I’ve been learning recently that I’m not always so good at receiving gifts of the heart. From others or from “the universe.” The common factor of course is me, the receiver. But how to learn to receive better? Last year I published a book about evolutionary self-development. It’s a good book and it points to a particular slice of our predicament in a unique and telling way. (I think you should all read it. :)) […]
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Activism and “the other”
How do I make room for those who don’t see things the “enlightened” way I do? American professor Jonathan Haidt focused this question the beautifully the other day comparing two groups we’ll all recognize – however we might feel about them. On the one hand are those for whom John Lennon’s Imagine is an anthem. We love the open borders with no countries or possessions, and no religion too. On the other are those for […]
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Belonging comes first
I wanted to share a few words about what I think is at the core of groups that help people grow. It’s that belonging (attachment and connection) come first and if that’s taken care of, everything else – emergence, integration and more – can follow. But to the extent that it’s not there, growth and movement are compromised. Belonging is to humans as soil is to plants. We grow in the soil of the relationships […]
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A Collective Intelligence Cluster
The small group is the core evolutionary unit of growth-oriented people. Alone we’ve almost no chance of not being swept up in the craziness. The tides of politics, entertainment and mass emotion have hidden undercurrents we’re not evolutionarily equipped to notice in the moment. We fall for those undercurrents (primarily the need for tribal belonging) every time – until we don’t of course. We need another “culture” to notice, a micro-culture for “awakening.” I don’t […]
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The Movement of Movements
Ben Roberts over at Movement Weavers used this phrase today, the movement of movements. It felt like “of course,” as if I both knew it and didn’t. I looked it up quickly and see that it refers to the Social Justice Movement – at least that’s where Wikipedia roots it. But movement of movements aptly describes what many of us are interested in, which includes but is broader than SJ movements. The “movement of movements” […]
Continue readingFalling Awake?
We-space small groups are like a school room in which there’s no teacher and the students are learning to self-govern and see what what’s possible now. If the group is online and you’re looking at a series of little boxes with people in them (like the Hollywood Squares TV show), we first tend to look at the individual people in the squares. And that’s interesting in itself! Each person has a very long and detailed […]
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The Climate Conversation We’re Not Having
Is there a conversation around climate change and our survival – that we’re not having? That you’re not having? Could we invite that conversation and hold it live and online, face to face but perhaps around the globe? Bill Kauth and I were imagining a conversation around climate breakdown (as some are calling it) and the human future – the conversation we’d really like to have. It’s not so much about carbon in the air […]
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Synchronicity strikes again
There’s a new intertwining of personal and social change “out there.” It’s a deep searching for inner answers on the part of so many – very likely you. It’s also political movements in different countries, movements that are stepping out of the party-based mold and aligning around values that consciousness workers are right at home with. There’s The Alternativet in Denmark, the Initiative in Sweden, The Leap in Canada and likely more. They tend to […]
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Celebrating the we-space ferment!
It’s so funny, so human. An army of people – a vast army of people like you – are working and dreaming and planning and creating on a new emergent – something as a way to understand and support what is struggling to emerge on the planet right now. We don’t know what to call this aspiration or else it goes by a thousand names and we still don’t know what to call it. It’s […]
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The Law of Jante
Axsel Sandemose published a novel in Denmark in 1933 called A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks. The book is set in the fictional town of Jante and is famous for setting out the “Law of Jante.” Ten rules made up the Law that governed Jante and perhaps you’ll recognize them: You’re not to think you are anything special. You’re not to think you are as good as we are. You’re not to think you are smarter […]
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