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It’s hard to imagine a more relevant and impactful time to be alive. This is even more pronounced in the face of a global pandemic. While many of us recognise the faults and the unintentional, but horribly destructive and deeply demoralising consequences of the ways in which our societies now operate, few can imagine what it is we can realistically do instead.
Our global systems are collapsing. Old perspectives are dying. The outdated tenets of our mainstream society, many of them founded more than 2000 years ago, are grinding to a halt. With increasing division and polarisation, rising inequality, burgeoning levels of poor mental health, and catastrophic damage to the natural world, our experiential quality of life is heading, like an out-of-control train, in the wrong direction. When we spend the majority of our time doing something we wouldn’t choose to do if we could afford not to so that we can spend the minority of our time doing what we want to do. And even then, often wishing for something else instead, each day more of us want to know: how do we get off the hamster wheel?
A major change has occurred in western society over the last few decades that requires us to rethink how we think. Most threats in western societies are now emotional threats, not physical threats. How many times this year have you been physically hit at home, at work, or by a teacher at school, compared to being over-stressed? For forty thousand years our predictive mind would anticipate that an emotional threat would lead to a physical threat. (50 years ago, talking in class would result in physical punishment). It is time for us to change our reaction to emotional fear that results in fight or flight outcomes, otherwise excessive stress will result in an explosion of mental illness, anxiety, and depression. A shift from negative predictive-comparative thinking to quantum thinking is one way to achieve this goal.
“A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.”
―
Logic is overrated. In the future it will be used less because it is executed consciously [too slowly] and can be overridden by false emotional fear. Logic has its applications, but they need to be used with wisdom. In cognitive principle matrix theory there are two types of thinking:
1. Comparative Thinking
[starts with conscious thinking] and is based on logic.
2. Predictive Thinking
[can be conscious thinking] but is mainly under-used subconscious thinking.
Our human nature drives our comparative thinking and causes us to overuse it. In basic terms, there are two drivers of human nature:
Fear – This is what I don’t want. Represented by number 0 or – [negative]
Desire – This is what I want. Represented by number 1 or + [positive]
Comparative thinking works like a standard computer, using the logic of the conscious mind. Logic will assess a situation as either a problem [0] or an opportunity [1]. If it is an opportunity [1] it will accept that and look for more opportunities [1] to develop that idea or outcome. If it is a problem [0], it will then search for an opportunity [1] to overcome the problem. Some higher-level opportunities [1] require the penetration of problems [0]. If the opportunity [1] sought is at a higher level than the problem [0], then both will be accepted. This is called delayed gratification or suffering to achieve the goal. [1<0]
The above represents 10% of what we do in a day. The other 90% is called habit. Where the conscious process described above is repeated enough times, then it is stored in the subconscious mind as a habit. Habits are activated by triggers. Habits are stored in emotional order, rather than chronological order, because forty thousand years of history has taught us to stay safe. However, a habit in relation to a fear that kept you safe at 7 years of age may not be appropriate at 37 years of age. Fear [0] ranks higher than Desire [1] because it keeps us safe. This can cause problems because unresolved issues from the past can have a high fear [00] ranking. A current trigger can activate a higher-level past fear [00] which then comes into conflict with our conscious assessment of the fear [0] in front of us and we become out of alignment.
“The moment, you begin to think without any sort of predominant conformity whatsoever, simply to be the act of thinking, that is the moment when answers of real glory and progressive significance begin to manifest in front of your mortal eyes.”
―
When a past fear [00] has a higher ranking than the present assessment of the fear [0], then the head and the heart are out of alignment. When our head brain wants to go in one direction [desire, 1] and that is not in line with our core belief [desire,11], then the head brain and gut brain are out of alignment. When we lose impulse control [fear, 0] over our emotions [fear, 00] then our heart brain and gut brain are out of alignment. Alignment is important for our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being, and also to enable us to move from comparative thinking to quantum thinking.
