Taking cheerful responsibility for the whole

Many of us who are environmental and social activists operate from a one-down position. We do our bit through our local efforts, but we do not expect the whole system to change to become healthy and viable. Indeed, it appears that we generally do not even contemplate the possibility.

As a result, we operate within a 'glass ceiling of possibility' that unnecessarily constrains our influence. What if we are potentially far more influential than we realise? How might we get past our taken for granted limits?

One possibility comes from Ihaleakala Len, a Hawaiian healer. He takes the position that “I am responsible for everything I see - good and bad. It is all inside of me.” Responsibility in this context does not imply guilt or blame. It simply means that I observe that something is out of balance, and I choose to use my influence to correct it.

My influence has limits, of course. But the constraints may be less than I suppose. A physical metaphor from Aikido (a Japanese martial art) may be in order here.

Suppose an attacker grasps my arm with a powerful grip. If I struggle against him I may get nowhere.

However, I am stuck only because I struggle against the constraint. The constraint is real - he has my arm - but I need not allow him to control the rest of me. I can relax my arm and allow the rest of my body to move around my shoulder joint. Indeed, I can turn my body in a way that enables me to put my free arm around his shoulder and take him down.

So - in some ways we are constrained, and in other ways we are free to move.

Systems thinking comes in here as well. As I often say (following Donella Meadows) the most influential point of change in any human system is in people's thinking. Action follows. If we can catalyse a commitment to sustainable wellbeing as our national priority in Australia, many practical on the ground activities will become far easier. In addition, we will discover fresh possibilities for creating a healthy and viable society that never occurred to us before. So a commitment to whole system change and a passion for on-the-ground activity go together.

My suggestion, then, is that

· We each choose to take personal responsibility for evolving a viable society
· We think through what such an evolution entails
· And we publicly state and act upon our commitment

We shift from being intimidated by the system to accepting that we are responsible for the system and we are changing it. And we enlist others to join us.