Turtles

Quite why turtles have been used to symbolize this remains unknown, but they have. The most famous visualisation is of a globe being held up by four elephants who are standing on the back of a turtle. An image made famous by Terry Pratchet’s Discworld series. The concept was also applied as the title and philosophical framing of a best-selling novel by John Green (recently turned into a movie) which follows a teenager’s struggles with mental health, love and the search for purpose and validation in life. At one point in the story, she meets her intellectual idol who uses this concept to relieve the pressure of constantly questioning everything to bring some calmness to life by simply accepting that there is no definitive or categorical end. She is challenged with the notion of just being and finding comfort in this state of acceptance.

Put a different way: have you ever found the statement ‘if you can’t measure it, it’s not important’ doesn’t apply all the time and yet the counter to this is somewhat out of grasp, intangible or hard to explain? This discomfort is probably because you’re challenging the infinite regress without realising it. However, in these discomforting moments we often revert to the safe space of patterned behaviour and processes that have worked before, even though we’ve all heard the saying ‘doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is the definition of insanity’. We’re striving for the bottom turtle, and, despite a discomfort, we double down on this search. I believe this discomfort is the subconscious awareness that we’ve stumbled into a learning space that is effectively an invitation to listen rather than something to dismiss.

My coaching and leadership practice and philosophy embraces the discomfort of dealing with this complexity and invites you to listen and understand what is really going on and to unpack the wicked problems. I use creativity to trigger a newness of thought and acceptance. We then use this to identify your own agency and power to deepen your understanding and capability to navigate the complexity. We can often use the notion of soft systems to help make sense of these new realisations and help to locate yourself as part of a way forward. Further work exploring these systems can also provide clarity on the pathways to follow as the real-world interdependencies become apparent.

Back to turtles… for centuries, turtles have held symbolic meaning all over the world for wisdom, intelligence, strength and fortitude. In West Africa, mythology says turtles use their knowledge to outmanoeuvre and resolve difficult situations. Ancient Greek and Roman civilisations referred to turtles as protectors, with a determination to overcome adversity. This is also shared in Chinese culture where the turtle symbolizes longevity, power and tenacity. Lastly, turtles have been used across the academic communities, and cultures of learning, as a stand-in visual reference to notions, processes, simulations or creative endeavours that are otherwise unobservable in a visual sense – hence ‘turtles all the way down’ as the infinite regress concept doesn’t have a natural visual.

I find the connective association of strength and fortitude in some cultures and wisdom and knowledge in others to be an appropriate relationship to the challenges we face in today’s world. If the infinite regress argument is viewed as an invitation to learn and explore new ideas rather than a spiral of rationalisation, then we will need knowledge and wisdom, along with strength and tenacity to navigate our way through the turbulence of our time.

On a personal level, I have been privileged enough to spend time with turtles in their own environment whilst diving around the world and every time I was left with a strong sense of calm and peaceful tranquillity. There was also a tangible representative moment when my dive buddy panicked for no logical reason and regained control of her mind by being forced to watch a turtle sleeping. I think we could all do with being kept calm every now and then when we feel ourselves panicking.

With this thinking in mind, I would invite you to read the poem below and reflect on what thoughts it triggers. Who is the turtle in your life? What does the turtles thought process represent? How did the intervention of an external entity impact the turtle? If you’re happy to share your thoughts please get in touch, I’d love to discuss with you.