The Radical Limits of Prescriptive Approaches

The Radical Limits of Prescriptive Approaches

Jul 3, 2025 | The Method

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There is a certain comfort in a playbook: step one, step two, step three—a promise of order in a world that feels increasingly chaotic. In the workplace, in organizations, and even in our personal lives, we often reach for guides and checklists in the hope they will deliver us from conflict or confusion into clarity and connection.

What if the very structure of the playbook is the problem?

The Seduction—and Failure—of the Linear

Many traditional approaches to personal and organizational conflict and transformation are obsessed with the prescriptive: “Do this, then that, and you’ll get the result you want.”

These methods can be helpful for addressing surface-level issues, but they rarely address the underlying causes. In fact, they often reinforce the very boundaries—emotional, relational, and systemic—that keep us isolated and reactive (Levey, 2024; Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021).

This is not a theoretical critique. In my own research and experience, I have seen how these approaches can leave us feeling more alone, more entrenched, and less able to respond creatively to the complexity of real life. The proverbial playbook, for all its promises, is a map that refuses to acknowledge the terrain has changed (Levey, 2024).

Embodiment: The Missing Radical Act

What is missing from the ‘playbook’ is embodiment. Embodiment is not just “being present” or “mindfulness” as a buzzword. It is the radical act of bringing the whole self—body, emotion, history, and relationship—into the process of transformation.

As I argue in my dissertation, this is a move away from the linear, heroic, individualistic journey toward a more spacious, relational, and collective way of being (Levey, 2024; Dall’Alba & Barnacle, 2007).

Embodiment means that transformation is not something that happens “out there,” or in the abstract, but in the lived, felt experience of our bodies and our relationships. It is a process that is messy, nonlinear, and often uncomfortable. It is also, crucially, a process that cannot be scripted in advance (Levey, 2024; Franklin-Phipps, 2020).

Dialogue as Embodied Practice: Making Space Real

This is where dialogue comes in—not as mere communication, but as an embodied act. Communication, in its most common form, is transactional: information is exchanged, positions are stated, and the goal is often persuasion or agreement.

Dialogue, by contrast, is a practice of presence. It is a way of being-with, of inhabiting the space between self and other, of listening with the whole body and allowing oneself to be changed by the encounter (Levey, 2024, pp. 116-117; Bakhtin, 1986).

In Spaciology—my framework for transformation—which draws from Indigenous, Eastern, and transdisciplinary wisdom, dialogue is not a tool for consensus or conflict resolution. It is a method for inhabiting space together, for witnessing and being witnessed, for allowing the boundaries between us to become more porous. Dialogue is not about winning or losing, but about opening—a process that is as much somatic as it is semantic (Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021).

This is a crucial distinction. Communication can happen without embodiment; dialogue cannot. Dialogue, in its truest sense, is an embodied act of resistance against the inherited norms and power structures that keep us apart. It is a way of creating new spaces—through vulnerability, collective care, and shared movement—where authentic connection and transformation can flourish (Levey, 2024, pp. 116-117; Moore, 2018).

Spaciology—my framework for transformation—makes this explicit: space is not just a metaphor, but a lived, relational field. Dialogue is what makes space real. Without dialogue, “space” remains an abstraction. With dialogue, it becomes a living, breathing context for change (Levey, 2024, pp. 142-150; EcoDialogues, 2024).

Dialogue, Belief, and Organizational Culture

These potential new spaces are not just metaphorical, as they refer to the changing of beliefs and assumptions, which translates directly into new organizational cultures.

When we engage in authentic dialogue that is embodied, vulnerable, and open—we create the conditions for shifts in perspective to take place. Research across organizational studies, transformative learning, and my own research all support the claim that authentic dialogue creates spaces where real change happens—not when people are forced or coerced, but when they willingly shift their perspective (Mezirow, 1978; Levey, 2024, pp. 96-101; Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021; Burbules & Bruce, 2001).

This is the heart of Spaciology—not a playbook, but an invitation—a call to inhabit our lives, relationships, and organizations as open, generative spaces. By dissolving the walls around our hearts through embodied, spatial practices, we engage in a form of creative resistance that is both deeply personal and profoundly collective.

