Syntony Quest: Evolutionary Literacy

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Evolutionary: Consciousness | Literacy | Competence | Praxis

Evolutionary Literacy

clouds

We cannot direct the wind,
but we can adjust the sails
— Contemporary Western Proverb

“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such speed,....
It feels an impulse... this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough
to see beyond horizons”
— Richard Bach

The second stage of evolutionary learning involves concepts and perspectives that help us to perceive and understand the crises and opportunities we face – both individually and collectively – at any given time. To be aware is not enough. We need to have a grounded understanding of the evolving notions of evolution and of the processes that can empower us to participate consciously in it.

The development of evolutionary literacy involves…

… Understanding evolutionary dynamics

Understand the core concepts of general evolution theory.
Be informed about the new scientific paradigm.
Appreciate interconnections and complexity.
Appreciate open-ended and creative processes.
Identify processes of differentiation and integration.

… Understanding the human and social implications of evolutionary dynamics

Seek to transcend your current state of being and becoming.
Appreciate knowledge and ideas like waves; always in motion, to be surfed, not controlled.
See things in terms of the ebb and flow of energies. Learn to live in the flux of things and enjoy it.
Learn to think systemically: to see interconnections, to see more perspectives, create more options.
Have a future orientation and consider the long-term consequences of our actions.
Believe that humans can affect (though not control) the direction and pace of evolution.
Move from an egocentric ethic to one that places ecology and evolution as the beyond-human normative guides.

The “evolutionary” twenty questions game

Group dynamics are “compressed” experiential activities that, in addition to facilitating the “aha!” of a new discovery or insight, are fun. One such group dynamic is a modified version of the game of twenty questions, as suggested by physicist John Wheeler. In the regular version of the game, the group decides on the noun (a thing, a person, a place) while a volunteer awaits outside the room. Once the group has decided on something, the person comes back to the room and asks yes/no type questions until they arrive to the correct answer. The “evolutionary” version of the game allows participants to experience the emergence of order from apparent chaos:

“In the usual variant, the game is goal-oriented: the players establish the thing or person to be guessed. But the game can also be played in a nonteleological way. In the ‘Wheeler variant’ the players conspire not to think of any thing or person to be guessed, but not to disclose this to one who does the guessing; he or she will ask questions as if there was something definite to find out. The game would end in utter confusion were it not for a simple rule that the players decide to obey: any answer they will give must be consistent with the answers they have given before. If, for example, the answer to the question ‘Is it vegetable?’ happen to be yes, all further answers must be given as if the thing to be guessed were a plant. As the questions move from the general to the particular, the range of permissible answers becomes progressively more limited. A skilled interlocutor can arrive at the specific question to which the other players, bound by the non-contradiction rule, will be obligated to answer ‘yes.’ The game moves towards a specific goal, even though none was set at the beginning” (Ervin Laszlo, 1993, The Creative Cosmos, p. 127).

After playing both versions of the game, the group can reflect on the different experiences in terms of engagement, control, certainty, creativity, knowledge, and participation.

The following books provide a partial list of suggested reading for developing evolutionary literacy:

Goerner, Sally (1994). Chaos and the Evolving Ecological Universe. Langhorne: Gordon and Breach.

Bohm, David (1980). Wholeness and the Implicate Order. London: Routledge.

Capra, Fritjof (1996). The Web of Life: A new scientific understanding of living systems. New York: Anchor books.

Laszlo, Ervin (1996). Evolution: The general theory. New Jersey: Hampton Press.

Laszlo, Ervin (2001). Macroshift 2001-2010: Navigating the transformation to a sustainable world. New York: toExcel.

Wheatley, Margaret (1992). Leadership and the New Science. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler Publishers.

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