Five Best Inventions

Coffee and art
combined

Last week’s blogpost was entitled Five Worst Inventions. So, this week I am offering my thoughts on the Five Best Inventions, lest I be accused of negativity. I did not go through as rigorous a process as last week; I came up with the five without previously determining the criteria by which I would decide. The only similarity with process was that I was walking on the beach again when I came up with these five.

What I found interesting when I arrived at my top five was that three of them related to our creative and artistic endeavours. That’s appropriate, I thought, because it is our creativity, and artistry that contributes hugely towards our sense of well-being and our pleasure in life. That last sentence may sound intuitively, and logically, correct, yet the connection has been studied by researchers. As an example, this study from Malaysia ‘demonstrates that creativity is beneficial to subjective well-being.’¹

Here are my contenders for Five Best Inventions, in no particular order.

Painting. One of the favourite activities of young children at home, in pre-school, or primary school is drawing. There seems to be something innate about the activity that young children are drawn to.

The earliest known example of a drawing/painting by a human is that of a red hand stencil in Maltravieso Cave in Spain and was made by a Neanderthal more than 64,000 years ago. The earliest known figurative paintings are in caves in Indonesia and Borneo and are dated at more than 40,000 years old.

All cultures appear to have invented painting in one form or another – whether on rock, on wood, or on our own bodies. Painting allows us to be creative and expressive, as well as being a medium for the communication of a thought, idea, or story.

Painting was possibly a precursor to carving which was initially etching like depictions upon rock – petroglyphs being the technical term. The oldest of these are found at Murujuga, Western Australia and are dated at 40,000 to 50,000 years old. The site was declared a World Heritage Site in July 2025.

Painting and carving have undergone many changes and evolved differently in different cultures. It has given us the elaborate masks of New Guinea, the beauty of the Sistine Chapel, and the intricacy of Māori wood and greenstone carvings.

Painting is a marvellous invention, and we don’t have to be children to continue to enjoy viewing it or creating it.

Writing. Writing may well have evolved from painting. Writing enables us to tell stories and keep accounts. In the last few millennia it has provided the means to some of the world’s great literature. In western cultures, would we have a Shakespeare, an Emily Brontë, or a Tolstoy if not for the invention of writing?

Sumerian is thought to be the oldest written language, dating from about 3400 BCE. Early writing from this culture was of a book-keeping style, and then the writing down of poems or sagely advice from one generation to the next. The world’s first written fictional story appears to be the Epic of Gilgamesh written probably about 2100 BCE and, in poetic form, tells the tales of a Sumerian king.

Today our reading options are immense; somewhere between one million and four million novels are published each year. All thanks to the invention of writing.

Drums. When we think of arts, then not only does painting, sculpture, and literature come to mind, but so too does music. The first musical instruments to be invented were undoubtedly percussion instruments. The first membranophone (a drum constructed using a stretched membrane) can be traced to China in the period from 5500 – 2350 BCE and using alligator skins. Because skins tend to degrade, earlier drums may well have been invented without leaving a trace in the archaeological record.

Drums and drumming greatly enhance one of our other (human) artistic forms – dance. Today, the variety of types of drums is immense. There are the drums of the symphony orchestra, conga drums, the many drums of Africa, and in our modern age the drum kit of rock bands.

Drums continue to beat out the rhythms of dancing, marching, and are used in various shamanic and in other ritualistic settings.

Bicycles. As a means to assist us getting around, the bicycle surely cannot be beaten. Its environmental impact is insignificant, and it enables us to keep fit.

In 1817 the Dandy horse was invented – a two-wheeled machine that could be sat upon, steered, and propelled by pushing along with the feet. The first bicycle to incorporate a mechanical crank drive and pedals came into being in the 1860s.

Today, there are more than one billion bicycles in the world. It is a popular form of transport and gave rise to the sport of cycling. The Tour de France cycling race (lasting three weeks) is considered to be the world’s biggest annual sporting event, and certainly the most watched cycling event.

Coffee. After water, coffee vies with tea for the second-most consumed beverage in the world. The number of cafés in the world reaches into the tens (or even hundreds) of thousands. Shanghai is believed to be the city with the highest number of cafés, with over 8,530 in 2024. Australia is home to 27,000 coffee cafés.

The exact date of the invention of the coffee drink is indeterminate. Legend tells of an Ethiopian goat-herder in the 6^th century, named Kaldi, noticing that his goats took a liking to the bean. By 1000 CE Arab traders were bringing the bean back and cultivating it. By boiling the beans they created a drink they called qahwa which meant that which prevents sleep. Qahwa appears to be where we get the word coffee from.

Today more than 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day globally. For many, coffee is one of the world’s most pleasurable inventions.

So, get on your bicycle, bike down to your local café for a coffee, perhaps write a letter or poem whilst there, draw or paint a picture of your surroundings, or listen to a busker playing the bongoes on the pavement outside the café. What could be better?

Notes:

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8305859/#sec15-ijerph-18-07244  accessed 21 October 2025

Re. Reweaving The Web Of Life (Book Review)

Just over forty years ago Pam McAllister edited one of the most important books exploring the interface between feminism and nonviolence. With more than 50 contributors writing articles, letters, poems, and songs, Reweaving The Web Of Life¹ proved just how incisive and diverse could be the critique of patriarchy. It also helped to unlock the door into a new society beyond the confines and constraints of inequality and violence.

Pam McAllister and the other women (although two men did co-author one article, More Power Than We Want) contributing were not only pointing out the failings of patriarchy and the existing world-order, they were looking forward, expectantly, to a different future. Importantly, they recognised that the future and the present were intricately linked (one of the many wefts and warps woven into the book) together. As McAllister put it in her Introduction:

‘A new world, the world I long for, cannot be built with the tools, psychology, belief systems of the old. It will be born of the changes encoded in the details of our lives as we are living them now. The fabric of the new society will be made of nothing more or less than the threads woven in today’s interactions.’

The title of the book comes from the title of Catherine Reid’s essay – Reweaving the Web of Life ­– in which she tells the story of a group of women calling themselves The Spinners. The Spinners were allied with the “Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance” opposed to the construction and then continuance of a 620 MWe nuclear reactor on the Connecticut River.

