• for: transition, uncertainty, uncertainty - neuroscience, ingroup, outgroup, letting go, lifetime student
• paraphrase
  • Uncertainty brings
    • immune system deterioration
    • brain cells wither and even die
    • creativity and intelligence decrease
  • We often go from fear to anger because fear is a state of certainty.
  • We become morally judgmental, an extreme version of oneself.
    • conservatives become ultra-conservative
    • liberals become ultra liberal.
  • because we retreat to a place of safety and familiarity.
  • The problem is that the world changes.
  • Since we have to adapt or die, if we want to shift from A to B,
    • the first step is not B.
    • the first step is to go from A to not A
      • to let go of our biases and assumptions;
      • to step into the very place that our brain evolved to avoid;
      • to step into the place of the unknown.
      • to step into a liminal space
• comment
  • Uncertainty is uncomfortable
  • and can drive us into our familiar, accepted, insular ingroup
  • In other words, lead to greater social polarization.
  • Adaptation requires us to step into the unknown.
  • Big changes in our lives therefore require us to go
    • from the familiar and comfortable space,
    • to the unfamiliar and uncomfortable
      • movement away from our comfort zone, as is happening as the polycrisis we face gains traction.

As neuroscietist Beau Lotto points out, the Anthropocene is creating greater and greater uncertainty and unpredictability, but the one human trait evolution has created to help us deal with this is the sense of awe. See my annotation on Beau Lotto's beautiful TED Talk: How we experience awe and why it matters https://hyp.is/go?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdocdrop.org%2Fvideo%2F17D5SrgBE6g%2F&group=world

In short, the sacred is the antidote to the increase in uncertainty and unpredictability as we enter into the space of the Anthropocene. Awe can be the leverage point to the ultimate leverage point for system change that Donella Meadows pointed out many years ago- it can lead to rapid shift in paradigms, worldviews and value systems needed to shift the system.