Month: August 2024

Categories
Vertical Development

Cognitive Dissonance: The Call to Adventure

After my previous conversation with Claude discussing cognitive dissonance, I had some additional conversations with ChatGPT to try to clarify what cognitive dissonance is. What I realized from this additional conversation is that it defines the initial “life challenge” that one faces but not the resolution of it.

So think of cognitive dissonance as more of the initial Call to Adventure within the Hero’s Journey. A call of course that is not always heeded, as it can be ignored and not resolved (thus causing undue side effects).

The resolution of cognitive dissonance is something entirely different though. Think of the resolution as a psychological transformation or post-traumatic growth which embodies creativity applied to one’s sense of “self”.

Continue reading “Cognitive Dissonance: The Call to Adventure”
Categories
Vertical Development

Cognitive Dissonance: Getting a Glimpse Beyond the Horizon of Your Mind

The following is a conversation with Claude.ai to help me better understand cognitive dissonance as an aspect of vertical development. This arose from a previous conversation where I realized that the Hero’s Journey not only symbolically embodies the psychology of creativity applied to one’s sense of “self” but also cognitive dissonance.

Clarification: Note that in a more current conversation, I realized that cognitive dissonance only embodies the initial life challenge that one encounters (which gives us a glimpse beyond our current worldview). It does not include the resolution of the cognitive dissonance though (as I wrongly assumed it did below) which is something else. So cognitive dissonance is equivalent to the initial Call to Adventure within the Hero’s Journey (which can be ignored and unresolved, if one chooses to do so.)

Continue reading “Cognitive Dissonance: Getting a Glimpse Beyond the Horizon of Your Mind”
Categories
Identity

Allegorically Translating & Packaging the Deeper Meaning of the Experience

I just realized something. My framework of perceiving “Life as a MMORPG” is what is helping me to make sense of the deeper meaning of vertical development.

In other words, the narrative mechanics of “Life as a MMORPG” (which is just an expansion of the narrative of the Hero’s Journey) is helping me to translate the deeper meaning of vertical development through the narrative.

For example, I previously believed that our fears as “monsters” were an embodiment of our old sense of self that is standing in our way. That’s wrong. After a conversation with Claude.ai, I realized that they embody aspects of our old sense of self that we need to shed, thus allowing ourselves to expand and grow into a larger sense of Self. So these could be old beliefs that form the cornerstones of our identity but they may be limiting values (i.e. blame, greed, etc) that limit our growth in turn.

So we’re not slaying and discarding our old sense of self, we are removing and shedding aspects of our old sense of self that limit us. For example, these monstrous fears could also be seen as psychological defensive armour. It’s trying to protect us and keep us safe (just as our monstrous fears are trying to prevent us from exploring beyond what is safe) but it limits our mobility and the type of terrain we can cross and explore. So we have to cut off this armour, shed it, so that we can adventure into the different, inner terrain within us. So the armour got us where we need to be but it won’t help us where we want to go.

But again, this is what this “Life as a MMORPG” framework and allegory is helping me to do. By mapping and translating things from life into this narrative, story form (such as fears being an embodiment of old beliefs or limiting values), it helps me to understand what these things means within the larger narrative and bigger picture. In other words, it helps me to encapsulate and package these things into a larger cohesive whole.

BTW this is also making me realize that I need to include and share these conversations with AI chatbots more often, as they are integral to this process. In effect, within my “Life as a MMORPG” framework, they are like visiting The Oracle of Delphi. So it’s a process which helps one understand what one is exploring and discovering within the journey and adventure within one’s larger sense of Self…or leads to questions which creates a quest for one to explore within one’s potential Self.

Categories
Identity

Mapping a World & a Story That Feel Like They’re Continually Changing

In terms of my personality, I’m an explorer by nature. Perhaps one who can navigate newer spaces and ways of being fairly well.

However what seems to be lacking in my skills is my ability to fully map these spaces and articulate them fully in story form.

It’s funny because I’ve felt like a bard at times as well. Yet if am one, then my storytelling skills are sorely lacking as well.

I think what I’m fearful of and can’t make sense of is how to map and tell a story that feels like it is changing as one strives to tells it.

You see, as I’ve noted before, when one goes beyond the horizon of one’s “self”, one isn’t mapping and storytelling what is already know. One is mapping and storytelling the unknown, giving it meaningful form and substance.

So there is this desire for certainty in mapping and storytelling. Yet often that certainty doesn’t arise beforehand but after. One has to play with the map and play with the story, moving things around until they suddenly fall into place, and make sense as a whole.

