Another Daring Transition
Article by Ken Anbender - November 1, 2008

How We Got in this Mess:

The last time we had a conversation about a daring transition being due was shortly after September 11, 2001 when I wrote an article called A Time of Daring Transition and invited us to take the high road called for by that unsettling time and to embrace the alteration of our way of orienting to life that was being called for. That article addressed different ways one can approach a time of transition - from being stuck and resisting and resenting change, to enforced changing with the times, to transforming one's orientation, or ultimately going for a true integration of how we are living, what fits the times, and what is being called for.

In many ways, at a country level, we stayed stuck and resisted the change that was called for (as evidenced by resenting the affront to our lifestyle, being advised to just shop our way out of it, offering tax cuts and no sacrifice in a time of war and its costs, avoiding the tougher questions in favor of delegating responsibility to a leader who was certain, etc.) This has led us to the point of having the downstream results of that resistance provide a new circumstance that once again forcefully calls up the original reorientation at which we failed. In short, we are where we are now due to a failed transition as a nation. Once again we have the opportunity to integrate our lives with what is happening in life, and to find that it is quite possible to fulfill that situation as well as our lives and relations.

While it is possible to aim the rest of this conversation toward what we as a nation ought to do, I will bypass that conversation to address this conversation to all of us more personally. We have more direct power and freedom to say what each of us will do and provide in the face of the transition called for. My thrust in this article will be to show a way to address these circumstances in a way that can "true up" our lives and can be by its very nature deeply satisfying. (One might notice that few of the pundits will be speaking about it in that way - it makes for poor news - no finger-pointing, no excuses and blaming, no hope for someone else to solve it for us, no quick and easy general advice, etc.). I don't mean to sound Pollyanna about a global and national financial crisis, but none of us have direct control of history, and we are tied to our times, so wherever it goes, we go too. Rather than having the situation be something to whine about, it may instead merely be what there is to bring our strengths and gifts to. So let's get to it.

Some Basics:

Some basics are in order to begin this conversation in a way that something worthwhile can come out of it. Let me list a few:

  • What we name the transition determines where we focus, what we think, what we do, and how much power there is for resolution. Calling this a financial crisis, a recession, a depression etc. is a poor way to address our own part in dealing with the circumstances in front of us, what got us here, and what will get us out of it in a way that it is unlikely to repeat.
  • Assuming that the very orientation that got us into the mess is one we share is a valid operating assumption if the power and direction for resolution isn't readily apparent to us.
  • The most potent understanding of a transition is that something we have previously relied upon for power is old, out of fuel and no longer fitting - it won't cut it in the new situation. The opportunity is available to appreciate where that approach has allowed us to go, what drove hanging on to it too long, and to open up to a new orientation and source of power that can take us well beyond where we have been.
  • Taking on the new orientation and source of power as a developmental issue, as something we intend to master, as something we are out to become and to let go of whatever conceals that way of living, is the way forward. It is less important to know what the "goal" is than it is to know what we are out to become and to follow the path toward becoming that.

Let me stop there because it gives us enough to work with.

A Developmental Orientation to the Transition:

Let's look to see what more potent developmental orientation we can take to the current crisis. I suggest that we listen to hear what fits for us that can make more room and power for effectively addressing the difficulties in front of us and being whole and satisfied while doing so. Let me address each of the above basics once again on a more practical level.