Reid’s essay tells how The Spinners used thousands of yards of coloured yarn, threads, and strings which they secured to various trees, and then began spinning and weaving before the police could respond. Significantly, the nonviolent action of The Spinners took place just three days after the beginning of the accident at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor.²

The story of The Spinners is one of dozens of examples of the use of nonviolence by women cited in the book.

McAllister writes of how a Tarot card reading helped her with the strength she needed to write the book. One of the cards she took was labelled Strength and showed a woman stroking a lion. The convergence of feminism with nonviolence and strength is clear in the symbolism.

It is no coincidence that McAllister wove together the threads of feminism with those of nonviolence. In common with many feminists at the time, McAllister raged at ‘patriarchy’s brutal destructiveness’ and refused to adopt it’s (violent) ways. Furthermore, she asserted that she ‘refused to give in to despair or hate or to let men off the hook by making them the “other”.’

In that statement McAllister alluded to one of patriarchy’s underpinnings – that of separation and disconnection. McAllister, and the other contributors were having nothing of that sort of divisive thinking. For many within progressive movements of the time this (idea of non-separation) was quite a radical thought.

All but one of the contributors were US based, which was a deliberate decision on McAllister’s part. She intended following up with a book featuring contributors from other parts of the world. That idea morphed into two books presenting stories of women using nonviolence from all over the world: - You Can’t Kill The Spirit (1988) and This River of Courage (1991).

Reweaving the Web of Life is a landmark book, bringing together as it does, many contributors writing about the theory behind feminism and nonviolence, as well as telling stories of actual experience.

For anyone wishing to delve deeper into ways to re-weave the web of life, then this book is a must-read.

Notes:

1. Pam McAllister (ed.), Reweaving The Wed Of Life: Feminism and Nonviolence, New Society Publishers, Philadelphia, 1982

2. The Three Mile Island accident was a partial meltdown of one of the reactors at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania in March 1979. At the time, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rated the accident at Level 5 on its 7-level International Nuclear Event Scale. It remains the most significant nuclear accident in US commercial nuclear power plant history.

Colourful Revolutions

"Colourful Revolution" Macedonia 2016

Often when people think of revolutions they are thought of as violent uprisings. Indeed, it is interesting to note that those revolutions best known by the country in which they took place – the American, French, Russian, and Chinese for example – were all violent.

But, revolution need not be violent. In fact, there are probably more examples of non-violent revolutions than there are of violent ones. Intriguingly, many of these non-violent revolutions are known by a colour. Consider these revolutions that have taken place over the past few years.

Yellow Revolution. This non-violent revolution took place in the Philippines in 1986 as an uprising against the dictatorial rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Protestors wore yellow ribbons, influenced by the 1973 hit song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree by Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Orange Revolution. Following the disputed 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes took place arguing that Viktor Yanukovych had rigged the election. Yanukovych’s opponent, Viktor Yushchenko had orange as his campaign colour – giving the name of the revolution.

Rose Revolution. Following another disputed election, this time in Georgia, saw the resignation of Eduard Shevardnadze and the end of Soviet leadership in the country. The name comes from the final days when protestors stormed parliament with red roses in their hands.

Purple Revolution. Although the term Purple Revolution did not gain widespread use in Iraq, it became known by this colour after the US President George W Bush used it. The colour refers to the colour of dye used to stain the index fingers of voters to prevent multipole voting.

Blue Revolution. This revolution, in 2005, began in Kuwait in support of women’s suffrage. The name comes from the colour of the signs that demonstrators carried. Eventually, the Kuwaiti government acceded to the demands and women were given the right to vote in the 2006 elections.

Saffron Revolution. Named for the colour of the robes worn by Buddhist monks who were the leaders in this non-violent protest. The protests were a series of economic and political ones that took place in Myanmar in late 2007.

Yellow Vest Revolution. Sparked initially by French motorists upset by increased fuel costs, this movement grew to incorporate a number of other grievances. So-called because many of the protestors wore the hi-vis yellow vests associated with construction workers.

Tulip (Pink) Revolution. This revolution in Kyrgyzstan in early 2005 became violent (the “exception that proves the rule.”) The revolution was sparked by a disputed parliamentary election and the name refers to the yellow and pink colours adopted by the protestors.

White Paper Movement. A fire in an Urumqi apartment building on 25 November 2022 killed at least 10 people. The apartment had been locked down as part of China’s covid response. The fire and the deaths sparked demonstrations, with many participants holding up blank white paper. As one protestor said, ‘The white paper represents everything we want to say but cannot say.’ The lock-down was subsequently lifted, but other grievances have re-kindled the White Paper Movement.

Colourful Revolution. This Macedonian revolution in the middle of 2016 got its name from the different coloured paintballs thrown by protestors at government buildings in the nation’s capital, Skopje. The revolution was in opposition to the country’s Prime Minister (Nikola Gruevski) for his part in wiretapping thousands of Macedonian citizens.  

The names of other revolutions also had not colourful, but symbolic or metaphorical names. Think of the Kitchenware (Pots and Pans) Revolution in Iceland between 2009-11 protesting the handling of the financial crisis. In late 1989 the Velvet (Gentle) Revolution in Czechoslovakia ended the 41-year rule of the one-party Communist regime. Another revolution to stand up to Soviet rule was that of the Singing Revolution from 1987 to 1991 in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The three Baltic nations obtained their independence by almost literally singing for it.

All but one of the revolutions mentioned above (the Tulip Revolution) were inherently non-violent. Violence is not necessary for revolution. It could even be argued that violent revolution tends to simply bring in a different form of authoritarianism.

We might also observe something else from the naming of these revolutions. Symbols, colour, fun, and parody are significant features of non-violence. There is no fun in a violent revolution. But, I can be fairly certain that if I was to speak with a participant in the Baltic states Singing Revolution, they would tell me they had fun and that they felt a sense of communality with their revolutionary friends.

Going Back

Have you been involved in conversation with others about the state of the world and at some point been told: - But we can’t go back?

How do we handle such accusations and reality-checks?  Can we go back?

No, and yes.

Perhaps it is true that we cannot return to a time when there were: no cars, no refrigerators, no large shopping malls, no television, no mobile phones…

However, we can go back in another, more useful, and more valuable way.  We can go back to a former way of thinking.  Albert Einstein is credited with perhaps the most famous quotation regarding our thinking.

