by Alan Briskin | Collective Wisdom, Conscious Capitalism, Wellness
A serial journal of cogent reflections and irreverent insights on the social effects of capitalism and the roots of partisan politics. Pairing prose with HDR photography and “flash points” drawn from current and historical perspectives, the author seeks to recover lost wisdom and courageous action beyond the shouting and noise of today’s headlines.
Chapter Fifteen
Moving from Factions to the Whole
Paying Attention in New Ways
Part II: Mind – Body Perspectives
Time Range: NOW
FLASH POINT
“The transformation of human consciousness is no longer a luxury, so to speak, available only to a few isolated individuals, but a necessity if humankind is not to destroy itself.
At the present time, the dysfunction of the old consciousness and the arising of the new are both accelerating. Paradoxically, things are getting worse and better at the same time, although the worse is more apparent because it makes so much `noise’.
Silence and Stillness
When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.”
~ Eckhart Tolle in Stillness Speaks
Mind and Body: A Physiological Perspective on Wholeness
The movement from factions to wholeness includes the wisdom of the body. It may seem a leap, but being aware of our body is a direct experience of the movement from part to whole. By attending to breath, we slow down and cultivate presence. By being aware of our physical body, we bring into consciousness the wisdom of the throat, heart, and gut. By attending to stillness, we awaken our connection to the infinite.
The body does not lie. When we are excited, aroused, joyous, giddy, we know it from inside our physical being. Similarly, when we are feeling disturbed, frightened, humiliated, anxious, or angry, our body is registering that as well through physical processes that cannot be negated by the outer mask we wear. Eckhart Tolle said it well: “When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.”
In our research on collective wisdom, one of the surprising findings was how many people in the field of facilitation understood this as an essential element in their work with groups. Named one of the ten key practices for preparing for the movement to wholeness, whole body sensing was described as the movement away from logical, orderly, cognitive processes alone and toward the mind’s connection to a “cellular intelligence that permeates the body.” This form of intelligence allows for subtler signals from the body to be recognized, a “serious discipline for the integration of the human system — mind, emotions, and body, for right and left brain integration; and essential for the integration and completion of collective learning” (Alan Briskin, Sheryl Erickson, Chris Strutt et al, Centered on the Edge).
HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography by Alan Briskin: multiple shots at different exposures are combined into one image in order to show “more of what’s there”.
Factionalization of the mind and body has the same effect as it does in groups — imbalance, loss of alignment, and being at risk for missing key information. Cognitive functioning, when separated from body and emotional awareness, is a particularly dangerous form of thought, especially when that cognitive activity attempts to be objective through analytic, concrete, sequential methods dependent on logic and language. If that sounds to you too much like the practice of economics, law, and bureaucracies in general, you may be on to something. There is a tendency in this modality of mental activity to always seek convergence, the correct answer, rather than allowing for emergence and divergence of thought.
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, tells the story of two people: one is a bright but average student when measured on conventional intelligence tests; the other is a prodigy as measured by the same tests. They are both given a “divergence test,” which is quite different from conventional testing and requires answers that describe the uses of objects such as a brick or blanket in as many ways as possible.
The “average” student goes hog wild, offering both conventional uses (bricks are for holding houses together) and imaginary ones (a game of Russian roulette with bricks instead of bullets). The prodigy offers conventional answers (building and throwing) and then stops. Gladwell asks who is more suited to the brilliant imaginative work that wins Nobel Prizes? The answer from his research is the average student with divergent thinking, not the prodigy who thinks in conventional terms. Obviously, we need both forms of intelligence, but that means recognizing and reinforcing the form of intelligence that have become less valued by society. We need the wisdom of the body and the creative expression revealed in divergent thinking, skillful awareness of emotion, and deep intuition.
Wisdom traditions call attention to wholeness of the body and mind by never emphasizing analytic thinking in isolation. There is always an invitation to see more than what is first captured by the mind through the senses. Wholeness includes an ability to distinguish the inner core dynamic of a situation from its outer manifestation, to recognize relational elements involving the emotions of others, and to see a transcendent aspect beyond the task at hand. When we can practice that with others, something truly remarkable can happen.
There is also a direct analogy between the physiology of the brain and the collective body. The prefrontal cortex of the brain functions to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, consider future consequences, and inhibit the body’s reactivity to sudden impulse. When the cortex is overwhelmed by impulses from outside or within, there is an inhibitory effect on its higher-order functioning involving discernment and planning.
Similarly, the bundle of neural fibers called the corpus callosum functions to connect the two hemispheres of the brain. And each hemisphere has a dramatically different way of constructing reality. The ability to think, process emotions, and reflect comes from the synthesis of these two hemispheres working together alongside the somatic markers in the body – a symphony of electrical activity and blood flow that constitutes the wholeness of the body.
When only one aspect of brain functioning is stimulated, such as when considering an analytic problem with a narrow focus, the corpus callosum shuts down key activity from the other hemisphere. The consequence over time, if continually reinforced, is that one side of the brain becomes dominant, diminishing the flexibility and adaptability we need to survive.