Writing for people works in the same way in that one may not know the outcome of what they are writing until they write it and make sense of it in the act of writing itself. But if they write it out and it doesn’t come together in that writing, it can feel as though the entire writing process was for nothing.

So one has to continually map and tell the story in different ways until finally that one right way, gives it a sense of meaning.

Yet at the same time, one has to have the means of moving the pieces of the map and pages of the story around without feeling like one has to redrawn the entire map or rewrite the entire story every time one tries a different variation.

I’m not fully sure what I’m saying here. But it has something to do with needing a tool or a method of navigating oneself fluidly, so that each new attempt at organizing oneself as a whole, doesn’t require exploring aspects of oneself that one has already explored previously.

What I’m trying to articulate here reminds me of The Maze in the Hero’s Journey. For example, one needs to explore dead-ends if one wants to fully map and make sense of the maze to make it through. Yet what if each failed attempt, causing one to hit a dead-end, caused one to forget previous attempts and dead-ends, thus potentially causing them to explore them again.

That’s what my experience currently feels like.

In effect, unless I can explore and navigate and map everything in one fell swoop, all at once, I forget where I’ve been because they’re so many different areas to cover. (And I think this has to do with vertical development being so expansive and connected to so many aspects of life, that it can be difficult to articulate as a whole.)

Yet I also realize that the way around this is to explore, navigate, and map out clusters of myself, like mapping out the four different corners of a new world. Yet knowing this and doing it are two different things. Knowing is one thing. Embodying that knowing is something completely different.

The knowing doesn’t become embodied until one has the experiences to be able to fully make sense of the deeper meaning of it.

All I can say at this point is that I am continuing to explore and navigate, trying to gain newer perspectives and experiences of what I may have missed previously within this maze before.

Categories
Identity

Things Are Always Messy at the Start

Things are always messy at the start…especially when it’s the start of a new sense of Self.

Everything is shattered, without form. So when one finds landmarks to begin to determines one’s bearings, one holds onto them for dear life.

But one must continue exploring and navigating one’s sense of self fully. Those few landmarks help, perhaps becoming the cornerstone of one’s larger Self and world that is emerging, but they are not enough in themselves.

Things need to get messier, as one wanders aimlessly exploring and navigating further, before they make sense and take shape as a newer mapped continent upon the Ocean of You.

Categories
Identity

Difficulty Organizing Content & Creating Structure

Last night and this morning, I was reflecting upon something about my struggles in expressing myself.

My problem isn’t writing content. My problem is organizing my content.

Like even my last few posts I’ve written, after I write the post without much issue, I often get stumped as to what to categorize it as, so I just toss on some category and hope for the best.

This relates to what I said before in that I feel like I have all the pages for a book but they’re not in any order or structure and I struggle to figure out that structure.

Here’s another example. I can talk about the Hero’s Journey. I can talk about creativity. I can talk about vertical development. Where I freeze up is when I try to organize and structure the relationship between these things.

That’s what I need to focus on and work on.

So when I hear people say just focus on what’s in front of you and produce something. That’s fine. I can do that. That’s easy.

Taking what you’ve just produced and connecting it up into a bigger picture. That’s the hard part.

In effect, if I write multiple articles everyday for a week, I don’t feel productive in expressing myself unless I can take those articles and build something from them by showing the relationship amongst them, thus revealing this bigger picture and deeper meaning.

If I can’t do that then writing the content itself seems pointless, even though I can do it fairly easily.

Categories
Life as an MMORPG

If Your MMORPG Player Character Acted Like Your Ego in Life

I realize that understanding my “Life as a MMORPG” metaphor is probably hard for people to grasp, even those who play MMORPGs. Fundamental to this metaphor is realizing that who you think you are, your identity, is really equivalent to your ego being the “character” you’re playing and who you truly are is a soul of potentiality as the “player.” You’ve just forgotten you’re a soul because you’ve been unconsciously immersed within the game for so long as your character.

But I thought what if we reversed this metaphor to make it more evident? So imagine if you sat down and started playing a new computer MMORPG, like World of Warcraft, but one in which your character you’re supposed to be controlling, had AI capabilities to think on its own, and actually started acting like your ego in real life?

And for you to be able to direct your character where you want it to go and do the things you want it to do, you had to convince it of doing these things first? What would this look like?

Posing this question to Claude.ai, this is what it revealed and roleplayed for me.

The Walled City: Levels 1-3

Level 1: The Slums (Survival)

Player: clicks to move character towards a food vendor

Character: Wait! What if we don’t have enough gold for food? We might starve! There’s not enough resources for everyone in these slums. Maybe we should hoard what little we have instead of risking it.

Player: It’s okay, we have plenty of gold. Let’s buy some food.