Comparative thinking always starts in the conscious mind, although over time 90% of the results end up as habits in the subconscious mind. Predictive thinking can be executed consciously or subconsciously. Quantum thinking is the term used to describe predictive thinking executed subconsciously. The subconscious mind works one million times faster than the conscious mind. The subconscious mind has access to all memory, both explicit and implicit. With quantum thinking, you do not know the outcome until it is revealed as a conscious thought. The subconscious mind is working at least one-third of a second faster than the conscious mind, therefore you never have access to your quantum thoughts in conscious time. Quantum thinking even uses a different neural pathway than comparative-based logic thinking. Quantum thinking is most effective when there is passion for the goal and there are no unresolved emotional issues that cause blockages to the process.
“Accidents happen. That’s what everyone says. But in a quantum universe there are no such things as accidents, only possibilities and probabilities folded into existence by perception.”
―
In a world that has come to value money above life and where inanimate organisations are prioritised above the humans who created them and for whom they were created, the world is crying out for conscious leadership and new methods of understanding. As we work harder and longer than we ever have, in some of the most challenging circumstances we have ever faced, it’s time for us to see how our largely unconscious expectation to operate as if in an eternal summer (infinite and continuous year on year growth), is neither possible or desirable. By growing the consciousness required to simultaneously work on developing ourselves, and the unique contributions we are called to make to the larger life world, we just might be able to achieve the regenerative capacity the Earth is asking for.
The notion of regeneration is deeply woven into the fabric of life and the evolution of an “eternally regenerative universe” as one of our all-time favourite scientists, Buckminster Fuller liked to call it. Bucky told us decades ago that we are far less beings (nouns) here to hoard individual wealth and recognition, and far more doings (verbs) here to contribute to manifest life’s potential to be regenerative – to decrease rather than increase entropy. As a planetary process, life is syntropic. Over the time scales of biological evolution, it temporarily reverses the tide of entropy and acts as a neg-entropic force by creating more complexity, coherence and bio-productivity within the structurally closed and energetically open system integrity of our planet.
“Wealth is our organised capability to cope effectively with the environment in sustaining our healthy regeneration and decreasing both the physical and metaphysical restrictions of the forward days of our lives.”
— Buckminster Fuller
Once we understand ourselves as processes that are actively re-patterning relationships and reweaving the fabric of meaning through which we collectively contribute to bringing forth the world, we will understand wealth as something very different from the money in the bank or assets we own. Bucky was one of the visionaries who understood the universe to be “eternally regenerative.” He saw humanity at a threshold: an evolutionary transition that would align our human patterns to the patterns of regeneration and renewal. He showed us how to observe in the natural systems we participate in and have emerged from. Our challenge and our latent potential is to free ourselves from the mindset of scarcity and competition and step into co-creating a future of shared collaborative abundance for all of humanity and the community of life. Of course, such a mission was never going to be easy, hence the threat of impending doom and restricted freedom all around us. However, it will be the most incredibly fulfilling thing we ever do!
One crucial aspect of this transition is to understand the limitations of the narrative of separation that has informed our understanding of who we are for too long. It is time to reconnect with our fundamental being and the very fabric of life that our common future depends upon. We have the inherent potential to align with nature and to nurture the vitality-enhancing patterns of life as a planetary process. As Janine Benyus has so beautifully summarised in a single sentence: “Life creates conditions conducive to life.”
“Do not let the memories of your past limit the potential of your future. There are no limits to what you can achieve on your journey through life, except in your mind.”
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Science shows that we have HUGE potential and that we are only tapping into a tiny fraction of that potential within us. We are only perceiving less than 1% of the physical reality around us. We are using only 3% of our DNA to actively code for proteins. We are using just 10% of our brain capacity for conscious processing and activities. All the rest of our potential, which is a large majority, is untapped for most people. This potential is not there randomly. It is there for us to grow into. So how can we access more of our potential?
We propose that it is largely an issue of mindset. We have been conditioned into a limited mindset that prevents us from expanding into our greatness. What exactly is this box that we have been conditioned and indoctrinated into, which has trapped us into a limited way of operating? The old box is the mechanical way of thinking that is left over from the Industrial Age. The old mechanistic way of thinking is limited, linear and based on reductionist logic and a material worldview. Its roots go back to the paradigm adapted from several century-old Newtonian physics. Let’s be clear here: we are not disparaging Sir Isaac Newton. His genius was revolutionary for its time. Newton’s discoveries kicked off a major revolution, and from it stemmed the Industrial Revolution, making way for many of the great technologies we have today. Newton’s revelations took us out of an era of superstition and into the idea that we can understand our world and harness the forces that are available to us. What many people fail to realise is that Newton was actually an Alchemist.
