On Hospice Workers, Midwives, and Experimentation

I recently encountered this video promoting a forthcoming film entitled In the Making: Becoming Human in a Time Between Worlds.  It’s five minutes long, and I found it powerfully moving.  It presents a frame for understanding this moment that we are living through in a concise and compelling way, and it weaves together so many important ideas in just a few minutes.  I’m excited to share it with you all, and offer a few thoughts about what struck me so deeply. 

-What does it mean to be living in a “time between worlds?”  At this moment when both “no longer” and “not yet” are both true, how should we show up?  How can we be of service?

-I love the metaphors of needing both metaphorical hospice workers and midwives at this critical moment.  We must offer compassionate presence to systems that are failing and coming to an end, and we must offer compassionate presence to the many new systems that are in the process of being born right now.  I have often understood my work in leadership development using the metaphor of the midwife; I have long believed that it is an act of hubris and ignorance to believe that I personally make anyone a better leader, in the sense that, say, a carpenter makes a table.  I can create spaces that are conducive to growth and change, but I can’t make change happen any more than a midwife can make a baby.  I can offer wisdom and perspective that helps the individuals in my programs make meaning of their experiences and understand the process in which they are immersed, but that is always done in service to a natural process of transformation that is unfolding under its own energy and on its own time.  It’s a profound way to hold the work of being in service to the growth and development of others.

-”Honey, we’re going to have to go through this.”  So says Joanna Macy in the film.  If you haven’t yet encountered the work of Joanna Macy, stop reading this and Google her right now. She is a profoundly wise elder grounded in the Buddhist tradition, and I have found her work to be–by far–the most helpful resource for being with the existential anxiety of living through this moment in time.  Any time I find myself overwhelmed by the moment, I check back in with her work and her insights, and find myself reenergized to carry on.

-The Need to Experiment:  I love the idea that we are a moment that requires experimentation.  There are no easy technical solutions to all the challenges unfolding all around us, and nobody knows quite how to solve it all.  But we can experiment with courage and curiosity, again and again.  Some experiments will fail completely, and others will illuminate promising practices or potential pathways forward that are worth more exploration and experimentation.  That’s the spirit that we need to bring to this moment.

I could say so much more, but I’ll pause here.  I invite you to take five minutes to review the video, and I’d love to hear what it evokes for you!