Seeing Our Connectedness to the World
The concept emphasizes recognizing the interdependencies between our actions and external forces, using a child's discovery of control over his body as a metaphor for personal growth. It argues that we often stop 'closing the loops' early in life, and that expanding awareness of our connectedness is a key to learning and personal mastery.
THE IDEA
SEEING OUR CONNECTEDNESS TO THE WORLD
When he was just six weeks old, our son Ian did not yet seem to know his hands and feet. I suspect that he was aware of them, but he was clearly not aware that they were his hands and feet, or that he could control their actions. One day, he got caught in a terrible reinforcing feedback loop. He had taken hold of his ear with his left hand. It was clearly agitating him, as you could tell from his pained expression and increasing flagellations. But, as a result of being agitated, he pulled harder. This increased his discomfort, which led him to get more agitated and pull still harder. The poor little guy might have kept going like this for some time if I hadn’t detached his hand and quieted him down.
Not knowing that his hand was actually within his control, he perceived the source of his discomfort as an external force. Sound familiar? Ian’s plight was really no different from the beer game players of Chapter 3, who reacted to suppliers’ delivery times as if they were external forces, or the arms race participants in Chapter 5 (“A Shift of Mind”) who reacted to each other’s arms buildups as if they had no power to change them.
As I thought about Ian, I began to think that a neglected dimension of personal growth lies in “closing the loops”—in continually discovering how apparent external forces are actually interrelated with our own actions. Fairly soon, lan will recognize his feet and hands and learn he can control their motions. Then he will discover that he can control his body position—if it is unpleasant on his back, he can roll over. Then will come internal states such as temperature, and the realization that they can be influenced by moving closer or further from a heat source such as Mommy or Daddy. Eventually comes Mommy and Daddy themselves, and the realization that their actions and emotions are subject to his influence. At each stage in this progression, there will be corresponding adjustments in his internal pictures of reality, which will steadily change to incorporate more of the feedback from his actions to the conditions in his life.
But for most of us, sometime early in life this process of closing the loops is arrested. As we get older, our rate of discovery slows down; we see fewer and fewer new links between our actions and external forces. We become locked into ways of looking at the world that are, fundamentally, no different from little Ian’s.
The learning process of the young child provides a beautiful metaphor for the learning challenge faced by us all: to continually expand our awareness and understanding, to see more and more of the interdependencies between actions and our reality, to see more and more of our connectedness to the world around us. We will probably never perceive fully the multiple ways in which we influence our reality. But simply being open to the possibility is enough to free our thinking.
Einstein expressed the learning challenge when he said:
[the human being] experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
The experience of increasing connectedness which Einstein describes is one of the subtlest aspects of personal mastery, one that derives most directly from the systems perspective. His “widening … circle of compassion” is another.
When to use it
In team dynamics: identifying how a team's complaints about management are actually tied to their own internal communication patterns.
In conflict resolution: recognizing that your own reactions in an argument often escalate the conflict, and choosing to respond differently to break the loop.
In environmental action: understanding how personal consumption habits contribute to global environmental issues, rather than seeing those issues as purely external.
In organizational change: leaders realizing that employee resistance to change often stems from their own failure to include them in the decision-making process.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Ian's Feedback Loop
A six-week-old baby, unaware that his hand is under his own control, grabs his ear and pulls harder in response to discomfort. This reinforcing loop continues until an external observer detaches his hand. We often perceive internal actions as external forces.
Beer Game Players
In the 'beer game' simulation, players react to suppliers' delivery times as if they were external forces, failing to see how their own ordering decisions contribute to the fluctuations. This mirrors the child's misperception of control.
Arms Race Participants
Nations in an arms race react to each other's military buildups as if they have no power to change the dynamics, ignoring their own role in perpetuating the cycle.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of a recent problem where you blamed external circumstances. Can you trace how your own actions might have contributed to the situation?
How might you 'close a loop' in your personal or professional life that you have been ignoring?
Einstein mentions 'widening our circle of compassion.' How could seeing your connectedness to others change your approach to a conflict?
Often confused with
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Fifth Discipline The Art Practice of the Learning Organization (Peter M. Senge)