Seeing the Soul

These questions are becoming more pressing as we reach “the end of rationality.” For a long time, the world appeared to be pretty predictable. We trained ourselves in logical cause-and-effect-thinking, and we created frames, approaches, and institutions that reinforced this way of seeing and experiencing reality. And while there has always been a certain amount of non-linearity because human beings are non-predictable living systems, in general we knew what to expect from the world, and in general we saw what we expected. Until relatively recently, for example, our relationships were limited to one-to-one, one-to-few or few-to-few interactions. But globalization, digitization, and increasing interconnectedness have given way to many-to-many relationships. And this is forcing us to see that everything literally is connected to everything, whether through human-human connections, machine-machine connections, human-machine connections, or connections to our natural ecosystems.

In a hyper-connected world, the idea that we live in a mechanical universe governed by cause-and-effect chains is no longer sufficient for explaining reality. When interdependency no longer allows us to differentiate between cause and effect, when everything can be, cause and effect at the same time, our logical mind becomes confused, and shuts down. The code of our cognitive thinking apparatus is a simple binary “logical/illogical.” Logic is formed upon the idea of causes and effects. Synchronicity doesn’t have a place here. Our increasing interconnectedness, the shortcomings of rational thinking, and the numerous occurrences of unpredictable events are helping to drive a renaissance of interest in promoting deeper human qualities, qualities which are intangible, subtle, often ambiguous, and sometimes even paradoxical. Though these qualities have always been with us, they haven’t been always been acknowledged or appreciated, especially in professional environments. But augmenting our perceptive abilities by opening up to empathic and intuitive intelligences can allow us to perceive a wider reality, see more possibilities, and guide us in making more informed decisions.

If cognitive intelligence is the language of the mind, and empathetic intelligence is the language of the heart, intuition could be the language of our souls. The soul governs our ability to sense into the future, and to help us take decisions connected to the experience we want to realize in our lives. The soul is our partner in the dance of life, sometimes leading, sometimes following, but never interfering with our conscious decisions. It provides an inexhaustible amount of wisdom. The language of the soul isn’t easy to understand. It’s gentle, using weak signals, and expresses itself not only through words, but also through music, feelings, or nature experiences.
The concept of multiple intelligences and of subtle, intangible qualities applies not only to individuals, but to groups of people like organizations and companies. In our era, the gestalt of traditional power hierarchies no longer provides the stability it did in a time of slower technological and social change. The “predict and control” paradigm that worked well in stable circumstances has proven ineffective in our current highly complex environment. New skills are needed.

In modern organizational theory, organizations tend to be seen as living system themselves: open, self-organizing organisms that adapt to internal and external changes through feedback mechanisms that allow new information to be rapidly and reliably processed into meaningful change. Therefore older structures are continually gradually being replaced by the “sense and respond” paradigm. In this perspective, organizations need to develop the ability to respond to the stories life tells them. Responsiveness in this sense is not just a fancy word for the efficiency-driven idea of being fast, flexible, and competitive. Responsiveness is about understanding life on a deeper level, about embracing perpetual change and instability against this background, and about making space for emergent development.
In order to do so, organizations need to develop new social habits, which could be summarized as “response-ability,” or literally “the ability to respond.” Acting or behaving responsibly means drawing knowledge not only from a cognitive level, but also making use of empathic and intuitive information. The German organizational psychologist Peter Kruse once explained that people deal with complexity by differentiating four strategies: trial-and-error; ignoring complexity; trivializing complexity (i.e. disaggregating a multidimensional reality into two-dimensional cause-and-effect-chains); and — to his point of view the most promising method– making use of collective intuition.

By empathizing, by sensing, and by entering the space of collective intuition, organizations learn to respond to the full reality of how the world is changing, to the evolutionary impulse of life. This response does not derive from a purely rational position, but is connected to a deeper wisdom, which you could call the soul of the organization. And while it still might not be easy to bridge the paradoxes from this standpoint, at least it leads to closer alignment with what is truly possible. How can we bring together the needs of individuals, the needs of the organization, and the needs of the world in which the organization is situated? How can we build organizations that are economically successful and that create positive ecological and social impact at the same time? How can we get beyond the either-or-mode of thinking into a both-and-mode?

• Invite and “allow” new social habits: When do we consciously use which kind of human intelligence? When are we running in cognitive, in empathetic and in intuitive mode? How can we make sure that these modes enrich each other (instead of devaluating each other)?
• Foster awareness for different tempos: Which speed are we running at? Where is a high speed mode actually helpful, where do we need an intentional slowdown in order to expand the space? How can we provide a mutual sparring and supervision?
• Create space for collective intuition: How can we not only exchange on a factual level, but also connect on an intuitive level? Which kind of collective intuition is emerging? Which quality in relation and encounter is required?
• Hold purposeful meetings: How can we design meetings in a way that allows the above mentioned qualities to become a routine? How can we continuously practice the very large within the very small?