These are tough ideas to figure out and even tougher when we apply them to life and places like universities which are embattled. But they are powerful ideas worth attempting to understand in that they lead to transformation.
Why picking up your socks isn’t enough….Or how negentropy could save the university
Dr. Ali Carr-Chellman (University of Dayton), Dr. Allen Kitchel (University of Idaho), Dr. Sydney Freeman Jr. (University of Idaho), Dr. Spencer Gauert (University of Dayton) • September 14, 2020
"Negentropy is the opposite of entropy or energy loss."
Two years ago, we began the journey to better understand “negentropy” and the metaphorical application of the scientific theory to social problems, in particular, addressing higher education challenges. Negentropy is the opposite of entropy or energy loss. In physics, negentropy is energy production. These are tough ideas to figure out and even tougher when we apply them to life and places like universities which are embattled. But they are powerful ideas worth attempting to understand in that they lead to transformation.
Let’s start our illustration of negentropy by using the houses we live in, our homes, as a metaphor for large organizations, such as universities. If we do nothing at all to our homes, energy will be consistently lost. In myriad ways every day, your home uses energy to maintain a steady temperature, deliver the internet, power your devices and appliances, cook food, deliver water, even a cozy fireplace uses energy. That energy simply dissipates, it’s used and doesn’t return. If we look at the house from a human use standpoint, if you do nothing to maintain your home, you’ll find things break down, gutters fall off, paint chips, toilets break. Even more daily, if you simply take off your socks and leave them all around your home, if you never do dishes, sort mail, pick up a duster or run a vacuum, the energy losses create a chaotic space that feels on the verge of disintegration. This home we’re describing is a space where things are lost, inefficiencies abound and it’s difficult to accomplish tasks that are beyond mere survival. The clearest example of this kind of chaos and disintegration would be those who suffer from hoarding tendencies and are unable to stop because of emotional and psychological issues.
...in its simplest form, we can think of negentropy as picking up our socks.
This is how we reverse energy losses.
Now, in its simplest form, we can think of negentropy as picking up our socks. This is how we reverse energy losses. The simple act of doing something that will reverse the losses of energy can be seen as a negentropic action. So that would include getting the furnace man in to repair the broken boiler, or re-hanging the gutters, even straightening pictures would be putting the world “right” again. However, upon further reflection, the analogy does not hold. Negentropic forces should be those that would powerfully infuse new energy into the system. However, a sock neatly folded in the drawer and crumpled in a heap in the corner hold the same relative energy. Upon further analysis, we realized that actions such as this expend energy only for maintenance, but not for renewal. Picking up our socks might maintain the system but doesn’t release new energies.
If we think about these ideas in higher education, where the focus is on human flourishing, learning, self-transcendence, we find the same problem as our homes. Energy leaves the system, contributing to degradation, disintegration, chaos. We expend a great deal of energy on legal compliance, accreditation, hiring, firing, certification and recertification, cybersecurity and the list goes on. So much energy is leaving the system, how do we act in ways that are negentropic? Many of the academics’ tasks are done to support and grow the system, but are they, like picking up your socks, merely maintenance? Does serving on a committee (search, promotion and tenure, take your pick) release new energy into the system, or does it merely maintain the current system, actually reifying the status quo? To transform higher education, we need to inject energy into the system not simply maintain the status quo.
In physics, negentropy is energy production.
While we have not yet escaped entropy of the system, it is the fatalist who says this means we cannot make meaningful change. We cannot yet escape the need to expend excess energy into laundry maintenance, but we can take action to develop more efficient systems. We might well radically reshape our current routines, devices, and patterns to maximize efficiency. In much the same way a hobbyist builder would pursue building the better mousetrap. In short, we must ask not whether there is some way to perfectly preserve our home in amber, but whether changes can be made to improve its functionality. The first step in that action is to evaluate the efficiency of the system. We must be able to observe our system with a clear head and ask whether an institution remains in place because it adds to the system or if it has become a relic of inefficiency; something that draws more from the system than it gives back. When efficiency has been addressed, the resulting increase in energy will allow us to build further.
What does that mean, what does it look like to, “Think Big”? It means that in our houses, we consider taking that ranch house and adding a second story, or an in-law suite, or a pool. The place becomes completely different--transformed. It’s a transcendence from what it was before and no maintenance is going to do what negentropic transcendence can. The release of truly new system-wide energies will do more than fight off the loss of energy. It will transform what was into something truly new. There are many examples of transcendence and transformation in university life, and with COVID-19 and the twin pandemic of racism demonstrations across our institutions, the call for negentropic action is stronger than ever. With declining state and public support, widespread cynicism, dysfunction across many existing systems, ongoing increases in accountability in response to cynicism and many more entropic forces, the university is starting to feel chaotic, confused, like a hoarders’ home. We need to do some work, and it’s going to be more than picking up our socks.
