July and August were busy months for me at Emergent Commons, my favorite online community. I want to capture the highlights of this activity and some of my posted comments in this article. I am grateful for having found this group and the connections I have made there.
On July 17th I hosted the following event, attended by nine people, a good experience.
The Austin Experience
This event is open to all Emergent Commons members.
Emergent Commons member Brandon Norgaard attended The Emerge Gathering in Austin, Texas, 24th to 26th of June 2022. More information about the conference is available at https://emerge-us-gathering-2022.confetti.events/. We have a unique opportunity to gain insights into this by-invitation-only event as Brandon shares his experience with us.
Brandon is the creator and founder of The Enlightened Worldview Project.
Earlier this year on Medium, he published Comparing Approaches to Addressing the Meta-Crisis.
Some EC members have been discussing debriefs appearing in the public domain about this latest Emerge gathering, as per links below.
The Revolution Will NOT Be Spotified by Jamie Wheal
Austin Emerge Gathering Debrief
Bruce Alderman and Layman Pascal assemble with other Austin Emerge attendees to reflect on their experiences, learnings, appreciations & criticisms, and thoughts for moving forward. Joining the discussion are Roger Walsh, Ph.D.; Ivo Mensch; Nomali Perera; and Ēlen Awalom.
Reflections on Emerge 2022 by Brendan Graham Dempsey
With several posts, I participated in the general discussion at EC about the Emerge Austin conference.
In my role as a Greeter on the Member Engagement Team, I had two wonderful Zoom meetings with two new WC members.
I wrote and shared The Magic is Gone, quite an intense experience. Four EC members reached out to me offering to meet with me on Zoom. Three calls, all wonderfully supportive, took place over the following weeks and one call remains pending.
I developed and shared My New EC Engagement Plan.
I launched a new Crew which now has13 members and is off to a good start.
NOT GAME A
Exploring the SPACE, building the MOVEMENT
This Crew explores the Metamodern, Game B, Liminal, Sensemaking, Integral and Regenerative spaces and the emerging movement. The SPACE is growing rapidly, networking activity is increasing and there is much to discover. The MOVEMENT is in its infancy. There is already far too much content and far too many players for any one person to keep up with. Consequently, the Crew will be a collective effort to keep pace. And it will be a place to share our individual unique perspectives and what lights us up in the SPACE and the MOVEMENT.
This Crew is supported by an ever expanding spreadsheet which tracks selected maps, players, communities, events, projects and more.
In July and August, Emergent Commons faced a difficult situation. The behavior of one new member was very disruptive and was upsetting several other members. There was much discussion, including my own comments below. EC is led by a group of volunteers and I was impressed by how well the matter was handled. In the end, a decision was made to remove the member from our community, an outcome I agreed with and supported.
More About Boundaries
I DO NOT KNOW very much about boundaries.
People are complex systems. Therefore, Emergent Commons is a complex system. Therefore, the boundaries issue is a complex matter. It will take collective wisdom for a path forward to emerge. My intent is to contribute to that collective wisdom, anticipating it will somehow emerge sometime.
We need some adjectives. Personal boundaries, organizational boundaries and Crew boundaries are not the same thing. Boundaries for open Crews, private Crews and secret Crews are not the same thing. Common space is not the same as other space. This is complex and cannot be adequately reduced to a policy on paper, although we should probably attempt to do so.
When (name deleted) first joined Emergent Commons, my immediate reaction to his alien avatar was very negative. Likewise, my reaction to his early activity was negative. I made a personal decision to not engage with him. I did not so inform (name deleted) nor did I openly share my decision, although I did share my perspective with a couple of Crews.
I am, and will continue to be, an advocate for a requirement that EC members post an actual picture in their profile. This is a matter of discussion amongst the Member Engagement Team. There is a clear consensus at this time against such a requirement, and for good reasons. I respect the wisdom of the Team.
Some time ago I launched a new Crew, Not Game A, of which I am the sole Host. (I hope additional Hosts will emerge over time.) I had a negative reaction when (name deleted) joined my Crew and it bugged me every time I looked at that alien avatar. I contemplated expelling him from the Crew, but I hesitated. I am glad I hesitated.
