Hello and welcome to rewilding philosophy, your newsletter about ekoPhilosophical health for our times or how I like to describe it lately: life advice, but with values.
I love this Jessica- now I want to add to a chapter in my book, haha (too late, it has gone to print! Daniel Schmachtenberger says if both the deteriorization and the emergence are happening at the same time, we are in phase shift. Joanna Macy calls it the great turning. Changing the frame is so important for helping young people, who are exhausted by dread. I would say of course that there are crises in the world, critical extinctions and tipping points as a result of our earlier frames, but we, here and now are invited to become the next level as it were, so that we literally become the change, a transformative emergence.
Framing I believe has two crucial elements that determine its usefulness. On the one hand framing is essential when considering either the science or the practicality of an action. For instance it would be very unwise to design an irrigation system without taking into account the geography and weather systems of the location, the “framing” in question heavily determines our imaginative effort. On the other hand framing something to psychologically determine either self or society is far trickier. In this instance imagining within the present moment requires memory and as we all know memory is an unreliable witness, both in court and philosophically when memory is the only foundation of thought that leads to action. Framing then becomes influenced often by a lack of awareness of the motivation to frame.
Instead I’ll offer the idea that framing is consequential to thought in time. It is time bound, psychologically speaking and often fraught with error, desire and fear. I find it interesting that if one looks at major scientific discoveries the majority of them didn’t arise out of research but instead within an inspirational mode of consciousnesses, or as some have described, an “empty” mind where framing wasn’t present and instead frameless. Framing often reminds me of left brain needs and only necessary in limited circumstances. This may not be the framing you’re talking of so apologies if I got that wrong. Perhaps the framing is necessary until the very moment it isn’t and needs discarding when creative change needs to occur that is contextually relevant.
Thanks for the article. I need a couple of reads to pick it apart so I may have easily mistaken some aspects.
Yes, we are the crisis. The symptoms we observe and reify are rooted in our mistaken world view of scientific realism, by which we frame the crisis as some “thing” external to us, but which does not permit a solution! We are the crisis, and Nature, not hard science, is the answer. Karen O’Brien’s quantum reframing + Gaia theory of world as self-regulating organism. That’s the new paradigm that is definitely emerging. Gaia is calling us home.
This is such a thought-provoking read, and has helped give words to a feeling I've had for a long time, thank you 🙏
I agree, 'crisis' isn't the right word, because I think a crisis is something that requires immediate attention, something that is acutely threatening, as in if you leave it things will get worse very very quickly. The problem we have with the polycrisis is that to so many people, it doesn't feel like a crisis... they can't see and feel the immediate effects on their day to day lives, and if they do, they either don't realise that's what's causing it, or the effects are minimal. People have been screamed at about a 'crisis' for decades now, and I honestly think many just don't believe it to be even happening. Unlike the rioting we've seen in the uK these past weeks... people can see an immediate threat. They see the violence and the damage and the hatred, and they've come out in their thousands overnight to protest against it.
So I agree we need new language, and I agree, we need something that feels hopeful – Metamorphosis feels good!
I wouldn’t necessarily theow the baby out with the bath water - I agree the crisis has not been frames properly - instead, it has been framed in a disempowering way. This is an argument I had with McKibben way back when he was forming 350.org. Scientists certainly view it as a crisis. But ig is a crisis of relationship, and once you see it that way (as Indigenous people have been truing to tell us), you DO feel it -it is trauma that you only feel to the extent you are embodied - and it IS empowering.
I love this Jessica- now I want to add to a chapter in my book, haha (too late, it has gone to print! Daniel Schmachtenberger says if both the deteriorization and the emergence are happening at the same time, we are in phase shift. Joanna Macy calls it the great turning. Changing the frame is so important for helping young people, who are exhausted by dread. I would say of course that there are crises in the world, critical extinctions and tipping points as a result of our earlier frames, but we, here and now are invited to become the next level as it were, so that we literally become the change, a transformative emergence.
Thanks Katherine, I fully agree and look forward to reading your book.
Thank you, Jessica.
https://johnstokdijk538.substack.com/p/yesterday-in-the-space
Thanks John!
Excellent! Thanks for this reframing.
Thank you Linda!
Framing I believe has two crucial elements that determine its usefulness. On the one hand framing is essential when considering either the science or the practicality of an action. For instance it would be very unwise to design an irrigation system without taking into account the geography and weather systems of the location, the “framing” in question heavily determines our imaginative effort. On the other hand framing something to psychologically determine either self or society is far trickier. In this instance imagining within the present moment requires memory and as we all know memory is an unreliable witness, both in court and philosophically when memory is the only foundation of thought that leads to action. Framing then becomes influenced often by a lack of awareness of the motivation to frame.
Instead I’ll offer the idea that framing is consequential to thought in time. It is time bound, psychologically speaking and often fraught with error, desire and fear. I find it interesting that if one looks at major scientific discoveries the majority of them didn’t arise out of research but instead within an inspirational mode of consciousnesses, or as some have described, an “empty” mind where framing wasn’t present and instead frameless. Framing often reminds me of left brain needs and only necessary in limited circumstances. This may not be the framing you’re talking of so apologies if I got that wrong. Perhaps the framing is necessary until the very moment it isn’t and needs discarding when creative change needs to occur that is contextually relevant.
Thanks for the article. I need a couple of reads to pick it apart so I may have easily mistaken some aspects.
Love this Jonathan, thanks so much for sharing.
Yes, we are the crisis. The symptoms we observe and reify are rooted in our mistaken world view of scientific realism, by which we frame the crisis as some “thing” external to us, but which does not permit a solution! We are the crisis, and Nature, not hard science, is the answer. Karen O’Brien’s quantum reframing + Gaia theory of world as self-regulating organism. That’s the new paradigm that is definitely emerging. Gaia is calling us home.
This is such a thought-provoking read, and has helped give words to a feeling I've had for a long time, thank you 🙏
I agree, 'crisis' isn't the right word, because I think a crisis is something that requires immediate attention, something that is acutely threatening, as in if you leave it things will get worse very very quickly. The problem we have with the polycrisis is that to so many people, it doesn't feel like a crisis... they can't see and feel the immediate effects on their day to day lives, and if they do, they either don't realise that's what's causing it, or the effects are minimal. People have been screamed at about a 'crisis' for decades now, and I honestly think many just don't believe it to be even happening. Unlike the rioting we've seen in the uK these past weeks... people can see an immediate threat. They see the violence and the damage and the hatred, and they've come out in their thousands overnight to protest against it.
So I agree we need new language, and I agree, we need something that feels hopeful – Metamorphosis feels good!
I wouldn’t necessarily theow the baby out with the bath water - I agree the crisis has not been frames properly - instead, it has been framed in a disempowering way. This is an argument I had with McKibben way back when he was forming 350.org. Scientists certainly view it as a crisis. But ig is a crisis of relationship, and once you see it that way (as Indigenous people have been truing to tell us), you DO feel it -it is trauma that you only feel to the extent you are embodied - and it IS empowering.