Walkie-Talkie #5 'Next Level: What Lies Beyond the Map?'

Dear friends,

In Walkie-Talkie number five, I am walking on a forest path in the Julian Alps in Slovenia.

I'll spare you the story of how I got there, as it would have made this ‘talk’ too long.

But I'll continue where I left off last time leaning against the old tree, namely the fact that the old, mechanistic ‘map’ we have been projecting onto nature, onto living organisms and ourselves, is incorrect.

New (and not so new) developments in biology and systems thinking show us a world that is infinitely more complex, and in which harmony and cooperation in the natural world ultimately prove to be more important than competition.

But, and this is where we move to the ‘next level’, even when we look at nature and living organisms through the lens of systems thinking and try to map the complexity of ecosystems, we are still using a map (as the expression ‘to map’ in this sentence suggests).

Admittedly, it is a much better map, one that can be much more helpful in finding our place in the whole of our biosphere, but it is still a map.

And how does the world appear when we do not project any map or concept onto what we see and experience? And why is that important?

That's what I talk about on this lovely path through a forest in Slovenia.

Or at least, I make a humble beginning talking about it, because letting go of any concept or any map of the world is anything but easy (that is to say, it can indeed be easy, and it can even happen 'out of the blue', but that is for another time).

I would therefore like to invite you to join me for a walk along this beautiful path on a lovely sunny day in early October.

To be continued!

Thank you for reading and watching, and until the next episode.

All the best to you,

Filip

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