The posts by (name deleted) and by (name deleted) had a big impact on me, a lot of food for thought, a lot to digest. I have also been reading the comments made by other members, again, lots to process and for me processing takes time. I expect there is a lot more coming and I doubt that these tensions will go underground.
I DO NOT KNOW very much about Asperger's Syndrome so I went to Wikipedia. I now know a tiny bit more. However, I do have a long and deep experience with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. And I have my own personal history. Currently, at times, I continue to struggle with my own intense emotional reactions and being too easily triggered. So far so good on this matter.
It is my intention to have a personal Zoom meeting with (name deleted) sometime in the next few weeks. This is not a high priority for me. I will try to stay focused on my priorities, one of which is the Emergent Commons community, my favorite community.
I DO NOT KNOW what the future will be, or should be. No one does. It will unfold.
I see that (name deleted) has written an Open Letter to (name deleted), which I will now read.
In the private Crafting Communitas Crew, I posted,
About Trust
Thank you (name deleted) for your article about the importance of trust. I wholeheartedly agree with almost everything you say. So far there has not yet been much comment on it, but I would like to do so here.
Generally, my level of trust of Rebel Wisdom is very high based on my own experience having watched many hours of Rebel Wisdom videos. That trust was easily transferred to Emergent Commons, a group that emerged from RW. But now after a year at EC, my trust levels are not as high as they were at first. Why?
Generally, there is a much wider range of thought and behavior than I had anticipated. In hindsight, I was very idealistic and naive, one of my weaknesses. My trust levels are now much more nuanced.
My trust of you and the other members of the Crafting Communitas is very high. We have spent a lot of time together so I know you better than most other members. You have supported me at those times when I needed it. I have learned something valuable from each one of you. I cannot think of a single instance where any of you have done anything to lessen trust.
Likewise, my trust level with members of the Member Engagement Team grows with each meeting.
Intuitively, I sense that other crews have had similar dynamics, but I have very little insight into Crews that I have not been part of.
The Vaccine Mandate Anti-Debate was an eye opener for me and has had a lingering effect. In its aftermath, I worked very hard to build trust with Bryan Winchell and I think we largely succeeded. I trust his intentions, I trust his integrity. I value him as a member of EC. But I do not trust his judgment on many of the topics in which he is interested. Nor do I trust one aspect of how he makes sense of the world, through astrology, which to me is nonsense. And I see no path forward for us deepening our trust in each other any further, and perhaps there is no need to. And this situation may not change much as EC ages.
Currently I am putting some effort into building a deeper relationship with Monika Bravo, who I quite like. But she too makes sense with astrology, very important to her, meaningless to me. There is more that I could say about how her mind works, very differently than mine, and my trust level of her in some areas is low, and she would probably be shocked to know this. I see no realistic path forward for us deepening our trust in each other, and perhaps there is no need to. And this situation may not change much as EC ages.
There has been some mild conflict between David Hagar and I. We addressed it and resolved it. Trust grew.
There has been some significant conflict between Mike Gaffney and me. We did not address it. Trust was lessened and has not been restored. We have not reached out to each other. However, I am quite comfortable with his intentions and his integrity, but not his judgment in a number of areas. I do see a potential path forward that could improve the situation, but I prefer to spend my energy elsewhere. Consequently, this situation may not change much as EC ages.
Most members of EC are strangers to me. I am now more wary of strangers at EC than I was a year ago. This situation may not change much as EC ages. The membership is growing and my capacity to get to know people is finite. Already, the list of people I would like to spend more time with is bigger than the time I have available.
I am probably less optimistic about the future than you are. In the external environment, sensemaking is becoming ever more difficult. It is my expectation that Making Sense Together for a More Connected World will become more challenging as EC ages.
There is more I could say but I now need to spend time in my beautiful flower garden.
Mighty Networks informs me that since joining EC in July 2021, I have made 208 posts, have 15 followers and I am following 22 members.