#172 Adapt & Flourish ... or perish

     Our current situation globally is being described as an actual or imminent crisis. This is not CNN's 'newsentertainment' drivel, nor 'end of the world - repent!' ravings. A wide variety of intelligent, thoughtful, caring people are voicing an urgent call to profoundly shift human behavior. This of course depends entirely on an equally profound shift in each individual's consciousness.

        Ramo JC. "The Age of the Unthinkable. Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It." Little Brown & Co, NY, 2009.

     There was a previous global crises of this magnitude - for dinosaurs, which had dominated the earth for 135 million years. Dinosaurs failed the challenge of adapting to changing environment - "Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event" 65.5 million years ago. (Wikipedia) 

     Humans are intelligent, but too often behave in stunningly foolish ways - hence the current crises. A very good example: the intelligence, ingenuity and hard collaborative work required to build the Titanic AND the hubris and bewildering foolishness to ignore massive icebergs. Great intelligence sabotaged by stunningly foolish behavior is the history of mankind. 
       Sternberg RJ et al. Teaching for wisdom: what matters is not just what students know, but how they use it. London Review of Education 2007; 5(2): 143-58.      

     It seems that humans must experience a "disorienting dilemma", even a total "shipwreck", before seriously considering a new way of thinking and acting - transforming. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Our current world view (framework for living) has to collapse - we have to hit rock bottom - before we wake up and consciously attempt to adapt to new realities.
     Fortunately, we have several bodies of literature documenting how humans CAN & DO FLOURISH under the most extreme circumstances. Not all humans adapt - some react dysfunctionally: pretend nothing's happening, become nihilistic, cynical etc. But those who can adapt, do so regardless of how challenging the circumstance. They learn, and literally transform themselves.

     Transformative learning - the process whereby individuals engage in critical reflection to develop new perspectives, skills, & behaviors:
      1) disorienting dilemma experienced - a life event causes the learner to pause & question underlying beliefs & assumptions
      2) critically reflect on the disorienting dilemma to expose the learner’s limitations & areas for improvement
      3) address these limitations by acquiring new knowledge, skills, or attitudes.
      4) become transformed - have fresh perspectives & powerful means for enacting improvement.

     Wittich CM et al. Perspective: Transformative learning: a framework using critical reflection to link the improvement competencies in graduate medical education. Acad Med 2010; 85(11): 1790-3.

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