"The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley." If you are a Robert Burns fan, you know that this line was written after his plowing destroyed the nest of a mouse - which he termed a "wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie." Events of recent months and years have shown all too clearly that human plans often go awry. There's been no need for reminders from mouse nests. Things just haven't gone the way we were told to expect in Iraq and Afghanistan, between the Israelis and Palestinians or with North Korea. The complex inventions supporting a booming economy proved to be an indecipherable house of cards. Arrangements and assurances about investments and employment conditions have become unstable. Hot- button issues distract citizens away from the serious issues of governance. Violent and destructive weather incidents seem more numerous and even out of season. We see the news around us every day. It's no wonder that the mood of the country is anxious, fearful and gloomy.

At the same time, this news is not the whole story. And some of our expectations have been rooted in outdated world views and unrealistic aspirations. Some of my recent reading has me thinking differently about our surrounding culture and environment and wondering how to avoid being anxious; to break free of some paradigms; to see and respond to an increasingly complex world in ways that are more appropriate and effective. After all, some groups and some individuals are finding ways to respond and succeed in conditions that drive others to despair. I've also picked up on some terms that are being used differently or enjoying increased usage and significance. I don't pretend that these ideas come naturally to me, that I am expert on any of them or consider them certainties. I do think they show promise for dealing with the challenges around us.

One of the books, was written before the world's economy took its nosedive. John Naish, a British writer, titled his book with a single word, Enough. Written in an engaging style, his topic is a serious one. Our human inclination to be dissatisfied with things as they are, to always be looking for more or better, he says, has served us well in moving from hunter-gathering cultures through various stages of invention and tool-making. In today's developed countries, however, things have changed. Naish explains that this deep-rooted urge has become, in his phrase, "obsolete brain-wiring." He talks about the way ever-increasing amounts of information clog our decision-making abilities, how over-scheduling produces stress, and more and more stuff crowds our closets, our garages, our storage units, our landfills and our lives. Our numbers and lifestyles are placing unsustainable demands on our Earth. In passing, I cannot help but notice the irony involved in publishing and selling an ad-filled magazine called "Simple Living." Somebody's unclear on the concept!

We even shop for experiences, spiritual and otherwise, with each new thing invigorating us - for a little while. He cites Madonna as an example, having found reports that she has at some time taken up "angling, curling, ballet dancing, ashtanga yoga, knitting, fasting, macrobiotics, clairvoyance, jogging, cycling, karate, meditation, Kabbalah, karma beads, cigar appreciation, oxygen therapy, spiritual retreats, spin exercise, self-flagellation for fitness, ice skating, roller-disco, leaping between buildings, lipstick-lesbianism and chess."

That's surely extreme, but if we're truthful, we probably recognize within ourselves some of the allure of the new. Naish describes a study conducted at a Western Electric Company plant in Illinois called the Hawthorne Plant. It found that whenever consultants were brought in to suggest ways to improve efficiency, things did indeed work better. For a while. Over five years, dozens of changes were implemented, each followed by productivity increases and subsequent decreases. The Harvard researchers finally concluded that people's enthusiasm for a new idea increased their optimism and attentiveness - and their efficiency - until the newness wore off.

Naish argues that we need to evolve - intentionally. What we need, he says, isn't more stuff, information or a succession of novel ideas and practices. He urges us to choose to develop a kind of post-more Enough-ism. It's not really a new idea or an easy one. It requires commitment and discipline, and has been recommended by sages and teachers from ancient times. He writes, "It takes persistence to pursue the same plain old hard-work paths to contentment that sages have promoted since antiquity... But without being committed...how can we develop our long-term, higher-brained, life-enhancing qualities in the face of ... frustrations, failures, pratfalls, setbacks and myriad other inconveniences...?"

Since the world economy has faltered, many Americans are looking somewhat differently at purchases we may want but don't really need. Some of us are wondering how to make our resources stretch to cover necessities. I hear that even the truly wealthy are concerned that they not be too obvious about luxuries. Apparently the panache of conspicuous consumption is somewhat diminished. Americans are actually paying down their debts and saving more - something that hasn't been seen in decades. I see occasional claims that we're learning what really matters in our lives, how relationships with family and friends and habits of volunteering and generous giving are linked to feelings of satisfaction and happiness. I am skeptical enough to take a wait-and-see attitude on whether we're actually changing our ways in that deep a way.

