Marilyn Hamilton's Blog, page 3

A Golden Thread: For the Keepers of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness

This beautiful poem was composed by Dr. Julie Krull in service to World Unity Week. It so powerfully aligns with Integral City’s intention to reconnect the Soul of the City through Beauty, Truth and Goodness that I asked permission to publish it here. Many thanks to Julie’s Mainstreet Mystic Spirit for her golden agreement. A Golden Thread: For the Keepers of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness

World Unity Week, Year Six by Julie Krull

You who still dare to hold the golden thread—even as the world unravels,you are not foolish.You are not small.You are not alone.You are the gravity of lovein a time that has forgottenhow to kneel.They will tell you it’s naïveto speak of unity while the warplanes fly.They will say beauty is indulgent, truth is relative, goodness is weak.Do not believe them.You are not here to echo opinion.You are here to emanatewhat cannot be silenced.While the world fracturesinto slogans and sides,you—you carry the golden thread,you braid light into the fabric.You listen for the hum of world unitybeneath the noise,heard only by the soul.You speak in frequenciesthat pierce through despairwithout raising your voice.Yes, the bombs fell.Yes, the sacred was desecrated.And yes— Truth still stands. Beauty still breathes. Goodness still pulsesin the bloodstream of the cosmos.World unity is not an event.It is a remembering.A resonance.A return.It lives not in declarations,but in the undivided heartrefusing to harden.It is not your job to fix it all.It is your calling to stay alignedwith what is Realwhen illusion is loudest.You are not a counterpointto the darkness.You are the rememberingof what the dark once wasbefore it forgot itself.The light you carrywas made for this moment.And though the path is steepand the hour charged with consequence,this is no accident.You arrived with the turning.The breath of world unityrises in you now—as the Unitive Age unfolds its wingsthrough the rhythm of your becoming.You are the aperture widenedthrough which the holy sees itself again.So take your place,Keeper of the Unitive.Wrap yourself in the ancient courageof those who love without conquest.Bow to the ache—and then rise.Not because it is easy.But because it is holy.Because even now—especially now—the world needsyour undividedpresence.The world needsyour undividedwholeness.The world needsyou in resonance, remembering—your breath a blessing,your frequency a form,your presence a living gestureof all that is truth, beauty, and goodness —embodied,now.

Reflective Organ Newsletter June Solstice 2025: Carers, Curators Choreographers of Metamorphosis

This newsletter is published quarterly using a cycle of perspectives on the Integral City viewed from: Planet, People, Place and Power. The theme of this issue is People.

The unusual and captivating hero of this book is the city. Not an inert mass of buildings, but a collective, a hive, a holarchy that brings people and processes of inquiry together in action. This human centered approach to systems of a city offers well chosen “sticky” concepts, grounded in practice and expressed with a simplicity that belies their complexity. What’s more, the book offers tons of great questions and grounded frameworks that help us articulate Gaia’s reflective capacity. It’s a resource for action researchers in the field of urban planning and perhaps for all whole systems/integration oriented professionals.

— Hilary Bradbury, PhD, Professor (OHSU), Editor Handbook of Action Research & Action Research Journal, Convener, AR+.

Praise for  Hamilton, M. (2017). Integral City Inquiry & Action: Designing Impact for the Human Hive. Minneapolis, MN: Amaranth Press,LLC

Scroll to end of newsletter to access Free Resources.

Carers, Curators Choreographers: Integral City in Metamorphosis

Carers, Curators, Choreographers: The Integral City in Metamorphosis

As summer unfolds, the Integral City is entering a season of metamorphosis. Across our ecosystem — from Ecovillage Findhorn feasibility studies to Soul Power gatherings — we are witnessing cities not as static structures, but as living hives in transformation.

In the face of global metacrisis, we ask: what roles are needed to midwife a regenerative future?

Three evolutionary functions are arising: Carers, Curators, and Choreographers.

Carers nurturing the heart of the city, show up through the 4 Voices of the city — Citizens, Civil Society, Institutions, and Business — tending to the wellbeing of people, place, and purpose.
Curators holding memory and meaning, discern what holds life as old systems dissolve, guiding coherence through governance, storytelling, and soulful sensing.
Choreographers weaving complexity into coherence, attune to the rhythms of emergence, coordinating learning journeys, facilitating alignment, and dancing with uncertainty.

Like bees, butterflies, and bumblebees, we are called to pollinate, trust emergence, and defy the limits of what seems possible. The Human Hive is not stuck — it is becoming.

So we ask:

What is cocooning in your city?What Soul Power is stirring?And which role calls you now?

We are all invited to become part of this Human Hive in metamorphosis.
How can we midwife the city that is longing to be born?

This issue of the Integral City Newsletter invites you into that inquiry—and into action.

