One of the most active Emergent Commons members is Leilani Jennings. She is also a member of the Crafting Communitas Crew where she has shared some of her journey through life with us. That is her story to tell, if she so chooses. However, she has given me permission to share some of her written words posted at EC. They are beautiful words from a beautiful soul.
I was unaware of the Emergent Commons Purpose Statement until Leilani began reflecting on them. No doubt the Statement has considerable meaning to those volunteeres who crafted it. But for me, Leilani's reflections are more meaningful than the Statement itself.
March 25 - Reflecting On Our Purpose Statement
As we approach our first year anniversary, we will be inviting and sharing reflections, thoughts, perspectives even, about our beginnings and our forming . . .
So to begin, let us reflect on our Purpose -
Reflections on our Purpose Statement . . .
We Are a Greenhouse for New Dreams to Be Born into The World
Why a greenhouse? To protect tender seedlings so they may grow and become . . .
For new dreams – Why new dreams? Because old dreams belong in the past. There is a sense, a feeling, a knowing that the time is here for new dreams to give birth for something very different to happen in our world
Emergent Commons – a community of people who are participating in giving birth to a New World . . .
What are your thoughts? What do you see? What are your dreams?
How do you want to step into this New World?
March 26 - Reflecting On Our Purpose Statement
Emergent Commons Purpose Statement
The sparks, in each of us, in-form the tapestry of our relational field.
Sparks of inspiration are like little seedlings that need safety, nutrients and care to grow into strong plants. Emergent Commons is a greenhouse that offers these sparks a safe place to grow and become …
Sparks of inspiration –
What lights you up? What inspires your mind, your heart, your body, your spirit? What is the ground from which you are nurtured into becoming?
What are the nutrients you need?
What is the care you need?
. . . in order to be your best self?
. . . in-form the tapestry of our relational field . . .
Relational fields are the invisible and palpable fields of energy that connect us when we are present ….
I am becoming more resourceful and congruent . . .
. . .my presence is shaping this relational field in which I am interacting . . .
. . . the organizing principle of myself is becoming an organizing principle in the relational field . . .
March 28 - Reflecting on Our Purpose Statement
Emergent Commons Purpose Statement
For that we need . . . community . . .
Emergent Commons is a place to learn how to show up in relationships in a generative way and through that learn more about ourselves . . .
How will the world hold all of the diverse bodies, the diverse voices, diverse perspectives - experiences - histories . . .
How will it?
How will we?
Do I feel threatened by your existence, unconsciously experiencing that if you are to exist, I cannot?
Is that at least part of what is sitting in the nervous systems of those who go to war?
Those who demand and hold onto power and then abuse it at the expense of others?
Is that what comes up in me when I even begin to suspect/intuit/experience that you are a threat to my existence?
Can Emergent Commons be a microcosm?
Can we figure out how to hold all of these voices?
How do we do that and not diminish any voice?
Is it really possible?
Learning to hold all of these different energies in one body - a more micro microcosm . . .
We have all heard of The Golden Rule - Treat others how you want to be treated.
And I add the Platinum Rule - Treat others how they want to be treated.
And then there is the Ultimate Rule - There are no others . . .
I am reminded of a quote –
Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and without distortion and self-deception. Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture?
David Bohm of Bohm Dialogue
And there is dialogos from John Vervaeke . . .
A vision of Emergent Commons –
That all members are co-owners . . . co-creators . . . of the commons . . .
Another invitation for serious sharing and reflection on what it means to create and sustain community . . .
March 29 - Reflecting on Our Purpose Statement
Emergent Commons Purpose Statement
which leads to . . . healing . . .
Our shadows and traumas become more evident in relationships providing an opportunity for healing and growth. By leaning into conflicts we learn from them, and in that healing . . .
Let us consider . . .
HEALING, CONFLICT, COLLECTIVE GROWTH
Can it be that I am more stable within relationship?
Is this a reason why social support, social networks, relationships indicate a healthier and longer life, reporting being happier?
Could my instability be a reason why conflict can feel so destabilizing?
That I lose my center easily?
. . . If my stability depends on a family member, a friend, even say a community or a country - even you - being stable, that can shake up my inner being . . .