“We cannot solve problems using the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Einstein never actually said this, although he was the Chairman of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists who sent a telegram to prominent Americans in May 1946, in the wake of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  That telegram included the phrase,

“…a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”

In neither case did Einstein mean a thinking that simply produced different results.  He did not mean that we should apply our current way of thinking to come up with new ways of dealing with problems. 

Einstein was advocating an entirely different way of thinking.  He was advocating for a thinking placed within a much wider understanding of our human place in the world:

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

A similar understanding is suggested by indigenous peoples who exhort us to use different thinking processes and not simply steal the results of indigenous thinking.¹

It is almost seventy-five years since Einstein bemoaned our way of thinking, yet we continue to think – in the same way we have been thinking since at least the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (and possibly much earlier.)

We are still trying to resolve conflict using combative thinking and the strategies of warfare.

We are still trying to make political decisions based on adversarial debating procedures from centuries ago.

And, crucially, currently we are trying to solve the problems of climate chaos using the same technological thinking we used when we began building steam engines.

Such ways of thinking must change.  We must find ways of thinking that do not rely simply upon information and knowledge.  It has been said that “As information doubles, knowledge is halved, and wisdom is quartered.”²

Changing our thinking requires us to let go of our desire for control, mastery, and even of outcomes.  We need thinking that admits to our being “…a part of the whole called by us universe.”

Can we do it?  We do have thinking that is based in patterns, holism, and complexity.  We have forgotten them.  Let’s go back and look for them.

Notes:

1.  See especially: Tyson Yunkaporta, sand talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, Text Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, 2019.

2.  Ervin Laszlo & Jude Currivan, Cosmos: A Co-creator’s Guide to the Whole-World, Hay House Inc., 2008.

Gather Around The Hearth

What images arise when the word hearth is said? 

Perhaps a fire blazing in a stone or wooden cottage on a heath in northern Europe during a cold winter, a cauldron of soup on the boil.  Or perhaps a blazing fire in a cave with people wrapped up in animal furs.  Maybe an image from our childhood days around a fire in the living room listening to mother or father reading a bedtime story.

The hearth is central to our human journey.  Until the last half century or so we have probably sat around a hearth, sharing a meal, telling stories, and warming our bodies for millennia.  It may be only the last two thousandths of one percent of our human journey that we have not had a hearth to enjoy.

Is it any wonder then that the word hearth is the container for words such as: Heart, Earth, Hear, Ear, Art?  Perhaps its simple coincidence.  Perhaps its not.

Etymologically the word heart is derived from the Old English word heorte which, alongside the name for our internal organ, also included the sense of memory.  Further back, the word derives from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word kerd which also gives us words such as: cordial, courage, credence, creed, and concord.

Intriguingly, we get the word hearth from the PIE word kerta (meaning heat, fire,)  very similar to kerd.  The two words hearth and heart have been close cousins for millennia.

Dropping the H from the word hearth we get the word Earth.  Figuratively we may see that sitting around the hearth brings us closer to the earth, and being mindful of our earthly connection is symbolically signified in our sitting around the hearth.

Our ability to listen is held within the hearth, containing as it does the words hear and ear.  This reminds us of listening to stories; fireside stories, campfire stories, stories of our ancestors.  It reminds us to listen, listen to Mother Earth, listen to our shared stories of who we are and why we are here.  Hear and ear remind us to listen to the stories of elders, those who remember the stories of their grandparents, and their grandparents before them, stretching through many many generations.

And, right in the middle of hearth is art.  Again, perhaps coincidental, perhaps not.  Whether coincidence or intentional we are reminded of our creativity.  Stories are creative means of telling our history, our mythology, our knowledge and wisdom.  We might also picture our ancestors sitting around a hearth, fire blazing, in the middle of a cave watching a colleague painting some of the first cave art.

When we trace the word art back linguistically we find that it is derived from a word that meant to fit together and also gives us words such as: arm, army, harmony, order, ordinary, and ornate.  Once again, we see (or hear) a recognition that we are part of everything, not separate.  Our art speaks to us of this connection.

Hearth suggests fire.  For time immemorial we have used fire to warm ourselves, to cook over, and to tell stories around.  The phrase “keep the home fires burning” is a reference to the importance of place.  We keep fires burning so that we can offer a welcoming place of warmth, comfort, and companionship.

In Aotearoa (New Zealand – my birthplace) Māori have the phrase Ahi Kā, literally meaning burning fire, it means to keep fires alight, signifying continuous occupation and a link to the ancestors.

So, the word hearth reminds and suggests to us just how connected we are, and how we are part of the earth, not separate from it.  When we open our heart and our ears and truly hear the voices of elders, of our ancestors, of Mother Earth, then we are able to build a fire that warms us, nourishes us, keeps us connected, and provides a space for us to tell stories.

Opportunity in Collapse

Source: pixabay.com

When we look at what has been going on in the world since the new millennium began we could be excused for thinking that everything is collapsing.  What was normal and safe is no longer so.  The institutions that held society together no longer seem to do so.  Our belief systems are threatened – from within and without.  Indeed, do we know what to believe any more?

We sense betrayal.  Our political leaders have betrayed us so we reach out desperately to another political voice.  We close down and choose to “go it alone.”  We reject our commonalities in favour of building  physical, ideological and emotional walls.

It’s frightening, because we don’t know where the safe ground is.  Just when we think we have found it we find that it is just a mirage.  The promises of change by our (new) leaders turn out to be just that – promises with no substance.

What do we do when everything is collapsing?  Where do we look for some safe ground?  How do we return to normal?  When the unthinkable happens, can we imaging the thinkable?

That is the question for us:  how do we imagine something different?  Can we find the opportunities in the middle of this collapse?  How do we respond?

Fear or Love

It has been said that humans respond from two base feelings – love and fear.  All other feelings are derivatives of these two.

We could respond with fear and there are signs that many of us are doing that.  When we allow our fears to take over then we respond with one of the three classic responses: flight, fight or freeze.  If we choose to flee then we attempt to do so back to where we came from.  It was safe back there so we try to rush back.  We look for the old story, the old story of how the world was, or at least, how we thought it was.  But the old story no longer satisfies, it doesn’t tell us how to respond in this new millennium.

