Words that caught us: W is for Wayfinding (Part 1)

 

Our reflection last week was a call to us,

To try to lift ourselves out of our anxiety-laden retreat,

And fear-weighted stagnation.

 

We didn’t know it then, that we were about

To enter another round of pandemic-induced

Restrictions and prohibitions.

The country has once again plunged

Into collective fear, pain and uncertainty.

 

How do we get out of this seemingly endless and fathomless sea?

Where do we begin our wayfinding?

 

We don’t have a sure-fire answer. But we have a suggestion.

 

We can start by seeking guidance from generations past –

From folklore and commentaries of yore –

On how our forefathers and mothers found their way

Out of similar, or worse uncertainties.

 

Have you heard of the ‘Manuscript found in Accra’?

It’s about a city that’s surrounded by a mighty conquering army.

The conquering force has sent a message:

‘Surrender, or we destroy the city’.

 

What do you do?

Will you flee, defend the city, or surrender?

 

The book is about the questions

We might be asking ourselves right now.

Knowledge, the Coptic says, is not what we learn from books,

But that which helps us confront the challenges of day-to-day life.

Apparently, what we are pondering over

And struggling with, right now,

Isn’t anything new.

Our forefathers and mothers asked the same questions.

It is their answers to these questions that illuminated their way out.

And these answers haven’t changed one tiny bit.

The years may have gone, but the truth contained in them remains intact.

By reading them, we can find our way out, too, just like they did.

 

Fear and flight are important impulses that serve to keep us safe.

But too much fear can be paralyzing, and make us easy prey.

 

Fear is born out of a narrative –

A story we tell ourselves about the outside world, and our relation to it.

Whoever owns the narrative, wins.

 

To conquer fear and overcome uncertainty,

We must change the narrative.

The biggest challenge you and I face today, therefore,

Is in shifting the narrative.

And to do that, we have to pay greater attention to what we say,

When we talk to ourselves.

 

If you have not read it yet,

The ‘Manuscript found in Accra’ is a good place to begin.

And even for those who have read it,

A revisit will do you some good.

 

Sit and contemplate the wisdom of the ages,

For the battles we wage today, have been waged before,

And wage them, we must, or else, perish;

For battles are a necessary precursor,

To the victories we dream of, and desire in tomorrow.

 

Both days, the good and the bad, are cooked in the same pot,

And they are both, a test for us.

 

*Today’s reflection has been inspired by the ‘Manuscript found in Accra’ by Paulo Coelho and this article by Art Petty.

**This is the first part of a series of reflections on ‘wayfinding’, a concept borrowed from Margaret Wheatley. Check out her book ‘Who do we choose to be?’

***You can read more here on ‘wayfinding’ as a social activity.