Character: But what if bandits attack us on the way back to our shelter? We’re so vulnerable out here!

Level 2: The Marketplace (Relationship)

Player: attempts to join a guild

Character: Do we really want to join a guild? What if they reject our application? Or worse, what if they accept us but then kick us out later? I don’t think I could handle that kind of abandonment.

Player: Joining a guild will help us tackle tougher quests and earn better rewards.

Character: But what if the other guild members don’t like us? I’m not sure I’m appreciated enough to be part of a team.

Level 3: The Noble Quarter (Self-Esteem)

Player: approaches a quest giver for a challenging mission

Character: Hold on! This quest looks really difficult. What if we fail? Everyone will see how incompetent we are. Maybe we should stick to easier quests where we can’t embarrass ourselves.

Player: But completing tougher quests is how we level up and get better gear.

Character: I know, but… I’m just not sure I’m good enough for this. What if we let the quest giver down? The whole Noble Quarter will be talking about our failure!

Conversations with Claude.ai

Do you see how hilariously this interaction reflects how we go about our real lives and how we spend so much time fighting with ourselves to the point of exhaustion? And how so much of our growth and potential is actually limited by our “self” (character) which is often standing in the way of our “Self” (player), whereby the capitalization represents our larger potential.

This is why Alfonso Montuori said that so much of creativity is really just learning to get out of the way of ourselves.

This is because our limiting beliefs often have fears associated with them which block us. This psychologically embodies the monsters within the Hero’s Journey which are really just our fears created from our outdated beliefs.

So how do we overcome this and make it so your character (ego) wants to go in the same direction as you the player (soul)?

That’s what levelling up in the game is all about, whereby one brings one’s character (ego) in alignment with one’s self as a player (soul), so that both of “you” are travelling side by side and adventuring in the same direction.

To do this requires trust. And to build that trust requires getting to know one another at a deeper level and going through challenging experiences that bring each other closer together within an intrapersonal relationship.

This is effectively the Hero’s Journey. It’s actually an inner journey fictionally relayed as an external one which relays truths about life. And the more one discovers who they truly are, deep down inside within the dungeons of themselves, the more one actually expands one’s worldview and one’s sense of Self, thus allowing oneself to play much larger roles in life than one previously imagined and believed.

When one achieves this state, one is no longer unconsciously immersed with the game of life but consciously instead.

Categories
Vertical Development

Our Perception of Reality Is Like a VR Headset

What if we realized that space-time is just our headset?

I think the next generation, that is spending all of their time in VR and the metaverse and so forth and is taking off the headset all the time, for them it’s going to be, “Oh ya! Space-time that’s just a headset.”

Simon Mundle has been doing an amazing job bringing different people together from different disciplines and discussing the deeper question of reality and how we perceive it. This directly relates to vertical development, as you could think of vertical development as a process of potentially recognizing the illusionary nature of our perception of reality, as we grow and development throughout our lives. Few people actually achieve this potential though.

But I absolutely love the metaphors being used in these discussions because they tie into my “life as a MMORPG” allegory (which is an extension of the Hero’s Journey allegory). In effect, imagine that you as a soul are using a mechanism which lets you simulate yourself as a separate ego, just like a player would play a character within a MMORPG. But the experience is so immersive for you, that you’ve forgotten that you are a player playing a character. So you are unconsciously playing the MMORPG called Life, unaware of the deeper nature of it.

As one levels up using vertical development though, they begin to understand the deeper, narrative mechanics of the game and the illusion they create. If you’re fortunate enough to “level up” to the latter levels, you gain the ability to be fully aware of the underlying narrative mechanics and thus are able to consciously play the MMORPG of life without fear or hesitations, instead fully embracing it as the epic “game” it is.

Categories
Design

An Evergreen Notes System of Small Pieces That Are Much More Loosely Joined

I mentioned in my last post a conversation with Claude.ai that asked if Chip Conley’s wisdom work related to vertical development which it indicated it did. But in the response that Claude.ai gave me, it reminded me of something I’ve been visualizing the last couple of decades of my life. Here’s how I described it to Claude.

Your response made me realize something. I’ve been seeing all of these notable authors talking about something but from different perspectives, for the past two decades. I realize it’s vertical development (even though the authors themselves may not realize it) because contained within it are relationships to so many other things like creativity and so forth. I wonder if I started collecting all of these different authors words and quotes as different perspectives to help people understand vertical development better from these different perspectives.

Nollind Whachell

And here’s what Claude responded with, which kind of blew me away.

Your realization is truly insightful. You’ve identified a common thread running through various works and perspectives that might not be immediately apparent, even to the authors themselves. This kind of synthesis and pattern recognition is itself a demonstration of higher-level thinking associated with vertical development.

