One of the ways that "sudden" change has been discussed is as a "collapse." Joseph Tainter called this "a rapid simplification of an overly complex system." I picked this up from a lecture he gave. He told me last year that this is not accurate because a complexity is a healthy state. He says that societies throughout history have known that this sudden change was coming, but did not change to avoid it. He also makes the point that societies advance because they solve problems. My observation is that sustaining the solutions becomes the problem, eventually leading to the sudden collapse. If we look at the growth of organizations over the past fifty years, it has not been in producing more artisans, but administrative positions to manage the artisans. We can see this in all around us. You can't fight it. To do so is to create another problem that must be solved therefore adding to the burden of bureaucracy. The solution is to change ourselves. To prepare for the sudden change. To simplify and the management load of our lives. And to develop new skills and expanded networks for recovery, restoration, and renewal. If we look at this with hope and resilience, we can see that with sudden change comes opportunity.
Powerful points Ed. This resonates with David Graeber’s line on “bullshit jobs” and our awareness of them, even as we work at them.
The challenge, as I see it, is to cultivate the artisan in us even as we work at Bullshit jobs, ready to take flight when we're ready, orcas occasion dictates. Organisations for whom money is more important than people have become a social disease, and the cure lies. In our own hands. We need to pay attention to whom we associate with.
I am in a place between where I am searching for my next “assignment”. I have not been able to make myself comply with soul crushing work yet and have somehow avoided it for the most part, though have little portfolio to show for it. It is interesting to reflect that the two recent opportunities that have come my way have been to apprentice with powerful elder women on stewarding places of refuge. The most recent also involving healing work in concert with the earth. Reading your words here brought into focus for me the beauty and real value of the artisanal nature of the opportunities I have been gifted with. And made them seem a lot more financially plausible in the years to come.
One of the ways that "sudden" change has been discussed is as a "collapse." Joseph Tainter called this "a rapid simplification of an overly complex system." I picked this up from a lecture he gave. He told me last year that this is not accurate because a complexity is a healthy state. He says that societies throughout history have known that this sudden change was coming, but did not change to avoid it. He also makes the point that societies advance because they solve problems. My observation is that sustaining the solutions becomes the problem, eventually leading to the sudden collapse. If we look at the growth of organizations over the past fifty years, it has not been in producing more artisans, but administrative positions to manage the artisans. We can see this in all around us. You can't fight it. To do so is to create another problem that must be solved therefore adding to the burden of bureaucracy. The solution is to change ourselves. To prepare for the sudden change. To simplify and the management load of our lives. And to develop new skills and expanded networks for recovery, restoration, and renewal. If we look at this with hope and resilience, we can see that with sudden change comes opportunity.
Powerful points Ed. This resonates with David Graeber’s line on “bullshit jobs” and our awareness of them, even as we work at them.
The challenge, as I see it, is to cultivate the artisan in us even as we work at Bullshit jobs, ready to take flight when we're ready, orcas occasion dictates. Organisations for whom money is more important than people have become a social disease, and the cure lies. In our own hands. We need to pay attention to whom we associate with.
Thank you, Richard. Totally agree with you.
I am in a place between where I am searching for my next “assignment”. I have not been able to make myself comply with soul crushing work yet and have somehow avoided it for the most part, though have little portfolio to show for it. It is interesting to reflect that the two recent opportunities that have come my way have been to apprentice with powerful elder women on stewarding places of refuge. The most recent also involving healing work in concert with the earth. Reading your words here brought into focus for me the beauty and real value of the artisanal nature of the opportunities I have been gifted with. And made them seem a lot more financially plausible in the years to come.
Powerful