An attention to all spaces is how we move from separation to belonging, from rigidity to flow, from inherited boundaries to co-created possibility (Levey, 2024, pp. 142-150; Massey, 2005).

The Evidence for Dialogue

All kinds of research support the notion that authentic dialogue is the space where shifts in perspective occur (Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021; Levey, 2024, p. 117; Burbules & Bruce, 2001; Moore, 2018). Real change happens when people willingly shift their perspective—not when they reach for a playbook with the same “plays.”

Dialogue is not just a method, but an embodied, relational, and transformative act that changes not only what we do, but who we are in our personal, shared, and ecological spaces.

References

Bakhtin, M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays (C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Eds., V. W. McGee, Trans.). University of Texas Press.

Burbules, N. C., & Bruce, B. C. (2001). Theory and research on teaching as dialogue. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., pp. 1102–1121). American Educational Research Association.

Dall’Alba, G., & Barnacle, R. (2007). An ontological turn for higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 32(6), 679–691. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070701685130

EcoDialogues. (2024). Space as Metaphor, Dialogue as Method: Brief Overview [PDF]. UYM Charities.

Franklin-Phipps, A. (2020). Historical interludes: The productive uncertainty of feminist transdisciplinarity. In C. A. Taylor, C. Hughes, & J. Ulmer (Eds.), Transdisciplinary feminist research (pp. 29–42). Routledge.

Levey, R. (2024). Embodying Transdisciplinarity: An Alternate Narrative Framework to the Hero’s Journey as a Tool for Transformation [Doctoral dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies].

Massey, D. (2005). For space. SAGE.

Mezirow, J. (1978). Perspective transformation. Adult Education Quarterly, 28(2), 100–110. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171367802800202

Moore, S. A. (2018). Radical listening: Transdisciplinarity, restorative justice and change. World Futures, 74(7–8), 471–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2018.1485436

Pipere, A., & Lorenzi, F. (2021). The dialogical potential of transdisciplinary research: Challenges and benefits. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 77(8), 559–590.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2021.1875673

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

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Unstorying the Narratives of Space

Unstorying the Narratives of Space

Jun 13, 2025 | The Method

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What if space isn’t just where things happen—but how they happen? What if space is the story beneath the stories?

When I talk about my Space as Metaphor framework, I am not speaking in abstract theory. I am talking about the real landscapes of our lives—internal, relational, and ecological—and the ways we carry those landscapes in our bodies, choices, and beliefs and assumptions.

Developed by Dr. Nicole Miller, PhD, Unstorying™ is a practice designed to help people explore these landscapes. It is not about replacing one narrative with a better one. It is about gently loosening the grip of stories we did not even know we were living inside so we can discover new spaces both within and around ourselves.

What kinds of stories is she talking about? These are the stories beneath the day-to-day circumstances of our lives—the quiet, persistent narratives that shape how we interpret our experiences and what meaning we make from them. They often emerge as  “I feel” stories.

“I feel neglected.”
“I feel unheard.”
“I feel like I am not enough.”

Deeper Patterns

When something happens in our lives, we naturally develop feelings in response. However, those feelings are not just about this moment. The moment could be a trigger, awakening a deeper emotional pattern—and behind that pattern is a story.

From a depth psychology perspective, much of human experience—our thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and motivations—is shaped by unconscious processes. These unconscious stories once protected us. They helped us survive. But many of them were formed in the distant past (likely as children)—consequently, they may no longer serve us (now).

According to Carl Jung, we all share universal patterns and symbols that surface in myths, dreams, and personal narratives. Unstorying™ explores these myths, dreams, and personal narratives—not to pathologize them, but to gain insight and space.

A core “I feel” story is not something wrong with us. It’s a doorway.

Taking the Journey

Unstorying™ invites us through that doorway. It is a journey into ourselves—where we learn to sit with our emotions without judgment, without analysis, and without the belief that we need to fix anything.

In simply sitting and observing, we begin to recognize patterns in how we react and behave. This is a liminal space—not one that merely allows for transformation. Rather, space is transformation.

This space is not bound by time or our experience. There is only now—and so the changes we seek begin and end in ourselves right now.