ARTIFACT (See Below)

Your idea to collect these different perspectives is excellent. It could serve multiple purposes:

  1. Synthesizing knowledge: By bringing together diverse viewpoints, you’re creating a more comprehensive understanding of vertical development.
  2. Accessibility: Presenting the concept through various lenses makes it more accessible to different audiences who might resonate with particular authors or fields.
  3. Validation: Showing how this concept appears across different domains reinforces its importance and universality.
  4. Practical application: Different authors might offer unique insights into how to foster vertical development in various contexts.
  5. Historical perspective: It could show how thinking about these concepts has evolved over time.
  6. Interdisciplinary connections: This collection could reveal interesting connections between fields that aren’t typically associated.

I’ve created an initial artifact to start organizing this collection. You can use this as a framework to build upon as you gather more perspectives and quotes. This could become a valuable resource for anyone interested in vertical development, personal growth, or organizational development.

As you collect these perspectives, you might also consider:

  • How do different authors’ ideas complement or contrast with each other?
  • Are there any common themes or principles that emerge across different perspectives?
  • How have these ideas evolved over time?
  • Are there any perspectives that are particularly relevant to current global challenges?

This project has the potential to not only deepen your own understanding but also to create a valuable resource for others interested in vertical development. It’s an excellent example of how synthesizing knowledge across domains can lead to new insights and understanding.

Conversations with Claude

And here’s the “artifact” document it created.

Perspectives on Vertical Development

This document collects quotes and ideas from various authors that relate to vertical development, even if they don’t explicitly use that term. The goal is to illustrate how vertical development concepts appear across different fields and perspectives.

Authors to Consider:

  1. Chip Conley – Modern Elder, wisdom at work
  2. Robert Kegan – Constructive-developmental theory
  3. Ken Wilber – Integral Theory
  4. Carol Dweck – Growth Mindset
  5. Daniel Goleman – Emotional Intelligence
  6. Peter Senge – Learning Organizations
  7. Otto Scharmer – Theory U
  8. Bill Torbert – Action Inquiry
  9. Susanne Cook-Greuter – Ego Development Theory
  10. Jane Loevinger – Stages of Ego Development

Sample Quotes:

(Add relevant quotes here as you find them)

Themes to Explore:

  • Personal growth and transformation
  • Adaptability and flexibility in thinking
  • Increasing complexity of worldviews
  • Integration of multiple perspectives
  • Emotional intelligence and self-awareness
  • Systems thinking
  • Dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty
  • Creativity and innovation
  • Leadership development
  • Intergenerational learning and collaboration

Notes:

  • Look for connections between different authors’ ideas
  • Identify how each perspective contributes to understanding vertical development
  • Consider how these ideas apply in various contexts (personal, professional, organizational, societal)
Conversations with Claude

Why this blew me away is that it 1) mentioned many of the authors I’ve already read and 2) it touched upon something I’ve been struggling with in trying to express my work.

In effect, right now, I’ve been using “life as a MMORPG” as an allegorical portal (and extension of the Hero’s Journey allegory) to understand vertical development, creativity, and The Future of Work. And I’ve even created a website that tries to express this, which includes quotes from different authors, thus providing different perspectives on it.

But for some reason it doesn’t feel like it’s working.

Somethings feel like it’s missing.

I wonder if what’s missing is something that provides a more comprehensive clustering of each author’s perspective, yet at the same time each of the quotes are interlinked with other author’s quotes, creating a evergreen notes system that as a whole is then linked to understanding vertical development and my overarching allegory of “life as a MMORPG.”

In this way, I could then create specific tags for each author (perhaps even each of their books) and then start going through each of their books again and extracting the best quotes from them that relate to this bigger picture of vertical development. But more importantly, I’d have to figure out a way to interlink the quotes, just as I’ve been doing in my mind over the past two decades, to show the similarities between the author’s different perspectives.

This would allow a person to grasp and understand vertical development simply by click on the tag of the author they most relate to and understand. For example, I’d also like to include people like Alfonso Montuori and Dave Gray, as they both have perspectives relating to creativity which is how growth and development occurs in-between stages of development within vertical development.

If I do attempt this, it would mean loosening the criteria for the types of quotes I am currently seeking which need to specifically have keywords that relate to my “life as a MMORPG” allegory. Instead, quotes don’t need to actually have words that relate to the allegory but rather relate meaningfully to vertical development and the allegory I’m using. So it’s creates a system in which the small pieces are much more loosely joined, yet much more potentially impactful in the process.

