The Complex and The Menial

My friend has been chopping wood. This is the part stacked in the field near his home. It will get moved to another stack to keep it dry. And will be chopped to further small pieces to work with his wood-burning fireplace that will keep his place warm in the coming cold of fall and winter.

I find myself speaking a couple of simultaneous narratives lately. For the work in organizations. One is the chop wood story. It’s the jobs and tasks that we do that are a bit more tasky. The must be done jobs. The sustainence things.

The other narrative is the bigger human story. Sometimes the cosmic story. Who we are as human beings and how that is evolving and changing as individuals and as communities.

The bigger story gives context to the day to day. The day to day helps give us room to ponder the bigger.

I like speaking both of these. It’s invitation to stay in the involvedness that I would suggest is an essential attention level these days. It’s invitation to grow skill at being in the complex, not just the menial. The non-linear, not just the linear. The aspirational, not just the obligatory.

Ah, life. In these many domains that all of us live. Sometimes it’s chopping wood. Sometimes it’s figuring out how to be in relationship with the whole, ever-changing forest.

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