A strong identification with a relational worldview CAN actually have the opposite effect: instead of making people happy, lives more connected, more caring, people feeling like they belong, a relational understanding of the world may actually alienate people.
This was like drinking holy water spiked with existential caffeine—thank you.
You name what most “everything is connected” takes leave out: that knowing too much can turn your morning coffee into a moral crisis and your good deeds into a philosophical hostage situation.
Relational thinking is sacred—but if we don’t ground it in grace, it’ll eat us alive.
This isn’t about becoming cosmic purity police. It’s about staying in the mess, tending our tiny knots in the great web, and maybe saving a crow or two without needing to solve planetary collapse before lunch.
Within systems everything is connected to everything else.
We live in an infinite set of interdependent relationships.
You can not, not make a difference. Everything you do makes a difference. It’s impossible to do otherwise. Within systems we may not always know how and when that difference shows up.
But it is certain it will.
If half of us used one less paper towel a day we would save millions of trees. It’s that simple, complex and beautiful.
So when we, as you are, conscious and ethical, it does change the world.
I so enjoyed this Jessica.. brought beautiful blooms of color in the ecotones between your meta philosophical adventures and those of the late Carol Sanford. Carol's 'levels of paradigm' came strongly to mind (ie: Extract Value, Arrest Disorder, Do "Good", Evolve Capacity), as well as a few other key capacity honing frameworks.
While I don't disagree (and totally relate! For example: When I lost my cynicism through developing a holistic perspective, I also lost the only source of power and motivation I knew.. it has been a long freefall into the unknown and also tenuous grasping toward some form of conscious agency), I feel that an "unfolding" worldview also queers things greatly, because in this neither separation nor connection exist (ie: no'thing' was ever separate), but that the (apparent) parts and the whole have agency but intra-actively and heterogeneously (in nestedness, nodes, fields, intra-dimensionally, etc.).. The 'whole' perpetually seeking coherence to know itself consciously; while perpetually becoming unknowable.. the one and the many simultaneously (without paradox).
Amazing piece of writing. Resonated so strongly with my own sensemaking and patterns I'm seeing about overwhelm and the antidote. Your clear and empathic framing is inspiring.
As someone who's spent the past few years writing and researching the metacrisis (particularly from a psychological lens), I resonate with this so much. What's become increasingly clear to me, especially through observing the reactions of people close to me, is that beyond the inability to think systemically or hold complexity, there's also a deeper issue of the "inability to feel".
It's the disconnection from themselves that concern me the most because when we can't access or process our own emotions, how can we possibly make sense of the world in crisis? Thank you for naming this beautifully nuanced space where relational awareness meets existential weight! It's very much needed right now.
This is a known issue with whole systems thinking.
The solution, determined by both theory and experience, is that knowing and doing your will provides the position and integration in the webwork of the System
Thought provoking post. One aspect I find intriguing is how we might expand from materialist perspectives to include non-physicalist (post-materialist) relational ontologies and epistemologies.
What dialogues might we engage in with more-than-human-world beingness/intelligence/consciousness/awareness? What messages, insights and meanings arise from engaging with, for example, ‘crowness’?
I think you raise an important issue here. But you don't go far enough by limiting relationality to thoughts and constructs. This is what distinguishes logical thinking from a holistic worldview, such as that held by indigenous peoples. I can also look at complexity with wonder: “The relational worldview, however, thrusts us into a far vaster, more interconnected, and less predictable reality,” and we can accept that. Awe and humility could be essential here. Awe as wonder about what is greater than us, that exceeds our ability to influence, and humility that we have only very limited abilities of cognition.
Awe as a feeling has to do with goose bumps, the encounter with something greater. This is happening in our world right now: we can no longer cope with our limited worldviews and see that there is something we cannot control, something that is unavailable. Humility is the recognition of the ever-present limits of our knowledge. Both have been proven to contribute to well-being when we accept them. (See Dacher Keltner: Awe)
Indigenous tribes sometimes refer to Westerners as their younger siblings. This fits the image of adolescence: the hubris of thinking we know and can control everything. The lack of awareness of where we can actually make a difference.
I am reminded of Joanna Macy's work, how coming together in somatic exercises, similar to social presenting theatre, guides us to be with complexity and grief. Vanessa Andreotti's metaphors of the bus, layers and the house modernity built also come to mind. Yes it is messy and uncomfortable. In somatic healing, we start with calming and resourcing our nervous system, then touch the pain, and spiral vacation and forth. Dan Siegel says integration is healing, of different parts. We can't kick out logic but how to integrate modernity, connect it with native wisdom, relational wisdom?
This was like drinking holy water spiked with existential caffeine—thank you.
You name what most “everything is connected” takes leave out: that knowing too much can turn your morning coffee into a moral crisis and your good deeds into a philosophical hostage situation.
Relational thinking is sacred—but if we don’t ground it in grace, it’ll eat us alive.
This isn’t about becoming cosmic purity police. It’s about staying in the mess, tending our tiny knots in the great web, and maybe saving a crow or two without needing to solve planetary collapse before lunch.
Clear-eyed. Soft-hearted. Still moving.
