Embracing the Metacrisis
From Separation to Interbeing
“I don’t think we’re going to make it”.
When I heard this quote by John Doerr, I was propelled into immediate action. John Doerr is a prominent venture capitalist known for his early investments in companies like Google and Amazon. He made the phrase “I don’t think we’re going to make it” during a TED talk in 2007, highlighting his grave concerns about climate change and the urgent need for massive investment in clean energy technologies to address the looming environmental crisis.
This phrase was a daunting challenge for me, a gauntlet thrown down. For years, it propelled me into relentless action, driven by the urgency and gravity of our predicament.
I now see how I naively embraced the urge to leap into doing, believing that action alone could yield the necessary results. Life is not merely a series of actions, but a process of becoming. The core of our dilemma, a predicament I was deeply entangled in and still grapple with, is our tendency to seek quick fixes and immediate solutions. Even with the best of intentions, we often miss the deeper, more transformative work of truly being.
Our action-oriented, cause-and-effect mindset drives us to address problems from a reductionist perspective. In challenging John Doerr’s phrase, “whatever you say, we can solve it,” I threw myself into a frenzy of action. This was my greatest mistake. Trained by 20 years in investment banking and conditioned by a Harvard bluechurch mindset, I was stuck in a state of inter-doing. I was operating in a mode of doing, rather than being, missing the deeper wisdom that true transformation requires.
It has been 17 years since Doerr’s emotional declaration. For all these years, I have carried the heavy belief in our inevitable self-termination.
This phrase haunted me daily, casting a shadow over my life that I refused to fully accept. Like him, I believed we could “do” something to solve it.
Recently, something within me has shifted. I am learning to embrace a state of being, a state of acceptance and uncertainty. This transformation invites me to reside more fully in the present moment, to acknowledge the unknown not as a threat, but as a space of potential and growth. It is a journey towards a deeper alignment with the flow of life, where acceptance and uncertainty become companions on the path to a more connected and meaningful existence.
Looking back, I realize how naive I was to believe that our capacity to destroy nature also meant we had the power to reconstruct it at will. This mindset, I now understand, is part of the problem. Like Doerr, I leapt into a mode of doing, failing to grasp that our challenge is not about inter-doing, but inter-becoming, and that there can be no inter-becoming without being.
I am beginning to see that our predicament, our metacrisis, is not merely a physical challenge that demands action. It is a crisis of spirit, understanding, and our place in the web of life. Our task is not just to do, but to be, and through being, to become.
Our self-determination falters because we fail to grasp our true selves in their interdependent relationship with place and purpose. We are not isolated individuals, but interconnected beings, whose existence and meaning are woven into the fabric of the world around us.
This is the story we have brought upon ourselves, a story of separation — a predicament that now yearns for reconciliation from the duality of the distance and polarization we have created within our “self,” between ourselves, and with the “whole” we are an intricate part of.
As Doerr’s tone in that keynote denotes, we are running out of time. Even if we are beyond our sustainability capacity as a civilization, I believe our humanity, in some metamorphosed version, will thrive through this threshold.
The latter part of this century will be unrecognizable from the world we know today. Our relentless assault on our home, by pushing the limits of our planetary boundaries, the exponential rise of technology, CRISPR gene modification, collapsing geopolitical governance systems, and escalating conflicts, are paving the way to what could be the darkest era in our history. We have faced dark times before — famines, droughts, and devastating regional war conflicts — but what we are approaching now is a planetary collapse, the harvest of our own deeds.
The story of separation frames us as isolated, discrete individuals in an objective universe of force and mass, atoms and void. This narrative, deeply embedded in our consciousness, has led us to perceive ourselves as fundamentally separate from each other, from nature, and even from our true selves. We have come to believe in the myth of isolation, seeing ourselves as entities that must compete, dominate, and control. This perception of separation drives us to exploit and conquer, turning nature and human relationships into commodities, all the while ignoring the intricate web of life that inherently connects and sustains us.
Yet, there is hope through the emerging story of interbeing. This narrative acknowledges our deep interdependence and relational existence. It proposes that our very being partakes in the being of all others, and that what we do to another, we do to ourselves. The story of interbeing invites us to recognize the innate purpose, consciousness, and intelligence within all matter, fostering a sense of unity and a more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible.
It is there that Thich Nhat Hanh’s concept of interbeing becomes essential:
“To be is to inter-be. You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing” (Thich Nhat Hanh).
This understanding dissolves the illusion of separateness and reveals the truth of our interconnected reality. By seeing ourselves in others and recognizing the shared fabric of life, we can cultivate compassion, mindfulness, and a profound sense of unity.
I was able to deeply understand the concept of interbeing by spending time experiencing the monastic life at the Plum Village Monastery of Thich Nhat Hanh in Bordeaux, France.
It was here, together with ceremonial experiences I had in the Amazon, that I truly grasped the concept of interbeing, which is neither social nor biological. It is a meta-concept, meta in the sense of within and beyond. It’s this deep collective inter-becoming of everything.
The Process of Interbecoming
Is the story of separation a cycle, like a pendulum finding balance?
It needs to be so, for only by experiencing separation can we understand that there is no true duality. Duality can only be understood from within duality. Consider the example of light and darkness; they are not opposing forces but part of a greater whole. Light exists because of darkness, and darkness is defined by the absence of light. Similarly, the yin-yang symbol embodies this principle: each contains a seed of the other, illustrating that opposites are interdependent and together form a complete, unified reality. Through the experience of separation, we come to realize the fundamental interconnectedness and unity underlying all existence.
