Is Society now too Complex for Us?
by Andy James, B.Sc (Econ), FCA, MQT
 Download PDF
 Return to Master Book Reviews Table of Contents
I have been interested in the impact of complexity on human beings for several decades now, ever since practicing (and later teaching) the Buddhist-Daoist disciplines including Insight Meditation, Taijiquan and Qigong. The renowned Indian sage, J.D. Krishnamurti, wrote at length on complexity at least 15 years before formal, academic "Complexity Theory". He was emphatic that complexity could not be overcome by more complexity but only by simplicity, which made sense to me.
At the risk of being immodest, I would like to quote from one of my own books, Ageless Wisdom Spirituality: Investing in Human Evolution , since it says what I still want to say now:
"Complexity and stress may well be the most harmful yet least understood aspects of modern society and in particular of technology.
A fundamental and long-standing promise of technology is that it will save you time and effort, and provide greater convenience, thus allowing you opportunity for more important, meaningful, or pleasurable activities. Judging by the voracity with which we consume new technology, most people seem to wholeheartedly embrace this view of continuing progress and improvement through technology. Many even believe in the possibility of a technological paradise on earth - no work because of cheap energy and robotic labour; no pain because of miracle medical breakthroughs; happiness through virtual fantasies etc.
Studies are beginning to show, however, that one of the characteristics of advancing technology is greater complexity and that few technological innovations touted as 'time-saving', actually do. Indeed many people now complain of time shrinkage or deficit - the feeling that there is not enough time to do what we think needs to be done. We constantly feel pressured and burdened even as we continue to buy new 'tech' toys." (James, 2003, p. 78)
The genius and meteoric rise of Modern Science over the last 400 years is based on its ability to break Life down into ever smaller (more specialized) parts/ compartments/ areas of study etc. and to measure the direct cause-and-effect dynamics of their inner components. We now use this quantitative cause- and-effect test of "reality" not only within the scientific, technological and medical spheres, but more broadly throughout society, especially within the business/ economic, marketing and legal systems. Our present infatuation with the Free Market is based overwhelmingly on Quantity ($), rather than Quality. Literal "Life or Death" decisions are determined by this arbitrary standard of reality, which is rarely questioned since it has so rapidly raised our material standard of living, especially in the "developed" countries. Currently in North America, to even question the Free Market is tantamount to being "Un-American" in its various, changing guises - Terrorist, Communist, Islamist etc.
Although this conventional functioning and approach is undeniably powerful, it is also undeniably limited and entails certain negative characteristics, which are not yet widely recognized, but which seem to me to be surfacing at both the individual and collective levels.
I find it helpful to look at our individual functioning in order to understand our collective dynamics, because our external actions and words all emanate from within ourselves. One of the side-effects of a predominantly analytical approach to life is that we tend to see issues or problems almost as separate conceptual boxes, within which we seek resolution in simple "either-or" dichotomies...instead, for example, of inter-connective and even multi-level "both-and" dynamics. As the analytical process progresses, it creates ever more boxes and sub-boxes, which we struggle (often unsuccessfully) to juggle and reconcile. Krishnamurti called this process "fragmentation", and explained how it leads to increasing complexity, confusion, division and alienation.
The individual "I" or self, for example, creates endless dichotomies with the "Non-I" or "The Other" in innumerable guises: God and Man, Man and Woman, Good and Bad, Man and Nature, Man and Animal, Black and White, Progressive and Conservative, Christian and Muslim, East and West, Rich and Poor, Old and Young etc. We create conceptual divisions even within our "self" like body, emotions, mind, soul, spirit etc. All of these are valuable individual notions/ theories of specific functioning, but in fact, none of the parts is ever really separate, but remain interconnected within greater wholes. Having been trained to break life into ever smaller pieces, many find even the concept of reintegration and wholeness extremely difficult to grasp much less to actualize. Our attention and energy are continually channeled towards the "external" world, resulting in common neglect and ignorance of our "internal" potential.