If we choose to fight then we easily fall into the trap of hatred.  We find enemies who have “done this to us.”  We look around and find “others” to blame.  As many teachers have taught for centuries, hatred is not the answer.  When we hate others, we become hateful (even hating ourselves) and all that happens is that hatred is perpetuated.  It is certainly not reduced.

And freezing?  That is no solution either.  We slip into despair, frustration, depression, and withdrawal. 

If we flee we go searching for old saviours.  If we fight we look for new saviours who are going to lead us against our enemies and make us great again.

There are no saviours.  There are knights in shining armour.  There are no Amazonian warrior women who will defeat our enemy.  There are no rescuers – be they political leaders (or parties), business leaders, religious teachers or sports stars. 

What happens if we respond from a feeling of love?  One of the first things we remember is that we are all in this together.  There is no “other.”  When we recall this we can respond with empathy and compassion.  We open up to our vulnerability and recognise that being uncertain is not a burden.  Vulnerability allows us to connect with one another, as well as to connect with our own soul and spirit.

Uncertainty allows us to ask questions.  It allows us to ask “what is the new story that is emerging here?”  And when we remember that we are all in this together we begin to look towards the margins.  We begin to find answers amongst the dispossessed, the unacknowledged, the despised.  We find answers amongst the admonished, the forgotten and the exiled.  We even find answers in the forgotten parts of our selves.  We find answers in our souls. 

It is no coincidence that there is a connection between finding these answers and vulnerability.  To be willing to go to the margins of society or to search our deep souls requires us to be vulnerable.  Being vulnerable allows us to recognise that answers lie in places that do not exist in the old story.


When this happens we begin to create, and co-create, our new story.

From Conflict to Creative Collaboration (Book Review)

What would a conference, workshop, or meeting look like if the understandings of complexity and chaos theories ruled?  Perhaps they would look like the meetings Rosa Zubizarreta describes  in From Conflict to Creative Collaboration.  Instead of meetings being brought to a focus point and a decision point, such meetings would widen things and would be choice-creating.  Instead of consensus, these meetings would seek diversity.

Welcome to the world of Dynamic Facilitation.  A world expertly described by Rosa Zubizarreta.  Indeed her book is sub-titled A User’s Guide to Dynamic Facilitation.  Rosa is the founder of Dia Praxis, a US-based consultancy working extensively with Dynamic Facilitation.

So, what is it?  What is Dynamic Facilitation?

Where traditional facilitation seeks to find commonality amongst meeting participants, Dynamic Facilitation seeks to uncover the differences and the diversity.  Where traditional facilitation aims to obtain consensus decisions, Dynamic Facilitation opens up an ever expanding series of choices.  Where traditional facilitation manages conflict in groups, Dynamic Facilitation encourages conflict (although not one-on-one adversarial conflict).  Where traditional facilitation creates and sticks to an agreed upon agenda, Dynamic Facilitation goes with whatever is arising at the moment.

It all sounds chaotic doesn’t it?  it is, and that is its beauty and its strength.

The world does not work in a nice, orderly, linear manner, and nor do our thinking patterns.  At times we will be solving problems and creating solutions, at other times attempting to define the problem, sometimes even when we think we have solved it.  In the next moment we may be recognising the disadvantages and pitfalls of a certain solution, and then we will be seeking further information.  Throw all these thinking patterns into a group setting and it becomes obvious that thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving, are not necessarily as ordered as we might like them to be.  The cautionary tale in all this is that when someone, or some group, attempts to constrain thinking within ordered, linear, so-called logical, patterns, then unexpected or unwanted outcomes emerge.  We may find that some in the group are disgruntled, others withdrawn, some angry and disillusioned, and yet others outright saboteurs.

Dynamic Facilitation, in the manner well presented by Rosa Zubizarreta, understands and works with the non-linearity of our thinking patterns.  Dynamic Facilitation says it doesn’t matter if one thought or expression doesn’t logically follow another – just get it down, record it.

All this is in keeping with emergence – the child of complexity and chaos theories.  Emergence tells us that when a number of factors, players, or ideas come together then sometimes unexpected, even unexplained, outcomes can emerge.  Often, these outcomes are highly creative. 

Rosa Zubizarreta has written an excellent guide to Dynamic Facilitation in an easily understood manner.  She has not portrayed Dynamic Facilitation as the panacea of facilitation, with a final chapter addressing some of the pitfalls and instances where Dynamic Facilitation may not be appropriate.


As a bonus there is a foreword by Peggy Holman who has written much about the power of emergence.  This foreword lays out neatly what the reader can expect over the following 100 pages.

Changing the World One Coffee at a Time

How do you change the world?  There are many emergencies that face us.  Whether the emergency that concerns you is a global one (climate change, refugees, war, famine etc), a national one (the crime rate, domestic violence, teenage suicide etc) or focused at a local level (green space for children to play in, urban development etc) then I suggest we all have a cup of coffee.

But this is not just any coffee.  Coffee here is a simple acronym that helps us think about how we undertake change in a complex, chaotic world.  COFFEE stands for: Creative Opportunities Flow From Encouraging Encounters.  Let’s tease out each of these words a little:

Creative.  To paraphrase Einstein, we cannot solve the world’s emergencies with the type of thinking that built them.  We will need our collective, diverse creative talents.  Creativity implies being open to new and unexpected thoughts, ideas and intuitions.  It is also worth noting that the idea of left brain – right brain is a myth; so we can all be creative.  The creativity we need is not of a technological nature either.  We need a creativity of spirit, a creativity of consciousness.  We need soul-centred and eco-centred creativity.

Opportunities.  The word derives from old Latin: ob = towards, and portus = harbour.  So, opportunity represents movement towards a favourable place.  It means seeking, being inquisitive and curious.  It means not accepting the status quo.  We can find opportunity in many guises, even in adversity.

Flow.  “Go with the flow” is a common phrase and here it has a similar sense.  Why battle the current?  Why not, as many Eastern martial arts practitioners advise, use the energy that exists.  It does not mean that we are always heading towards our goal, occasionally the flow may become an eddy, a whirlpool or cataracts.  As any kayaker knows, fighting against these flows will often end in disaster.  Going with the flow means staying in the now, the present.  However, it does not imply a non-thinking, laissez-faire, laid-back approach.  It is active.  Much like the kayaker, who knows that to stay in the flow they must keep paddling, making sure that the kayak does not get swept against the rocks or flipped upside-down by a standing wave.
  
