Walking the mystical path with practical feet...
The season of summer is when nature comes into its own creative fullness. Every forest and tree is constantly diversifying both individually and collectively as they grow. Peter Senge, in his book The Necessary Revolution, has long held the view that leadership is strongly associated with inspiration, but few appreciate how important that association is. The word inspire comes from the Latin root inspirare, meaning to breathe life into. In this sense, leadership is inspiration, the creation of new life and energy in collaborative work and organizations. At this time in history we are all called to creatively breathe life into, and inspire our families, teams, organizations and communities, which is the true essence of leadership. Senge writes:
"Problem solving differs from creating and, though both matter, the vast changes required for creating a regenerative society will not be achieved just by reacting to crisis after they arrive. They will require inspiration, aspiration, imagination, patience, perseverance, and no small amount of humility. They will require networks of committed people and organizations who not only learn how to see the systems shaping how things work now, but also create alternatives.
People creating together work in different ways. They are anchored in the future rather than the past, drawn forward by images by what they truly want to see exist in the world. They learn how to work with a distinctive source of energy that animates the creative process, the creative tension that exists whenever a genuine vision exists in concert with people telling the truth about what exists now. They learn how to let go of having to have everything worked out in advance and to step forth with boldness into immense uncertainty. And they learn that tapping these capacities cannot be achieved without people being who they truly are, and learning how to integrate their own lives. As one woman put it, in frustration, in a team meeting, "I hate all this crap about 'hats', the manager hat, the spouse hat, the mommy hat. I am just me and this is my life; I don't go around switching from being one person to another based on circumstances."
...Operating consistently in a creative orientation is neither magical nor mystical. It is simply people working at their best, passionately and personally committed, yet selflessly being stewards for a future, many aspects of which they will never see."
Can we create in the present the future we want rather than problem solve against what we don't want? How spontaneously can we respond in the present to the image of what we want to manifest in the future? This is the current individual and collective challenge of our times. The call in the present is to shifting solely from working individually to how can work together collaboratively and creatively. What is true is the need to stay as creative and resourceful in our collaborative efforts with one another to manifest the future that we want ourselves and future generations to live into.
Practices