As we have thought about the application of negentropy to university life, we have determined that we want to go beyond maintaining. Serving on all the same committees, creating new committees that focus more on compliance than innovation, maintaining the status quo is simply insufficient in the face of what universities must become. That said, efficient maintenance frees our minds to be able to imagine more transformational projects, bigger projects, that could change the face of universities. In our house example, we believe that if we have efficient systems to take care of our socks, and gutters, and front porches, we can free our minds to think about renovating the basement or adding a back deck or even what color to paint the bathroom. We can’t even contemplate such projects if we are buried in old newspapers and magazines. The challenges of going beyond merely picking up our socks are exacerbated by budget challenges, increased due to Covid19. Whether it be time or money or other resources, using those resources entropies the system and then other things are not being addressed.
To transform higher education, we need to inject energy into the system
not simply maintain the status quo.
Similarly, in the case of higher education, if we establish highly efficient processes for hiring, firing, internet security, online learning, promotions, communications, recruitment, and so forth, systems that do not use much of our energy, we could free our minds to dream of significant transformation. It’s hard to know what that dreaming might create. From the saved energy of efficient systems and the motivation of crises we can generate new energy. From this opposite force that moves against the systematic disassemblage of the finest system of higher education the world has ever known, we can create new systems that release energy instead of gobbling it up. We need to push the concerns of those in HR and Legal and IT to the back. Those need to become routinized, automatic and highly efficient. Right now, those systems have somehow come to consume all the oxygen and energy in the organization. Those systems have somehow come to be “in charge.” While the systems of curriculum, scholarship, teaching, community outreach, invention, creation, design, engagement—these have all taken a back seat. But these activities are what these institutions are about, and we have allowed them to become secondary. We need to bring to the foreground the dreams of faculty, staff, students, scholars, academics, designers, artists. Those who make the place fantastic deserve the opportunity to enact negentropic dreams. The only way through the inefficient, dominant systems is to routinize those systems until they are background. That way we pick up our socks and still have energy for dreaming.
We need to do some work, and it’s going to be more than picking up our socks.
“In Celtic wisdom we remember that our soul, the very heart of our being, is sacred. What is deepest in us is of God. ” ~John Philip Newell 1
We may be lights under bushels, but we can shine brightly against the dark even if we are mere candles. Together, the light may shine bright.
Silence speaks to us Listening in deep quiet… Hear what you long for! ~Patricia Leyko Connelly 1
"Elegance is the harmonious integration of simplicity, refinement, and intentionality across diverse contexts, combining timeless beauty with functional sophistication." ~ChatGPT Synthesized Definition
Unmade bed, and mind Unmade mind, unready day Night turns into dawn ~Michael Kroth
When I first discovered Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People 1 , I thought the habits he proposed were so simple. They were so self-evident. When I read them, they were so life changing. I remember reading the book and it was one of the biggest “aha” experiences of my life. As I’ve discovered, they are also so, so hard. I became a facilitator for several of Covey’s courses, and I remember him saying that what he was proposing was both simple and hard. What he meant by that was that the concept of the habit (putting First Things First, for example) was simple, and he offered uncomplicated but effective ways to work on them, but integrating that habit into one’s life, into one’s being, was hard. It would take time and perseverance. And, of course, that’s true. I know it’s true because I still have a long way to go on just these seven habits and that’s decades from when I started, and that’s only seven out of abuncha other practices I’d like to adopt, maintain, or improve on. Changing habits or routines is not impossible by any means, but that doesn’t make it easy no matter how much of an expert one might be. We know that smoking is bad for us, and yet quitting smoking can seem impossibly hard. I used to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day and tried every which way in the world I could to quit, including self-hypnosis, but it took my wife to buy me a smoking cessation program based on aversion therapy (I got a little shock every time I took a puff of smoke) to actually quit. It’s been 45 years since I stopped smoking. But I've known for a long time that eating too much sugar is bad for me, and still I do it. And the scale reminds me of that every day. And still I do it. But I'm working on it. We know that exercise and good nutrition and developing relationships is good for our health over the lifespan, but it takes time and effort to develop them. (For some other thoughts about this, see Whack-A-Mole , Sloughing , The Practice of Practices: The Meta-Practice of Practices ). The good news is that the benefits of working on these practices start accruing from day one, even though getting better at it is a lifetime process. Just because a person knows a good deal about something doesn’t mean that they are skillful at it. Someone who studies generosity isn’t necessarily generous. The worldwide expert in humility isn’t necessarily humble. The medical doctor who rhapsodizes the virtues of exercise isn’t always in the best shape. The theologian who knows more than anyone about some aspect of Christianity or Hinduism or Islam or any religion doesn’t necessarily practice the religious virtues she or he has written about in papers and books. A generous person may know nothing – in fact, probably doesn’t know much – about the latest generosity studies. And the person conducting those studies may be a descendant of Scrooge. Which brings me to the word I came up with for 2024 - elegancing. It’s only fair to ask myself, almost-post-2024, if elegancing has become more of who I am and how I operate in the world. How well, self-reflection should reveal, have I actually practiced it? How deeply have I become an elegant person? Writing a “Prologue” to 2024 Judith Valente asked those of us who took part in her workshop last January, “Prologue to 2024” (see My Word for 2024 – Elegancing ) to write a letter to ourselves about the coming year. I opened that letter on December 21st, and I don’t mind sharing excerpts of what I wrote. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1-15-2024 Prologue to 2024 Michael Kroth To the Divine Ground, to the Great Vastness, and to the Inner LastingNess, May this be a year of Elegancing, of winnowing out the chaff, and keeping – reverencing – the grain. The elegant solution is the simplest, nothing extra, nothing missing. “Take More Time, Cover Less Ground,” a song by Carrie Newcomer, is my theme song. It reminds me of Evelyn Underhill. She would pick one retreat for a year, and give that retreat several times. Rather than giving many retreats. Cultivating Spirituality in Later Life is my topic. This means knowing about gerontology, spirituality, and lifelong learning Healthwise is my approach – not worrying about length of life as much as quality of life for as long as I live. To that end, five areas of continual improvement: exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional/social health, spiritual growth, financial/material health. To consider myself a learner/practitioner in each of these areas. Designing my environment to move toward elegance with a twist (a bit of irreverence tossed in…). Exercising daily, eat healthily, sleep well, become a better (husband, father, friend, and neighbor) person, deepen my spiritual growth, and healthy personal financial management. All these by exercising and strengthening values and virtues and behavior that carry out the Great Commandments (love God and Neighbor). To find and practice the unifying themes between all of these areas of life, (Occam’s Razor, the elegant solutions) such that life becomes increasing and simultaneously simpler and more profound. All this to continually immerse myself in an environment and life of flourishing. Michael Kroth, Student of Life ------------------------------------------------------------------------- That’s what I wrote, and as I sit here on December 30 th 2024 these still are values and approaches that I want to continue to build into myself and my life through 2025 and beyond. I like what I wrote then – it fits where I am and where I want to go. But, have I made much progress? But, have I made much progress? What have I learned about elegancing and myself this past year? Looking back over the year I’ve done pretty well on some of these and on some have I have not. One area in which I have not made much progress is in personal financial management. I've made little steps, but it does not come naturally for me. I just don't think about money much, and not nearly so much as I ought to. I'll have to do better in 2025 as retirement hurdles forward me. Regarding the big four metapractices 2 – spiritual learning, embodied learning, cognitive learning, and socio-emotional learning – elegancing underlies them all. That is, I’m working to go more deeply, more synergistically, and in a less scattered way with each of them, and all of them interacting with each other. Carrie Newcomer’s words, Take More Time, Cover Less Ground 3 , is what Duhigg calls a “keystone habit,” and applies to all of these. “Some habits,” Duhigg says, “matter more than others in remaking businesses and lives.” 4 Focusing more, and what is likely to make the most difference, seems like a good strategy. It is probably self-evident, but my curiosity is a strength and a vulnerability. As one who is interested in learning about many things, it is easy to jump from one fascinating topic to another. To wit, over the last few weeks, I’ve started to learn how to use AI. And it is helping me to learn conversational Spanish. Those are two big topics themselves. Oh, and I’ve backslud a bit on practicing Tai Chi, but it remains on the top of my list. And I want to know more about Spain. Oh, and I’m going to sign up for the Osher Institute this next month. Oh, and I can’t forget…. And yeah, I’m going to Judith’s 2025 retreat on January 11 th , Writing the Prologue to Your New Year . I haven’t come a long way, baby, but I’ve come a ways. And I’m thinking 2025 might be pretty wonderful, even with all its inevitable ups and downs. Focus on the present moment, MK, focus not just on be-coming, but at the same time be-ing. (And let's not forget do-ing...) So, to answer my own question, I've made a little progress, enough to make me feel excited about continuing. Even if my practice of elegance has a long way to go, I know a lot more about elegancing than I did a year ago. I’ve been keeping track of articles about elegance over the last year (I used a Google alert, and am beginning to go deeper with Google Scholar) to learn more about it. More than a fashion choice, elegance applies to advanced technology, design (of all sorts), sports, science, software, and beyond. That’s knowledge, which is good. Practicing until one becomes, until one is be-ing elegant, that’s better. These practices start with the smallest, often the most tenuous, of steps. I feel like 2024 has been a time of taking my first steps toward elegancifying the way I approach the world. Elegancifying . I like it. Maybe that will be my word for 2025. How about you? What will your word be for 2025? Your song? Your desired experience? This elegancing thing might take me a while. Like maybe the rest of my life. Sources and Resources 1 Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic. Simon and Schuster. 2 For a more in-depth look at the processes of lifelong formation, see Kroth, M., Carr‐Chellman, D. J., & Rogers‐Shaw, C. (2022). Formation as an organizing framework for the processes of lifelong learning. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development , 34(1), 26-36. 3 Carrie Newcomer, Take More Time, Cover Less Ground. https://carrienewcomer.substack.com/p/take-more-time-cover-less-ground-10e 4 Duhigg, C. (2014). Power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business (Random House Trade Paperback Edition ed.), p. 100. 5 Carrie Newcomer, You Can Do this Hard Thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRGnftH_g4I Retreat Information To sign up for Judith’s January 11 th retreat, check it out here: Writing the Prologue to Your New Year
Illustration created by Michael Kroth, with the assistance of OpenAI's DALL-E Tool (my FIRST SECOND using AI!)