From.  What we do emerges from our encounters.  Our actions are not pre-determined or planned by a far-away authority and then dictated to us.  Change starts with and flows from us, and it flows from the present; we are not dictated by the future.  This means that we must be wary of the cult of expertness.  Certainly listen to and use the knowledge of experts, but when it comes to decision-making, we all have a role to play.

Encouraging.  Who operates better when praised, acknowledged or congratulated?  Most of us think and create at a higher level when we are encouraged. This means that we are encouraged not just in our successes but also in our failures or mistakes.  There are many skills and techniques involved in being an encouraging person: creative listening, empathy, being present, building trust, speaking thoughtfully, appropriate use of humour, offering food.

Encounters.  In a world of complexity we need to embrace our diversity of experience, knowledge, skills, and wisdom.  This means we must encounter one another.  We must join in respectful dialogue, in circle discussion.  There are a myriad techniques for encouraging encounters (e.g. World Café, Appreciative Enquiry, Open Space Technology, Future Search, Citizen Juries ….)  Furthermore, our encounters are ones in which power shifts from the top to the bottom, from the centre to the margins, from hierarchies to interconnected networks.

Although I’ve just thrown out some thoughts about each of these six words, the power of the acronym is in its whole.  It tells us that if we create open, and caring spaces (Encouraging Encounters) then the solutions (Creative Opportunities) to the many emergencies we face are able to emerge (Flow From).

Thus, if we are going to overcome the emergencies that face us, we are going to have to embrace complexity, chaos and emergence.  We are going to have to meet one another, discover each other’s skills, share our collective wisdom.  Mostly, we are going to have to talk with one another (including strangers) over COFFEE.

You’ll notice that this acronym says nothing about applied techniques,  nor does it offer a step-by-step process.  Instead, it talks about a way of thinking, a mindset if you like.  This is deliberate.  In my professional work I have not presented solutions; rather I have sought to create spaces within which people can discover their own solutions.  I’m not about to change that here.  But I do have a challenge for you.  That is this: how can COFFEE assist in your own work for social justice and sustainability?

This acronym is at the heart of a book soon to be published.  OPPORTUNITIES EMERGING: Social Change in a Complex World goes into greater depth on each of the words of the acronym, as well as looking at the overall meaning of the acronym.  The book also provides a context within which complexity can be readily understood so that those of us dealing with complexity are better equipped to understand its nuances.  Check out the facebook page here.

Creating Creativity (Part 2 of 2)

In last weeks blog I looked at some of the blocks and hindrances that impede our individual and collective creativity.  This week I offer a few techniques for harnessing and encouraging our creativity.

Be Curious and Keep Questioning

Last week I began with a quote from Albert Einstein.  I’ll begin this week with another from him:

“The important thing is to not stop questioning.  Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

As children we constantly asked questions: “Why is the sky blue?” “Why does grandad use a walking stick?” “Why do I have to go in the car?” Indeed, by the age of 4 we are asking around 300 questions each and every day. Between two and five years of age most children will have asked 40,000 questions.

But then, during our elementary, or primary, school years we stop asking questions. Our education system teaches us that answers are more important than questions, so we are discouraged from asking questions.

Research indicates that being curious stimulates and strengthens the brain. As it is for muscles, the more we use the brain the healthier it remains.  And that is excellent news for developing our creative powers.  When we exercise our curiosity we obtain the following three benefits as well:

• We are motivated to learn and we become better learners.
• Our personal growth is stimulated and the connections we make with people is deepened when we first meet them. 
• Our sense of personal meaning and purpose in life is heightened when we are curious. There is always something new to explore, discover, or learn.

Inner Listening

We know it is important to learn and develop our skills for listening to other people.  To harness our creativity learning to listen to our inner voice is also important – we call it our intuition.  It is worth noting that intuition is not a magical process whereby an idea or answer just pops into our head out of nowhere.  Intuition is literally learning from within: in-tuition.  Intuition is “nothing more and nothing less than re-cognition” according to the psychologist Herbert A Simon.

How do we develop our intuition? Most writers on the topic seem to agree that there are four barriers that we need to overcome:

1. Declutter your mind. Tapping into your inner wisdom is difficult if there is a lot of clutter in the way. You will find your own way to declutter; some ways are to go for a walk, get into nature, listen to music or meditate. Perhaps a shower.  Have you noticed how often you’ll get a good idea in the shower? It’s surprisingly common.¹  Whatever you do, you need to give your mind freedom.
2. Ignore what you know.  Intuition deals more with feelings, insights and emotions than it does with facts and figures.  This does not mean that you reject the facts and figures, just put them aside and ask yourself how you feel about the question, issue or problem?  How is your body responding?
3. Get out of your head.  Go with your gut.   Often we get a “gut feeling” before our brain takes over and becomes the “knower.” Get in tune with your gut. Do your stomach muscles contract and tighten or do they relax?  Does your heart and chest feel as if it is expanding?
4. Let go the need to control.  Our rational mind tells us that we should be in control at all times.  However, when we wish to tap into our intuition we need to surrender this desire, and trust that our intuition will provide us with insights without our need to dictate what those insights might be.

Improvisation

Anyone who has attended a Playback Theatre performance (or watched the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?) will have roared with laughter at the antics of the actors as they act out, without pre-prepared scripts, scenes, situations and scenarios from the random suggestions of the audience.  Those of us in the audience marvel at the ingenuity, spontaneity, and creativity the actors bring to the performance.  How do they do it, we may ask?

Can we adopt the ideas of improvisation (Improv as it has come to be known) for our own explorations of creativity?  The answer, according to at least one Improv teacher and writer is a resounding “yes.”  Improv, says Patricia Ryan Madson, is based on 13 very simple maxims.²

1. Say Yes.  Saying yes means being open to what is happening, going with the flow, being open to the opportunities that arise.  Saying yes builds on the ideas already in existence.  Saying no, on the other hand, can be a desire to control the flow, which then leads to everyone being stifled.
2. Don’t Prepare.  Too much planning can block being in the present; it can distract from listening to others.
3. Just Show Up.  Just be there, make the effort.  Woody Allen is reputed to have remarked that “eighty percent of success is showing up.”
4. Start Anywhere.  We can lose focus, energy, or time by trying to figure out where to start.  Indeed, worrying about where to start can lead to never starting at all.
5. Be Average.  There is no need to strive for perfection (it’s not possible anyway), just be natural.  Bring who you are to the situation, not who you think you ought to be.
6. Pay Attention.  Although being aware of your own thoughts, ideas and feelings is helpful, being overly focused on them can mean missing the opportunities that are offered by other people or the situation.
7. Face The Facts.  Worrying about the future is pointless, so too is agonising over the past.  Mark Twain, with characteristic wit, noted that, “Some of the worst things in my life never happened.”  Things may not be ideal but they are what they are.
8. Stay The Course.  Keep with it.  Keep in mind the purpose, not what you are doing or even the goal.  The purpose of meeting with someone, or acting with others, is far more important than the goal you have set yourself.  How many times have we heard the phrase “life's higher purpose” and then forgotten it to think about our immediate goals?
9. Wake Up To The Gifts.  Opportunities are everywhere, be open to them.
10. Make Mistakes, Please.  Last weeks blog noted how the fear of failure can block creativity.  But be wary: this is not a excuse for slipshoddiness.
11. Act Now.  This maxim focuses on acting, not doing.  Sometimes the best action may be doing nothing, or simply observing.
12. Take Care Of Each Other.  Share and share alike.
13. Enjoy The Ride.  Not everything is fun, but we can still enjoy the moment, the situation, the company, for what it is.  When we come from a place within us that is joyful, then almost any situation is tolerable.  We cannot have excitement in our lives all the time, but we can enliven our lives.

Finally, a note about what sort of creativity is needed.  There is much technical innovation in the world today, our rate of technological change is increasing rapidly.  But technological innovation is not the sort of new thinking that Einstein was talking about 70 years ago.  He was talking about a radically different type of thinking.  He was talking about a thinking and creativity that went more to the heart of who we are – not increasing the machinery with which we do things.  I’ll leave it to you to think about that – creatively.

Notes:
1.  Research by the German bathroom and kitchen fixtures company Hansgrohe SE, in 2014, found that 72% of 4,000 people surveyed from 8 countries reported new insights whilst standing in a shower. Scott Barry Kaufman Ph.D. (the researcher) comments that “It’s both surprising and fascinating to learn that people are more creative in the shower than they are at work, with Hansgrohe’s findings reinforcing existing research on the importance of relaxation for creative thinking.”

2.  Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just show up, Bell Tower, New York, 2005

Creating Creativity (Part 1 of 2)

Albert Einstein is credited with one of the most oft quoted sayings in the world.  I will quote it again here, although it appears that Einstein didn’t actually use the words the way they are quoted:¹

“We can’t solve problems using the same thinking we used when we created them”

These words have become more and more critical as the years and decades have passed.  The telegram from which they have been abstracted was sent seventy years ago at the height of nuclear tensions.  We still live with the threat of nuclear terror.  Additionally we face new issues, problems and concerns: environmental degradation, rising inequality, terrorism, refugee crises, climate change, rapid urbanisation to name but a few.  What is more is that all these are interconnected and the world is becoming increasingly complex.

We are still using the same thinking that Einstein and the others of his committee referred to in 1946.
 
We must think differently.  We must think creatively.

Perhaps enabling citizens and communities to recognise their collective creativity is one of the most fundamental tasks that a community worker can undertake.  If we critically appraise the roles that our world leaders take on we must conclude that acting creatively is not one of them.  It is up to us.  The creative opportunities arise from the bottom, not from the top.  Creative opportunities can be found on the margins, not from central decree.

Those working from an empowerment model, or a strengths based model can help to create creativity.  We can help people see the blocks to their own creativity and we can offer tools and techniques to help strengthen the creativity that is already there.  This blog piece (Part 1) will address a couple of the common creativity blocks and hindrances.  Next week, Part 2, will look at some tools and techniques for fostering creativity.

Left Brain – Right Brain Myth

One of the biggest blocks to creativity is the belief that creativity applies only to artists, musicians, potters, writers, dancers, actors or other such people.  We all have creative potential.  The notion of the left brain-right brain duality has sadly contributed to this cultural myth.  And it is just that – a myth.  Our brains are actually a lot more complex than the simple dualism of right brain – left brain that much of popular psychology has led us to believe.  Indeed, activities like creativity (and rationality for that matter) are more whole-brain activities. 

In the 1960s scientists cut the structure (corpus callosum) that connects the left and right brains of epilepsy sufferers in an attempt to cure them.  They then looked at what sides of the brain were involved in language, maths, drawing etc., and found that one side was more likely to be involved in some functions than the other.  Popular psychology took this to mean that we are all either left brain dominant or right brain dominant.  But this failed to recognise that the experiments were with unconnected brain hemisphere, and neuroscientists have never held to the left-right brain myth.  In 2013 researchers at the University of Utah studied the connected brains of more than 1,000 people and found that,²

"It is not the case that the left hemisphere is associated with logic or reasoning more than the right, (and that) creativity is no more processed in the right hemisphere than the left."

Our culture, unfortunately, would rather we considered ourselves as consumers or producers, rather than as creators.  The first step towards taking back our creative power is to break down the myths and stereotypes.

Fear of Failure

A further hindrance in our creativity is our fear of failure.  In fact, fear of failure has it’s own word – atichyphobia.  Symptoms of atichyphobia can include; a reluctance to try anything new, anxiety, a low sense of worth, or perfectionism (whereby we are willing to do only those things that we know we can succeed at).  But we know from a number of historical episodes that failure can often lead to great success.  Here are just two such cases:

Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, reputedly tried 1,000 different filaments for his light bulb, none of which worked. The story goes that a journalist queried him on this and asked why he didn’t give up after 1,000 failures. Edison famously replied “I haven’t failed 1,000 times, I’ve just proven 1,000 ways in which it doesn’t work.”

Michael Jordan is credited with being the greatest basketballers to have ever lived. Here is what he had to say about failure and success:

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

When it comes to collective creativity there are some further blocks that get placed in the way, amongst them:

• A desire to conform to group norms.  If group members prize harmony over encouraging their fellows to offer differing opinions, then creativity can be hard to come by.
• Some groups may have no history or experience with working together and so a collaborative approach becomes difficult to achieve.  It may be that members are used to a competitive culture and so will be suspicious of a more cooperative style.
• If the working patterns amongst members is one of making judgments, being critical or constant evaluation, then the openness and transparency required for creativity will be elusive.
• Some group members are more inclined towards the introversion end of the spectrum and so if those of an extroverted persuasion become more dominant in the group, then those who are more introspective or tentative about sharing their views will tend to switch off and not offer their ideas or insights.

Next weeks blog piece will look at some of the tools and techniques for fostering our creativity.

Notes:
1.Einstein was the Chairman of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists who sent a telegram to hundreds of prominent Americans in May 1946, in which the following phrase was used: “…a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.” This telegram came in the wake of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and at a time of heightened nuclear tensions.  Somehow that extract from the telegram came to be attributed to Einstein himself and re-formatted to the quotation about not being able to solve problems with the same thinking that created them.  Certainly, when Einstein was interviewed a few months later he reiterated the quote from the telegram and said to the interviewer (Michael Amrine) “We must abandon competition and secure cooperation.”

2. Nielsen JA, Zielinski BA, Ferguson MA, Lainhart JE, Anderson JS (2013) An Evaluation of the Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis with Resting State Functional Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71275. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071275

Creative Waste

In a world beset by many complex, interrelated issues and concerns, are we letting the creative talents that we need go to waste?  Certainly the thinking that we have been using to solve these issues has made little impact, if any.  As Einstein is often quoted:¹

“We can’t solve problems using the same thinking we used when we created them.”

We need to be more creative.

We have the creative talent.  We have imaginative powers, and we have the resources.  But, are we using them to the most benefit, or are we wasting our collective creative abilities.  Perhaps the one area of human activity that most utilises our creative talents is the advertising industry.  Creativity and lateral thinking are part and parcel of this industry.  And, it’s significant.

Globally, almost $600 billion is spent annually on advertising.  World-wide nearly 1.2 million people are employed in advertising.²  Most of this activity is concentrated in the North American and European markets. 

What is the purpose of advertising?  To get us to buy, to consume.  Not just to consume, but to consume more and more.  The western-styled consumerist lifestyle is what is primarily targeted.  The top 10 companies by advertising spend in the world are made up of car manufacturers (Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors), the entertainment and broadcasting industry (Walt Disney, Comcast), communications (AT & T, Verizon), beauty products (L’Oreal), the finance sector (American Express), and consumer goods (Proctor and Gamble).  All of these, arguably, could be considered western luxuries.  Between them, these 10 companies spend $22 billion annually on advertising.  It is difficult to imagine that any of this advertising spend is going towards helping to tackle the various issues and concerns besetting us.

Consumption is at the root of many of the issues and concerns for which we need the new thinking that Einstein identified.  Our creative talent is going to waste.  Not only are we not using our creative abilities in solving these issues and concerns; we are using our creative talents to create the issues and concerns.  If we stopped to think about it, surely we would recognise a collective madness within that vicious cycle. 

A highly vicious and pernicious cycle it is too, because all of us are subject to it and get trapped within it.  Every day we are bombarded with hundreds of adverts and other messages telling us to “consume, consume, consume.”  Many of these messages we don’t even notice.  Product placement is notable in this regard.  Products, and their corporate logo, are placed, seemingly innocently, within movies that we watch.  Next time you’re at the movies, spend a little time being alert to the placement of products within the movie story-line.  You may be surprised.  One of the most famous examples of this was in the 1982 movie ET.  An American sweet, Reece’s Pieces, was prominently placed in that movie.  Afterwards, sales of the sweet rocketed a staggering 65%.³

Yes, we need to be creative in tackling our issues and concerns.  But, we are wasting what creative talent we have.  It’s time to stop the waste.  It’s time to redirect our creative abilities.

Notes:
1. It seems that Einstein never actually said this, although he was the Chairman of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists who sent a telegram to hundreds of prominent Americans in May 1946, in which the following phrase was used: “…a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.” This telegram came in the wake of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and at a time of heightened nuclear tensions.  Somehow that extract from the telegram came to be attributed to Einstein himself and re-formatted to the quotation about not being able to solve problems with the same thinking that created them.  Certainly, when Einstein was interviewed a few months later he reiterated the quote from the telegram and said to the interviewer (Michael Amrine) “We must abandon competition and secure cooperation.”
2. Global Advertising Agencies Market Research Report, July 2016

3. A Product Placement Hall of Fame, Business Week Online 1998, www.businessweek.com/1998/25/b3583062.htm

How Should We Think, Mr Einstein?

Albert Einstein is one of the most quoted historical figures: possibly the most oft quoted scientist.  One of his most famous quotations is,

“We can’t solve problems using the same thinking we used when we created them.”

It seems that Einstein never actually said this, although he was the Chairman of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists who sent  a telegram to hundreds of prominent Americans in May 1946, in which the following phrase was mentioned:

“…a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”

This telegram came in the wake of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and at a time of heightened nuclear tensions.  Somehow that extract from the telegram came to be attributed to Einstein himself and re-formatted to the quotation about not being able to solve problems with the same thinking that created them.  Certainly, when Einstein was interviewed a few months later he reiterated the quote from the telegram and said to the interviewer (Michael Amrine)

“We must abandon competition and secure cooperation.”

Whatever the exact wording, or the circumstances at the time, the quotation that opened this blog poses a question.  What sort of thinking should we be using?  Unfortunately, Albert Einstein is no longer with us (he died 61 years ago this week) and we are unable to ask him directly.  However, we can get some clues from some of his other quotes and writings.  Here are just six modes of thinking that Einstein used and mentioned.

Simplicity

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”  We  have a tendency to want to make things complicated, whereas often the best answer lies in simplicity.  Some professions thrive on making things complicated, with esoteric language and customs that help to exclude those not in the know.  Think of the legal profession, accountancy, politics, management – all maintain their power partly by creating a complicated system that others cannot understand.  Since Einstein’s death Complexity Theory has become an arena of scientific study.  But even here, we note that often the keys to unlocking complex situations are very simple.¹ 

Intuition and Imagination

Einstein loved to play his violin and was an accomplished pianist, and often said that it was when lost in his music that some of his scientific inspirations appeared.  Contrasting imagination with logic, Einstein concluded that “logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere.” 

