We are daily reminded of the complex, distressing, and frightening challenges we face on both local and global scales. Here we are again, this time in Minnesota, dealing with a horrific act of senseless violence against children. Some scholars are describing all of this as a metacrisis. In a recent podcast called Faith Developmental Pathway, Brendan Graham Dempsey, with Robb Smith described the metacrisis in the following ways:
- The convergence of multiple crises, compounding and fueling one another, and the impact of the whole system of crises is greater than the sum of its parts.
- These are potentially and sometimes immediately life and death situations, including violence on our streets, political extremism and instability, economic disparity, climate distress, wars, and many others we could name.
- This metacrisis is creating a profound void of purpose and meaning and the collapse of trust.
- This metacrisis is creating high levels of fear. Fear of economic collapse. Fear of war. Fear of pandemics. Fear of the “other”. When fear dominates our worldview, we become easy to manipulate. We crave simple answers and tend to elect those who promise quick and simple solutions, in exchange for our democratic rights, ethics, and policies based on science, rationality, or compassion.
Author Steve McIntosh, in his book Developmental Politics, offers some hopeful ideas and pragmatic ways to grow beyond our current broken political systems. He characterizes the growing rift in the fabric of American society as a cultural problem that requires a cultural solution. Part of the solution is naming and understanding the primary values and strengths, as well as the dysfunctions, or what I call the shadow and shame within each world view on the spiral of development. Taking steps to acknowledge and respect the values of others, rather than demeaning them, is critical for creating a new way of seeing one another and opening the door to cooperation and community again. We will not find solutions by trying to go back to the past, but we can build upon the values and foundations laid by those who have gone before us.
All major religions, of course, endorse these ways of growth. For Christians, our centering point is the life and lessons of Jesus. In the words and stories of Jesus we see respect for the values of tradition and the willingness to challenge them when they are too rigid. We see values of community, loyalty, and individual dignity. We see him also calling out greed and distortions of truth and justice. We see values of humility, service, inclusion, and love. We see his practices and expressions of virtues that allowed him to transcend human limitations, and cruelty.
Unfortunately, we sometimes experience these principles being distorted with messages of shame in our churches, families, schools, and other places where we belong. Rather than being encouraged to pursue personal excellence through the practice of virtues, such as love, dignity, courage, honesty, and hope, we may be taught to obey and comply out of fear of punishment. Rather than learning to love ourselves and develop our potential through self-discipline, we may be taught only about self-denial. Rather than an understanding of self-actualization, we may be taught that we are inherently unworthy, and our passions and desires are not to be trusted. Rather than learning how to achieve self-transcendence, to live with a higher purpose, and to lovingly engage with the world, we may be taught to judge and fear the world outside of our community or belief system and to live with cynicism and exclusion. If shame is compounded by experiences of abuse or trauma, this sometimes leads to extremes of hatred and destructive behavior.
There are no simple solutions to all the problems we face, but it is not hopeless either. Let us go higher. Let us be mature enough to maintain hope and faith, while wrestling with complexity and paradox. Rather than waiting to be rescued, let us accept responsibility for our own growth toward excellence and work together to create new perspectives, new solutions, new stories of purpose and meaning, and renewed culture. Rather than being driven by anger, fear, distrust, shame and blame, let us be motivated by our moral outrage, hope, trust, courage, and collective imagination.
So, the way forward is up:
- Waking up to the reality that we have created most of our own problems and recognize that it is in everyone’s best interest to work together to find new solutions.
- Evolving up through the pursuit of individual and collective virtues and values that lead to higher levels of wellbeing.
- Showing up with the courage to act, focusing our resources on real causes and solutions, and doing the work of making necessary changes.
- Looking up for divine wisdom, guidance, the ability to transcend our self-centeredness, and for renewed faith, purpose, and meaning.
The future for our children depends on all of us acting with courage, creativity, compassion, and integrity. Let us go higher, starting today.
Therapy Tip
To process our feelings and reactions to the shocking events we are confronted with we need to stop, feel, be present, think, discuss, and pray if you are a person of faith. Hard times provide opportunities to face hard truths, define what is most important to us, and to grow a little higher. Growth happens when we face our fears and take steps to be a part of constructive actions and refuse to succumb to despair and hopelessness. We are in this together and together we can do hard things and create wholistic solutions to complex problems.