“As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul.”
― Hermes Trismegistus
In Science history teachings, this fact that Newton was an Alchemist has largely been swept under the rug. Although, in more recent years it is being revealed again. In truth, Isaac Newton was on a mission to understand “the mind of God” rather than taking “God” out of the equation – as many of the people who came after him did. Newton had a library containing hundreds of journals on alchemy and personal thoughts regarding the matter of spirit and consciousness being essential ingredients in our physical world. Yet, for all the alchemical work he dedicated his life to, what he has been most known for in the history books is one volume of papers he published beginning in 1687 referred to as Principia (a shortened version of the full title), where he presented force equations describing moving objects and gravitation. This work later became the foundation for classical mechanics.
While much good was sparked from these theories at the time, we are now at a point where we have grown beyond the mechanistic paradigm. That old box is exactly what we need to get out of, and this is the first quantum leap humanity is now taking. In order to do this, it helps to have a clear sense of the boundaries of the box. In this way, we can know what we must leap beyond. Here are four basic principles that the Newtonian paradigm was built upon:
1. Reductionism
Reductionism is the idea that we can reduce a whole down to its individual parts. For example, if we want to know what a human being is, we can look at the brain and what the brain does, the heart and what the heart does, the liver and what the liver does, and so on. Essentially, we can separate all the pieces out and understand what they do at their individual levels and then we think we know what a human being is. Reductionism is the idea that a complex system can be reduced to the sum of its parts.
2. Determinism
Determinism is the belief that everything runs on clockwork. Determinism supposes that there are formulas and basic principles that, when given precise initial conditions, for example if you know where something starts, you can theoretically calculate it’s entire future. Determinism supposes everything is working like clockwork. If there were some “all seeing eye” that knew the conditions of every particle in the universe, theoretically (according to this model) it would know the entire future of the universe. In this concept, there is no “free will”. There is no conscious choice. It’s an absolute snorefest because there is no room for anything new to come in and shake things up.
3. Separatism
Separatism states that different objects have boundaries and they are not connected if they do not share the same boundaries. Therefore, separatism says we are isolated and alone in the universe. It claims that we are separate from the cosmos; it does not affect us. We are separate from each other. We are separate from what happens on the other side of the world, and the observer or experimenter is separate from the observed. A natural evolution of separatism was the Darwinian theory of “survival of the fittest.” This concept implied that if we are separate then there is something outside of us to distrust, fear, or struggle against. So the “survival of the fittest” idea, and the competition that comes from it, further compounded upon this paradigm of Separatism.
4. Realism
This principle is based on the concept that this is a real and materialistic world. Another way of looking at this is that you can only trust what you can sense with your five physical senses. I have to see it, hear it, feel it, taste it, or smell it in order to believe it. I have to be able to experiment on it. It must be physical and material and something I can experiment on or it doesn’t exist. This concept, taken to the extreme, says that the only thing that is real is the physical. In this view, consciousness is all in the imagination and does not really exist beyond being reduced to a biochemical process in the brain and body. Still to this day many scientists are trying to explain the essence of who we are and our conscious awareness as some epiphenomenon in the brain.
The truth is NONE of this is fundamentally correct. At best, these classical theories are an approximation of how we experience natural phenomenon. However, more and more is being revealed showing that the truth is far deeper, stranger, and more intricate than what these old Newtonian concepts would have you believe.
“In the 21st century, the second quantum revolution will shape the science and the world economy, redefining the speed, and scale of scientific and technological expansion.”
―
The first step in transformation is to completely shatter the old form, the old box, the old structure. It is necessary to break it apart so we can purify things down to their most basic essence. Only then can we see which bits must be gathered into a new form. OK, so our global systems are collapsing = tick! By changing our thinking to quantum thinking, we allow the mind to function at a higher level of creativity and innovation. This level of thinking allows us to accurately envision the next generation products, services, and modes of operation we want to have in our new wellbeing economy. It requires we shift from linear thinking to higher-order holistic thinking.
