Choosing Words, Shaping Worlds

Dara Benno
Version 1

Practiced as a grounding activity for a number of RISD Center for Complexity events, the Language-based Exercise draws inspiration from Richard Serra’s art piece titled, “Verb List.” In this reflection, Dara—who also adapted this exercise from one introduced by the RISD Center for Arts & Language—deliberates on the importance of a shared vocabulary in acknowledging our lived realities and imagining new ones.

Tabula Rasa

We are born into this world without preconceived notions of any whos, hows, whats or whys—living each day creating new experiences that, in turn, allow us to form an understanding of human and non-human existence. We learn as we go. Our memories become a source of ongoing perception, expectation, and belief. Through a cognitive process of organizing the contents of our own timelines, we create a library of information that allows us to establish new knowledge to carry forward in developing relationships, making choices, and becoming the individuals we are today. The ability to communicate this knowledge through physical and verbal expression uplifts language as one of the most important tools of our existence. Through language, we can form emotional connections and share ideas that not only create influential dynamics but also have the ability to dictate how future make-or-break scenarios might play out.

If we live our lives continuing to shape our realities based on lived experience, it can pose difficulties in imagining what it might be like to live in a new, or evolving, reality. Furthermore, what happens when we don’t have a shared understanding of being on a shared planet in a shared existence? If we hold differing perceptions, expectations, and beliefs around concepts like care, progress, and control, how are we to align on and shape goals for a desirable future? What might seem like simple ideas on paper, have the potential to evolve into innovative expressions of purpose and intention—creating a new way of being by acknowledging an outdated understanding

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Language as a Tool

As we start to understand, define, and assume our roles in combating the challenges we are facing both in the present and the future (read: planetary consciousness in the Anthropocene), an added challenge is that of imagining something new that we haven’t yet experienced. By engaging in a process of relational outlining, we can start to reconsider and actively reframe both individual and collective thinking around familiar concepts and terminology, working toward creating new knowledge and mutual understanding.

Through a process that artist Richard Serra refers to as language-based drawing, we can expand our thinking around preconceived notions, expectations, and beliefs in order to imagine new meaning through an exploration of actions. Serra’s work, Verb List (1967),^{Figure 1} is a series of infinitives based on his identification that “drawing is a verb” and offers a thorough exploration of “actions to relate to oneself, material, place, and process” in order to develop his own multidisciplinary approach to creating bodies of work. If we are to better understand—or understand at all—how to work toward a desirable future, then we need to unlearn what we think we know. It’s necessary to first lay the groundwork for a shared awareness that is based on intention and purpose in order to guide future communication, decision-making, and behavior.

To try the activity out yourself, see Laying Language Foundations.

In Practice: A Focused Exploration of 10 Words

Progress

As we move through time, we can predict that things will change. Things do change. In a world full of complexity, the question becomes whether this change is responsive in a way that makes life progressively better or progressively worse. If we can identify continuous patterns in our evolution, can we decipher which stem from toxic habits we need to break? Can we assess which models and norms are outdated—contributing to a kind of growth that is based on wisdom and restraint instead of obligations for a present notion of what it means to grow? What might seem like an improvement to life today can strip us of a better life tomorrow. To imagine new pathways for a future of possibility, we need to question metrics of advancement and evaluate the root of our problems. Stop relying on band-aid solutions for cuts that never heal. Let institutions that no longer serve us die. Welcome a culture of constraint. “Experience life outside goal achieving” and create rituals that unite communities.² Understand that life as we know it is not suited for the new kind of nature we have created. Contemplate what it actually means to be human.

Control

Humans are one of the many forms that nature takes. We are a form that we put so high up on a pedestal that we mistakenly think that nothing can touch us. Despite common belief, we cannot control the uncontrollable, and our actions have repercussions over time. There is no one else who can clean up the mess we have made but ourselves. In fact, the only thing we can clean up is our understanding of how to navigate a reality that we can’t predict. If we understand the world as it relates to ourselves, then there must be some relational misunderstanding when it comes to our place in it. We have reached a point in time when water can’t put out fire—living in a self-proclaimed epoch where a thirst for dominance has made it such that it’s no longer an option. We have neglected the natural world in pursuit of our own human-centered objectives and prioritized a narrative for an individualist reality based on selfish goals. To rewrite this narrative is to control our urge for control. To prioritize collective well-being. To lead with responsible innovation and usher in a culture of accountability. To not just maintain life as we know it for a livable future, but to improve life as we know it for a desirable future.

Care

We are stuck in a “culture of uncare” that is fueled by entitlement and privilege.³ Someone-else-will-handle-that mentalities preserve prioritizing economic prosperity and exploitation rather than justice for land and quality of life—or just life. Period. When did denial and avoidance take the place of recognition and responsibility? We have dissociated for long enough. Although it may be too late to transition into a physical reality that is already here, we can still transition from pushing for what we think we deserve, to being thankful for what we already have—caring for the natural world as if we don’t have a spare, because we don’t. If we transition from “me” to “us” thinking, can our current competitive culture become one that races to innovate and imagine new possibilities? If we are “one with nature” instead of “other than nature,” can we adopt the mentality to treat the world around us, and all its beings, as if we would want to be treated? If the end goal is to keep going, then acknowledging we are burned out from life as we know it makes necessary space for continued reflection, consideration, and connection. To emphasize and utilize the kind of knowledge that is based on regeneration and protection is to overcome habits of neglect and degradation in order to nurture a path forward.

