In the brave new world we in which we will soon live, when this chaos is over, significant changes will prevail. Will life be more complex? Will we downsize life as easily as we choose (as predicted) less square footage in our new homes? Will we work less; sabbatical more? Or will we choose a more robust version of life-work forever; sabbatical more and more and more?
In our world of constant newness, author Joshua Cooper Ramo (The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It, May 2009, Little,Brown) implores us not to live as if we are condemned victims.
According to Ramo, we should mix and match ideas right now. “Individuals have never had more power,” he states.
Here’s fodder for your mix-and-match:
1. Yes, the world’s current instability is reflected in your net worth, but ambition is alive. The ambition of the young might be to make new and faster Internet sites. Where does your ambition lead you? Ramo asks, “Do you have an instinct that we’ve arrived at a moment when you can pursue work that has been aching in your soul?” Perhaps your idea is to combine – time out of work – with current reality (plugging away at the job you have that in no way plucks your heart strings.) That’s as good a mix-and-match as any.
2. Will you become more benevolent and lend a hand to to one another? If service and personal values rise to the top of your priority, will you find the time to help in your community? Or will you take a different tack, pursuing a domestic “service trip” to help eradicate invasive plants in the Channel Islands in California or maintain trails in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. (This is Daniel Boone Territory so you should take the kids.)
3. While REVOLUTIONS (yes, we are in one) destroy a good deal of the old order, they also create new growth. “Travel, tourism and culture are our best hope at understanding and finding new growth,” according to Ramo. Look for it in Montmartre to hear bands like Wax Tailor or Hocus Pocus - the kind of sounds Ramo’s describes that knit together vinyl records, electronic sounds and life rhythms – sounds of engagement, sounds of the moment.
Or travel to Sonar, the annual three-day arts festival (begins June 18th!) in Barcelona that has a history of pulling together the newest ideas in music and film and anticipating the direction pop culture.
Ramo’s menu -of thoughts to contemplate and actions to consider – signals a time of recalculation. You are not being served history; you are cooking it. Contemplate and find the time to see the pleasure of creation so that you can fully participate and enjoy this unthinkable time you are living in. Yes?
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