Many people I meet in my professional capacity (hundreds each year), even if relatively wealthy and privileged, are finding it difficult to cope with the demands of their every-day lives. They seem to be stressed, over-whelmed and generally confused. They carry the burden of too many responsibilities, choices, and decisions.... with society constantly urging and enticing us to want/ consume ever more. Many are enticed into running the treadmill ever faster, but others respond by withdrawing and "cocooning", just getting by day-to-day, without any energy left to think about the longer term meaning and direction of their own lives or society in general.
To me, it has long appeared obvious that all the personal dynamics described above, also manifest at various collective levels: complexity, confusion, lack of real vision and purpose beyond the consumerism being pushed by the Market. We continually create new inventions, technologies, fields of study, regulations, bureaucracies etc., yet it seems like we are running on the spot. We ought to be feeling happier but we're not. We seem overwhelmed and paralyzed by the complexities and planetary problems we have created in our search for a material paradise - global warming, pollution and degradation of the natural environment, depletion of scarce resources (especially oil and water), the vast and ever-widening gap between the rich and poor, the proliferation of weapons and powerful new technologies without adequate control, the threat of pandemics etc. Even our most specific threat, the so-called "War on Terror", is far too complex to be wiped out by crude military force and a big budget, even when wielded by the world's most powerful (for now) country, the USA. If our technological advances teach us one new lesson, it is that we live in a globally interconnected world. We need a more evolved and interconnected consciousness to cope with our creations.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that several of these global dynamics feature in two (Canadian) "bestsellers" by Thomas Homer-Dixon. I had come upon these global processes from my observations of individuals, including myself. Homer-Dixon is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and Director of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program there. His academic research on global issues has led him in the opposite direction - to the conclusion that individuals somehow need to radically change their perspectives and behaviour in order for humanity to rise to its unprecedented challenges.
The first book by Homer-Dixon to attract widespread interest was The Ingenuity Gap: How Can we Solve the Problems of the Future? He writes:
"Most of us suspect that the world we have created is too complex and fast-paced for us to understand, let alone control. Most of us sometimes guess that even the 'experts' don't really know what's going on, and that as individuals and as a species we've unleashed forces that we cannot manage. The challenges facing our society range from international financial crises and global climate change to pandemics of tuberculosis and AIDS; they cross the spectrum of politics, economics, technology, and ecological affairs... Complexity, unpredictability, the pace of events in our world, and the severity of global environmental stress, are soaring. If our societies are to manage their affairs and improve their well-being they will need more ingenuity - that is, more ideas for solving their technical and social problems" (Homer-Dixon, 2000, p. 1)
"Looking back from the year 2100, we'll see a period when our creations - technological, social, ecological - outstripped our understanding and we lost control of our destiny. And we will think: if only we'd had the ingenuity and will to prevent some of that. I am convinced that there is still time to muster that ingenuity, but the hour is late." (Homer-Dixon, 2000, book jacket)
I corresponded with Homer-Dixon intermittently after Ingenuity Gap, but lost touch with his work until I noticed his 2007 bestseller, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization. Again I was struck with the thoroughness and scope of his academic research and the resonance between his ideas and mine, especially as expressed in Ageless Wisdom Spirituality. He uses two parallels throughout his latest book: The Roman Empire and volcanoes. He identifies five "tectonic stresses" building beneath the surface of our societies:
-
Population stress, arising from the overall increase in global population and also the differing population growth rates in rich and poor societies. More megacities are expected to sprout in poor countries even as their populations en masse try to get into the rich countries, legally or illegally.
-
Energy stress, especially from the dwindling, harder to tap, oil resources.
-
Environmental stress from damage to land, water, forests and fisheries.
-
Climate stress resulting from changes in the makeup of our atmosphere.
-
Economic stress resulting from instabilities in the global economic system and the vast and widening gaps between rich and poor people.
He sees "Energy Stress" playing a pivotal role, since energy is the Master Resource on which all empires/ civilizations are built. For the Roman Empire and its dominance of the greater Mediterranean area, it was food/ agriculture, which fed its military armies and prolific builders. For modern global civilization, it is OIL. The days of cheap oil are over and from now on, it will cost us ever more effort/ energy for each barrel of oil produced and consumed. In formal economic terms, we have entered the phase of "diminishing marginal returns".
