Clearing the Decks-The Fourfold Path to Nowhere

I know- I know. Where are the maps?
You told me that this was a manual about Narrative Mapping.

Dead Ends are part of maps. The four fold path to transformation that we have discussed are what we think are paths to nowhere that we needed to deal with first, before we set out on a new adventure. Think of it as Copernicus having to deal with the flat Earthers before he shows them his map, so that they are not shocked or get confused. He has to show them-“You are going the wrong way.”

Lets check our bearings by seeing how far we have come, so far. Let’s retrace our steps.

1.Meaning is usually defined, but we claim it moves. You can’t trap it. You have to map it. And we said that meaning moves at the speed of life. If life is a riddle, you try to find what it means. But we think it’s not a riddle.

2.Purpose is a porpoise- It belongs to the same terrain as meaning. Purpose promises some point or  destination but with a world spinning, we claim that our purpose is not to fall off.   We said, don’t find your purpose but find your path. You don’t have to get it so much as get through it. We said purpose is more the groove we fall into rather than the goal we write down in a  leadership seminar. If life has no purpose, the gurus tell you to find one. But we think purpose is just an alibi for being lost.

3. Follow your Passion we said was like building on shifting foundations of feelings. Passion might be what haunts you but that might be better called intuition or conscience. Passion seems to privilege feelings, which we know fade as much as they grow. if life is mostly about emotions, then go with what you feel. But we think its much more than that.

4. Discover your Vision might be better expressed as find your vista because we challenge the notion that one gets to see the future in one take. Usually a vision blinds us, and tantalizes us to explore. The vision that blinds us is the vision that binds us. If you think life is mostly blind, you have to find your vision. But we don’t believe life is blind at all. We believe we can find a map of where we are headed.

We are playing with words and wanting to challenge the kind of world and the sort of map that words like meaning, passion, vision and purpose create in our minds. If you aren’t totally sure that our claims are compelling, that is fine. Entertain them for the sake of the journey we are about to take, so that when we get to the end, you can look back and see how the beginning fits into a sequence. We are unfolding this like any good story.