Once we comprehend that there is no true duality, everything converges into a unified whole.
We are currently within this intricate vortex of forces — separation and reconciliation. The process of separation is painful, but it is a necessary step. Without breaking the threads that unite us, there can be no reconciliation.
This painful process is integral to our evolution of consciousness. As we navigate this journey, we must embrace the discomfort and fragmentation, knowing that it is through this very process that we will come to understand our inherent unity.
The breaking is essential for the mending; the separation is crucial for the reunion. This evolutionary path will lead us to a deeper awareness of our interconnectedness and a profound appreciation for the wholeness of existence.
Our Metacrisis, as described by Jonathan Rowson, encompasses a multitude of crises: sense-making, capability, legitimacy, and meaning.
It is “a living, dynamic experience of being human in this historical moment”
We must accept this metacrisis, for despite several hopeful signs of emergence, these are still fragmented and disjointed. Our processes of “doing” in geopolitics, the pervasive influence of social media, and the deepening polarization have only amplified our great political divides. Our continuous deforestation and the ecocide of biodiversity, along with the relentless pollution breaching planetary boundaries, have led the world into a state of disarray. In this suicide mode, we have lost our sense-making capacity and are wandering aimlessly, disconnected from the coherent narrative that once guided us.
Until we accept that we might not make it, as John Doerr warns, and embrace this possibility, we remain trapped in uncertainty, fear, and denial. It is only by confronting this potential reality with open hearts that we can move beyond the paralysis of despair. By accepting the uncertainty of our times, we open ourselves to the present moment, allowing for a deeper connection and the possibility of transformation.
This Metacrisis, a profound metamorphosis in progress, calls us to face the unknown with courage and presence. It is a journey that demands we step into the gift of uncertainty, living fully in the present moment. Only by accepting this uncertainty and recognizing the profound transformation underway can we unlock the potential for reconciliation and healing that our world so desperately needs. In this embrace, we find the seeds of a new story, one that honors our interconnectedness and paves the way for a more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
Since witnessing that video in 2007, when I myself became a “doer” (no pun intended), I have transitioned from a mode of doing to a mode of becoming. I now recognize that this is an inexorable, profound shift that must emerge from within and extend beyond. This journey requires us to step back and adopt a comprehensive, systemic, and holistic approach. It calls for a deeper understanding that true transformation is not about forceful action but about aligning with the rhythms and interconnections of life itself. We must embrace the complexity of our existence and allow the emergent wisdom of the whole to guide us.
While human interventions are necessary, they must be grounded in a regenerative design perspective.
Regenerative design is about understanding and applying the principles that living systems use to create thriving, sustainable flows of life. It’s about aligning our actions with the inherent wisdom of nature, which seamlessly integrating thriving process of coevolution, renewal, and harmonic balance.
This perspective invites us to see the world not as a collection of isolated problems to be solved, but as a dynamic, interconnected web of relationships to be nurtured and harmonized.
Interbecoming, then, is the process of reconciliation that requires the foundation of separation. It begins with understanding that separation is a necessary precursor to unity in interbeing.
Just as the lotus cannot bloom without the nourishing mud, our struggles and separations lay the groundwork for our collective blossoming.
In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, “No mud, no lotus.”
The mud represents the hardships and dualities we face, while the lotus symbolizes the beauty and enlightenment that emerge from these very challenges.
This is beautifully illustrated in the delicate dance between the flower, the butterfly, and the hummingbird. Each plays a vital role in the other’s existence, creating a synergy that transcends mere survival. The flower offers its nectar to the butterfly and hummingbird, who in turn pollinate the flower, ensuring its continued growth. This interaction is not just a transaction; it is a symphony of life, a testament to the interconnectedness and mutual support that sustain all beings.
This interplay is the flow of separateness and reconciliation, a never-ending process where we inter-evolve and inter-become from a state of duality into harmonious wholeness. The principles of thriving life, entwining together within us and beyond us, reveal that true flourishing arises from the intricate entanglement of all beings. It is in this dance of interbeing that we find our place in the cosmos, a testament to the beauty and complexity of life woven together in unity.
By embracing a regenerative design approach, we acknowledge the need for interventions that are not merely solutions but are part of a larger process of becoming. This approach honors the principles of living systems, fostering environments where life can flourish in its fullest potential. It’s about creating conditions for life to thrive, recognizing that every action we take is part of a larger, interconnected story of interbeing. This shift from doing to becoming is essential for navigating the complexities of our world and for fostering a future where both humanity and nature can thrive in harmony.
Our metacrisis is a profound crisis of understanding, an inability to perceive the essential duality that shapes our existence and to recognize ourselves as inter-beings in a perpetual process of inter-becoming.
Like the lotus emerging from the mud, we must embrace the darkness and the light, the struggle and the beauty, to truly flourish. This crisis calls us to awaken to our interconnectedness, to the symphony of life where every note matters. It is an invitation to step into the dance of interbeing, to honor the sacred reciprocity that sustains all living things. Only by embracing this profound interconnectedness can we begin to heal and transform, moving from a state of fragmentation to one of unity and harmony, where both humanity and nature can thrive together.
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