“When we are not attached to any theory, we have freedom to reflect, and this opening to reflect allows us to listen, to see, and to expand the vision because we are not trying to interpret what the other is saying or justify our thought." — Humberto Maturana* in conversation with Ximena Dávila**.

It feels good to reach the 10th edition of our newsletter! Thank you for reading it and for encouraging me to continue to share some reflections with you.

As Humberto Maturana has made clear through his life's work, the process of reflection is powerful. Actually, he has taught us that "we can reflect and choose whether we want or not want to feel what we feel." He argued that "we change with the flow of our interactions" and it feels great to change through my interactions with you through Briyah.

Best known for creating the term "autopoiesis", which has to do with the self-generating, self-maintaining structure in living systems, his work was vast, deep and influential in many fields, mainly the field of systems thinking and cybernetics.

As we say our good-byes to one of the world's greatest thinkers, who passed on May 6th, may we remember the profound teachings he has left us. How about watching, revisiting them in case you have had the opportunity to get in contact with them before, and enlarging the path of your sensoriality, as he used to say?

Why not read with fresh eyes, watch his talks and "conversatórios" with an open mind, reflect upon the concepts without trying to interpret them based on an attachment to existing theories, and allow consciousness to arise from what we are able to hear wherever we are in our unique journeys?

This is my invitation to you, in gratitude to Humberto Maturana, as we follow our natural evolutionary drift as bio-cultural beings and molecular autopoietic systems.

Cheers,

Adriana Machado

Founder at Briyah Institute

Have you heard of cultural biology? Humberto Maturana and Ximena Dávila have pointed out that innovation is not an object. They spoke at MIT and in other occasions, which they called "conversatórios", proposing that we look at innovation as a relational dynamic.

In this dynamic human beings are both creative and conservative. In their view, transformation is different from change because it implies that there is no coming back to it. In transformation something is conserved with different characteristics. In short, we are molecular autopoietic systems in constant transformation. With that in mind, they propose that we look at innovation with the lens of Human Ethical Innovation, which encourages us to focus on assuring an ethical conduct by consciously seeking not to cause harm to ourselves, to others or to the environment.

In the following talk he gave in 2015 at the Institute of Philosophy and Complexity Sciences (IFICC), he addressed many of the concepts he became known for, including great insights on collaboration, coherence, change and respect, which is essencial to reaching agreements in disposition of conserving our relations with others.

Maturana's influence can be seen in the work of many masters of systems thinking around the world, including Fritjof Capra, and Daniel Christian Wahl. Here is an example by Neil Theise who explains complexity, autopoiesis, positive & negative feedback-loops, cancer and how all that relates to us in the universe and the universe in us. Take a look and get inspired to dive deeper into systems thinking.

Great practice comes with great reflection. According to Maturana, as bio-cultural entities we cannot separate the way we live from the dynamic realization of living.

In this dynamic, the words we use guide our thinking and our understanding, so the way one speaks guide what one does. Nowadays, the acronym ESG has been used extensively, mainly in the corporate world.

Here is an inspiring talk that might enlighten you as to what is the G of ESG means and why governance is so important in organizations. What is the role of Board of Directors and how does it differ from that of CEO’s? How should ESG be dealt with in Boards? What should every leader know before joining a Board? Take a look at what Adriana Machado, Ana Paula Pessoa , Gisela Abbam FRSA and Franklin L. Feder are saying to make your own reflection about the topic and improve your practice.

Another relevant aspect of Maturana's teachings has to do with coherence. He used to say that human beings exist in language. We can reflect and we can choose, and we get better at what we do when we discover coherence. "We can make reflections about our living and this becomes part of what configuration of sensoriality we conserve in our living."

Here is another interesting reflection to make about marginal improvements by Stephen Duneier. Would this be a practice that brings coherence to you and that you would implement to achieve more ambitious goals?

Maturana also used to say that as human beings "we live in the relational space that we generate with each other, and there we can think, reflect and change our sensoriality through changing our desires and purpose, thus changing the course of our drift."

What could be more impactful than the realization that something is possible to achieve? Role models have the ability to ignite change in our desires and purpose based on what they have accomplished in their lives. Have you heard of Jane Goodall's life journey? This legendary scientist received the 2021 Templeton Prize of Living a Life of Purpose and here is a taste of her work and beliefs for you to continue to reflect upon and discover coherence in your journey.

As final insights, please find below one of the latest talks by Maturana, this time in conversation with Otto Scharmer.

Looking for further insights?  Join us for the CEO Meet & Master Program as a participant or talk to us about sponsoring a group to promote diversity & inclusion by empowering leaders to apply systems thinking to business. Registration for the September cohort is open and we look forward to having you as a part of the Briyah ecosystem.

“One is coherent in many more dimensions than one thinks.” ― Humberto Maturana*

At Briyah Institute we bridge innovation, practice and purpose to inspire leaders to transform organizations co-creating an impact economy.

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*Humberto Maturana, Ph.D. (September 14, 1928 – May 6, 2021) was one of Chile's best known author, biologist and philosopher. Maturana created the term "autopoiesis" about the self-generating, self-maintaining structure in living systems, and concepts such as structural determinism, structure coupling, and natural evolutionary drift. His work was influential in many fields, mainly the field of systems thinking, cybernetic and the biology of cognition. He co-authored the book Autopoiesis and Cognition with Francisco Varela, and co-founded Matríztica with Ximena Dávila.

** Ximena Dávila is a Professor from Chile who collaborated with Maturana, together they developed the dynamic vision that entangled the Biology of Knowledge and the Biology of Love that conform the basis for the Biological Matrix of Human Existence. Together they co-founded Matríztica, “la Escuela Matriztica de Santiago”.