Springtime lends itself and ourselves to taking a little time to look ahead as we unfold and stretch our wings after the ‘hunkering-down’ of winter. We are spending more time than usual noticing the emerging buds on new trees and hedgerows that have been created as a result of community action here on our land and also tending our vegetable garden with the planting of new potatoes and onion sets (which we hope will escape the digging by the hens!)
Inez’s studies on Transformational Leadership and our participation in some immersive learning experiences on Courageous Conversations are helping us in our thinking as we continue to explore the future of Fuchsia Lane Farm and all that it comprises. We must admit that the quote below from Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer caused quite a bit of thinking and discussion and led to this post!
Leadership is about the capacity of the whole system to sense and actualize the future that wants to emerge (Scharmer and Kaufer 2013, p.112).
We were really curious how they referred to a ‘future that wants to emerge’, rather than a ‘future that needs to emerge.’ Letting this settle in our thinking really moved us as we contemplated the significance of a future that can have ’wants’; as opposed to us deciding the ‘needs’.
Our traditional Judeo Christian thinking that places humankind in dominion over nature and the natural world ascribes to us the expectation that we can somehow take on the fixing of a problem by doing what is ‘right’. Diving deeper into Scharmer’s work we have discovered that we need to take notice of the ‘emergence of possibilities’ as they unfold in often unclear and imprecise forms of action. What the earth (and ourselves) ‘needs’ might imply a gap or missing piece. Looking at the ‘wants’ might suggest more of a desire and possibility.
For us looking at our place and our custodianship as we look to the seventh generation who might walk these same fields and lanes as our forebears, we find ourselves exploring now what ‘wants to emerge’ rather than focusing on ‘what needs to emerge’. To be honest, this is bringing us into uncertain territory, however it is also infused with a sense of excitement and unknown possibilities.
As we venture on this journey we extend a friendship and welcome to those who wish to share the exploration of the emergence. If you are interested in being part of any gatherings here that can deepen all our awareness and potential, please reach out. If you are unsure and uncertain as to what you can offer or what your own desire might be, that is ok too and perhaps some time at Fuchsia Lane Farm might be the beginning of something that no one knows fully yet, but is there in you waiting to be discovered.