As we work ever harder just to maintain our lifestyles, there is less and less resilience in society to absorb any "unexpected" natural disasters, pandemics or attacks, even by relatively small groups. Indeed Homer-Dixon points out two "multipliers" which give the "tectonic stresses" greater force and speed. "The first multiplier is the rising speed and global connectivity of our activities, technologies and societies. The second is the escalating power of small groups to destroy things and people". He points out warning "foreshocks" like 9/11, the 2003 black out of America's (and Canada's) east coast, SARS etc. and why they have been ignored by our embedded denial systems.
Homer-Dixon also explains a puzzling dynamic which I have long pointed out in my writings and talks, but which no economist, entrepreneur or politician has so far been able to justify: What is the logic of society persevering with an economic system which stresses ever more consumption and "growth" (irrespective of what products are consumed) in the face of dwindling vital resources, degradation of the natural environment and the growing gap between the rich and poor? Why, for example, does Canada (where I live) need to continually grow and compete with other countries, when it is in the uniquely fortunate position of having abundant natural resources, geographical advantageous borders (except in cases of extreme ill-will from the USA) and a highly educated and inventive population? He writes:
In essence then, the logic underpinning our economies work like this: if we are discontented with what we have, we buy stuff; if we buy enough stuff, the economy grows; if the economy grows enough, technologically displaced workers can find jobs; and if they find enough jobs there will be enough economic demand to keep the economy humming and to prevent wrenching political conflict. Modern capitalism's stability - and increasingly the global economy's stability - requires the cultivation of material discontent, endlessly rising personal consumption, and the steady economic growth this consumption generates
(Homer-Dixon, 2007, p. 196-197)
"Why? There are many reasons. But a central and often overlooked one is that consumerism helps anesthetize us against the dread produced by empty lives - lives that modern capitalism and consumerism have themselves helped empty of meaning." (Homer-Dixon, 2007, p197)
As most of us will have guessed, in spite of the "Free" Market Democracy rhetoric, we do not really compete on a level playing field:
Our economic elites don't just encourage consumerism. Through their influence on the media and on society's political process, they create, reproduce and justify a pervasive and interlocking system of rules and regulations.. that promotes growth and that, in the process, buttresses their power and privilege. (Homer-Dixon, 2007, p. 216)
For the vast majority of us who sell our labor in the marketplace, our economic security and relative powerlessness impel us to play by the rules. And in capitalist democracy, playing by the rules means not starting fights over big issues like our society's highly skewed distribution of wealth and power. (Homer-Dixon, 2007, p. 217)
He warns that if we try to overextend the growth phase of our civilization, ignoring warning signs, it is like bottling up a volcano - the eventual explosion may lead to deep, devastating collapse, from which recovery will be painstaking and slow. Among the alternative options open to us is a no-growth/ steady-state economy.
Although Homer-Dixon's analysis of our present collective challenges is insightful, detailed and thoroughly researched, he offers no detailed suggestions in either of his books as to how the required change in human behaviour can or will occur. In his last chapter, he rightly remarks, "In Western liberal societies, public discussion of values is dreadfully impoverished.... Because we're reluctant or unable to talk about moral and existential values - and these values remain largely unexplored - utilitarian values fill the void." (Homer-Dixon, 2007, p. 300-301) He wonders about the possibility of a new Axial Age, "a transformation, simultaneously around the world, of the deepest principles guiding mankind's diverse civilizations." (Homer-Dixon, 2007, p. 300)
My book, Ageless Wisdom Spirituality, focuses on precisely this subject - not only like Homer-Dixon, pointing out the specific warning signs/ foreshocks in our collective lives, but explaining why collective change depends on individual change and what such change necessitates. It is beyond the scope of this article to adequately summarize Ageless Wisdom Spirituality and its implications, so I will just make a few points in conclusion:
- 1. Based on my personal and teaching experience, Simplicity can indeed overcome Complexity as Krishnamurti has asserted. If we are completely aware in the present moment, then we create Space/ Emptiness wherein the apparent opposites (Yin-Yang) are reconciled, whether Empty/ Full, Active/ Passive etc. In this space, understanding, wisdom and compassion can emerge. The Tao Te Ching states: "Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth; Existence is the mother of all things. From eternal non-existence, therefore, we serenely observe the mysterious beginnings of the Universe. From eternal existence, we clearly see the apparent distinctions. These two are the same in source and become different when manifested".
