As the Nazis were closing in on Paris, Walter Benjamin knew he had to flee the city. He gave one of his most prized possessions to his friend, who kept the archives of the French national library. Paul Klee made a work called Angelus Novus. Benjamin describes how the angel's face is turned toward the past, where he sees history as "one single catastrophe which keeps piling on"
The Collins English Dictionary came to a similar conclusion about recent history after more than 80 years after Benjamin described the storm of the early 20th century. Permacrisis is the word of the year for 2022. It's a time when we lurch from crisis to crisis. Klee's angel would have a similar look today.
The situation Permacrisis describes is not new. According to the German historian, we have been living through an age of permanent crisis for at least the past two centuries. Koselleck says that before the French revolution, a crisis was a medical or legal issue. He writes that after the fall of the ancien regime, crisis became the structural signature of modernity. There were many crises in the 19th century, including economic crises, foreign policy crises, cultural crises and intellectual crises.
The list got longer. There were midlife crises, energy crises, and environmental crises in the past. In the 70s, Koselleck counted up more than 200 crises we could have faced. There are probably hundreds of new crises on offer. Even if we don't face more crises than in the past, we still talk about them. We feel like we are living in an age of perma crisis.
It has been a bracing experience for other people to wake up and hear about the latest crisis. Friedrich Engels wrote in a letter that the crisis would make him feel better than swimming. In the Chinese language, the word crisis is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other opportunity. If things aren't failing, Musk argues, you aren't innovative enough.
Victor H Mair, a professor of Chinese literature at the University of Pennsylvania, says that the Chinese word for crisis, wij, refers to a perilous situation. The doctrine that the Chinese word for crisis is composed of elements meaning danger and opportunity is dangerous to society. People are lulled into welcoming crises because they can benefit from them. Revolutionaries, billionaires and politicians would love to make money from a crisis, but most people don't want a crisis at all.
These days, we know a lot more about how crises can affect us. Folk believe that when there is a great crisis, there is also a great burst of creativity. The growth of the art of painting and literature can be traced back to the first world war. Innovations in technology were spurred by the second. Punk and hip-hop were created because of the economic crises of the 70s and 80s. When we are threatened by a crisis, we become more rigid and locked into our beliefs. Dean Simonton is a creativity researcher who has looked at breakthrough in music, philosophy, science and literature. We tend to become less creative during crises. He found that periods of political crisis and instability were less likely to have a significant impact on creativity.
According to psychologists, malevolent creativity thrives when we feel threatened. New weapons, torture devices and ingenious scam are some of the innovations that are harmful. The study found that people who felt threatened were more likely to use bricks as weapons than people who didn't. External threats can make college students think like conservatives. Students who were presented with information about a threatening situation became increasingly wary of outsiders, and even began to adopt positions such as an unwillingness to support the LGBT community afterwards.
We tend to become less able to change during times of crisis, which is ironic.
We tend to have worse life outcomes when we suffer trauma. Studies show that crises can help build resilience. If a crisis is shared, we tend to be more resistant. "True resilience lies in a feeling of togetherness that we're united with those around us in a shared endeavor."
It's good to be good in moderation and share with others. It is likely that living in an age of permanent crisis will be a disaster for ourselves. The challenge our leaders face is to not let ourselves plunge into the ocean of change alone to see if we sink or swim. They should not tell us that things are okay. The best leaders are able to create a sense of certainty during times of crisis. People won't feel like they're in danger. People don't feel alone. We are more likely to summon the creativity, ingenuity and energy needed to change things when we feel certain.
The Bayes Business School at the University of London has a professor who works on organizational behavior. Business Bullshit was written by him.
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