Innovation: rising at the edge of turbulence
By Susanne Martman
Innovation is happening around us all the time - sometimes on an almost inconceivable macrocosmic scale, such as devising new ways to get around in self driving cars - simultaneously on a microcosmic scale beyond the threshold of our perception, small miracles unfolding, neurons creating new networks in the body. The word innovation comes from the Latin verb innovare, in - ‘into’ + novare - ‘to make new.’ It comes to us in our age with the understanding of ‘when something new or different is introduced.’
Emilie Conrad, in her book ‘Life on Land’ inquires into the body’s natural healing ability - generally thought of as involving the ‘rest and repair’ state of the parasympathetic nervous system, maintaining homeostasis and supporting the process of regeneration.
Lesser known is the body’s miraculous capacity to innovate as part of the healing process.
For many years Emilie worked with people affected by spinal cord injuries. Conforming to expectations, severed nerves did not regenerate - yet contrary to expectations new pathways of communication began to establish themselves. As a flowing body of water finds its way around obstacles and is continually being shaped by the interface with the environment, so the process of innovation is always at work in the human body and enhanced by moving as water moves.
Our history on earth is shaped by the continual responses of innovation and adaptation as aquatic early life forms moved onto land - being able to take in the new information from the environment, adapt and ‘make new’ is at the heart of evolution. Our survival as a species continues to rely on this quality of innovation as we adapt to change. From one moment to the next our bodies are keeping a careful tally of checks and balances, drawing on ancient bio-intelligence to maintain the homeostasis of our systems. As Emilie Conrad writes, ‘A living organism contains a vast potential for innovation by containing an intelligence that can elicit new pathways to optimize internal life processes.’
She also refers to the cell and embryo as motifs of innovation, an inward turning, ‘involution’ movement that often coincides with the emergence of something new, such as when the layers of the embryo fold inward giving rise to the mesodermic layer of the body and beginning the formation of certain organs. We see these same movements repeated as animals go through periods of change - a metamorphosis or transformation - becoming something new. Interestingly, while a group process has the advantage of drawing from a broader field, the heart of creativity and innovation is most often found in a solitary state, beginning with stillness.
Bonnie Gintis, in her book ‘Engaging the Movement of Life’ observes how innovation occurs ‘at the turbulent edges of water.’ She writes, ‘Although life may go on undisturbed where conditions are stable, there is little innovation. Diversity thrives at the edge. The widest variety exists at the interface between what’s necessary for life and the unknown swirling variables.’
Where do we find the fertile edges in our lives, places where there is more receptiveness to movement, change and innovation - while at the same time maintaining the core of stability so as not to be swept away by the currents of the prevailing culture? Our many templates for life come from nature and its expression through us. For example, in Continuum we consider the breathing cycle - an inhale taking on form, and exhale - dissolving of form. One cannot exist without the other, each part of a cohesive whole. When the many forms our lives take are more fluid, the counterbalance - the dissolving of form - creates fertile ground for the activation of the verb ‘to make new.’