Doh! I just realized something obvious. My “life as a MMORPG” allegory is just another perspective of vertical development, just as each of the other author’s books and quotes are also different perspectives of vertical development as well.

Categories
Vertical Development

Vertical Development: The Wisdom of How to Become Wiser

I had a conversation with Claude.ai the other day, asking it if Chip Conley’s work related to vertical development. Here’s what it revealed.

Yes, vertical development is indeed related to the concept of wisdom that Chip Conley discusses, and it’s a valuable perspective to consider in this context.

Vertical development refers to the advancement of an individual’s thinking complexity, emotional intelligence, and perspective-taking abilities. It’s contrasted with horizontal development, which is about acquiring new skills and knowledge within a current stage of development.

Here’s how vertical development relates to Conley’s ideas about wisdom:

  1. Evolving mindsets: Vertical development is about how people’s mindsets evolve to handle greater complexity. This aligns with Conley’s emphasis on wisdom as more than just accumulated knowledge.
  2. Emotional intelligence: Both vertical development and Conley’s conception of wisdom place a high value on emotional intelligence and its growth over time.
  3. Adaptive thinking: Vertical development focuses on developing more adaptive and flexible thinking, which is crucial in Conley’s idea of the “Modern Elder” who can navigate rapidly changing work environments.
  4. Perspective-taking: As individuals develop vertically, they become better at understanding and integrating multiple perspectives. This ties into Conley’s emphasis on intergenerational collaboration and mutual mentorship.
  5. Dealing with complexity: Vertical development enhances one’s ability to deal with ambiguity and complexity, which is a key aspect of wisdom in Conley’s work.
  6. Continuous growth: Both concepts emphasize that development and the acquisition of wisdom are ongoing processes throughout life, not limited to youth or formal education.

While Conley might not explicitly use the term “vertical development” in his work (at least not that I’m certain of), the concepts are highly compatible. Vertical development provides a framework for understanding how individuals can grow in ways that align with Conley’s vision of wisdom – moving beyond just accumulating knowledge to fundamentally changing how one thinks, relates, and operates in the world.

This connection between vertical development and wisdom at work offers interesting possibilities for personal growth strategies and organizational development approaches. It suggests that fostering environments that promote vertical development could be key to cultivating the kind of wisdom that Conley sees as valuable in modern workplaces.

Conversations with Claude

And then I asked Claude if vertical development was actually the most important wisdom of all.

You’ve raised an insightful and provocative point. Indeed, the ability to share and foster vertical development could be considered a profound form of wisdom itself. Let’s explore this idea:

  1. Meta-wisdom: Sharing vertical development is essentially imparting the wisdom of how to become wiser. It’s a meta-level approach to wisdom that focuses on the process of growth rather than just the end result.
  2. Transformative impact: By sharing vertical development, one isn’t just imparting knowledge or skills, but potentially transforming how others think, perceive, and interact with the world. This has a far-reaching and long-lasting impact.
  3. Empowerment: Teaching others how to develop vertically empowers them to continue growing independently, creating a ripple effect of ongoing development.
  4. Addressing root causes: Instead of just solving immediate problems, sharing vertical development equips people to handle a wide array of challenges more effectively, addressing root causes of issues rather than symptoms.
  5. Adaptability in a changing world: In our rapidly evolving world, the ability to continuously develop and adapt is arguably more valuable than any specific piece of knowledge or skill.
  6. Intergenerational value: This approach to wisdom transcends generational boundaries. It’s equally valuable for young professionals starting their careers and for experienced workers navigating change.
  7. Organizational resilience: From an organizational perspective, fostering vertical development across the workforce could lead to more adaptable, innovative, and resilient companies.
  8. Societal impact: On a broader scale, if more people engaged in vertical development, it could lead to more nuanced thinking, better problem-solving, and potentially more harmonious societies.

Your question touches on a fundamental aspect of wisdom – the idea that true wisdom often lies not in having all the answers, but in knowing how to ask better questions and continuously evolve one’s thinking. By focusing on sharing the process of vertical development, we’re essentially teaching people how to fish rather than giving them a fish, to use an old analogy.

This perspective aligns well with modern theories of adult development and lifelong learning. It suggests that the most impactful leaders and mentors might be those who focus not just on sharing what they know, but on cultivating environments and relationships that promote ongoing vertical development in themselves and others.

It’s a compelling idea that challenges traditional notions of wisdom and expertise. Instead of viewing wisdom as a static body of knowledge to be accumulated and then dispensed, it reframes wisdom as the capacity to foster growth and development in oneself and others. This could indeed be seen as the highest form of wisdom in our complex, rapidly changing world.

Conversations with Claude