I have my own shadow and a need to heal . . .
Imagine your shadow as an invisible and potent energy force made up of everything you have denied, repressed, avoided seeing . . .
Imagine this is the force inside a volcano . . .
Picture a mountain that you can see and there is a growing pressure inside the volcano, the lava is getting hotter and bubbling. And you are still oblivious to what is happening . . .
After some time, the pressure builds up and it cannot be contained any longer . . . Have you ever seen a volcano erupting?
Have you ever erupted? Have you ever seen anyone else erupt?
Too often there is destruction all around the volcano, all around where the eruption took place . . .
If only I had known . . . what would I have done?
Could we do something now to heal our own shadow, to integrate what we have repressed, denied, avoided seeing?
Can we help each other notice what shadows there might be?
Can we help each other, support one another, stay in relation with each other when we have been triggered?
And when and if I am triggered, can I look inside myself to see if there is a volcano inside me that I have been repressing, denying, avoiding seeing?
Can I stop seeing you as the reason I am triggered? Can I, instead, start seeing you as an opportunity to take a deeper look inside and notice trauma and shadow . . .
I have much work to do . . .
And let us consider the collective shadow and a need to heal collectively . . .
Do we see any evidence that collective shadows are erupting in the world?
How do we, as conscious, integrating, present, and motivated sovereign individuals relate to a world in which collective shadows are erupting?
We do, indeed, have much work to do . . .
March 30 - Reflecting on Our Purpose Statement
Emergent Commons Purpose Statement
...transformation can happen...
With healing comes the possibility of generative co-creation.
The loftiest aspect of our purpose is that we hold deeply that Emergent Commons is a greenhouse, needed to nurture seeds of potential for the creation of a "new way of doing civilization".
It feels like we need a story. I am sure many of you are familiar with some version of the Lifeboat Story.
We are passengers on a passenger liner that has hit an iceberg (shades of Titanic). We are fortunate enough to get on a lifeboat that holds 60 people and there are already 50 of us on it. As the ship goes down there are so many people swimming in the ocean around us. We count at least 100 people who plead with us to get on our lifeboat. What a dilemma . . . How do we choose who lives and who dies? Are there any other options than letting 90 people die?
In a Game A world, the mathematics are clear and the ethics are challenging. And, ultimately, the 10 people who are chosen to live have demonstrated value to the rest of us – a doctor, an engineer, a teacher, etc. What happens in a Game B world? The new world that many of us long for?
The people on the lifeboat tap into the complexity of themselves and each other as a source of unlimited possibilities. Instead of experiencing the world as one of scarce resources in which fear is the primary driver, the world is experienced as one of abundance and generosity is the primary driver.
Such is one vision of a new way of doing civilization . . .
In a new way of doing civilization, we need an entirely different way of thinking – towards complexity and inter-connectedness. It isn’t a matter of assessment of who is good at what. It is about the unique possibilities that occur in relationship between particular people . . .
Our institutions will not figure this out for us . . . they are not able to respond to the real needs of the people . . . they don’t provide a safety net for everyday people . . . there is no institutionalized sentiment to care . . . no one is coming to help the communities of people who are most in need . . .
And the way out of the meta-crisis is emergent . . . the way in which it becomes possible to respond will depend on the unique lives of the people gathered together . . .
Solutions will be as infinite as the combinations of people who are there . . .
If our attention is on who will live and who will die, we will still be in Game A, polarizing ourselves from each other with fear running through our nervous systems . . . remembering how resources have been distributed . . .
In contrast, a living response is one that builds on relationships . . . care and love do matter . . . values of what really matters in life . . . life-giving and life-supporting values . . .
Embracing a new way of thinking . . . in relationship . . . will nourish a new version of participation in a world of vibrant, creative, and unimagined transformation . . .
Human beings are wired for relationship . . . transformation – solutions to the meta-crisis will come from our relationships with one another . . . when I see you in me and me in you, deep wisdom arises from within . . . as we discover what it is to not experience the anxiety of control and live with each other with warmth and integrity . . .
“You can best serve civilization by being against what usually passes for it.” ― Wendell Berry, novelist, poet, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer.