The world of human beings is becoming exponentially more complex.
Of course, one can point to the (now) intricate mechanisms by which we acquire food, healthcare, education, property, etc. But beyond the fulfillment of these basic needs, the world of ideas, categories, and concepts is growing in complexity too.
Today’s generations are expected to cope (successfully!) with this extreme increase in the world’s complexity. And as we are seeing today, not all humans cope the same way.
I was recently loaned a stimulating book on leadership entitled, Systems Sensitive Leadership: Empowering Diversity Without Polarizing the Church. At its subtitle suggests, the book deals directly with church leadership. However, its principles could apply to a number of other contexts.
The preface begins, “This book is about the ‘Four Big C’s’ of our day: change, complexity, confusion, and conflict. We are going through a period of human history when change and complexity seem to feed on one another. Complexity forces us to change. But change only makes things more complex. No wonder we end up confused. Nor is it surprising that conflict is on the rise.”
The book’s aim is to help leaders maintain healthy congregations in the midst of these dynamics. Toward that end, they discuss the research of developmental psychologist Clare Graves who identified (in 1974) eight “thinking systems” by which human beings cope with their ever-changing world.
“By the time we reach adulthood,” the authors (not Graves) write, “several thinking systems are part of our makeup. They run concurrently within us, like layers of consciousness, all competing for a voice in personal decisions and actions. But one system will have the dominant voice. This “dominant system” will influence our attitudes and behavior more than all the others. We will turn to its “rules” almost instinctively under duress or psychological pressure.”
The authors, first, present in outline all eight thinking systems. “Why eight?”, they ask, “Why not just one?” Their answer: “Multiple systems are necessary, for they are the mind’s defense against the complexity of our existence.”
This complexity is “not so much that of crowded calendars, congested freeways, and demanding schedules,” although these are all ubiquitous in the modern West. We’re dealing, rather, with “a deeper complexity, a more profound kind of problem. What Graves called the “problems of our existence.””
Anyone who has taken an Introduction to Psychology course may recall Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” or even Freud’s “stages of personality development.” Graves’s typology, while related, is notably distinct.
“At every stage of our development we must resolve certain critical issues before moving to the next stage. And this is true whether we are talking about individuals or entire societies.”
“The first and most basic problem (for societies and individuals) is securing food, warmth, and shelter [System 1]. Next comes the problem of holding the “tribe” together and creating a safe place for the most vulnerable members [System 2]. Beyond that is the problem of amassing power to fend off enemies and aggressors [System 3]. With violence let loose, there is a fourth problem, of bringing “might makes right” under the control of law and principle” [System 4].
Each of these stages presents four distinct “problems of existence”: survival, interpersonal bonding, protection from enemies, and the creation of an ordered society. These four “problems” help produce each of the first four “thinking systems,” but given rising complexity in recent decades, our problems and thinking systems don’t stop there.
“What’s different now,” they say, “is the number of systems contending with each other – twice as many as just a few generations ago. Until recently the higher-numbered systems [i.e., Systems 5-8] were all but unknown because no one had a need for them.”
“Life remained simple enough until the middle of the 20th century so that most people relied on System 3 or System 4 as their dominant system. Then, almost overnight, revolutionary advances in science, technology, and communication thrust far more complexity on us.”
The human species in the modern West had both encountered and resolved the first four problems of existence mentioned above (survival, interpersonal bonding, protection from enemies, creation of an ordered society). But then in the mid-20th century “new problems of existence” became apparent as the world around us rapidly changed.
Humans were exposed to problems and situations that were new in the truest sense of the term. With the rise of science, technology, and communication, what late-20th century humans would come to experience was like nothing their ancestors had experienced before.
As complexity increased and genuinely new situations arose, humans had to learn to “cope” with such realities. “It is our perception of complexity, not the actuality of it,” according to these authors, “which triggers new thinking systems” to emerge.
It doesn’t take a degreed cultural critic to notice the rise in discord, polarization, and interpersonal conflict in our country today. Some point to generational differences, neurological disparities, technological advances, and various other culprits to explain our predicament.
The work of Graves presents for me a useful framework with which to approach this issue.
“Why do those people have such trouble getting along with those people? Why can’t either side seem to get through to the other at all?”
What these authors propose is that human beings alive today are exposed to levels and forms of complexity that are different from those who came before. Also, they would say that our perceptions of and responses to such increased complexity are different from person to person.
When a person is suddenly faced with a situation or “problem of existence” that another human being has never faced, the former must learn how to “cope” with this new reality, which produces neural wiring and conceptual categories that the latter has never needed to form.
In other words: Not until you’ve encountered such levels of complexity are you required to develop lasting ways of navigating such complexity in the future.
This phenomenon, which we’re seeing more and more of today, I think explains much of the tension present in America now.
While such differences are not merely generational, a generational illustration may still be useful:
Millennials (born between 1981-1996) and Gen-Z (born between 1997-2012), for example, have been exposed to situations and “problems of existence” that Gen X (born between 1965-1980) and Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964) have simply never encountered.
Over the past 50 years, debates about politics, race, equity, gender, sexuality, climate, economics, religion, science, etc., have all become infinitely more complex.
The questions asked, the situations faced, the complexity encountered today, is of a different level entirely from what came before. And this requires (and engenders) different sets of categories, processes, and frameworks to “think with” among human beings.
Some of us, therefore, have faced situations and “problems of existence” which others (of us) have simply never faced. Some have thus developed certain ways of thinking and processing because they’ve had to, while others haven’t because they never needed to.
As we continue navigating the complexity of our world and the interpersonal conflicts which extend into all areas of life, I would encourage you, Christians especially, to exercise charity, patience, and grace, as you notice such tensions and differences.
Perhaps he/she thinks that way because the situations and problems he/she has faced called for precisely that kind of mental framework. Perhaps you think differently by default because you have had to navigate a very different array of situations and problems in life.
The goal, I think, is self-awareness, personal growth, and communal health. By recognizing that we “think differently” because our varied life experiences have called for and helped develop different “thinking systems,” my hope is that we can learn to better love one another and help spur each other on toward health and growth.
Let us bear with each other in patience, long-suffering, and love, navigating life’s daunting complexity together, with Jesus Christ always leading the way.
Jonah Bissell
Pastor