This has been such a week of such national grief about the 215 children who died at a residential school in Canada and were buried there, without records or ceremony or even notification of their families. I found it hard to be hopeful. Then, eventually, I started to reflect on where I find hope. Here are some reflections:

When I first discovered Margaret Wheatley’s ‘Leadership and the New Science’ many years ago now, I was most struck by an image that has stayed with me and that speaks to me of the way our society is changing. It is the image of old engines, abandoned on the land, with the grass growing up around them and eventually hiding them.

“We live in a time of chaos, rich in potential for new possibilities,” she said. “A new world is being born. We need new ideas, new ways of seeing, and new relationships to help us now. New science–the new discoveries in biology, chaos theory, and quantum physics that are changing our understanding of how the world works–offers this guidance. It describes a world where chaos is natural, where order exists “for free.” It displays the intricate webs of cooperation that connect us. It assures us that life seeks order, but uses messes to get there.”