The Territory of Inner Transition – Psychological Awareness
Introduction
There are many ways to understand the process of change – both how we respond to change outside us, and how we come to choose to make changes ourselves whether individually or in a group or society. Many people from environmental activists to governments are currently researching and exploring how individuals and groups respond to change, and engage with the need for change. Within the Transition movement and the Heart and Soul groups are many models for understanding this process; what follows is an example of one, described in some detail to show how such a model helps to bring clarity and compassion to the process of change.
Responding to Change we can’t control
One aspect of Transition is that external factors will force change upon us. In 2008 we started to see impacts of high oil prices and major recession starting to bite. How do people react when major change hits their lives? Or smaller changes – social pressure to “go green”; the need to recycle?
One model that has proved useful and relevant is that of Kubler Ross, a doctor who worked with terminally ill patients, and their bereaved relatives and friends. She observed the process of coming to terms with approaching death – of the patient, or of a loved one, and noticed there were clear stages that people went through. In some ways we are going through a similar process as we come to terms with the end of a world view and a way of life – a belief that we can have unlimited growth, that in every year or generation there will be more material wealth for more people. This is about response to change which is out of our control.
The stages that Kubler Ross observed are:
- Denial or shock
- Despair
- Rage
- Bargaining
- Acceptance
It is possible to see the stages expressed in the behaviour of individuals, organisations and institutions, and understanding what is happening gives a more compassionate and grounded response to those who are at a different stage. Insight into this process also leads to ways of working which are appropriate and helpful, rather than dismissing or judgemental attitudes.
Denial or Shock
The denial response ”It can’t be true” is a familiar reaction to any shock. This inner protective mechanism allows a distressing truth to be assimilated gradually.
The underlying belief expressed is that business as usual is the best or only way, and we must get back to it as soon as possible. In the Industrial Growth Society (IGS) this means we believe and behave as if the world offers unlimited resources including energy, and a limitless sink for our waste.
The evidence of reaching limits to resources (e.g. peak oil, drinking water, fish), and the wide reaching effects of human waste (climate change, pollution) is clear, yet there are still many people in denial about both. This is not a rational position, there is a psychological process going on.
And there are many other complex reasons why we do not change – ranging from our relationship to the media, the demands and inherent beliefs of an economic system based on perpetual growth, and the stranglehold of power elites. We can feel ill equipped to deal with the arguments and powerless to have any effect.
Another way of thinking about this: “Our perception of risk is strongest with threats that are visible, have historical precedent, are immediate, with simple causality, caused by another “tribe” and have direct personal impacts,” says George Marshall of COIN: “Climate Change is invisible, unprecedented, drawn out, with complex causality, caused by all of us and has unpredictable and indirect personal impacts. It is hard to feel the threat [in the West], and any perception of threat has to be generated by active imagination.” He describes this as a kind of failure of our risk thermostat – the risk is there but we are not responding.
Despair
Once information about coming change is understood a first reaction for many is a feeling of despair. This can take many forms. For some there is a feeling that it’s too late to do anything. For others that we are powerless to make the scale of changes needed. Feelings of fear – for the future, especially for children and grandchildren – are common.
The danger of despair is that it leads to paralysis. The idea that we are powerless to make changes becomes reality when we believe it. As Vandana Shiva said “The fact that we cannot be certain about a positive future is no reason to be certain about despair”.
Isolation and continuing negative information feeds the state of despair. Being with others and hearing about actions that are already underway, seeing the motivation and courage of others to hear the news and take steps all help people to move through this stage.
Anger
How is it to find out that the basis on which we have been living our lives is flawed, and that the future is not being taken care of by those with power? If our jobs and pensions disappear, our plans for the future and children, change dramatically? Who will we be angry with, who will we blame? One strategy is to put all the blame onto others – the government; rich people; the person who brought the information. A common scene is for anger to be taken out on those who are accessible and not necessarily responsible.
In the longer term we need to express anger and move on to a more complete view, for some understanding our own part in creating the situation; for others developing compassion for the complex system that makes us all part of itself. Without this the heat of anger can become destructive – to others or to ourselves.
Joanna Macy suggests that the rage we feel may be our passion for justice in the world. Anger can be a useful force for getting moving. Many social movements for justice and freedom have been fuelled at least in part by anger at the status quo.
Bargaining
In relation to terminal illness this takes the form of making deals with death. “If I live a clean life perhaps I can get well. If I think only positive thoughts, eat well, visualise my blood cells fighting the cancer maybe I can live another 10 years, long enough to see my children grown, long enough to achieve my goals…”
In the face of peak oil and climate change we do other deals with the future. “If I change my light bulbs and recycle everything it’s ok to fly to the sun this winter, treat myself to some new clothes, keep the hot tub…”
Another version of this is to take a survivalist route – “I can’t save everyone but I can look after me and my own.” This head for the hills is a common reaction – and many do live this out, moving to the country and aiming for self sufficiency. This has produced lots of useful projects, skills and outcomes. In the end however we are all interconnected, and if runaway climate change takes hold no part of the earth will be unaffected.
In the bargaining stage more measured action is happening as the powerful emotions of despair and rage ease. Once we start to take action something transformative happens – we start to see that even as an individual I can have an effect – and when one becomes part of a group committed to change perhaps something wonderful can happen.
Acceptance
The final stage of coming to terms with change is acceptance. Here it is understood that life goes on with the change integrated. We can make a good life for all with much less energy, and face and overcome the challenges. The overwhelm, despair, fear or rage recede; the bargaining is no longer needed as we can look at what is without having to change it – calm returns, and from this calm comes the possibility of realistic positive action.
Understanding Response to Change as a Process
Someone who has been told that their illness is terminal often goes through the five stages listed above – denial, despair, rage, bargaining and acceptance. The process is not linear or predictable. The stages can happen repeatedly, simultaneously and in any order. This seems to be a useful analogy for what happens both to individuals and to groups and organisations as they awaken to the need for Transition.
Thus I may have recognised the need to dramatically reduce my energy bill, have switched to green energy and started buying local organic produce (acceptance) but because I’m driving less I’m still flying twice a year for that much needed summer break and winter sunshine (bargaining). I am looking for places where my savings can earn good interest and putting money into a pension which invests in the stock market (business as usual). I’ve seen the film An Inconvenient Truth and sometimes lie awake remembering the image of Holland disappearing under the sea wondering whether there will be anything left of London, Totnes, East Anglia, and Bangladesh. (despair). I want to shout at my neighbour who doesn’t even bother to recycle and leaves the outdoor lights on all night (anger).
Other Feelings and Responses
Of course there are many more feelings that come up as we wake up to the situation. Guilt, blaming others, grief, hope, not knowing. What is useful is to know that any of these feelings or states pass – none is the whole truth – and that we can create places and processes that help people to move through them with grace and love.
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