The Kernel: Our failure in progress is often not just caused from our inactions, but also from our inability to correctly diagnose problems. This inability limits us to solutions for symptoms without solutions for causes. When we see past the played-out narrative of greed, self-centeredness, apathy, et al. as causes for our social inertia, we will arrive at a place of needs, poignantly core needs. And since core needs are central to everyone, tapping into core needs is a powerful and accessible place for change. The magic of change truly lies in these places, magic we will unpack with subsequent blogs.
The Details: There are many models to view human behavior. However, the models I lean into particularly are the ones that reveal the psychological drivers behind behavior. Gabor Mate, a physician turned author In the Realm of the Hungry Ghost, reveals that drug use is often the act of finding relief from the inescapable torment of trauma. His revelation upturns the popular prejudice that frames the drug user as acting from a weak or impoverished constitution. The core need here is to feel safe in one’s own self; body, mind, spirit.
Similarly, a recent paper in the field of social and environmental science views inaction to the growing climate crisis as a natural response (Brulle & Norgaard, 2019). The authors write that this inaction is a way the general population is protecting the existing and dominant cultural and institutional tenets which they derive their purpose, identity, and meaning from. This view upturns the popular prejudice that frames inaction from an Information-Deficit model and from a lack of will or appetite for this issue. The core need here is maintaining meaning, purpose, and identity. Thus, this core need is the central lock and key in generating a new pathway to unlock the unsustainable act of deferring to the status quo of inaction over the Climate Crisis. Until we address these needs, the status quo will exert its persistent grip.
Until we address core needs, status quo will exert its persistent grip.
This harks back to my belief that our failure in progress is often not just caused from our inactions, but also from our failure to correctly diagnose problems, causing errant actions. When we see past the played-out narrative of greed, self-centeredness, apathy et al. as causes for our social inertia, we will arrive at a place of needs, specifically core needs.
And since core needs are central to everyone, tapping into core needs is a powerful and accessible place for change. The magic of change truly lies in these places, a magic we will unpack with subsequent blogs.
Reference cited:
Brulle, R. & Norgaard, K. (2019). Avoiding Cultural Trauma: climate change and social inertia. Environmental Politics, 28:5, 886-908. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2018.1562138