The problem with "awareness" is it is actually not accessible to everyone, universally.
In my world, as I have learned that "processing colors and gradations," "holding multiple thoughts without making rigid conclusions," "openness," "thinking twice" and "integration capabilities" rather than a need for "black and white" certainly leads to not only a sense of stability, but what I think is the true meaning of centeredness.
However, I feel the expectation that all humans can tolerate such data processing as what it takes to handle a million colors versus a black and white world is excellent working memory, or a high IQ that can imitate high working memory, or both.
Data loads above a person's ability to hold more than one thought at a time and which can feel literally overwhelming will be automatically ignored and black and white, as we all know, carries a much lower data load than color, will automatically be chosen. As far as I can tell so far, being a new member of the substack world, and gravitating to "this kind" (I hold off conclusions but I note things), it seems to be a group of highly intelligent (not the same as "intellectual"), high brain speed (IQ) and more than the usual baseline RAM (working memory).
My hypothesis is that the reason there is such a prevalence of black and white thinking and need for hierarchies is that there is a high prevalence of suboptimal working memory (so far seen as highly genetically determined at baseline, changeable temporarily under certain scenarios) in our world, with even lower baseline working memory distributions in the West.
It explains, in my world, why the West (USA being most obvious, but Brazil, actually "worse") has not been able to claw its way towards what most people would call consistent "civility" and or "civilization." One step forward, then huge backlash. Reading? Academics? Mindful? (who needs it? I do.. wonder why?) Etc. Those of us who can tolerate color data loads, and actually cannot do without them (automatically need them), in my opinion, are around 10% of the population in the West and are at that level of existence due to the fact that it is not the best brain for threat responsiveness, fighting, or survival (the jungle).
To sum it up in a biblical way, Cain wins, Abel loses. Even though a modicum of civilization has shown up in the last few hundred years, it is way ahead of the biological necessities for its continued existence. Humans are not biologically prepared for what could be called a consistent, sustainable civilization. The best the "aware capable" can do, is keep doing it -- find support, dodge bullets, stay true, anticipate torture and disappointment, and keep talking, working, and thinking deep.
Beautiful. You're right, metamodernism should not be complicated, but it is sophisticated. We need a higher level of understanding of our chaotic world right now, transcending our limited, binary perspectives and mm offers exactly that. I'm no expert but am certainly a student of its great possibilities.
I knew the moment that I saw the words metamodernism that it would just be another postmodernism and fresh territory for young cultural theorists to use big words and sound important.
The prefix meta is the prefix of our age. It means within and between but it also means above and beyond. And it also implies prosociality. Within and between is the flesh and guts of life, not the orderly end exemplary processed package.
We are living in the age of metastability metacognition and the metacrisis. These are all important concepts and are the product a lot of careful thought but each one boils down to something very real and very human. Metastability is perhaps the least familiar but it is one of the basic principles of the new physics of life. When things come together, when they integrate, when they cohere, this is metastability and it results in a flow state and self-awareness. The result is a phase shift to a higher level of being and that is what metacognition means. Metacognition means awareness of the within and the between and how this takes us above and beyond. It is a way of seeing through a different part of our brain that has a deeper more integrative grasp of reality. Perhaps we can call it the right hemisphere. This evolution is what is happening in our civilization v today amid all the chaos and the ruins. But metamodernity really involves holding onto something that is passing away. In contrast the idea of the matter crisis is therapeutic. Again it’s a big fancy word but it implies that there is something going on deep within life and culture, something that is beyond our superficial awareness that is both wonderfully emergent and an emergency, a metacrisis. The act of giving birth is a paradigmatic example it requires the firm but gentle and wise touch of the elder, the midwife.
In contrast metamodernity, like postmodernity, is mostly a publication venue for jargonistic theorists.
Metastability is a fancy new concept that deserves our attention. I teach about metastability in terms of the postural core of the body and how it holds us together. This is a basic example of metastability and is very exciting new anatomical science. But metastability implies many different kinds of coming together, both in the natural environment and in community. It is a principle of thermodynamics and is widely used throughout science. When we add energy to a system, for example when we add heat to ice, the system can find a new level of stability and a new identity with completely different properties than its previous state. This new state is not permanent. It is not a closed system. It is not a zero energy state. It requires input. But that is the way of life. This new state that stability just as an example of water is stable in a wide variety of conditions. This is what it means to love each other.
