Years ago, I listened to what became a life-changing TED talk for me: Where Good Ideas Come From? by Steven Johnson.He spoke about thinking in networks and said that most of the time you don’t have a great idea; you have half of a great idea. Thus, the goal is to find the other person or people that have the rest of your great idea. However, the problem is that most of us don’t share our half-baked ideas out of fear that people will think we are crazy or that someone else will steal it and take the credit.
Ever since then, I have been sharing my half-baked ideas – and I have a lot of them! Not only has my work been more fruitful as a result; it has been a lot more fun.
However, thinking and working in networks requires a deeper understanding if we are to overcome the challenges of our days. We are now challenged to belong in networks; to exist with a sense of communion that overcomes the pitfalls of otherwise isolated thinking. But the decision to belong carries consequences. It requires sacrifices, and at times, even submission. Belonging is hard. Belonging requires us to participate in forgiveness. Belonging requires us to let go and choose not to be defined by the hurts we have known. Belonging is a belief in potential as much as it is presence. However, belonging has little use for the past, since the experience of the past is fundamentally individual. While history is objective; memory is subjective. Since each person is different, so too is each person’s assimilation of an objective event.
We are now challenged to belong in networks; to exist with a sense of communion that overcomes the pitfalls of otherwise isolated thinking.
Yet, if we go back far enough, we find something that exists prior to our experience: a common origin. Our common occurrence imprints the soul long before our body is capable of knowing any experience. In other words, “I” cannot be the starting place if we are to transcend the issues that keep us apart. If we are to live as we believe we are capable of living: in peace and for the betterment of all; we are challenged to begin with “we” rather than “me”. We are challenged not only to think or work in networks; we are challenged to belong in networks.
Clearly, we have a long way to go; but we have also come a long way. Technology has given us power, but it has also become a crutch that with overuse is disabling more than helpful. It is a wonderful introduction, but it will never nurture our soul. It has helped us to share our ideas, but we must now learn to share our lives.