So what are the consequences for the whole person? The prefrontal cortex cannot differentiate among competing thoughts if it is overwhelmed with restraining destructive impulses. Under pressure for order, predictability, and structure, the corpus callosum will inhibit the functioning of the right hemisphere, which plays a critical role in imagination, playfulness, and flow. The body under threat releases high levels of cortisol and other stress-related hormones, which prepare it to fight or flee but not reflect and discern. Blood flows away from the brain to the limbs. The body is in disarray, ready for immediate battle but incapable of creative thought or extricating itself from long-term danger.
It should come as no surprise, then, that in the collective body we mirror the same tendencies of the physical body. If we perceive ourselves continually under threat and crisis, attempting to solve immediate problems, we cannot choose wisely among competing ideas or foresee the future consequences of our actions. If we attempt to solve our problems with analysis and rules alone, we cannot come up with truly creative approaches. Factions develop, representing only one aspect of the whole, leaving sides continually at war with each other or caught up in paralysis.
This is what Marx predicted would arise from unequal distribution of wealth—social classes doomed to battle each other until the end. The balance between immediate self-interest and constructive thinking about the future would be thrown into disequilibrium. Marx believed the center could not hold. Was he wrong?
This is ironically the very problem that the triadic nature of government developed by the Founding Fathers was designed to mitigate. The executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch were meant to function as a whole, but with overlapping jurisdictions. For Madison, government required circuit breakers for restraining the speed by which a faction’s zeal could be put into motion at the expense of others. He was, metaphorically speaking, seeking to create a prefrontal cortex within a governing structure that could restrain rash action.
The Founders, however, did not wish to negate a governing body’s ability to think together, to set goals, consider future consequences, and discriminate among competing policies. They were trying to find an optimal point along a continuum of checks and balances. They were promoting a union in the only way they knew how, with a vigilant eye to the dangers of a majority that could dominate or a minority that could gain control of all the levers of power at once.
At some point, economic disparity breaks those subtle links. This is what Roosevelt was warning us about, the reason he tied together political freedom with economic security. He saw the collective body at risk, and it is the same risk we face today.
Next Week: Moving from Factions to the Whole: Part III
What societal pattern might connect a heightened sense of mistrust, poor health, violence, diminished life expectancy, and low job status? If you guessed social and economic inequality, then we are beginning to think collectively together. But why? Why should this be the case?
by Alan Briskin | Collective Folly, Collective Wisdom, Conscious Capitalism, Politics, Spirituality
A serial journal of cogent reflections and irreverent insights on the social effects of capitalism and the roots of partisan politics. Pairing prose with HDR photography and “flash points” drawn from current and historical perspectives, the author seeks to recover lost wisdom and courageous action beyond the shouting and noise of today’s headlines.
Chapter Fifteen
Moving from Factions to the Whole:
Paying Attention in New Ways
Part 1: Psycho-Spiritual Perspectives
Time Range: 1787-1789, Current Times
FLASH POINTS
“Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.”
— James Madison, Federalist No. 10, November 23, 1787
“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men … where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.”
— Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789 (source)
The Founding Fathers of the United States, like Madison and Jefferson, were deeply concerned with the tendency of groups to congeal into political factions and dictate solutions from their own factional viewpoint. With only a touch of irony, Jefferson’s statement, that he would decline an invitation to heaven if it meant going with a political party, should give us pause as we look out on our current landscape of political activity. However, it was not conflict they were avoiding, nor were they looking for simple forms of compromise among multiple distorted views. They were, in an uncompromising fashion, looking for productive angles by which the union could be preserved and intelligence awakened in the collective body. They were seeking to unravel a paradoxical riddle: How could creation of a central government be complementary with individual moral agency?
HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography by Alan Briskin: multiple shots at different exposures are combined into one image in order to show “more of what’s there”
We have never resolved that riddle, but a key element for these Founders was education of a kind in which individuals grew in their capacity for values such as personal reflection, respectful debate, and shared understanding. Similarly, in the research that led to our book, The Power of Collective Wisdom: And the Trap of Collective Folly, we discovered similar values and approaches that created the conditions for collective wisdom to arise. We called these ways of knowing psychological stances indicating attitudes and commitments that fostered reflective consciousness and discernment. Some of these stances included deep listening, suspending personal certainty, seeking diverse perspectives, and welcoming the unexpected.
Beyond any single stance, however, was encouragement to be curious, to ask questions, and to trust in the wisdom of the body, both personal and collective. We also pointed out that collective wisdom’s opposing tendency was false dualities created by forced agreements within a group or extreme polarization between groups. In other words, the same kinds of extreme factions that many of the Founding Fathers were so alarmed about and that still exist today.
Why? What is it about factions that creates such jeopardy for the collective body? Conversely, what is it about wholeness and viewing ourselves as part of a collective body that is so valuable? I offer three overlapping perspectives—psycho-spiritual, physiological, and social—that may shed light on these questions.