It is a really beautiful concept and is what inaugurates the face shift we are hoping for above and beyond all of this insanity.
Beautifully expressed! There are countless ways to make sense of the transformations unfolding in the world right now, but metastability allows us to hold them all without collapsing under the weight of uncertainty.
Metastability is not about resisting complexity or trying to reduce it to something manageable—it is about embracing it fully, without the need for resolution. If metamodernism in some ways seeks to solve complexity, metastability reminds us that we don’t need to solve it at all.
We only need to hold it.
To exist within the paradox, to remain centered amidst shifting landscapes, to integrate this understanding at the deepest level—that, to me, is true metastability.
Well what is actually the most promising about the idea of metastability is that it comes from biophysics. This means that it is something that we can understand and cultivate. We do not have a passive relationship with it but are co-owners of the process.
Yes. Knowing instead of understanding. Stop valuing what is intellectual over what is embodied. Masculine knowledge practices (outside in) over feminine knowledge practices (inside out). I know this to be true because I experienced it is a valid way of knowing.
Yes!! I hold the the image of the parable of "the blind men and the elphant" in my visual mind. It's all just the elephant, zoom out, question everything , recalibrate and find what works for you, keep moving...from the bottom up 👍
I resonate with so much of this, especially coming to metamodernism in a rock bottom, outside of academia. For me it was pushing myself to burnout, more or less intentionally, so that I may stop trying. It was stopping, making space, allowing myself to just be, not ever more effort and ever more stuff. I do think I am some kind of taoist now.
I've felt I've existed on the very edges of everything my entire life. Liminal spaces feel normal, natural.
It's life, that's all it is, it is allowing change to take place within you. I'm no taoist either and the Tao came way before metamodernism was even an idea, it's been here all along. I think it's more about knowing than understanding, and knowing often comes way before we understand. What will happen will happen, there is no need to make it complicated.
The problem with "awareness" is it is actually not accessible to everyone, universally.
In my world, as I have learned that "processing colors and gradations," "holding multiple thoughts without making rigid conclusions," "openness," "thinking twice" and "integration capabilities" rather than a need for "black and white" certainly leads to not only a sense of stability, but what I think is the true meaning of centeredness.
However, I feel the expectation that all humans can tolerate such data processing as what it takes to handle a million colors versus a black and white world is excellent working memory, or a high IQ that can imitate high working memory, or both.
Data loads above a person's ability to hold more than one thought at a time and which can feel literally overwhelming will be automatically ignored and black and white, as we all know, carries a much lower data load than color, will automatically be chosen. As far as I can tell so far, being a new member of the substack world, and gravitating to "this kind" (I hold off conclusions but I note things), it seems to be a group of highly intelligent (not the same as "intellectual"), high brain speed (IQ) and more than the usual baseline RAM (working memory).
My hypothesis is that the reason there is such a prevalence of black and white thinking and need for hierarchies is that there is a high prevalence of suboptimal working memory (so far seen as highly genetically determined at baseline, changeable temporarily under certain scenarios) in our world, with even lower baseline working memory distributions in the West.
It explains, in my world, why the West (USA being most obvious, but Brazil, actually "worse") has not been able to claw its way towards what most people would call consistent "civility" and or "civilization." One step forward, then huge backlash. Reading? Academics? Mindful? (who needs it? I do.. wonder why?) Etc. Those of us who can tolerate color data loads, and actually cannot do without them (automatically need them), in my opinion, are around 10% of the population in the West and are at that level of existence due to the fact that it is not the best brain for threat responsiveness, fighting, or survival (the jungle).
To sum it up in a biblical way, Cain wins, Abel loses. Even though a modicum of civilization has shown up in the last few hundred years, it is way ahead of the biological necessities for its continued existence. Humans are not biologically prepared for what could be called a consistent, sustainable civilization. The best the "aware capable" can do, is keep doing it -- find support, dodge bullets, stay true, anticipate torture and disappointment, and keep talking, working, and thinking deep.
About transformations for those of us who can appreciate colors: see https://www.sterlingimages.us/phoenixrendezvous.htm
Thank you all for sharing your insights, and for your focus, diligence and expressiveness... it is life sustaining for me and many others.
Hi, can you say a bit more about what you mean by "awareness?" I'm not sure what you're referring to. Thanks!
Beautiful. You're right, metamodernism should not be complicated, but it is sophisticated. We need a higher level of understanding of our chaotic world right now, transcending our limited, binary perspectives and mm offers exactly that. I'm no expert but am certainly a student of its great possibilities.
