Systems thinking makes it possible to invent a new way of life
The field of systems thinking has provided a breakthrough in how we understand and perceive the dynamics of a system (an organization, a society, a neighborhood). My work in the book, A Life Worth Living is based on a very broad view of systems thinking and how it creates distinction in our life. What I mean is that before we perceived a system, a holistic entity that had varying and complex relationships, our view was limited to simple cause and effect. Systems thinking broadens our view of the cause and the fact that any effect we are experiencing likely has a complex web of causes including our own actions.
For me, the value of systems thinking as expressed in this book is that what we are experiencing today can’t simply be categorized as life. Instead, it’s life in this one design. This may seem insignificant, but it alters our relationship to everything. It doesn’t mean that people aren’t starving in the world, but it does open the possibility that “starving people” is not a foregone conclusion of the world or of life, it may just be an outcome consistent with the design of our system – of our way of life. It might seem cold to think of starving people as a mere outcome; I think it’s much colder to see them as a condition that is just inherent in life. This is the value of systems thinking
And so, this becomes true for every aspect of our lives. Our entire experience is comprised of a past of experience that can no longer simply be labeled life, but potentially “life in this design.” I’m not suggesting there aren’t things inherent to life, but we’ve for too long settled on what those things are. The amount of joy you experience in your life can no longer be thought of as a fact of life. The conditions of your life are not just something that need to be survived. Systems thinking opens up the possibility of inventing something that before we never, ever would have thought to invent – a new system, a new way of life.
Learn more about how systems thinking can be used to better your own life. Get your copy of A Life Worth Living today!