Embracing Humility: The Wisdom We Cannot Hug
Photo by Pablo Heimplatz.
I love to read fiction, especially on weekends or before bed. Aside from being outside, I find it incredibly calming to have a little escape. I just finished a beautiful book called There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. It’s the story of a raindrop, which the Guardian describes as an “ambitious, multi-perspective novel about the politics and preciousness of water ranges from ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary London.” I stopped and re-read this quote repeatedly.
“Wisdom is a mountain capped with snow. I’ve yet to meet the person who’s given it a hug.”
This quote from the novel has been echoing in my mind lately as I reflect on our collective journey as sustainability professionals. It speaks to a profound truth: the wisdom needed to address our most complex environmental and social challenges cannot be fully grasped or claimed by any single person or approach. With egos and systems of oppression seeking dominance in an uncertain world, it’s not uncommon to see people fall into this trap.
The Impossible Embrace
From the beginning of my journey in sustainability, I have been guided by a deep appreciation for humility and gratitude. These values have been foundational to my approach from day one.
My education and experiences have strengthened my conviction that sustainability thrives on diverse perspectives. The complex challenges we face aren't puzzles with single solutions, but evolving relationships that require multiple viewpoints and forms of knowledge.
In my collaborative work, I have witnessed how each perspective contributes a vital piece to our collective understanding. Sustainability isn't a destination we can map with precision. It's like navigating constantly shifting terrain, where each step forward reveals new complexities and interdependencies. The mountain of wisdom we seek to climb reveals different faces depending on where we stand, and only by honouring multiple vantage points can we truly comprehend its magnitude and beauty.
Complex Systems Defy Simple Solutions
Consider a seemingly straightforward goal: creating sustainable tourism in a coastal destination. The solutions might appear obvious – limit visitor numbers, implement eco-certification programs, promote local businesses. But implementation requires navigating a complex web of:
Political realities and competing priorities
Economic dependencies on tourism revenue
Cultural values and traditional hospitality practices
Social equity considerations between tourists and locals
Ecological carrying capacities and biodiversity impacts
Institutional structures and regulatory frameworks
Each domain has its own experts with valid perspectives, each seeing different parts of the same elephant. No sustainability professional possesses the comprehensive understanding needed to integrate all these dimensions optimally.
The Humility Imperative
This realization isn't cause for despair but for humility. Acknowledging the limits of our understanding opens us to the collaborative approach that complex challenges demand. True progress in sustainability requires:
Epistemic humility: Recognizing that our knowledge is always partial and evolving
Diverse perspectives: Actively seeking viewpoints from different disciplines, cultures, and lived experiences
Adaptive management: Embracing iterative approaches that allow for learning and adjustment
Inclusive decision-making: Ensuring that those affected by sustainability initiatives have a voice in shaping them
From Knowing to Discovering
The shift from positioning ourselves as experts with answers to facilitators of collective discovery transforms how we approach sustainability work. It means:
Asking better questions rather than asserting definitive answers
Creating spaces for dialogue across differences
Listening more than speaking
Valuing Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge alongside scientific data
Embracing contradiction and tension as sources of innovation
Celebrating small wins while maintaining awareness of larger systemic challenges
Finding Strength in Vulnerability
There's a paradoxical strength in admitting what we don't know. When sustainability professionals approach their work with genuine openness and humility, they create the conditions for deeper collaboration and more resilient solutions.
In my experience, the most effective sustainability initiatives emerge not from top-down expertise but from diverse coalitions where mutual learning becomes possible. The wisdom we need doesn't reside in any individual mind but emerges through collective engagement with complex challenges.
The Ongoing Journey
That snow-capped mountain of wisdom reminds us that we're all still climbing. No one has reached the summit, and perhaps there isn't one definitive peak. The sustainability journey requires comfort with ambiguity and a willingness to continue learning and adapting.
As sustainability professionals, our greatest contribution is not providing all the answers but creating processes through which better questions can emerge and diverse stakeholders can discover paths forward together.
The mountain cannot be hugged, but can be climbed collectively, with each person contributing their unique perspective to the journey. Perhaps, in that shared expedition, we come closest to the wisdom we seek.
What perspectives might you be missing in your sustainability work? How might embracing not-knowing open new possibilities for collaboration?