—Virgin Monk Boy
Oh my god. I love how you put that into words ... "knowing too much can turn ... your good deeds into a philosophical hostage situation" 🤩
We may all feel frustrated and feel ineffective.
Please consider this:
Within systems everything is connected to everything else.
We live in an infinite set of interdependent relationships.
You can not, not make a difference. Everything you do makes a difference. It’s impossible to do otherwise. Within systems we may not always know how and when that difference shows up.
But it is certain it will.
If half of us used one less paper towel a day we would save millions of trees. It’s that simple, complex and beautiful.
So when we, as you are, conscious and ethical, it does change the world.
How cool is that !
💚
Thank you for spelling it out that clearly.
I so enjoyed this Jessica.. brought beautiful blooms of color in the ecotones between your meta philosophical adventures and those of the late Carol Sanford. Carol's 'levels of paradigm' came strongly to mind (ie: Extract Value, Arrest Disorder, Do "Good", Evolve Capacity), as well as a few other key capacity honing frameworks.
While I don't disagree (and totally relate! For example: When I lost my cynicism through developing a holistic perspective, I also lost the only source of power and motivation I knew.. it has been a long freefall into the unknown and also tenuous grasping toward some form of conscious agency), I feel that an "unfolding" worldview also queers things greatly, because in this neither separation nor connection exist (ie: no'thing' was ever separate), but that the (apparent) parts and the whole have agency but intra-actively and heterogeneously (in nestedness, nodes, fields, intra-dimensionally, etc.).. The 'whole' perpetually seeking coherence to know itself consciously; while perpetually becoming unknowable.. the one and the many simultaneously (without paradox).
Thank you, Adrian. And I fully agree 💚
Wonderful piece Jessica. The clarity and kindness is profound and helpful. Many thanks for shining this kind of light on our path. Dearly appreciated.
Thank you Laurent.
Thought provoking and insightful. Thank you 🙏🏼☮️🌎
Amazing piece of writing. Resonated so strongly with my own sensemaking and patterns I'm seeing about overwhelm and the antidote. Your clear and empathic framing is inspiring.
Thank you, Irene.
This came at such a good time for me and I’m grateful to have read it this morning. Thank you. 💚
Thank you Lauren, I am so happy to hear that it matches others experiences.
As someone who's spent the past few years writing and researching the metacrisis (particularly from a psychological lens), I resonate with this so much. What's become increasingly clear to me, especially through observing the reactions of people close to me, is that beyond the inability to think systemically or hold complexity, there's also a deeper issue of the "inability to feel".
It's the disconnection from themselves that concern me the most because when we can't access or process our own emotions, how can we possibly make sense of the world in crisis? Thank you for naming this beautifully nuanced space where relational awareness meets existential weight! It's very much needed right now.
Thank you Chusana. And especially for your writing on the metacrisis - I find your thoughts on that incredibly helpful and refreshing.
This is a known issue with whole systems thinking.
The solution, determined by both theory and experience, is that knowing and doing your will provides the position and integration in the webwork of the System
Thought provoking post. One aspect I find intriguing is how we might expand from materialist perspectives to include non-physicalist (post-materialist) relational ontologies and epistemologies.
What dialogues might we engage in with more-than-human-world beingness/intelligence/consciousness/awareness? What messages, insights and meanings arise from engaging with, for example, ‘crowness’?
https://www.spiritanimal.info/crow-spirit-animal/
What kind of relationships and communions might we experience?
Those are excellent questions. Something I am deeply curious about.
Lots of great ideas and analysis in this piece. You described the paralysis I sometimes feel, without fully understanding it, beautifully.
Thank you Tim!
I think you raise an important issue here. But you don't go far enough by limiting relationality to thoughts and constructs. This is what distinguishes logical thinking from a holistic worldview, such as that held by indigenous peoples. I can also look at complexity with wonder: “The relational worldview, however, thrusts us into a far vaster, more interconnected, and less predictable reality,” and we can accept that. Awe and humility could be essential here. Awe as wonder about what is greater than us, that exceeds our ability to influence, and humility that we have only very limited abilities of cognition.
Awe as a feeling has to do with goose bumps, the encounter with something greater. This is happening in our world right now: we can no longer cope with our limited worldviews and see that there is something we cannot control, something that is unavailable. Humility is the recognition of the ever-present limits of our knowledge. Both have been proven to contribute to well-being when we accept them. (See Dacher Keltner: Awe)
Indigenous tribes sometimes refer to Westerners as their younger siblings. This fits the image of adolescence: the hubris of thinking we know and can control everything. The lack of awareness of where we can actually make a difference.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this.
Great points, I agree 🙏
I am reminded of Joanna Macy's work, how coming together in somatic exercises, similar to social presenting theatre, guides us to be with complexity and grief. Vanessa Andreotti's metaphors of the bus, layers and the house modernity built also come to mind. Yes it is messy and uncomfortable. In somatic healing, we start with calming and resourcing our nervous system, then touch the pain, and spiral vacation and forth. Dan Siegel says integration is healing, of different parts. We can't kick out logic but how to integrate modernity, connect it with native wisdom, relational wisdom?
Thank you.