So it’s important that we look at how we are putting energy towards things that we have no business contemplating yet. With awareness we can then let go, knowing that whatever is unclear will become clear through a gradual understanding. Just like that, we spend less energy on problems we are not ready for.
It’s crucial to not get stuck in the future so that we find solutions for today. Even if what we can do today doesn’t seem so significant. The future will always seem more appealing, even its challenges, when we’re avoiding something here.
The way we will solve the massive challenges we face collectively is by moving forward with what’s available to us now. Small progress or great progress, it does not matter because we are on our way. Not thinking about it. If we try to go around this by looking beyond our capacity into the future, we will set ourselves up to believe that the crises are too big or impossible to change.
We have to learn how to take steps in the dark – not knowing where they may lead us. Not because we don’t know where we are going but because we do, and to get there we have to pull off what has never been done before.
Life has answers if we’re willing to listen. We might not like the answers or the sacrifices we need to make them manifest, but they are already here.
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