Emergent Whitespace

We continue to ponder the importance of 'whitespace', that space of potential, that space long recognized by Taoist and Buddhists as 'wu wei'.

We find it being called by different names. Alan Kay used the Japanese term of 'ma'. David Bohm, a theoretical physicist, refered to as 'free space' in what is know as the Brohm Dialogue . Phil Jackson, the basketball coach, talks about it as The Space Between.

Within the Buddhist tradition, it may also be thought of as 'emptiness', that from which becoming emerges mirroring Whitehead's understanding of 'creativity', a word so common now, but one that few realize was only coined in a talk he gave in 1926.

Calling it 'whitespace' implies the sense of emptiness from which something new emerges.

When we use that name, we see a nodding of heads – 'microagreements' – that leads us to a deeper appreciation of Natural Order.

When we introduce the agile mindset to educators in a DiG , we gently suggest that they courageously follow their curiosity into these spaces, asking them to note surprise and then to connect that surprise together into a new pattern of meaning, something that happens in unexpected Eureka Moments.