Einstein called the intuitive mind a sacred gift, whereas he called the rational mind a faithful servant.  Twenty years after Einstein’s death Robert Samples published a book² that recalled how Einstein viewed the two minds and concluded, “It is paradoxical that in the context of modern life we have begun to worship the servant and defile the divine.”  Thus giving rise to another oft quoted saying but misattributed to Einstein.

Curiosity

“I have no special talent,” claimed Einstein, “I am only passionately curious.”  Indeed, it was his curiosity that led Einstein to his famous Special Relativity Theory in 1905.  Noticing that two apparent truths of science appeared to be contradictory, Einstein got curious and wondered why.  He realised that the reason was that both were based on an assumption that he proceeded to tear apart – resulting in his famous theory.

As children we continually ask questions, but eventually we lose that capacity when we get to school where we are taught that the answers are of greater importance.  Einstein disagreed saying that “The important thing is not to stop questioning.  Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”  Perhaps it was because of his desire to keep questioning that Einstein was expelled from school at the age of 16. His teacher claimed he had a “rebellious attitude.”

Make Mistakes

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new,” Einstein is reported to have said.  Many scientists and researchers will immediately see the wisdom in that phrase, and Einstein himself flippantly said that “if we knew what we were doing it would not be called research would it.” 

Don’t Rely on Technology

For a man whose scientific output was crucial in the development of one of the world’s most powerful technologies – nuclear energy – it may seem odd that he would be sceptical of technology.  However, in December 1917 he wrote to his friend, Heinrich Zangger, that “All of our exalted technological progress, civilization for that matter, is comparable to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal. ”  This was almost three decades before the destructive force of Einstein’s equations was unleashed in Japan.  In that same letter to his friend, Einstein laments the lapse towards amorality and says that “I come to value charity and love of one’s fellow being above everything else.”

Connection and Cooperation

Although Einstein did a lot of his work alone he was acutely aware of the interconnectedness of life.  “When we survey our lives and endeavours,”  he noted, “we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings.”  

Einstein did not limit this thinking to humans.  “Our task,” he exhorts, “must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” 

When we consider the problems that beset us today, arguably more complex and more interconnected than in Einstein’s lifetime, the wisdom of this last thinking aspect should become instantly apparent.  There are signs that it is becoming so. 

Are these six modes of thinking part of the thinking that we are using today when facing our problems?  Amongst the world’s leadership I have my doubts.  However, at community level and amongst grassroots networks the use of this type of thinking is becoming more and more apparent.  The task of these movements will be to infiltrate our cultures, our decision-making bodies, and our institutions with these ways of thinking.

The last word, should be another quote from Albert Einstein.  This one ties it all together, and was written just one year before his death.  In it we glimpse a realisation on Einstein’s part that our thinking must look within for answers, rather than suggesting that our problems are “out there” and hence the solutions are “out there” also.  That is the real new thinking that we need.

“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.”

1. For example, the Mandelbrot Fractal (possibly the most widely known visual representation of complexity) is produced using a very simple equation: z_n+1 = z_n² + c    

2. Robert Samples, Metaphoric Mind: A Celebration of Creative Consciousness, Addison-Wesley, Boston, 1976

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis: art in social movements

Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937

Ars longa, vita brevis is one of those Latin maxims that occasionally gets quoted.  Translated as art is long, life is short, the saying is full of meaning.  One of those possible meanings is that the art we create today may survive not only our individual lifetimes, but possibly have significance well beyond the space that we inhabit.

If art is long then those of us working in community development, advocating for social justice, or seeking sustainable futures, cannot ignore its power.  Art can inspire.  Art can be a learning aid.  Art can send a message.  Art can unleash our creative talents.  Let’s use it.

The use of the arts in social change movements has a long and proud history.  One of the earliest examples of activist theatre, for instance, dates to 425 BC when Aristophanes play, Acharnians, was performed at the Athenian Lenaia.  More recently we have seen the development of guerrilla theatre, emerging especially from within the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

This highly public, in-your-face, form of theatre brought the anti-war message into the public sphere perhaps more than any other medium did.  It could not be ignored.  Guerrilla theatre struck a chord not only for those who witnessed it, but also for for those who performed – most of whom were not actors in the traditional sense.

In another art form Picasso’s Guernica is one of the most recognisable paintings in the world.  The painting is an indictment of the use of warfare in resolving differences.¹  Painting too has been taken to the streets, and street walls.  Who can dismiss the impact that Banksy has had on our awareness of consumerism, globalisation, and corporate misdeeds?

Musically there have been artists moved by a desire to create music that ranges from anti-war anthems such as Buffy Saint-Marie’s Universal Soldier through to those, like John Lennon, imagining better worlds.  More recently, the current shootings of black people in the US have spawned dozens of rap, hip-hop and other protest songs.

Literature too has been a favoured medium by many that would seek a more socially just world, or warn against techno-corporate takeovers of our lives.  Books such as 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, and The Dispossessed, come to mind.

But art and social commentary does not, and should not, start and stop with the professionals.  Those of us working in social movements can use art just as creatively and usefully as those for whom it is their livelihood.

Guerrilla theatre has already been alluded to, but even within our collective learning endeavours using art can have great power.  We can use paint, collage, movement, role-playing, songs, poetry, drums, clapping, chanting, or story-telling to explore our understandings and create visions of the futures that we want for ourselves and our grandchildren.

Indeed, the more we use the arts the more we tap into creative sources and intuitions that we did not know we had.  We can all be creative and artistic.  We may not pen a tune that will rise to the top of the hit parade, we may not paint a portrait that hangs in the Louvre, and we may not write the bestseller reviewed by Oprah.  But we all have some degree of creativity within us.  For some it may be a few words of a poem, for others it may a splash of colour on a poster, and others it may be a particular dance that evokes connection with the earth.

For those facilitating social action groups it is important to remember that everyone is different and that we have differing learning styles and differing ways of expressing what we feel and think.  The greater the variety of methods used the better.

Art is definitely long.  Art is also able to change the world.

1. Pablo Picasso’s Guernica hangs in Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.  It was painted in 1937.  Widely recognised as one of the world’s most powerful and moving anti-war paintings, it is huge, measuring 3.49 metres in height and 7.76 metres in length.  Picasso is believed to have painted it in response to the bombing of Guernica, a village in the Basque region of Spain by German and Italian planes.