Lecture: Cassie Robinson - Designing Transitions

”Stop trying to make sense according to the logic of the world that is ending.”
Coming from a culture where more is better and everything is measured based on what you see externally, we often struggle with feeling enough. Security and certainty are the name of the game, but what is there to secure if the system that we know of, and hold on to is getting increasingly uncertain and is always changing? There are perhaps wiser, more attuned, and sustainable new systems that have yet to be discovered. How do we find them in the first place and not to mention, transition to implement it? Are all existing old systems inherently bad?
In this talk, Cassie Robinson inspires us with an array of frameworks for questions that revolve around designing transitions through revisiting and expanding on her keynote talk at The Conference 2023. Mainly drawing from her work examples in the context of organizations in civil societies, such as charities, movements, and community groups - she sheds a light on how these methods can be equally applicable in terms of economic, societal, and political systems.
How do you want the future to be and in what ways can you partake to support the kind of transitions that you want to see happen in your lifetime? Some of the poignant points provided by Robinson also allow us to reflect on how we, as individuals, face times of intense uncertainties and ongoing crises, be it seen or unseen. Do we tense up and cling to every cherished remnants of the past, or do we let go and surrender ourselves for something beyond our imagination? As Robinson wisely puts it:
”Everything around us, in our context and in ourselves and in our bodies is always alive and in motion in some way.”