Think of transition as a process of leaving the status quo, living for a while in a fertile time-out, and then coming back with an answer. The British historian Arnold Toynbee pointed out that societies gain access to new energies and new directions only after a “time of troubles” initiates a process of disintegration wherein the old order comes apart. He showed how often the new orientation was made clear only after what he called a “withdrawal and return” on the part of individuals or creative minorities within the society.
