The Tipping Point Blog

Welcome to The Tipping Point

The news in the world seems only to get worse, and it can be hard not to despair even when theory can help us understand the human condition and navigate its complexities. As one friend and colleague told me recently, “Bowen theory helps us understand life, it does not control life.”

This blog is aimed at identifying instances of good functioning in what appears to be an unregulated world. We will highlight examples of science being used to lead the way to workable solutions to problems, of leaders taking principled stands, and businesses, communities and other organizations finding ways to cooperate and collaborate.

We hope these posts will elicit discussion on what it takes for humans to act responsibly, especially in the face of intensity, and how theory might contribute to that understanding. In other words, we will focus on good functioning rather than disfunction and see what we might learn. We will welcome comments in to each post and hope to publish posts by contributors outside NESBT.

Since 2005, the New England Seminar on Bowen Theory has held conferences on the concept of emotional process in society. Under the leadership of Ann Nicholson, that focus quickly started to emphasize such questions around climate change as what is it in the human that causes us to consume resources without thought to the future? What prevents us from acting on the threat of climate change?

At the time, the worst of predicted climate change consequences seemed a long way off, but today their impact in floods, droughts, wild fires, sea level rise and ferocious storms are undeniable for most of us. We see crops and wild life threatened, communities burn and climate refugees overwhelm borders.

We are calling our blog the Tipping Point in the hope that if enough of these solutions crop up around the world, they could together achieve a point at which it becomes the norm for humankind to take on the hard work of change for the future of our planet. That said, however, we do not want limit the conversation exclusively to climate change. Perhaps, we can think about this blog as a search for the tipping point toward better functioning humans and thus better functioning societies.

Please join the discussion. Comment on individual posts, alert us to interesting articles, papers and topics. And write your own posts for submission.

Thank you!