  • Naming the transition: We would all likely get further by naming this transition "from cheating to integrity", or "from gluttony to sustainability". It isn't hard to imagine that, with our current energy use, our levels of consumption, our low levels of savings to ensure the future, our avoidance of changing habits even when unhealthy and expensive, etc. the jig is up about overdoing our indulgences. Shifting to a more sustainable and more supportable way of living could be one of the best things that we've ever done. We might truly find that less is more (more enjoyable, healthier, more responsible, and more freeing). We might find a clearer, cleaner, less conflicted view of what is ours to provide, and what is ours to have, and what is enough that provides a solid basis for satisfaction. The earlier we embrace the call that is up now, the better we will do in the transition. (Haven't you had the sneaking suspicion that this was coming for some time?)
  • We aren't beyond it, we are in it: It isn't just the countries' or the world's issue. Whatever mode of living produced this crisis, we likely belong to that in ways we are unaware. A good operating assumption would be that we have bought images, ideas, assumptions, wants and goals that are part of the story that supports the cheating, or supports the gluttony. Whether it be about having it all, or about buying our way to happiness, or about having our security be financial primarily, or about deserving the best, etc. there has been a 50 year bombardment of images and messages designed to have consuming be a basis of identity. It will take rethinking and reorienting and being vigilant about doing so to break the hold that a culture of cheating has on us. Are you up for that? Or do you want to be the fall guy or gal going into debt and mortgaging your future to maintain the status quo, while paying to bail out the key players who invented new ways of cheating? Now would be a good time to wake up to what is unsustainable in your life and to refuse to sacrifice what is important to us for maintaining that lifestyle. The time to begin buying back our future starts now.
  • What is old to put to rest and what new power is calling: The idea that enjoying life is a consumer sport rather than a fulfill-your-destiny sport ought to be used up by now. The perfect metaphor for the emptiness of the implied promise behind consuming is that we have a culture that for the first time in human history has obesity with malnutrition. Too much of what isn't nurturing doesn't a healthy body make. And too much consumption without giving what is yours to give doesn't a fulfilling life make. The new power that is calling us is to want the life we have and the challenges we have and to bring our unique power to it senior to the substitute satisfactions of the cheap and easy enjoyments (entertainment, food, cars, vacations, shopping, etc.) It is time to return to the fundamentals of what fulfills a human life and to recognize that they are in a realm that we can always afford.
  • What we are out to become: Imagine yourself free of unsustainable debt. Imagine yourself knowing in your bones that you have enough and will have enough. Imagine yourself having what you need to support your contribution to others and life without having to struggle. Imagine being challenged by life at the right gradient where it is exciting and developmental without it being frightening or wearing. The life orientation that supports that way of being is what is up to become - having the right-sized, sustainable, fitting life, and being what fulfills that. What a relief that will be. The sooner we become it, the less needless struggle we will endure.

Advice:

I have a few words of advice as we move on to make our lives sustainable without undue costs from our habits and lifestyle. First, watch out for fear mongering. Our worst fears are unlikely to be realized. If you want to be frightened of anything, it is best to be frightened that we will sell out the opportunity to get sustainable and consistent with how life works.

My second piece of advice is to realize that we will need to be beyond the current culture we live in to reinvent what freedom means, what our rights are, what expectations we have, and what is important to our lives. Our culture doesn't do transition well. Remember, we are here due to failing at the last transition. We will have to go beyond what is being done and said by the majority.

My third piece of advice is to take the time right now to determine how you will address the transition and what you consider it to be calling for. Can you move beyond resistance and fear and forced change and into embracing the chance to become what shifts cheating to integrity and gluttony into sustainable fit?

My last piece of advice is to enjoy the adventure. This is real life happening and the kind of drama we enjoy in our entertainment can be enjoyed more fully when it is real. This is real. Bring the kind of character to resolving the issues that leaves you appreciative and satisfied with who you've become and what you've accomplished in the transition.

What Contegrity can and will provide:

Over the next year or so, Contegrity will continue in our programs to bring a perspective to what we are all facing and having to resolve so that we can resolve it well and satisfyingly. Our aim will be to simplify our lives in a way that makes what is important to us sustainable, and what is distracting or "empty calories" to us be let go.

We will also explore those images and (mis)understandings in our culture that pull for cheating and necessarily under-appreciates and under-respects the fulfillment that deep integrity provides. We will establish updated insights into the important pillars of our culture (freedom, happiness, opportunity, creativity) that can form a healthier, more sustainable culture in which to fulfill our lives.

We will provide the respect for what this kind of development takes, and will demonstrate that it can be done - the transition can be fulfilled.

Please stay connected and join us in simplifying our lives, making them sustainable, and integrating our lives with the challenges and opportunities of our times. The time has come to give up normality for fulfillment in the area of finances and consumption. The time has come to accomplish what really matters.

Questions? We would like to hear from you. Please contact us.