A friend of mine swears that he once got so lost on back roads that his GPS actually announced, \u201cYou have now arrived beyond all knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
I often think of that as I see the rapid spread of serious crises and the parallel collapse of human ability to even understand them. Most of the \u201csmartest guys in the room\u201d seem stupid and powerless. Maybe we really have arrived at a place that is beyond all knowledge.<\/p>\n
If so, wouldn\u2019t such a moment call for humility? I mean, think about it. If great calamities surround us and we do not know what to do, shouldn\u2019t we look up? After all, true wisdom comes down<\/em>. Why not admit that we need that<\/em> wisdom? Why pretend to be clever and powerful? Wouldn\u2019t it be better to concede that we\u2019re exhausted and empty?<\/p>\n Can we at least get still and quiet? So far, that pervasive hum of human voices \u2013 talk radio, broadcast news, blogs, Facebook, the Internet, award ceremonies, even bumper stickers \u2013 has only produced harshness and division, but not one flicker of hope or insight. Yet, it seems that most people are, weirdly<\/em>, charging ahead in loud and strident arrogance.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s face it; \u201cthe issues\u201d are not the issues. Living in an adversarial culture or under Trump\u2019s administration or with illness or facing any other condition is like living in the Sahara desert or Antarctica \u2013 you acclimate, engage, collaborate, and live a full-bore, straight-ahead life of joy and gratitude. A hostile terrain does not justify a hostile heart.<\/p>\n Humility is always appropriate.<\/p>\n At some point in our recent history, America (and much of the world) crossed a border separating a safe and known territory from an unmapped and dangerous one. Whereas we once had a deep and sufficient base of knowledge for living in the old country, we are now \u201cbeyond knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n Our new landscape features a major shift in the very nature and shape of problems. In his book, \u201cChange Your Space, Change Your Culture<\/em>,\u201d Rex Miller wrote:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Wicked problems\u2019 are, by definition, social or cultural issues that are difficult or impossible to resolve because of incomplete, contradictory, or changing requirements\u2026They are complex, vague, vexing, and shifting; we are never sure when, how, or if we have solved them.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026we have left the age of \u2018solving problems.\u2019 Today, problems must be navigated. To \u2018solve\u2019 a problem means that you can walk away from it. To navigate a problem or dilemma means that we must find a path between competing pressures.\u201d [1]<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That could be why so many are caught in hyperventilating and convulsive reaction. Clearly, old concepts and approaches are just not working.<\/p>\n Perhaps our times and places require new eyes for, and new responses to, \u201cwicked problems.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bible reminds us that \u201cthe wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.\u201d (James 3:17, NKJV)<\/p>\n Since the \u201cwisdom\u201d that comes \u201cfrom around these parts\u201d always leads to disappointment, this would seem like a good time to lift our eyes. I know this is counterintuitive for many, but what if the onramp to the future is \u201ccontrolled access,\u201d and can only be found by the pure, the peaceable, the broken, the quiet, the gentle, the helpless, and the humble?<\/p>\n If so, will it ever permit you and me to find it? That may be the biggest question any of us will ever face.<\/p>\nAn Era of Wicked Problems<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Only Path To The Future<\/span><\/h3>\n