A few months ago, I wrote about the bold actions we keep asking for, but we are not taking. Bold actions that would allow tackling the tough challenges humanity is facing.
I believe that those actions are not taken because they often require us to let go of the comfort of our lifestyle and disrupt our earned status quo.
These days I'm reading And: Making A Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma by Barry Johnson.
One of the polarities explored by Johnson is the one between continuity and transformation in which there are two competing values at play: holding on to something we value and going after something we value.
The key to navigating a polarity is recognising and acknowledging both polarities as equally important and interconnected. We won't move forward as long as we look at it as an OR relationship. We may want to take bold actions, but nothing happens because we are blocked but the underlying fear of losing what we have.
Unless we hold both perspectives in our awareness, those bold actions won't be taken.
The polarity of continuity and transformation connects with the layers of awareness discussed in the book Subtraction, The Subtle Art of Unleashing Boundless Innovation. The grosser layers pull towards continuity - survival is their main driver - while the subtler and causal layers compel transformation. By practising subtraction, we can access and integrate all the five layers of awareness, holding both perspectives of this polarity and creating innovations that won't leave anyone behind.