The World as a Construct: Sense-Making "Revolution" ✊ rather than "Crisis"

The name we give something changes outcomes, and how we use and relate to that thing. Here’s an example:

Old ways of making sense are breaking down, chambers are echoing, and there are some really painful consequences of this. In integral language, our Orange Rational world is transforming to a Green Pluralistic world, and it’s not always pretty. In some intellectual circles people point to this phenomenon with the label "Sensemaking Crisis". I agree with many of the contours they’re pointing at, but I suggest we use a different label than "Crisis", since the inner pointing enacts the experience of reality as much as the unlabeled ‘out there’ thing pointed to. Not just in the way that you tend to find whatever you look for, but also in a recognition that seer, seeing, and seen, always inextricably co-enact experience. In other words, this isn’t just semantics. Our labels, in part, create the worlds we live in.

"Crisis" emphasizes the danger, without any sense of progress. I’m not wed to "Revolution", and you can probably come up with a better name for what’s happening. "Fits and Starts", "Experimentation", and "Adolescence", all come to mind. But I like "Revolution" because it acknowledges that we’re overturning the old, and it holds a promise of something better (eg American Revolution), although it could be a bloody and painful path to get there (eg: French revolution) or could even totally fail. To call this moment a crisis is to throw the baby out with the bath water. Green is an incredible evolutionary leap that’s worth celebrating, including, and honoring.

With love, Jordan