When I suggest space as a metaphor for transformation, I am not saying stories disappear. Instead, I am arguing that an intent to cultivate an awareness of the spaces within and around us will increase the number of choices. Everything becomes a choice—and in this kind of space, each of us can find something larger than narrative.

In space, we find connection to ourselves, to others, and to the Earth. This is the purpose of Unstorying™—not to lose meaning, but to open (ourselves) to the possibility of new meaning(s) found in the spaces we inhabit.

Because space is not a place.
It is experienced.
It is lived.
And every one—and every thing—belongs in space.

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons.

Membership gives you free access to community conversations, courses, introductory resources, and the complete Field Guide.

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Space as Praxis: Making Room for What Matters

Space as Praxis: Making Room for What Matters

Jun 6, 2025 | Uncategorized

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Space begins within—and when we pause and resist the reflex to respond, fix, or judge, we create the conditions for clarity. This is not a passive space but a form of active receptivity.

“Stillness is not stagnation. It is what allows the unseen to surface.”

In practice, internal space could look like:

  1. Taking 5 minutes to breathe before a difficult decision,
  2. Journaling not to fix your thinking, but to see it,
  3. Asking “What is  here that I’m avoiding?” instead of “What should I do?”

Space makes reflection possible. Without it, we default to reaction. With it, we find presence (and ourselves).

External Space: Designing Environments That Reflect Intention

Our surroundings—physical spaces or organizational cultures—help shape our thoughts, feelings, and ability to relate to anything.

“The room you’re in speaks before you do.”

To apply space practically in the external realm:

  1. Declutter a workspace so it reflects the clarity you seek,
  2. Design meetings with planned moments of silence,
  3. Ask, “What kind of space would allow everyone here to feel seen (or heard)?”

External space is both literal and symbolic. When we shift external space(s) with intention, we communicate something powerful: you matter here.

Shared Space: The Art of Holding Together What We Cannot Solve Alone

Shared space is the realm of dialogue, collaboration, and community. It is what happens between us—not owned or controlled, but co-created.

“Shared space isn’t about agreement. It’s about making room for truths to sit side by side.”

To hold shared space in practice:

  1. Begin conversations by naming intentions rather than outcomes,
  2. Allow silence in dialogue—not everything needs a response,
  3. Model curiosity over certainty

Shared space requires a posture of mutual presence, not persuasion. It is what allows complexity to breathe and transformation to occur collectively.

The Ethics of Spaciousness

Creating space is an ethical act. In a culture of speed, certainty, and consumption, space feels inefficient. Inefficiency, however, is often where life actually happens.

“Making space means making room for others—not just their ideas, but their being.”

To practice ethical spaciousness:

  1. Resist urgency when it flattens complexity
  2. Invite voices that are usually missing
  3. Trust that emergence needs time, contradiction, and care

Key Considerations

Space is not emptiness; rather, it is the precondition for emergence.

  1. Internal space fosters awareness and emotional intelligence,
  2. External space shapes behavior and communicates values,
  3. Shared space enables trust, empathy, and collective transformation.

Creating space is not about doing less—it is about doing with more intention.

Closing Reflection

When we stop trying to fill every moment, fix every problem, or finalize every answer, we return to something more elemental: the quiet, expansive possibility of being (and becoming).

In a world aching for solutions, perhaps what is most needed is not more action—but more space…

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons.

Membership gives you free access to community conversations, courses, introductory resources, and the complete Field Guide.

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Finding Beauty in Business

Finding Beauty in Business

May 15, 2025 | Leading Change

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Recently, I have been thinking quite seriously about the concept of beauty as it relates to business. Can business be beautiful? Can beauty be found in business? 

These are not rhetorical questions; rather, they are doorways into new ways to reframe the very meaning of business. I suppose one way to look at business is that it is transactional, whereby a product or service is exchanged for money.

However, is money the only currency we have to exchange with others? Today, I had a meeting with an individual who is on the cusp of releasing to the public new ways to conceive leadership. She and her business partner describe their approach as ‘disruptive.’

