Learning is the New Superpower

New rules seem to emerge every day regarding how the world works. The disruptive dynamics of the pandemic, climate change, and other global disruptions are having a cascading impact on our lives, our organizations, our communities, and, of course, on Nature itself. Active learning can help us move through these disruptions. In fact, it’s becoming the next superpower.

Cascading disruptions

Both disruptions from COVID-19 and climate change have long tails. The term cascading disruptions acknowledges the interdependence in our world. No disruption stands alone. The disruption lands like a rock in a pond, with ripple effects extending outward in all directions. That is one aspect of cascading. Another is imagining multiple rocks thrown into a pond, with each causing ripples that then meet other ripples. When the ripples meet each other, they trigger more waves throughout the system. 

We have two fonts of wisdom to help us deal with these disruptions. First, there is the knowledge that comes from living with nature as it increases the regenerative capacity of nature and the human race. Second, thousands of years of active learning from indigenous people have been ignored within our classrooms and other systems of higher education. Unfortunately, neither of these resources is represented at the level needed today in our academic journals. So where do we find wise practices and knowledge from Nature and within indigenous communities?  

Accelerating our individual and collective active learning

The best antidote for these kinds of disruptions is to accelerate our individual and collective learning. When we actively focus on learning, we open ourselves up to seeing what works, what is changing, what we need to do differently, and how we need to think differently. When we stand in the place of inquiry, we are seeking to create patterns and meaning of what exists. We’re also letting go of ideas and behaviors that don’t fit the current context we are living in.

Conversely, when we stand in the place of resentment or loss of “predictability”, we double down on trying to control the disruptions around us. This tends to make us deny the reality around us and/or feel like victims of an uncontrollable event. It also decreases our inner resilience until we choose to pivot to active learning.

The thing we can control in a time of cascading disruptions is our approach to our own learning. Nature is taking us to “school” on the limits of human control. We are learning what we can still control (not much), what we can still influence, and what we can learn and adapt to.

Are we listening?