11:11 Waves Blog 8: Emergence

Every Monday, I share 1 question for you to contemplate, 1 idea from me, 1 quote from others, and 1 inspiration for us.

Today’s topic is: Emergence

It’s a long weekend here in Canada. Yesterday, I went for a nice walk in a forest and I was so surprised and excited to see some white crocuses blooming. It’s February and still relatively cold, yet these new flowers have managed to find their way up. As it turns out, it is the cold that makes it possible for the bulbs to sprout and for the beautiful white blooms to emerge from the ground.

One Question for you

Emergence brings new consciousness, new awareness and new solutions. For emergence to happen, we need both frontier and shelter, risk and safety, freedom and form.

Discuss the question here.

One Idea from me

This week, I am sharing with you a very powerful framework I learned nine years ago from the Art of Hosting called the “Chaordic Path”. This model is based on the idea that the “emergence of the new” can only be found at the edge of chaos and order. The Chaordic Path is the story of the crocuses emerging and it contains four interconnected steps:

On the left (on the far side of Chaos) we can find Chamos: this is a Greek word that stands for destructive chaos. It leads to utter disorder, collapse and breakdown.

On the right (on the far side of Order) we can find Control: this is oppressive order, constrain and perfectionism. It leads to routine, extreme rigidity, predictability and “more of the same”.

The central circles stand for Chaos and Order and, the union of these creates the Chaordic Path. This path – between chaos and order – is where emergence happens and can lead to new revelations, creativity, innovation, new learning and wisdom.

Forests, like organizations, are living organisms that continuously move between chaos and order and create a generative dance that brings new ways of doing and being. As we move between complexity and face new challenges that cannot be resolved in the same old ways, we need to stay open, develop a “Chaoridic Confidence” - the capability to "stay" in the dance between chaos and order – be comfortable with uncertainty, learn new ways of being and operating that will lead to transformative shifts.

As the week unfolds, I invite you to reflect on your every day's situations, ask yourself the following questions: How much order do I need? How much chaos could be helpful here? What do I need in order to "stay" on the chaordic path? and pay attention to what emerges.

One Quote from others

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge”. Eckhart Tolle

One Inspiration for us

This week I am sharing a poem from Kim In-yook (translated by David Bowles) called “The Physics of Love”. The poem also touches on the theme of emergence: the emergence of the first love.

The Physics of Love

Mass is not proportional to volume.

That girl as small as a violet,

that girl who floats like a petal

pulls me toward her with a force

greater than the Earth’s mass.

In an instant,

like Newton’s apple,

I dropped with a thump

and rolled to her

without stopping.

Thump.

Thump.

My dizzy heart kept swinging

between Heaven and Earth—

it was my first love.