(Chu Ta-Kao, 1972, p. 11)
- I see Simplicity Overcoming Complexity as an integrative and transformative spiritual process, which includes the Individual beginning to overcome Separateness (and thereby moving into Oneness), whether seen in terms of My religion Vs Your religion, Human Vs God, Rich Vs Poor, Black Vs White, East Vs White etc. Differences are not denied but understood in a different context, which may include different levels of reality or consciousness.
- Our collective crisis is occasioned not so much by inadequate resources, information and technologies, but by the fact that we waste so much in competition, conflict, war and sheer confused bungling. The necessary Collective Will to cooperate, trust and share will only come about through an expanded and deeper understanding of "I" and "We". This of course will change our relationship with those we view as "The Other/ Them."
- I do not think we need a new Axial Age so much as interpreting and actualizing the wisdom of the first Axial Age (twenty-five hundred years ago) at a deeper level, far beyond the religious polarization and fundamentalism which is now being paraded as spirituality. The Vedanta and the Buddha in India, Laozi and Confucius in China, and the early Greek philosophers all point to a possibility of human consciousness far higher than our present average consciousness. Over the last 400 years we have invested in the external world, while neglecting the internal and this has opened up a gap between the power of our technologies and our ability to use them wisely.
- In order to embark on such a widespread journey of personal transformation of consciousness, we firstly (and urgently) need to talk about it in ways which are not yet broadly manifesting. At the moment, the mainstream media seems mesmerized by extremism, which makes more exciting news .. and in some cases, the "extremists" also control certain media outlets. On most TV networks, shows discussing religion, in trying to show "balance" and "fairness", usually feature representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, with Islam put forward as representing the East. In fact, all three are essentially the same Abrahamic religion, while the rest of the world's spiritual treasure trove is ignored.
I would like to end on a personal, positive note. At the end of Ageless Wisdom Spirituality, I passionately called for such a public discussion (as in # 5 above). Shortly before the book was launched, I received a synchronous phone call from an old friend inviting me to join The Forge Guild, an international organization of trans-traditional spiritual teachers and leaders. Around about the same time, I built and opened a sustainable energy off-grid retreat centre and since then, my life has been filled with spiritual teachers and groups from many different global traditions!
References
James, Andy; Ageless Wisdom Spirituality: Investing in Human Evolution. Xlibris, U.S.A., 2003.
Homer-Dixon, Thomas; The Ingenuity Gap: How Can we Solve the Problems of the Future? Alfred A. Knopf, New York, Toronto, 2000.
Homer-Dixon, Thomas; The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization Vintage Canada, Toronto, 2007.
Translation by Chu Ta-Kao, Tao Te Ching, Unwin Books, London, 1972.
Books discussion by Andy James, B.Sc (Econ), FCA, MQT
Hastings, Ontario, March, 2008 Andy James is the Founder of the Tai Chi & Meditation Centre ( http://www.powerofbalance.com/) in Toronto and Harmony Dawn Retreat ( http://www.harmonydawn.com/). He is an internationally recognized teacher of the Chinese "internal" martial arts as a well as a certified Medical Qigong Therapist. He has written three books: Conscious I: Clarity & Direction through Meditation (Somerville House Publishing, 1992), Ageless Wisdom Spirituality: Investing in Human Evolution and The Spiritual Legacy of Shaolin Temple: Buddhism, Daoism & the Energetic Arts (Wisdom Publications, 2004). Andy is one of the authors of the Forge's "Call to Global Spiritual Citizenship", which will be formally launched this year.
Return to Master Book Reviews Table of Contents
|
![International Journal of Healing and Caring [IJHC] facebook page](sitegraphics/facebook_icon.png "International Journal of Healing and Caring [IJHC] facebook page"){kind=icon}
