5. WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?

individuals cause culture change. they do so on their own, together. it's as easy, yet difficult, as that.

put simply, america needs a collective shift in consciousness. put otherwise, however, it needs you, me, and everyone we know to change our minds -- to really change our minds. this is hard but so worth it.

we like worth. we're even open to defining our own in different ways (the hardwood group). americans now, in fact, are more open-minded than ever before (twenge). considering our minds control our behavior, however, openness ought to be more than a state of being; it should be a state of doing. as writer and activist zaid hassan asserts, "being open means much more than being open-minded, it also means having an open heart and an open will." ("the u" 2)

an open will is a paradox; it entails acting out of the knowledge that one does not know. you know? i'm not omniscient but i can confidently assume that neither are you. i also can assume, however, that usually we act like we are, like we do indeed know everything. doing so gives us a sense of security, albeit a false sense of security. of course we know who we are! of course we know what we're doing! of course we know the meaning of life! we deny confusion because we don't know how to act out of it. fixed answers enable us to function, to walk as if we lived on stable ground. fixed answers feel safe. still, we know we don't know. our recurring doubts tell us so, suggesting that perhaps a false sense of security isn't secure at all. yet we remain silent and continue to force the same of the same. our minds become confined. our lives stay very small, very closed.

sure enough, it's better to not be so sure... about anything... except this: change happens. it happens all the time; it's happening right now. we can't control it, yet we can help create it. to do so we must effectively enter the realm of uncertainty. we're already there, though not consciously. as we focus our attention on fixing answers -- on feigning stability -- we fail to realize that we live in motion, especially mental motion.

we once felt, for instance, that the brain was like an ordered, structured file cabinet (samples). thus thinking the brain worked best with order and structure, we embraced rules and endorsed conformity. that was the 1950s. now we know that the brain is an open-system powered by possibility. it wants and needs to be continually opened and re-opened. it thrives best when free to move fully, flowingly about. "what, then, is our choice? ," asks scholar bob samples. he suggests "it is as simple as honoring the reality of experience in our world. it requires that we accede to what is known about the design of the brain-mind system, that we embrace the fullness of our consciousness. this may involve possibly painful re-examinations of our own attitudes and beliefs about learning, decision-making, living. our egos may suffer as we falter and stumble through this deliberate renaissance. but the rewards are worth the effort, for we will acquire for our children and ourselves the skills of survival. all the tomorrows are tentative. we need courage to greet the tentative" (samples).

we need, even more basically, to remember where we're at. according to many authors across numerous fields, we are in a period of especially great uncertainty, change, and transition. as futurist john naisbitt states, "we are living in the time of the parenthesis, the time between eras... a great and yeasty time, filled with opportunity.” but it is so, he adds, only on two critical conditions: if “we can make uncertainty our friend” and “if we can only get a clear sense, a clear conception, a clear vision of the road ahead" (ray 235). at first this claim seems a contradiction. ray and anderson, however, clarify that "when the road before you leads through a dark wood, the entry point for the future is uncertainty itself. the sign on the threshold reads 'this way is unknown'" (236).

we are on that threshold, the brink of a vast beginning. yet we are also in our brains. as the saying and science goes, we live in our heads. the goal, thus, is alignment. we must align our inner and outer experiences. in other words, we must pay more attention to reality. getting real, in this sense, is really changing our minds -- really opening ourselves up to the uncertainty within, around, and beyond us. once this process is underway, according to ray and anderson,

openness and not-knowing become your constant companions. at times the journey feels awkward or perilous; you’re asking questions that everyone wishes would go away; you don’t know how to put into words what you’re searching for; you’re wondering just how big an idiot you really are for leaving what felt sure and safe and comfortable. and at times, the freshness and exhilaration of setting out for new territory are pure pleasure. but whether it’s a joy or a trial, the departure from the old world-view and values is fundamentally an inner departure. you do not necessarily leave your home or your work or your family physically. the change is above all a change in consciousness: who do you leave behind and who do you become as you make your way toward a new kind of life? (44)

here, ray and anderson make clear that openness entails willed action. this action does not fit the conventional sense of simply doing something. it's more a state of doing -- a sustained engagement in life that effectively cultivates more life. america's solution, which i'll expand upon, thus involves a quest of questions -- a deliberation of individuals' day-to-day intentions. we can no longer just go with the flow of mainstream culture. as writer sarah van gelder aptly advises, "don't just do something, change your mind" (ray 93)

changing your mind also changes others. today, however, there is a lag between individual and collective change. as economist and futurist robert theobald notes, "in recent years it has become increasingly clear to me (and many others) that most people are aware of major change moving through the society, have been making many changes in their personal lives and beliefs... yet are holding back from carrying these changes into their communities, workplaces, churches, etc. because they still feel alone in their personal changes and have few models for positive and effective institutional change" (theobald). this movement, however, could quickly become massive and momentous. according to theobald, "if people could find the right forum and format for doing so, they could rapidly bring their new personal values into their social and institutional lives. such a rapid cultural shift is not only possible, gregory bateson's work showed that rapid change in systems was quite common. s-shaped curves are basic in statistics: they show that once a certain percentage in a group or society shares a dynamic viewpoint others tend to adopt the change with surprising speed."

ultimately, we must find this right forum and format. more immediately, however, we must find ourselves by losing ourselves; we must let go of our false sense of omniscience. certainty is, in many senses, a bad habit. it prevents us from questioning, and it causes us to forfeit rather than forge the future. as scientist ilya prigogine states, "the future is uncertain. . . but such uncertainty lies at the very heart of human creativity." likewise, author margaret wheatley affirms, "it is uncertainty that creates the space for invention. we must let go, clear the space, leap into the void of not-knowing, if we want to discover anything new."

we do want to discover something new. we want to discover a new way of life. first, however, we must discover life itself -- life as it is here and now. this discovery starts with consciousness, proceeds to collaboration, and entails change all along the way. to be effective it must be collective. but to be at all, it must include individuals who do -- who do not know, who do open, who do change their minds. in ray and anderson's words, "as you act on your conscience you will be transformed" (304). and as you are transformed, i'll add, so is culture.