The Scotoma Sutra
Scotoma: a spot in the visual field in which vision is absent or deficient; a blind spot which is 'filled in' by the brain and therefore goes unnoticed. (click on 'blind spot' in the previous sentence for simple demonstration)
Sutra: Sanskrit word meaning a rope or thread that holds things together.
The Scotoma Sutra is an on-going dialogue that provides an alternate filter on social, economic and organizational issues and trends.
Co-Founder, KCI
203-452-1133
al@koanetic.com
THE COMMON FOCUS
In our over-stimulated / multi-tasking / hyper-achieving age, self-improvement, growth and development are central to prosperity, health and happiness. The complexity and fluidity of our personal and professional environments require that we find new ideas, tools and individuals that will inspire us, that will move us from confusion to clarity, from stagnation to progress. Citizens long for inspiring politicians, students attach themselves to inspiring teachers, business leaders hire personal coaches to inspire them and to teach them how to inspire their organizations, and we all invest significant financial, temporal and psychological resources on books, workshops, degrees, certifications, and tools that provide us with some further progress along the road to success and satisfaction. Growth and development – and the inspiration that so often triggers them – are a necessary fuel for life (and work) in the 21st century.
THE LEADER’S FOCUS
Good leaders – in the workplace, the family, the government, the church - inspire their people. They create passion, promote growth and facilitate progress. Furthermore, individuals need this inspiration; they benefit from the leader’s clarity and focus and, as a result, move beyond what they might normally be capable of.
THE BLINDSPOT
The desire to better ourselves - or our organizations, our families, our world – requires that we be dissatisfied. Even when the underlying values are positive (e.g., compassion, contribution, achievement) and the methods are appreciative, the very act of trying to improve myself – or you, or the organization – introduces the burden of dissatisfaction. The blind spot lies the in fact that we simultaneously personalize the outcome and make conditional a desirable experience or state of being: if there is an increase in productivity, I am a good leader; when my child is safe, I feel happy; if we reduce pollution, we are responsible citizens. In each of these – and the millions of others that govern our thoughts, actions and emotions – the individual must, even if unconsciously, separate themselves from the desired state/experience/identity (e.g., responsible citizen), at which point dis-ease has already set in (‘I am not now a responsible citizen’.) This dis-ease then creates a drive toward some action, which itself has been predetermined by the conditionality in the original thought – “we must reduce pollution”. It is a self-perpetuating cycle.
THE PARADOX
There is nothing inherently problematic about the action (reduce pollution) or the identity (responsible citizen); in fact most of us would agree that these are both quite positive. Where we get lost is the causality that we mistakenly assume exists between the action and the self-conception; “if x happens ‘out there’, I will be / feel y ‘in here.’” This is the driving force behind the endless, empty consumption of books, workshops, and inspirational leaders. The paradox for us then is: how do we engage in action without it becoming an act of consumption?
The paradox for leaders (and parents, and politicians and clergy) is to understand that as a source of “inspiration” – and therefore a source of confused causality – they produce short-term actions/results and perpetuate long-term dissatisfaction and dis-ease.
AN ALTERNATE FILTER
What would your life look like if you woke up tomorrow and decided that you were physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually full? What would your
career / work look like? Your organization?
