Because of it's length, I have moved Bruce's full possibility conversation over here to its own pad. Click the link immediately above to get back to the main +What's Possible?pad at the location of Bruce's entry there. Thank you, Bruce, for diving in with such passion and intelligence![Ben Roberts, 12/15]
Question 1:
What is the crossroads where you find yourself at this stage of your work in service to systemic transformation?
"Crossroads"-- hmm. For me-- the big tension is the issue of activating a transformative vision. I have spent a long time more or less as an architect, a designer, working at the level of internet system design and development. But taking a very ambitious design and turning it into activism, where people get on board with a common vision, in ways that lead to real social change-- this is much more challenging, and the internet alone is not enough. Writing theories and visions-- while important and probably essential-- alone, just doesn't get us there. Theory by itself is an unrealized potential. Somehow, we need to jump into the fire of real social change. Real-world D&D projects can be a very big part of this activation.
For me, at this point-- it seems the next steps are profoundly"spiritual". Any hope I have for broad social change, as I see it now, will have to flow from spiritual levels-- probably coordinated as a movement from the point of view of ethics, probably in ways analogous to the leadership of Martin Luther King or Gandhi.
And one major reason I think this is true is-- the"movement" that we each are feeling-- is something different in each of us. We are not all seeing the same things or worrying about the same issues, and our"common ground" or basis of agreement is very fuzzy. But the D&D principles-- as per"Conversation Cafe", or you-name-it-- are a kind of"universal ethics of co-creative relationship".
Is D&D"a religion"? Some people probably see it that way. Principles of D&D are at the core of community healing and health. If the human race is going to find a way forward together, D&D will be at the core of that way. And those principles are very consistent with the ethics of religion and spirituality at their best. So for me, at least as I am feeling it now, leadership for a transformative social-change movement will probably require some new kind of alliance between secular/political ethics and spiritual/religious ethics-- in ways that enable tight and authentic collaboration between secular and spiritual/religious groups. The Dalai Lama talks about such things in his 2011 book"Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World". Perhaps the basic thesis of this book could be directly transplanted into the core of our emerging movement for systemic change.
I would say the most promising route for a transformative movement empowered by D & D practitioners would involve the synthesis of a broad multi-sector alliance(environment, energy, economy, education, governance, etc.) with a strong core of universal ethics. Somebody needs to hammer out an initial definition and get co-creative buy-in from independent activist agencies in every sector that relates. "Get something on the table, and then we can work together to polish it."
Personally, I think the entire project/vision looks like a mandala-- like the"Wheel of Ashoka"-- a wheel with spokes and a hub-- where the spokes are bridges to the different sectors(ecology, environment, economics, etc.) and the hub is the common ground and point-of-fusion. This integral hub is where"the religion of D & D" reaches white heat...
And I would follow the Dalai Lama's general statement in"Beyond Religion"-- and build from an"ethics for a whole world"("whole world" having dual meaning--"entire world" and"healed world"). As I see it,"the ethics of wholeness" is inherent in wholeness-- and the entire social change movement we are imagining could/should(?) be guided by an"ethic of the whole". Seen from this point of view, every particular perspective or skill-set can/should fit into a single grand scheme with a single"pure" guiding ethic that might(?) transpose to every level of community and into every issue-- all guided by one common ethical principle of"wholeness in all things"
Question 2:
What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to transform the community and inspire you?
Having sketched out a few ideas above, I wanted to comment on Linda's statement, which is going in a very similar direction, and which introduces some specifics.
Linda: I can imagine that we(starting with those of us called into this conversation from NCDD) first self-organize ourselves into a financially viable cooperative of service and process providers.
Bruce: Financial viability-- great idea, maybe essential, love to see it work. Ok, now what would that look like, and what would we be doing....
Linda: Our mission is to utilize our unique process and organizational skills in service to other organizations working on ushering in what many are calling the“Great Transition or Shift.” We assess those projects/efforts already in motion and look at what is still needed in moving this agenda forward.
Bruce: Hmm, we are in service to other organizations. Fascinating concept, do you think we can sell that-- to"somebody"(?) Who might that somebody be? Funders, foundations-- the organizations we are serving? So, our role is not only to provide"mediation and facilitation", but also to play the role of look-out and trail-scout, making suggestions as to who or what should be included, and helping facilitate connections and collaboration, and playing a real leadership role. If we had a sound skeletal framework and a strong participant list, that might(?) be something we could sell. Love to see it happen....
Linda: We might even serve as a kind of“backbone” organization or as a network of networks in this way, providing such services as consulting, communication, strategic and tactical over-site as crises unfold that offer openings for social changes to occur. We model a form of shared leadership through how we organize ourselves.
Bruce: Good. We probably do have the core ingredients to put those pieces together-- and maybe the hackpad format is good for sketching out and gathering up what those pieces might be(though of course, obviously, we have to follow through and get these jobs actually accomplished). So, there's a lot to do to move from fuzzy ideas to concrete and funded project....
Speaking for myself, I have been visualizing this kind of"backbone network" most of my life, and as a web programmer, have built many projects supporting this kind of potential. So, technology and working internet databases to support something like this is kinda second-nature to me....
Bruce: My own core vision for all of this tends to be very circle-centric-- so thank you for putting it this way. Yes, there are many forms of D&D and a lot of different ways and contexts that people can get together and talk. But for me-- particularly with a spiritual/interspiritual background, and a sense that this entire movement must emerge from a common core of global ethics-- the principle of"interconnected circles" seems essential and very potent-- and in fact, just a couple of years ago, the Great Transition Initiative was promoting a very similar vision . As I see it, the vision of"interconnected circles" opens up the full power of the"integral" movement-- and there is a realistic hope of"interconnecting everything" though it.
Back to +Whats Possible? DandDTrans Inquiry: Bruce Schuman
Question 1:
Question 2: