During the first couple years of my spiritual awakening, in my late 20s, I was a fearless consumer of evolutionary physics; string theory, complexity theory, astrophysics, chaos theory, relativity, quantum physics. You name it, I read it. I probably only absorbed 25%, or less, but what stuck gave me a whole new view on the world, how it works, and what's actually possible.
Perhaps the most valuable of all the texts I read was The Tao of Physics. Revealing what has become a skeletal system for how I look at the world, the author, Frijof Capra, explored the connection between science and eastern spirituality, and, for myself and millions of other humans, built an important bridge.
After publishing dozens of books, his latest, A Systems View of Life, returns to the premise. In this essay excerpted from the book, Capra explains,
We have discovered that the material world, ultimately, is a network of inseparable patterns of relationships. We have also discovered that the planet as a whole is a living, self-regulating system. The view of the human body as a machine and of the mind as a separate entity is being replaced by one that sees not only the brain, but also the immune system, the bodily organs, and even each cell as a living, cognitive system. And with the new emphasis on complexity, nonlinearity, and patterns of organization, and science of qualities is slowly emerging.
To me, the work of integrating the worlds of science and spirituality is critical to our evolution in leadership and organizational governance. As we can accept that the physical and biological worlds are not mechanistic, we can leave behind the command-and-control models that have proven to have limited relevance in a world of expanding complexity. Capra's essay concludes,
When we look at the world around us, we find that we are not thrown into chaos and randomness but are part of a great order, a grand symphony of life. Every molecule in our body was once a part of the previous bodies - living or nonliving - and will be a part of future bodies. In this sense, our body will not die but will live on, again and again, because life moves on. Moreover, we share not only life's molecules, but also its basic principles of organization with the rest of the living world. And since our mind, too, is embodied, our concepts and metaphors are embedded in the web of life together with our bodies and brains. Indeed, we belong to the universe, and this experience of belonging can make our lives profoundly meaningful.
What do I take away from this in my work?
The oneness of being is not just a "woowoo" spiritual construct. We are actually all connected, and any sense of separation upon the part of an individual is a delusion. In fact, the idea that we are "individual" is not just wrong, but harmful to how we move through the world. We need everyone, especially our leaders, to accept this truth, and act accordingly.
Business and organizational design is woefully inadequate for the problems we now face as humanity. We need to accelerate our adoption of systems like Theory U (and many more) which leverage this new world view.
Those of us exploring the leading edge of human consciousness and evolution are not crazy -- far from it -- in fact, we're the ones the most in touch with reality.
I'm grateful for leaders like Fritjof Capra who have shined in the light on a path well ahead of my footsteps. Let's hope we can all catch up without too much more delay.