V.U.C.A (Volatile, Unpredictable, Complex, Ambiguous)
5/23/25
V.U.C.A. is an acronym introduced by the U.S. Army War College to describe a more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous Europe resulting from the end of the Cold War.[1] With the dissolving of a past version of a titanic force (USSR) which commanded so much attention, resources, and energy from within and outside itself, there arose a context where myriad forces were now fully unleashed which were previously suppressed, sublimated, or contained by this leviathan before its weakening. Subsequently, the vast wake of anxiety and directionless from the unmooring of what was once considered dependable, immovable, and/or immutable left many shaken and overwhelmed.
Old assumptions and ways of being based on what no longer existed became ineffective or produced undesired consequences…excessive worry of unforeseen consequences…endless attempts at predicting or planning for all possibilities and worst case scenarios from this new reality…all of this demanding higher levels of energy and attention which were then resourced from somewhere else. Amid V.U.C.A, the search to recapture the decisiveness, clarity, and control of before in a seemingly more urgent context brought about more hurried and disproportionate measures of action based on a zero-sum outcome or a dualistic belief, thus producing a trail of hurt and/or harm from self-preservation.
Our current social, political, and economic climate may also engender much of this definition of V.U.C.A. and its consequences. Many of the people that I accompany currently are bringing these contextual conundrums and their consequences on their own spiritual lives into the spiritual guidance space. Grief, disbelief, confusion, rage, and paralysis by analysis seem pervasive as many are witnessing the seemingly inconceivable become reality – the subversion of what was believed to be agreed upon as sacred now labeled as meaningless or even profane. Where does one turn when our assumptions of who we are based on the environment we once knew and relied upon is gone?
Many of us accompany and have been accompanied when we have lost one of our anchors in life such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job or vocation, a misinterpretation of our identity for another’s agenda, or the loss of choice or agency in our relationships or self-determination. Many of us accompany others and have been accompanied when we were in the midst of the pain and harm of these personal V.U.C.A. moments that threaten to swallow us whole. Though, the overarching structure of how we will relate and govern ourselves from the larger sociopolitical context may be somewhat different and have different impacts than these personal events, there may still be some connected spiritual invitations amid these painful experiences for both those seeking accompaniment and those who are called to accompany in both spaces.
From these moments, may there be a catalyst for clarity? For purpose? Deepening? I am grateful for the way spiritual accompaniment may offer a space to explore these foreboding and weighty moments in order for another wisdom to emerge from a deep, primordial within us rather than from solely outside ourselves. I am grateful for the myriad spaces of accompaniment such as sound bathing, outdoor spiritual companionship, forest bathing, qigong/taiji, mediation, worship, prayer and other centering practices which allow us to be grasped by that which includes us yet also transcends us in order for this inner wisdom and teacher to arise. And I am then deeply grateful for the spaces which we gather and offer, listen, live out, and refine these discoveries in community, families (both biological and chosen), and friends-neighbors-strangers. All of these spaces are an embodied invitation to practice the skillful means of wordless actions, deepening intent and connection, and compassionate presence through profound listening and attunement.
______________________
[1] Judith Hicks Stiehm and Nicholas W. Townsend. The U.S. Army War College: Military Education in a Democracy.
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002) p. 6. &, Bob Johansen. Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present. (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2007), 51–53.
Here are some of the questions that have arisen from myself and those I accompany in this prescient time:
What is the invitation for you/us in this (possibly eternal) time of V.U.C.A?
What seems most important (rather than urgent) for my energy to be focused on right now?
In the urgency, what/who am I responsible to? What/Who am I responsible for? How does this impact the urgency now?
Where am I participating with God right now or am being invited to participate despite the evidence to the contrary (Jeremiah 32)?
Where do I realize I am not Source and do not have control over what will happen next?
Who am I now? What is my purpose now? How then shall I live (now)?
What do I sense in my body that endures now, regardless of how it is perceived by others?
Where do I notice Change/Universe moving within me now? How do I participate with it? How may I be resisting it and causing my own suffering?
What does love look like now? Compassion? Self-compassion?
I offer these questions hoping to feel and hear your own invitations from God/Source/Dao/Original Nature/Universe. For in our collective listening and embodying, may there be collective wisdom and reality born anew together.
