Articles
The Role of the New Science and the Power of Love
Very often those of us who are committed to changing society get swallowed up in a crisis mentality. We become consumed with a sense of overwhelming urgency that sets us off into a frantic chase to put out the fires we believe are threatening our world. But very soon after we adopt that attitude our perspective narrows to the point that all we can see are fires. We run from crisis to crisis without rest as one fire replaces another. A favorite slogan is "Think globally, act locally" but too often social activists see the globe as a gigantic chaotic inferno instead of as a home which is safe enough to relax in and enjoy between renovation projects. Perhaps what is needed is an even broader perspective. Is it possible that with a far enough vantage point we might find enough order in the chaos to develop a healthier, more peaceful approach to world change work?
Margaret Wheatley explores this idea in her book Leadership and the New Science (Wheatley, 1992). According to the new sciences of chaos theory and quantum physics the universe is inherently orderly. What we perceive as chaos is actually a dynamic creative process that maintains order and an overall sense of structure through continuous change. For example, a river is recognizable as a river despite the fact that its height ebbs and flows and the bed it flows in reshapes itself in response. Taoists say that the best way to respond to challenge is to be like a river, to flow with the currents of change, adapting and creating new structures as needed, yet maintaining an overall sense of direction. This is good advice for world changers. Unfortunately, most people who are not yet actively working to facilitate change are often terrified by it. Despite the old saying that the only things one can count on are death and taxes, most people resist change and cling to established structures. Most people behave as if change is inherently and finally destructive, that the reorganization required to transform the status quo would tear the world apart forever instead of allowing for a healthier, more adaptive system to emerge.
Wheatley points out that work in the fields of chemistry and biology show that disorder is necessary. When so much new information is introduced to a system that its equilibrium is lost, the system falls apart but, in most cases, it reconfigures itself at a higher level of complexity which can handle the new level of imput it now receives. Disorder then becomes the source of order. The universe inherently moves toward growth and rejuvenation.
According to Wheatley, the desire for control and rigid structure is a form of suicide because change cannot be held at bay indefinitely without great effort and stress. Social activists and those who want to inspire others to become change agents need to learn how to work with these fears and promote a picture of change based on a trustworthy benign universe with which we are intimately connected.
This connection is not just theoretical. The new sciences show that we are not completely separate beings. All living entities have a unique identity with clear boundaries that keep us distinct; yet these boundaries are permeable and keep us connected with the environment and everything in it. We have a relationship to our environment whether we are consciously aware of it or not. In quantum physics, the basic building blocks of matter have been found to change form and properties based on their relationship with their environment. Depending on the intention of the scientist observing them, particles are sometimes particles and sometimes waves, sometimes matter and sometimes energy. In the quantum world particles can't be defined except as a set of relationships that reach outwards to other things. In other words, relationships are the building blocks of the universe.
Wheatley suggests we need to get better at facilitating process because, in relationships, process is all there is. She says leaders need better skills in listening, communicating, and facilitating groups, because these are the talents that build strong relationships. The quality of relationships affects the kind of energy and power those relationships create. Disrespectful or coercive relationships create negative energy while loving relationships create positive energy. Therefore, Wheatley argues, love is the most powerful force in the universe.
This idea is exactly what every religion and spiritual agency has professed throughout the ages. The authors of Spiritual Politics (McLaughlin and Davidson, 1994) recommend social activists send Light or Love through meditative practices to unhappy people, world leaders, and troubled places around the world and they include instructions for several different methods of doing so. I cringed when I read this. My inner skeptic went on the warpath: what's that going to do? To create real change you have to take real action - you can't just sit and visualize world peace and expect that to change anything. I was going to toss the book aside when I remembered how I do this very thing with my co-counseling clients with powerful results.
Sometimes I can't figure out what to do to help one of my clients - they've dug themselves a hole they can't see out of and I can't seem to reach them no matter how hard I try. At times like this I sometimes use a technique I learned from a colleague of McLaughlin and Davidson. I do one of the exercises they suggest in Spiritual Politics - I consciously visualize love filling my heart and beaming out to my client. Within a few minutes he or she will suddenly notice me. They will actually appear startled for a second and then something shifts. On many occasions I have seen people burst into tears; other times they laugh embarrassedly and try to go back to rehearsing their hopeless, powerless distress and find that they can't find the words anymore or that they can't believe it as reality anymore. I'm always amazed because I haven't said or done anything other than beam at them with love and delight. Intellectually, I don't understand how this could work but I've seen it happen so many times that I don't even question its value anymore.
I don't know if sending love to someone who cannot see the sender could make a difference but I suspect it might on a subtle level. But for the purposes of this paper, whether the power of love can affect social change at a distance is not the main issue. As a co-counseling teacher I see that, in some ways, the greatest value of the technique of loving one's client is not the effect it has on the client but the effect it has on the counselor. As a counselor I get dramatic proof that just my aware loving presence can make a difference to another human being. That shoots my feelings of self-esteem sky-high and I leave those sessions feeling empowered to do anything else I choose for the rest of the day. I also feel more inspired to continue helping people, not only through counseling, but through sharing my skills and attention in other ways. The beauty of this for other potential world changers is that sharing love is a completely accessible skill. One does not require a Masters Degree in Psychology or a license of any sort to practice "unconditional positive regard" (a much less intimidating task than "love") with another person. I teach it in the first five minutes of my Fundamentals of Co-counseling classes, and while it may take several weeks for people to gain enough experience and confidence to do it effectively, I have had very few people fail to grasp the concept right away.
According to the authors of Spiritual Politics the experience of the helper being empowered by helping others is a common experience. In national surveys people who volunteer regularly report that their health and sense of well-being improves the more they volunteer and the more personal contact they have with the people they are helping. There are also indications from other studies that helping others strengthens the immune system, decreases pain, and helps eliminate attitudes of hostility.
© Copyright 2007 Sheryl Karas & Paul Hood