I love this. When I read all the high-powered intellectual discussions, it makes me feel inadequate, even if it resonates with me. My realisation also came through a series of experiences, which I recently wrote about here: https://insearchofwisdom.online/breaking-the-cycle-why-modern-life-feeds-our-worst-instincts-and-how-to-break-free/
I knew the moment that I saw the words metamodernism that it would just be another postmodernism and fresh territory for young cultural theorists to use big words and sound important.
The prefix meta is the prefix of our age. It means within and between but it also means above and beyond. And it also implies prosociality. Within and between is the flesh and guts of life, not the orderly end exemplary processed package.
We are living in the age of metastability metacognition and the metacrisis. These are all important concepts and are the product a lot of careful thought but each one boils down to something very real and very human. Metastability is perhaps the least familiar but it is one of the basic principles of the new physics of life. When things come together, when they integrate, when they cohere, this is metastability and it results in a flow state and self-awareness. The result is a phase shift to a higher level of being and that is what metacognition means. Metacognition means awareness of the within and the between and how this takes us above and beyond. It is a way of seeing through a different part of our brain that has a deeper more integrative grasp of reality. Perhaps we can call it the right hemisphere. This evolution is what is happening in our civilization v today amid all the chaos and the ruins. But metamodernity really involves holding onto something that is passing away. In contrast the idea of the matter crisis is therapeutic. Again it’s a big fancy word but it implies that there is something going on deep within life and culture, something that is beyond our superficial awareness that is both wonderfully emergent and an emergency, a metacrisis. The act of giving birth is a paradigmatic example it requires the firm but gentle and wise touch of the elder, the midwife.
In contrast metamodernity, like postmodernity, is mostly a publication venue for jargonistic theorists.
Metastability is a fancy new concept that deserves our attention. I teach about metastability in terms of the postural core of the body and how it holds us together. This is a basic example of metastability and is very exciting new anatomical science. But metastability implies many different kinds of coming together, both in the natural environment and in community. It is a principle of thermodynamics and is widely used throughout science. When we add energy to a system, for example when we add heat to ice, the system can find a new level of stability and a new identity with completely different properties than its previous state. This new state is not permanent. It is not a closed system. It is not a zero energy state. It requires input. But that is the way of life. This new state that stability just as an example of water is stable in a wide variety of conditions. This is what it means to love each other.
It is a really beautiful concept and is what inaugurates the face shift we are hoping for above and beyond all of this insanity.
Beautifully expressed! There are countless ways to make sense of the transformations unfolding in the world right now, but metastability allows us to hold them all without collapsing under the weight of uncertainty.
Metastability is not about resisting complexity or trying to reduce it to something manageable—it is about embracing it fully, without the need for resolution. If metamodernism in some ways seeks to solve complexity, metastability reminds us that we don’t need to solve it at all.
We only need to hold it.
To exist within the paradox, to remain centered amidst shifting landscapes, to integrate this understanding at the deepest level—that, to me, is true metastability.
Well what is actually the most promising about the idea of metastability is that it comes from biophysics. This means that it is something that we can understand and cultivate. We do not have a passive relationship with it but are co-owners of the process.
Yes. Knowing instead of understanding. Stop valuing what is intellectual over what is embodied. Masculine knowledge practices (outside in) over feminine knowledge practices (inside out). I know this to be true because I experienced it is a valid way of knowing.
Yes!! I hold the the image of the parable of "the blind men and the elphant" in my visual mind. It's all just the elephant, zoom out, question everything , recalibrate and find what works for you, keep moving...from the bottom up 👍
I love it! I posted a longish reply. https://open.substack.com/pub/musclemonk/p/the-age-of-the-metathe-let-down-of-954?r=2cl819&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=post-publish
I resonate with so much of this, especially coming to metamodernism in a rock bottom, outside of academia. For me it was pushing myself to burnout, more or less intentionally, so that I may stop trying. It was stopping, making space, allowing myself to just be, not ever more effort and ever more stuff. I do think I am some kind of taoist now.
I've felt I've existed on the very edges of everything my entire life. Liminal spaces feel normal, natural.
It's life, that's all it is, it is allowing change to take place within you. I'm no taoist either and the Tao came way before metamodernism was even an idea, it's been here all along. I think it's more about knowing than understanding, and knowing often comes way before we understand. What will happen will happen, there is no need to make it complicated.