Emergence

This past weekend I spent much time reflecting on, thinking about, engaging with, practicing and witnessing emergence. It appears a very fluid process that as soon as one grasps a hold of, changes directions and becomes part of the process of emergence rather than what emerged. It is much like trying to live in the moment: holding on to the moment is holding on to the past – this moment already belongs to the past. Eventually we can look at our history, or we can look at what emerged.

Of course things emerge all the time: an idea, a new book, new connections, a new company. And yet, spending time with the concept of emergence this weekend, one of the things that became quite clear is how difficult it is to let emergence in the moment happen. It is not unlike a brainstorming session in which sooner rather than later a person says “no” or judges another person’s idea. Our set patterns and routines in behavior, thinking, feeling and even sensing lead us to the same conclusions over and over again. Our knowledge and attachment of what is and how it should be, makes it very difficult to be open to what could be.

Awareness of our patterns is the beginning of changing them, and let emergence emerge. Questioning our patterns, making different choices, reframing our stories and our reactions, using our resources differently and using different resources, engaging what is less familiar – our shadow, body, imagination and intuition, are all ways to broaden the range of what is and what could emerge. In many ways it is simply trying to do whatever we do slightly differently than we are used to and see what emerges.

A concept related to this is the one of responsibility, response-ability, the ability to respond in the moment. What became clear is that our ability to respond is often clouded by what is expected, what is familiar or what is ‘normal.’ If we could really sense what is needed in a certain situation, rather than letting our default settings kick in and respond in an automated way – we help co-create this field of emergence. Emergence is not only an individual challenge, but especially an organizational and societal challenge.

This weekend I have had some amazing experiences and have seen some amazing things through working with emergence. I trust that the ripple effects will be ongoing. For now, the question is how do I respond in this very moment...?