The Pyramid + the Pool.

How sugar cubes tell the story of what's next.

When I was evaluating coaching programs, one stood apart. In a sea of beige, Martha Beck’s Wayfinder program was a fluorescent rainbow. It centers creativity and intuition in ways that let coaching conversations go wider and deeper.

One of the benefits of now being a certified Wayfinder is that I get to attend calls where Martha shares her latest thinking with us, her love army.

For those who don’t know Martha, having an audience with her is an honor. Her credentialing could fill a CVS receipt: multiple degrees from Harvard, former Harvard faculty and researcher, New York Times bestselling author of multiple books, and a sociologist whose work blends social science with coaching, mindfulness, spirituality and personal development. A truly impressive thinker and, in my mind, a modern prophet.

On our June 22 Wayfinder call, Martha cast a “vision of the village” that was so compelling, I sat enraptured for 90 minutes before my Zoom screen. (For reference, this never happens. I’m squirmy and distractible and hate screen-based calls.)

But there I sat, like a good little disciple, listening to Martha describe a new kind of social container that I’ve caught glimpses of in the world and with my clients.

Martha calls it Pyramid vs. Pool thinking, which she describes on her blog this way.

“For centuries, powerful and wealthy societies have taken the general shape of a pyramid. At the top, you’ve got a few powerful, wealthy people. At the bottom, the majority of people work, struggle, create value, and pass most of what they’ve made up to the privileged. This mirrors the self-centered, materialistic, judgmental aspects of the human ego.

Right now, we’re watching the pyramid hit ‘refresh’ and create yet another version of itself. But here’s the thing: I think we’re living in a time where everything may change.

What we don’t need, I think, is revolution—which literally means just a single turn of a wheel. Throughout modern history, all over the world, rebels from lower ranks of the social pyramid have tried to create a more just and equal society. But because these rebellions came from the same egoic perspective, all these revolutions simply re-created the pyramid with different individuals at the top.

What if there’s another way?”

Martha then described a mass awakening where people’s egos quiet and shift into enlightened consciousness. Instead of a revolution, it’s a dissolution.

As more and more people at the bottom slowly awaken, the pyramid topples into one level — into something constantly moving and adjusting, just like water. The pyramid becomes a pool. Martha made a video using sugar cubes to demonstrate: you can watch it here.

All is not lost

Why I felt compelled to share this is that it’s an infusion of hope in some very dark times. Once we topple structures built on “power over” — we can co-create a world of “power with.” The ways we interconnect become more humane, inclusive and creative.

To borrow a line from a favorite song, “a little hope makes its nest in the rafters and sings a sweet song when you are not strong.” We need reminders from our modern prophets that what’s coming might not look like anything we’ve seen and that that may be the best news of all.

How rare to find a truth teller who both acknowledges what’s broken and casts a vision of something beautiful to take its place. Such was the message of Martha’s book “Beyond Anxiety” which I wrote about as great news for creativity and the world at large.

Do you feel it? It’s happening in ways big and small all around us. And don’t be fooled by Pyramid people getting extra loud. They’re guardians of the old guard. Get quiet and you can almost hear the countdown…

Until next time, remember that creativity knows no bounds.