Identity

How we identify as individuals is based on a perfect contradiction of both independent states of being and of belonging—developing a sense of self that is based on lived experience and social grouping. We create communities, organizations, and institutions in which we assume roles to support a purpose and uplift who we perceive ourselves to be, influencing one another’s identities along the way. If our current purpose is driven by short-term goals bound in time and baseline metrics are dictated by capital gain, does the reality of who we are, match the perception of how we identify? Are the roles we play merely performative? Why is one of the first questions we are asked in a social setting, “What do you do?” instead of “What do you value?” Understanding that we have control over how we shape our identities is a powerful reminder of agency—empowering both individuals and groups to create new norms and specify practices around a shared, collective vision while celebrating individuality and self-expression along the way.

Value

The definition of value depends on the culture that surrounds it, in individual perception, and on preservation or time constraints. If value is relative, then how do we determine worth? If one person’s cost is another person’s gain, which is more valuable and which should be protected? We are in a “values crisis,” restricted to barriers of our own making—blinded by market interest and trapped by valuation methods that support them. Our willingness to pay has bled into what we are willing to give up in order to serve greed and instant gratification. We extract instead of create. We underappreciate instead of respect. To better understand “value,” perhaps it helps to consider how we treat something we find valuable. If something is replaceable, it goes down in value. If there are multiples, it goes down in value. If it’s broken, it goes down in value unless the use is more for show and bragging rights. Then it goes up in value. If it’s from a particular timeframe that only existed in the past, it goes up in value. If you’re unsure you’ll have access to it in the future, it goes up in value. If it’s something you need to survive, it goes up in value. We care for the things we value. We believe in the things we value. We pitch in and work together to obtain the things we value. We are willing to do what’s necessary to preserve the things we value.⁴

Efficient

The natural world is a beautiful landscape of efficiency. Learning from biological systems and forms opens up worlds of opportunity across industries and disciplines to improve processes and connect the dots between design, science, and technology. From growing slime mold to determine transportation pathways in Japan, to tapping into the magic of mycelium as a viable replacement for toxic, disposable packaging, there is much that Mother Nature has up her sleeves that we just need to open up our eyes to. When it comes to human processes and our relationship with efficiency, things get complicated. Add time and money to the mix, and you have yourself a perfect storm. We choose speed over longevity and immediacy over patience. What might seem like an efficient solution in the short term may actually result in the use of more resources and the creation of excess waste in the long term. The Jevon Paradox⁵ shows us how an increase in the efficiency of resources leads to an increase in demand and consumption of that resource. So there you go. Consumer demand trumps actual efficiency which should cause intellectual demand for a re-evaluation of priorities.

Solution

There’s no “solving” climate change. Funny enough, the verb “solve” is rooted in the Latin “solvere,” meaning “detach.” I suppose many people do, in fact, detach themselves from our shared reality and choose to live a as if ignorance is bliss or maybe play the blame game instead. Although we might not be able to create a “solution,” we can create a condition for improvement through informed interventions and a re-evaluation of what constitutes success or failure. If instant gratification can lead to long-term dissatisfaction, then maybe we need to consider a new evaluative measure for how to determine what makes the better, better, and the worse, worse. Can identifying possible action on a local level create some wiggle room to be “wrong” and allow space for improvement? Maybe two wrongs don’t make a right only when they’re in opposition to one another and not working toward a common goal.

Trust

With unclear metrics of advancement, rampant abuse of privacy, and the ongoing manipulation of knowledge, life can feel like a funhouse at the circus, minus the fun. To build trust, we have to focus on what we don’t know and address the fact that we don’t know it. Or instead of building trust as an objective, is it a consequence of welcoming a culture of care? The identification and acknowledgment of the uncertainties we face can lead to creating new mechanisms for a revised concept of trust. Perhaps the experts of today are those who can be honest about capacity and purpose. New leaders will call out threats and risks not to instill widespread fear and hatred, but to empower and unite communities. Although what we can predict in the polycrisis is limited to knowing there will be constant change, being open to uncertainty together beats being scared of the unknown alone.

Power

Many of today’s institutions have been built on the kind of power that takes the form of force, fear, and violence. This form of power is dangerous and exploitative—replacing a necessary legitimacy and creating the illusion of stability. This form of power has created a narrative gone wrong. One of conflict and competition between superpowers instead of trust and collaboration in a multipolar world of cooperation. If legitimacy is what leads to the trust we need and seek, then this form of power needs to change. Perhaps the way to change power is through acts of “intelligent disobedience” and collective influence. Power doesn’t have to be a one-way street. Can “courageous followership”⁶ help shift the tides of power through direct feedback to leaders on the impact of their actions?

Crisis

These are times of crisis. The climate crisis. The opioid crisis. Fears of a nuclear crisis. There’s even a midlife crisis because apparently age also needs to be a thing that society has identified as problematic. We have so many crises that we now refer to them as a grouping of crises (read: the polycrisis). When there are many of one thing, bad or good, does it start to lose meaning? When faced with another crisis, has the emotional response become one of apathy? Or does the fact that we are being flooded (no pun intended) with crises mean that people are actually starting to understand that we need real change in order to be able to imagine a livable world and future? It’s time to acknowledge the fact that these are times we face because of the decisions we have made as humans. Collective behavior change is necessary and it needs to happen now. This means disrupting our creature comforts and conveniences and leaning into the catch-22 of making the best bad choices for the least bad future.