Psycho-spiritual perspective.
By their nature, factions, separated from the concerns of the whole, take on radical self-interest. This self-interest is inherently a reductionist view of a larger reality. Psychologically, the limited perspective is captured in the mind for easy retrieval by a symbol, phrase, or fantasized ideal state. Over time, the symbol or ideal gains greater and greater power, further reducing the legitimacy of other viewpoints and limiting consideration of the complexity and ambiguity of actual circumstances. In other words, an obsession of sorts is constellated in the mind and in the group. This thought form, once constructed, can be highly contagious in groups because it offers structure and a reduction of complexity. Law and order is a perfect example of this kind of reductionist label, but so are ideas like liberty, freedom, and even human rights. These concepts all begin with some original meaning or orientation but devolve rapidly into factional interpretations.
If we are to truly consider what it means to move toward wholeness, we must grasp the psychological and spiritual nature of possession. Ideas can take us over, literally. Although our heads may not spin around on our shoulders like in the movie The Exorcist, the effect is somewhat similar when debating each other. We would rather die than give up on our opinion. Rather than dialogue moving us toward something in common, we only exacerbate the polarities among us. Idealized thought patterns become obsessive, mental activity becomes agitated under the cloak of reason, and reason becomes a tool to prove that one is right. Superficial compromise only covers over the rigidity and single-mindedness of the possession.
The neuroscientist Robert Burton calls it the feeling of knowing and wonders if we are creating a reward system for the brain that values being correct and feeling certain over “acquiring a thoughtful awareness of ambiguities, inconsistencies, and underlying paradoxes” (Robert Burton, M.D., On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not).
The sobering news about factions is that moving toward wholeness cannot be accomplished through good intention, reason, or compromise—at least not initially. There are times when in polarized situations we must confront the limitations of the other point of view and address directly the potential or reality of dangerous consequences. This takes courage.
Conflict-resolution strategies, as valuable as they are, should not be mistaken for trying to find a false middle ground or become justification for avoiding conflict. Some degree of polarization and conflict is needed to flush out underlying causes, especially the strong psychological forces that underlie genuine conflict. By engaging consciously with the dualities that possess us, we use the very tension of the opposites to bring forth new awareness. We should not imagine, however, that engaging the conflict is the same as convincing the other side that they are wrong or winning them over to our solutions. This is not about personal confrontation or victory in debate. The spiritual focus is very clear in this regard. Resolving conflict cannot be about individual ego. Rather, we are seeking to bring forward a memory of wholeness, a memory that already exists in each of us.
The way to transcend the possessions that claim us is to engage the imagination and the heart as well as the mind. We are seeking to notice more, to arouse a yearning within us to move from a lesser perspective to a greater one. This is altogether different than simply selecting positions or choosing sides. How we do this is unique to each situation. In some cases, it may be through humor or through the innocence of a genuine question or by reminding others of the human consequences of certain actions. It may be by bringing forward the true complexity of a situation or the moral ambiguity of almost any charged circumstance. It may be by standing firm. It is often by listening and demonstrating to the other side that they are being heard.
However it is accomplished, the hope is that reason and moral agency can be awakened in both the individual and the collective group. We may not be able to sway those most strongly identified with a factional viewpoint, but the appeal is to the larger whole.
The call to something greater can be understood as a spiritual mandate, change necessary to bring balance to a human system gone awry. I use “spiritual” here to express the best of the human spirit, qualities such as kindness, intelligence, compassion, discernment, and justice. These qualities arise from a regard for wholeness, linked linguistically with the words healing and holy through the Old English word haelan. The movement from faction to whole is a journey of healing, reawakening what is best in us and putting a salve on old wounds.
Many years ago, in a personal correspondence, Peter Vaill, the pioneering theorist on organizational change, wrote to me about the relationship between spirit and large-scale change: “Several years ago when I was first trying to think systematically about spirituality, I realized that spiritual ideas hold promise for healing some of the deep divisions among people; and conversely, if we try to heal deep divisions while leaving soul and spirit out of this process, we will probably fail. Any agreement will be temporary and expedient only.” In Peter’s words, we see again that change is not solely on the outside or inside, but at the intersection of the two.
A spiritual mandate for change is not a new form of obsession, though it could be, but rather a re-acquaintance with our inherent connectedness with others. Sometimes this can create discomfort or even heighten differences, but as Martin Luther King demonstrated regarding civil rights or Mahatma Gandhi showed us when fighting for India’s independence, the spiritual context is not about the domination of others. It is about creating the conditions for our interconnectedness to be revealed and our old wounds healed. To do this requires not only intellectual insight or even emotional warmth, but the wisdom of the body.
NEXT WEEK: Moving from Factions to the Whole, PART II
The movement from factions to wholeness includes the wisdom of the body. It may seem a leap, but being aware of our body is a direct experience of the movement from part to whole. By attending to breath, we slow down and cultivate presence. By being aware of our physical body, we bring into consciousness the wisdom of the throat, heart, and gut. The body does not lie.
FLASH POINT
