Protecting the flame

Do we sense the flame of what our human hearts call us to... the flame of all that we feel in response to what's happening in the world... the flame of empathy and compassion and even anger?

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Leaders, let’s PROTECT THE FLAME.

Otto scharmer, in his article, asks us to hold it close to our hearts, but first, we need to identify that flame.

What’s there when we really pause to pay attention?

Do we sense the flame of what our human hearts call us to… the flame of all that we feel in response to what’s happening in the world… the flame of empathy and compassion and even anger?

If we feel into and learn to protect the flame, neither letting it burn wild nor simply smother and die, this flame might be our salvation. So let’s protect it together – so we don’t lose hope and motivation, so that we can pass it onto to others, so that we can hand over the world in the best possible state to the next generation, so that we can know that we have lived and led well, so that we remember we have a choice to do the good in front of us.

Some powerful words to sit with from this wonderful article.

“… we know almost everything that is necessary to prevent civilizational collapse — we have most of the knowledge, most of the technologies, and all the financial means necessary to turn things around — and yet we are not doing it.

In short: The third theme is about the massive knowing-doing gap that has been embodied in our collective behavior over the past 50+ years…

We know the path forward will not be easy. We know that the solution to our problems in this century is not Big Government. It’s not Big Money. And it’s not Big Tech either.

Of course, we do need all three — government, capital, and technology. But what we need most of all is a profound shift in our qualities of relationship that allows us to protecting and tending the flame.

When systems collapse, what are we left with?

We are left with each other. We are left with our relationships. With how we relate to Mother Nature, how we relate to each other, and how we relate to our emerging Selves.