I found this concept and the experience itself quite beautiful. Here I am, listening to someone share not just an idea, but a passion for life, the need for systemic change, and the promotion of equity. Such an exchange was sacred…and beautiful because we were not discussing business. We were exploring what it means to be human.

Being Human

So what does it mean to be human? The answer to this question depends on the human, right? I mean, can my experience as a white man somehow provide adequate insight(s) into the experience(s) of Black women, for example?

No, my experience is not adequate. So how can I understand anything, or anyone, outside of myself? Perhaps one answer is to pay attention to the space(s) in which I find myself. These spaces are external (the environment) and internal (my assumptions and ideas regarding what I believe is real and/or true).

Truth in Business

So what is real and/or true in business? This question is interesting, because prevailing Western thinking leads us to ideas related to ‘scale’ and ‘funnels,’ whereby exchanges of all manner and kind can be automated and facilitated by artificial intelligence to effect huge revenue gains.

When is enough enough? How much do we really need as human beings? Perhaps this question is flawed in that it presupposes that what is needed is somehow quantifiable. Are there edges to beauty, borders that can somehow contain it?

(De)Constructing Borders

In business, or anything in life, borders are constructs that represent the edge(s) of our imagination instead of anything structural that exists ‘out there.’ Ultimately, business is an endeavor that captures the hopes, dreams, and desires of human beings—and such ‘things’ do not exist in specific spaces.

Rather, our hopes, dreams, desires, fears, and vulnerabilities diffuse out into every aspect of life—yours and mine. Conducting business, then, is an opportunity to hold space for these expressions—and that is beautiful.

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons.

Membership gives you free access to community conversations, courses, introductory resources, and the complete Field Guide.

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Stepping Off the Train: Beyond Right and Wrong

Stepping Off the Train: Beyond Right and Wrong

Mar 28, 2025 | Leading Change

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In these divisive times, it feels somewhat comfortable to gravitate toward an existing train of thought. This train goes left, and this one right.

Invariably, some of us shout at those who ride what we may perceive as the “wrong” train. Who determines the ‘wrongness’ of a particular train of thought? Who determines if it is “right?” Are not concepts of wrong or right arbitrary at best, catastrophic and limiting at worst?

Freedom

Recently, I came across a passage in Meeting Life by Krishnamurti. In it, he suggests that to be “ really revolutionary” means “non-acceptance of any pattern set by oneself or another, no sense of conformity, nor accepting any sort of authority, which means freedom from fear” (1991, p. 118).

Out of this freedom, we can “live a totally different kind of life” (p. 118-119). This is not a life established by those who have come before us nor a life experienced in the abstract.

No, life is not an abstraction nor can its meaning be captured in “brilliant articles” by “clever men” (p. 124). So what is life about?

Krishnamurti says it is about love, but do any of us see this love today? We do not love. “We have become brutal, callous, indifferent, ruthless. Without love you can solve nothing” (p. 125).

Krishnamurti uttered these words more than 50 years ago, yet their relevance to today cannot be overstated. Why don’t we love? This is the question.

Why don’t we love sunsets and shooting stars? Why don’t we love each other, especially the ones who grace our lives with their presence?

It is remarkably easy to allow oneself to drift into what is known. When something is known, something is lost.

Rediscovering the Mystery

Perhaps freedom from the known means rediscovering the mystery and the mysteries present in the experience of everyday life. A bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins. A piece of homemade bread with melted butter and orange marmalade. A single solitary butterfly wafting through the air on a Saturday morning in June just before 9 AM.

I also love trains, regardless of the direction they may travel, because ultimately they all return to the same station. Who runs this station?

Perhaps, this station is not a station at all. Perhaps, it is simply an open space, boundless, without tracks or timetables, through which we pass.

What if the real journey is not about choosing the right train but stepping off entirely? What if love is not found in the direction we take, but in the stillness between arrivals and departures?

Perhaps freedom is not about the next destination but rather about looking very deeply—past the station lights, past the timetables, past the tracks—into the infinite self.

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons.

Membership gives you free access to community conversations, courses, introductory resources, and the complete Field Guide.

Explore The Commons

Stay in Touch

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons.

Membership gives you free access to community conversations, courses, introductory resources, and the complete Field Guide.

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