I believe most of us have more than enough of the sorts of things that can be bought, sold and collected. I am persuaded by the arguments Naish makes in support of enough-ism, of savoring longer term connections and of generosity of many kinds. I'm glad to see his discussion of "never-enoughs" - which include gratitude and thankfulness, appreciation for beauty of many sorts, wonder, generosity, service and relationship. Contentment and happiness lie with them, he says.

Joshua Cooper Ramo's book was published this March, and written, at least in part, after the scope of the financial crisis became apparent last fall. His book is called The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It. In some ways, his work reminds me of George Lakoff `s ideas about the ways our worldviews shape both our understanding and our actions. Ramo ranges over global finance, international conflicts and diplomacy, management and product innovation, public health issues in the third world and individual decision-making. He talks about complexity, about new and unexpected combinations of materials and ideas, and the need for creativity and acceptance of risk as the norm. Mostly he talks about the pitfalls of paradigms that say the world is a predictable place; that you can plan and choose actions that will surely result in the outcome you desire. His examples range from the conduct of the war in Iraq, through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to competition among video game designers. Chapter titles include "Riding the Earthquake" and "Management Secrets of Hizb'allah."

Along with his descriptions of mistakes and problems, Ramo talks about encouraging creativity and divergent thinking. He claims that one factor involved in that process is cultivating a wide field of awareness. He describes a very interesting study of the differences in perception between American-born students and students from China. Each group was shown a series of pictures and their eye movements were tracked for the viewing period. The pictures involved some figure - say a horse - with a background that seemed appropriate - maybe a field or farm. The American students spent nearly all of the time looking at the figure, even if it occupied well less than half of the viewing field. The Chinese students showed the opposite pattern, giving more of their attention to the background features and ranging over the whole picture.

The students were brought back later for a second stage of the study. This time, the figures were set in different backgrounds on some pictures and different figures were put into backgrounds the students had viewed in the first part of the study. The students were asked if they recognized any pictures and if they noticed any differences. If the background was new, Chinese students said they hadn't seen the picture before, even if the figure was a repeat. If the background was repeated, they said they'd seen the picture before and there were no changes, even if the figure was new. The American students, on the other hand, claimed there was no change in the picture of a repeated figure, even if the background was entirely different. If there was a new figure, they said they hadn't seen it before, even if the background was a repeat.

Now I am sure there are plenty of grad students working on the implications of this kind of perceptual difference, but here's one example of the usefulness of a wide awareness that Ramo gives. It involved an Israeli security official who was extraordinarily successful in figuring out Syrian plans and activities. He did it, in part, by arranging for frequent reports about daily life in Lebanon. Were the markets busy? Was traffic light or heavy? Were people gathering in the coffee houses and other places? These seemingly ordinary observations were important to him because so many Syrians go to Lebanon to work. If everything was bustling along, he reasoned, Syria would not be pressured from within by increasing unemployment. They would have reason to keep things on an even keel.

Here's an example of moving outside common assumptions: most video game designers have a certain demographic in mind - generally males in their teens or young adult years. They generally think of them as being quite happy to spend a lot of time sitting in front of their screens with hand held controllers for the on-screen action. Increased detail and realism are the goal of new designs and this required ever more powerful - and more expensive - chips. One designer, however, used different assumptions. He adapted a chip designed to activate automobile airbags and created a game that got the players out of their chairs and into the action. Wii changed everyone's ideas about video gaming. Today, Wii can even be found in senior exercise programs and Wii Fit has become a hit with women - an unexpected first.

But back to Ramo's advice. His notion is that the world really isn't predictable any more, if it ever was. Efforts at prevention can't guarantee success. So keys to `riding the earthquake' have to do with increased creativity, unexpected combinations he calls `mashups,' being ready and able to learn from unexpected situations, and developing resilience. He claims these are the ingredients for what he calls `deep security.'

