Commitment to a New Future

It takes commitment in order to build successful communities. But, what is your definition of commitment and how would you commit to build a better community here in the Seacoast area?

Humanity is at a threshold, unprecedented in its stake as well as in its scope. The world faces a host of critical problems, the complexity of which is such that, as Einstein said, “they cannot be solved at the level of thinking at which they were initially created."  

Yet, it appears that political and religious leaders keep approaching today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions.  

In truth, today’s problems can really be solved only by tomorrow’s solution. And to reach tomorrow’s solution means that we envision a brand new tomorrow in which today’s problems are essentially absent.

That tomorrow is the solution. To create that tomorrow is the resolution. To engage in the creation of that tomorrow is what it means to be on the side of the solution.

However, a tomorrow in which today’s problems don't exist doesn't mean a tomorrow in which no problems exist. Life is problematic. Problems are an essential element of life. 

We may long for an utopian state of life -- “heaven” -- wherein no problems exist at all, but, in point of fact, heaven without evolutionary tension is tantamount to hell. 

Problems are a manifestation of evolutionary tension inherent in life. Heaven isn't a static cloister wherein problems never arise but a dynamic field wherein we consciously create new problems as an expression of our creative vision and evolutionary passion.

The term “problem” stems from the Greek word “probalein” and the Latin Word “problema”, which mean “to throw before.” A problem is something thrown before us on our path, which we must overcome and prevail over in order to move forward. 

If we had no intention to proceed on our path, if we had no commitment to our path, nothing thrown before us would become a problem. A problem arises because we have a commitment. And the character of our commitment determines the character of our problem.

Making a commitment means to intentionally create a future in thought, action, and actuality. The act of making a commitment sets a course of action that results in the actualization of a future which would not otherwise have come to pass.  Commitment is the whole, integrated, creative thought-in-action by which we engage and partake in the creation of a new future.

In the next blog entry we will discuss the nature of commitment and discuss problem solving within community.