Recently during one of the early morning flights from Bangalore, I picked up a book at airport on explanation of change through models, called “The Change Book” by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler. As I sat in the lounge, nonchalantly flipping through first couple of introduction pages, I was oblivious to the power I was holding in my hands and how something I will read in this book will change everything I have ever believed about personal growth. Forever. The Rhizome Model.
First of all, what is a rhizome – In botany rhizomes refer to rootless plants like lilies, ginger, Bermuda grass, Bamboo etc which grow in planer, horizontal propagation unlike trees and other plants which grow vertically. Mikael and Roman in their book have borrowed a concept of rhizomes in painting a more realistic description of path of growth as an interconnected continuous multiplicities propagating and expanding in horizontal plane rather than in the hierarchy or chronological order i.e. ‘Arboresence’. The rhizome concept is from works of French Philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, which they originally mentioned in ‘Anti-Oedipus’ and ‘A Thousand Plateaus’ published in 1972 and 1980 respectively in a series called ‘Capitalism and Schizophrenia’.
“Most of us use chronology or hierarchy in explaining the world around us with the idea that everything has a nucleus, a defining moment, an origin, a beginning. First we lived in caves and discovered fire. Then we invented the wheel, democracy, enlightenment, human rights and the microchip. This development is often visualized in the form of a tree, with roots, a trunk and branches that grow towards the light – but no matter how numerous and intricate these branches become they can all be traced back to a common starting point.” (Pg 16, The Change Book)
We always tend to think in terms of organizational, root-tree structure where each moment, node or point has a magnitude of development attached to it. With the notion that the nodes lying higher or further away from the roots are more advanced and developed. Eg. civilization is more developed than barbarism, humans are more developed than chimpanzee, a boss is more successful than a fresher, science is better than religion etc. Our preconceived thinking pattern shows in how we visualize company structures, government bodies, religion, computer programs, software architecture, our idea of the universe (singularity lead to big bang, lead to expansion, lead to solar system, lead to ideal conditions, lead to earth, lead to life, lead to humans). Most importantly, it shows in how we visualize ‘success’ and ‘growth’. We tend to think that ‘positions’ define how successful we are – our positions in the organization ladder of corporate, family or society.
But what if, instead of gauging success through the meter of pointers on hierarchically structured positions, success is measured on how interconnected, intersected, horizontally expanded one’s conscious level is. Like rhizomes. “With no beginning, no end, with no state of being, just a continuous state of becoming.” .What if the only position that one hold in this world is not the discrete branched ranks on the conceived notions of hierarchical structures but of interbeing in the big mesh of possibilities, a brief intermezzo of an eternal orchestra, a leaf on the surface of water, trickling downwards towards fissures and gaps, a wail of consciousness, dimly echoing in the valley. What if, the actual meaning of growth (personal, professional or spiritual) is not climbing the ladder… but expanding the multiplicities of ideological possibilities.What a ginger will teach you is to exist in not what you’ve become but exist in a state which is continuously ‘becoming’ – a becoming state of continuous expansion of horizons and consciousness, a state of enlightened understanding, a state free from ‘positions’ and hierarchical pointers.
Vibhu Bhola is co-founder and technology lead at Bitnomix Labs, a mobile gaming start up based out of Delhi. An ex-accenture business consultant, he loves brilliance in any form or field. This blog was originally posted on his linkedin profile and is inspired by philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.
Sushrut Munje
Amazing article. Thanks!