I share here the transcript of a short monologue I recently gave, speaking about the spiritual undercurrents of our community-building project, Microsolidarity.
Super important work. Helping others recognize there is no such thing as separation is fundamentally necessary if we're to evolve out of the polycrisis.
"I have avoided pointing it out or putting it into language on purpose, because people have very intelligent defences against it. I don't want to activate those defences. I don’t want to disable them either."
this is very inspiring. like it just... put words to something i have never put words to. i don't want to disable them either, but the activation can be unwieldy.
"to come out of seeing yourself as this separate individual and just take your place as part of the ecology, as part of the bigger thing, the thing that’s not you but is partly you."
I'm doing a qi gong course. One practice is to become aware of energies impacting you - weight on the chair, hot and cold etc. Then to chant "I am in qi, qi is in me". (Being the independent soul I am, I've substituted "I am in spirit, spirit is in me".
Great post Richard. I've been calling this principle of mutualism and reciprocity Symbiotic Culture - and sharing an approach to building local community ecosystem networks Symbiotic Kinship. In order to bring the various "tribes" together and do this in an entire local region, I have found it helpful to bring people together around a shared interest. For example, building a Local Food System Network involves connecting people and local organizations/businesses/local government around the purpose of producing and consuming more local food.
In my own work we have found that we can distill spirituality into the practice of universal virtues such as sharing, compassion, kindness, honesty, integrity, etc. Spirituality then does not become simply a separate practice, but part of a community of people who want to unify their local community around shared virtues and common needs.
"And how do you shift (or invite) people to go on a journey, to come out of individualism into something more mutualistic and entangled? Good question!"
Thanks for sharing this Richard. I'm excited to learn more about microsolidarity, and am particularly intrigued by the notion of leadership as hospitality.
Super important work. Helping others recognize there is no such thing as separation is fundamentally necessary if we're to evolve out of the polycrisis.
Well put! I trust you're familiar with Gregory Bateson's work?
You might be interested in the American Philosopher William James, too: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oWL70Gsl_xYXgCDMY_vke7UOkr1YHkys?usp=drive_link
"I have avoided pointing it out or putting it into language on purpose, because people have very intelligent defences against it. I don't want to activate those defences. I don’t want to disable them either."
this is very inspiring. like it just... put words to something i have never put words to. i don't want to disable them either, but the activation can be unwieldy.
"to come out of seeing yourself as this separate individual and just take your place as part of the ecology, as part of the bigger thing, the thing that’s not you but is partly you."
i do believe this is the way. i see it.
I'm doing a qi gong course. One practice is to become aware of energies impacting you - weight on the chair, hot and cold etc. Then to chant "I am in qi, qi is in me". (Being the independent soul I am, I've substituted "I am in spirit, spirit is in me".
Great post Richard. I've been calling this principle of mutualism and reciprocity Symbiotic Culture - and sharing an approach to building local community ecosystem networks Symbiotic Kinship. In order to bring the various "tribes" together and do this in an entire local region, I have found it helpful to bring people together around a shared interest. For example, building a Local Food System Network involves connecting people and local organizations/businesses/local government around the purpose of producing and consuming more local food.
In my own work we have found that we can distill spirituality into the practice of universal virtues such as sharing, compassion, kindness, honesty, integrity, etc. Spirituality then does not become simply a separate practice, but part of a community of people who want to unify their local community around shared virtues and common needs.
It would be great to start a dialogue about this.
Here is a post that might be relevant:
https://richardflyer.substack.com/p/on-cultural-symbiogenesis
"And how do you shift (or invite) people to go on a journey, to come out of individualism into something more mutualistic and entangled? Good question!"
Thanks for sharing. I think this is such an important shift that needs to happen. By coincidence this was in my inbox right after your email on being a relational being: https://onrelationalbeing.substack.com/p/to-be-a-relational-being
Thanks for sharing this Richard. I'm excited to learn more about microsolidarity, and am particularly intrigued by the notion of leadership as hospitality.