Imagination is Everything
“Imagination is everything, it is the preview of life’s coming attractions” - Albert Einstein
If there is one characteristic that defines Homo Sapiens it is our ability to bring thoughts, dreams, ideas and fears into form. All buildings, songs, words and wars started in the minds of women and men. What we carry in our conscious minds we actively birth into the world. It is a characteristic unique to our species and a responsibility we can no longer take lightly.
The opportunity is upon us, to put down our collective fear, turn off the news, and steep into the wisdom unfolding before our eyes. We are experientially learning that the health of the planet and the health of our species is inextricably connected. Scientists confirming that zoonosis, the transfer of diseases from animals to humans, is exacerbated by human factors and our current economic model that values growth above all else (UN News, 2020). The Covid crisis is asking us to collectively come to terms with the stark reality that Homo Sapiens have unconsciously altered over 75% of the world land masses (UN, 2020) triggering a mass extinction (Harvard School of Public Health , 2020) and increasing human encounters with foreign bacteria, viruses and disease (UN News, 2020).
If knowledge is indeed power, then the right response to this moment is not to close the blinds and wait for normal to return, but to open our hearts and minds allowing imagination to flow. A new narrative is required, one that honours human ingenuity and our capacity for collaboration, kindness and good. Returning to a partnership with the natural world and its ecological boundaries, which formed the basis for human survival and evolution prior to the industrial revolution (Harvard C-Change, 2020).
Now is not the time to blame, shame or argue about who is right, wrong or at fault. It is the time for us to band together, collectively dreaming a better future for the next generations. This task may seem insurmountable, but I assure you, it ours and it is possible. I believe business can be the vehicle for this change. We all have a part to play, no matter how big or small.
It is time for all of us to sit with the question best phrased by the late great poet Mary Oliver “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life”?
Stay wild, stay free and keep dreaming.
Kimberly
Works Cited
Harvard School of Public Health . (2020, March 03). H-Change Center for Climate, Health and
the Global Environment . Retrieved from Coronavirus, Climate Change, and the Environment :https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/coronavirus-climate-change-and-the-environment/
UN News. (2020, April 5). First Person: Covid-19 is not a silver lining for the climate, says UN Environmental Chief. Retrieved from UN News:https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061082
