In the King James Version, the quote is found in Matthew, 12:25: “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”

The Three Divides – A guide to understanding the current world.

Saahil Sood

I help founders build high performing AND sustainable teams | Co.labx | Leadership and Team Coach

June 9, 2019 (linkedin.com)

The world is a radically changing place today and this is leading to some complex challenges. Understanding and making sense of this change has been a deep area of interest in my work. My recent read, The Essentials of Theory U by Otto Scharmer outlined an interesting and seemingly simple perspective of The Three Divides to understand these changes and challenges. Below is my synthesis of the Three major divides playing out in our world currently. 

1.The Ecological Divide

Our relationship with nature is fractured. There is an unprecedented loss of nature. We are not sure yet whether this fracture can ever be repaired and the loss recovered. The number 1.5 is a good representation of this divide. Worldwide, on an average all our economies consume the resources of 1.5 planet earths. This number varies from country to country – USA consumes the resources of 5 planet earths. 

Hence The Ecological Divide exists because of a disconnect between self and nature. Over the last few centuries, we have been the receiver or the taker in this relationship. We have seldom been the giver or have not done enough of it. We do not understand or conveniently ignore the needs of nature. This has fuelled a disconnect in the relationship.

2.The Social Divide

Thanks to technology, the last few decades have seen unprecedented innovation and development. This has also led to an increase in inequity, fragmentation. There is a unique loss of society happening. The number 8 sums up the social divide. 8 billionaires own as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the world’s population.

The Social Divide arises from a disconnect between self and other. The world has gradually moved away from a community-based living to an individual-focused lifestyle. Over the centuries, the tribes, joint families, communal spaces and events have given way to nuclear families and virtual communities. It seems that these transitions have led the Me to take a precedence over the We.

3.The Spiritual Divide

Look around and listen deeply. We will hear the words burnout and depression much more than we did a decade ago. There is a widespread loss of meaning and purpose. The number 800k represents the spiritual divide – this is the number of people committing suicide every year. 17% of these are from India. Every 40 seconds there is a suicide in this world. This number today is greater than the sum of people who are killed by natural disasters, murders or war. 

The Spiritual Divide arises because of the disconnect between self and Self. The capital S self represents my highest future possibility – who I am today and who I can be tomorrow. Maybe we are spending too much time doing and too less time being to connect and act from the Self. 

However before you start thinking of a solution, take a pause. Because there seems to be an emerging consensus around the world that the obvious may not be the preferred route anymore – eg launching a new Fellowship at the intersection of nature, other and self or just building a platform to facilitate connections between nature, others and self may not be the most brilliant ideas today!

When asked in an interview about where does hope lie for humankind, Yuval Harari spoke that human beings have spent centuries working externally and we must now spend time working internally on ourselves. In the book, Otto too continues the discussion on The Three Divides by declaring that the blind spot to these problems is the source and that’s the route we must take going ahead.

We can see what we do (results). We can see how we do it (process). But we usually are not aware of the who: the inner place or source from which we operate

So as an individual, a business/community leader or a young change maker wanting to solve these challenges, it will be worth thinking of combining the internal and external as a starting point. The number of people currently trying to work on bringing a transformational change in this world may have never been this high. Perhaps the reason we are still struggling to see the change lies in Bill O Brien’s following quote 

The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.