Now, I have noticed that the word "resilience" is enjoying a sudden increase in popularity. It's the title of Elizabeth Edwards new book, it's showing up in the literature about congregational health and dynamics and I'm seeing it in health and wellness features. Implications about bending but not breaking seem to be part of its appeal.

Ramo has more specific and concrete ideas about resilience than most other uses I've noticed. He distinguishes between resilience and resistance - which, in his opinion, isn't wrong, but isn't adequate either. He says that resilience involves policies that foster infrastructure development, invest heavily in education and provide universal health care. He also recommends some of the same ideas we saw in Naish: developing networks of relationship and working together to promote the common good. He says that resilience starts with decisions we make about what we consume, how we educate our kids, run our businesses and organizations, and invest our money. I would add the communities we participate in and support and the institutions we value to that list. Characteristics seen in resilient systems include an ability to constantly re-conceptualize problems, to generate a diversity of ideas, to communicate with different types and groups of people and to encourage novel approaches and even small-scale revolts in hopes of finding new solutions. Ramo talks about indirect methods of reaching a goal - making a change in the context or environment that will change the problematic situation or behavior. These are all things we can foster as individuals and within our Fellowship and our local communities.

Ramo also talks about "peer production" - which means that decision making and the ability to make changes are shared widely. Wikipedia is an example - a resource developed and maintained by all who care to contribute. Apparently the average time between the insertion of errors into a Wikipedia page and its correction is under five minutes. And the information is quite comprehensive. I know it's often the first place I go when I take up a new topic. One of the great advantages of peer production is that increasing numbers of users don't clog the system. That's quite different from organizations that funnel decisions or access through a restricted gateway. Just think of the last time you had to go through one of those automated phone systems to deal with a problem. Another advantage is the way peer production systems put excess capacity to work. Engaged people find ways to use their time and talents in creative new ways.

The idea of deep security asks us to see the world somewhat differently, to expect change and know that both bad things and good ones are going to happen. It means that we expect to work together, to learn from our experiences and take new approaches. It requires us to be open to unexpected combinations and new uses or adaptations for different purposes. It asks us to respond to threat or attack with at least as much effort to make connections as to defend or retaliate.

I was reminded of some of these things at the gathering of Marriage Equality advocates at Grace-Ada Park last Tuesday evening, the day the decision upholding Proposition 8 was announced. Many of these people, a good proportion of them members of this Fellowship, had worked hard to defeat Prop 8. Many of us had never been so politically active before. And we lost, both on election day and in the court decision. The gathering could have been an angry protest or a pity party or an exercise in despair. It wasn't any of those. The mood was friendly as connections were renewed between folks who'd worked together or people recognized friends from other associations. It had the feeling of a way station on a journey we'd begun and would continue. Musicians played and sang. Speaker after speaker spoke of the progress we'd made and the day when all loving couples would be treated equally before the law. We know there's work to be done. We'll keep on. And we'll do it both in our individual interactions and in coordinated efforts. We'll be creative. And flexible. And in time we'll reach our goal.

At yesterday's Church Council meeting, I touched on some of the ways our Fellowship stands against the current culture and mood around us. Marriage Equality is one example, but there are a number of others. Mostly, I want to remind us all that fear clouds our ability to think clearly and make good decisions. This congregation supports us in resisting the anxiety so pervasive in our culture and can help us to regain our balance. We try to think things through, to engage different perspectives, to move beyond familiar categories. Knowing that we humans have our limits and failings, we still re-gather to remember our highest principles and values. When we bring them to mind, we are inspired to work toward them - toward those never-enoughs like gratitude, love, justice, compassion and relationship. We know that things won't always go the way we'd like. But together we have the resources, the good will, the caring and creativity to meet our challenges. We will answer Yes! to life, to love, to justice and to community. We will listen for their music and move with its guidance. I'd say that qualifies as deep security.

May 31, 2009

This is one of our Minister's Sermons. We also have a brief biography of Rev. Simons, and the latest edition of Grace Notes, a column she writes for our newsletter.
We have another sermon collection, from our Guests.