Technology alters the rules for corporate success. Businesses run much differently today than in the past, largely because of technology. The rapid rise of factors like computer processing power has meant that organisations need to be flexible rather than rigid. Consequently, yesterday’s best practices are atrophying. To be successful in the future of work, organisations need to embrace quantum thinking. In essence, making the leap into the quantum mindset shifts us from a paradigm of limitation to one of boundless possibility. By thinking quantum, you can move from operating at jet speed to processing at light speed. You can shift from being bound by a mechanical, linear, logical, rational, and analytical way of thinking into a non-linear, multi-dimensional way of thinking that is tuned into “the field.”
“Deep down, nature is inherently peaceful, calm, and beautiful. The universe as a whole is perfect. The chaos is on the surface.”
―
By thinking quantum you can perceive beyond static structures, where everything appears to be based on form and material, to becoming aware of the all-pervasive fields of energy and vibration or “vibratory energy.” You can discover how to step outside the timeline of past-present-future, and step into the ever-present Here and Now. If you are ready to move beyond the box of two and three-dimensional thinking, into thinking fractally and holographically, then come and take the leap with us into the quantum domain. Quantum thinking takes creative thinking several steps further into really being able to consciously tap into the source of all creativity.
Conscious leaders use quantum thinking in a space of awareness that transcends and precedes labels, structures, and familiar patterns of thought. By first accessing a state of higher consciousness, we can then tap into the quantum view of reality and become aware of the many possibilities available for making a breakthrough or “Quantum Leap” in our creative thinking. This Quantum mindset gives you access to a thought process that is creative, insightful, intuitive, and able to make breakthroughs or leaps. With quantum thinking you can more easily challenge assumptions, create new categories, change structures, transform thought patterns, and leap out of old habits.
“To know yourself you must know the transience of your self.”
―
Quantum principles underlie everything in our Universe. We live in a Quantum Universe, from the smallest particles to the largest structures of intergalactic space. Chaos and complexity apply to physical systems on our everyday level of reality, things like the weather, the flow of streams, the beat of the human heart. In the old science, the Newtonian paradigm, nature is seen as simple, law-abiding, and ultimately controllable. The whole science is about organised simplicity. In the new science, the quantum paradigm, nature is seen as complex, chaotic, and uncertain. It is all around us. It’s inside us, inside our bodies and our minds, and inside nearly every technological gadget on which we’ve come to depend.
The thinking associated with quantum physics and chaos and complexity science stresses the creative potential of uncertainty. This invites leaders to “rewire” their brains and reinvent themselves, to think in a new way and thus to behave in a new way. It invites them to become conscious leaders. Conscious leaders use quantum thinking to learn how to work with – and thrive on – uncertainty and instability. They know that creativity and innovation are best nurtured at “the edge of chaos.” Conscious leaders envision many possible outcomes of a situation or problem and explore, with the greatest possible range of input from others, many possible ways of addressing them. Conscious leaders make use of interconnected networks, dialogue groups, and teams-within-teams. Teams are given more room for taking the initiative and self-organising their work structures and practices. To become a conscious leader requires nothing less than a different perspective on reality.
“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
-Woodrow Wilson
Global business has the money and the power to make a significant difference in today’s troubled world. And by making that difference, it can help itself as well as humanity. As technology and social change rapidly evolve, this growth is creating significant disruption to the way we lead and work. Disruption is good. It drives progress and transformation. Disruption also impacts our people. You have the choice to evolve your thinking and leadership style now or to stay stuck in the old crumbling paradigm and be forced to change later. It is time to evolve to a new model of success that benefits both business and humanity. The world needs you to become a conscious leader who serves the community, the planet, humanity, the future, and life itself.
“I believed my love would be reciprocated because it was pure. But it wasn’t. Reaction to every action? It doesn’t work that way with a human heart. The human mind resembles the quantum world. Always uncertain. Beyond any explanation.”
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