When I listen to the news and the financial commentaries, I am still struck by the lack of useful information on the financial crisis. We are told no one knows what has happened, what is happening, or what to do. We are told there are no examples in history to instruct us.
This is not true.
Arriving at a place where we are both disoriented and scared-to-death by the challenges we face is as old as time.
David Whyte, corporate poet, reminds us of a line from Dante’s Inferno.
In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in the dark wood where the true way was wholly lost.
Could we persuade David Whyte to make a series of broadcasts about dealing with junctures in our lives when we are lost, alone and scared?
Until then, I recommend David Whyte’s CD Mid-Life and the Great Unknown. It’s good to listen to in the car and on the train.
Come with me!
We do know how to deal with the unknown. Spread the word! We do know how to deal with the unknown.
UPDATE: I posted today about Karl Weick’s ideas about systems that spin out of control. If I have understood him correctly, to understand the unknown, we have to “leap in order to look”. Action is critical to knowing. If we want to understand something we have to act on it!
A couple of weeks ago a documentary on BBC showed how the Great depression in the 1930’s started and why… Very interesting, the conclusions are basically that we as a society have a very short memory, and we are likely to make same mistakes again…
Hi Manu,
Of course, it is important to deal with the factual and known elements of our situation.
In so far as we are dealing with the ‘unknown’ and even ‘unknowable’, then we need the knowledge of dealing with unknown things.
That is what we psychologists offer – how to keep our heads when we ‘feel’ that we have no guideline and no guarantees!
Thanks so much for stopping by,
Jo