My friend and Presencing Institute co-founder Kelvy Bird captures this felt sense in the image of an abyss. If we picture ourselves on the left-hand side of the image, we can see a world that is disintegrating and dying (the structures of the past); on the right-hand side we see the new mental and social structures that are emerging now. The challenge is to figure out how to cross the abyss that divides the two: how to move from “here” to “there.” This picture, in a nutshell, depicts the journey of this book: the journey across the abyss, from a current reality that is driven by the past to an emerging future that is inspired by our highest future potential.

Scharmer, Otto. The Essentials of Theory U: Core Principles and Applications. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.

That image led to the development of the “U” diagram (Theory U) of the processes involved in moving from a closed mind, heart and will to an open mind, heart and will. The descriptions above about moving down the left-hand side and moving up the right-hand side, apply to the images above and the ‘underlying frame’ here:

Earlier blog posts covered the three divides driving disruption today. (See: Bridging the 3 Divides )

Presencing

Presencing, the blending of sensing and presence, means to connect from the Source of the highest future possibility and to bring it into the now. Presencing happens when our perception begins to happen from the source of our emerging future. The boundaries between three types of presence collapse: the presence of the past (current field), the presence of the future (the emerging field of the future), and the presence of one’s authentic Self. When this co-presence, or merging of the three types of presence, begins to resonate, we experience a profound shift, a change of the place from which we operate.

Otto Scharmer