Let’s co-create the Integral City in metamorphosis — together. Click to read our Full Editorial Here.

Cultivating Regeneration: A Metamorphic Invitation for Cities

As the Human Hive navigates the metamorphic threshold from breakdown to breakthrough, the question facing every urban steward is not just how to sustain, but how to regenerate. In his thoughtful post, “10 Reasons Why Urban Environment Stakeholders Should Cultivate Regeneration,” Menno Lammers outlines a compelling case for why cities must evolve beyond extractive systems into living, breathing ecosystems of care, creativity, and resilience. His call aligns powerfully with the Integral City view of transformation—not as linear progress, but as emergence through coherence.

Click here to read the blog, where we’ve distilled his key reasons.

Follow the link for the full article. (mennolammers.com).

Book Preview – Second Sapiens: The Rise of the Planetary Mind and the Future of Humanity

What will it take for us to preserve what remains of life on the planet? Is humanity itself at risk? These are the overarching questions that Said Dawlabani asks in his new book Second Sapiens: The Rise of the Planetary Mind and the Future of Humanity. Second Sapiens answers the question: what would Mother Nature do? And in the book’s Foreword Marilyn Hamilton (even in the Voice of Gaia) appreciates Said’s insights.

If we could hear Gaia’s voice the first thing we would hear about this book – is Gaia thanking Said Dawlabani for creating the concept and coining the word to describe the measures that are meaningful to Gaia as the Living Planet that she is. Second Sapiens introduces the term “Gaiametry” – the metrics for living at a planetary scale.

In fact Said goes one step further and imagines viewing these metrics from Jupiter – giving Gaiametry a context even beyond the planet into the solar system and Universe. …  Of course, in Second Sapiens, Gaian Intelligences are reflected at every level of scale – Contexting Intelligences (to integrate the patterns of symbiotic interconnections), Individual Intelligences (for inner and outer agency), Collective Intelligences (for inner and outer relationships), Navigating Intelligences (to steady homeostasis within Gaian organs and body at every scale) and Evolutionary Intelligences. Said has insightfully reframed this system of knowing as a Living System, affirming Gaia’s evolutionary journey as a never ending quest.

But more than that he has posited that human intelligence must now be nested in Gaia’s natural intelligence. Said asserts this shift is non-negotiable, saying:  “if we are to survive and thrive as a species in the face of Earth systems collapse and other existential challenges.”  …  Said takes us through an incisive journey to consider how the patterns that bring stasis to different eras of evolution change from stage to stage. He examines the evolution not just of value systems but of the impact they have in Coalescing Authority, Power and Influence at each stage (CAPI).  …

Ultimately, Said moves us away from the Anthropocentric delusion that humans  are at the center of the universe into “a symphony both of stardust and of newly born stars, all orchestrated by a silent conductor.”

Thank you Said for serving Gaia as a life-renewing stem cell in her Reflective Organ. Guided by Gaia, humans can evolve and thrive far beyond the disasters and despairs of Sapiens1. Your book opens up the possibility that a new seed of knowing can be regenerated and nurtured in the epoch of Second Sapiens.

To connect to more of the book and Read the Full Preview  Click Here. 

Upcoming Integral City & Constellation Events with People PurposeSimon Divecha, Benevolution: 25 to 28 September 2025, Thursday to Sunday, and 19 to 22 March 2026: Blueprint, Soulprint, Footprint.

These retreats are an arc of 3 pieces. They connect our passion with purpose, powerful profitable planetary and personal outcomes.

The Blueprint – a Path of mastery. This is organisation & leadership focused, within a specific organisationThe Soulprint – a Place for spiritual alchemy. This is the Findhorn retreat going deeper, assisting with our growing up and opening upThe Footprint – a Pilgrimage of the inner awakening. 8 days on the Camino, insight, interconnection and integration

That is, this is the Art and Science of radically practical action. They all work around letting us thrive in today’s complexity. I.e. get good sustainability and organisation outcomes. Get beyond things like the ESG reporting traps. And principally enable this through deepening our connections with nature.

Click here to find out more. ~~~Living Cities Earth: Invitation to become Ambassador for Living Cities Earth’s Future Leaders Project – A Community-Led Movement to Spark Local Transformation.The Future Leaders Project is a global initiative created by Living Cities Earth in partnership with Earthwise and YouthxYouth, offering a free, fully developed 7-session online immersive learning experience for young people aged 15–26. Through a gamified journey known as the Future Leaders Quest, learners build leadership, emotional intelligence, collaboration skills, and a sense of purpose—all while taking part in community-based projects.

If you’re someone who looks around and thinks,  “What can I do to help my city become a place where people thrive again?” —then you’re already who this project is for.

As a Future Leaders Ambassador, you become a catalyst. You help bring this powerful, no-cost opportunity into your city, your circles, and your community.

What Makes This Different

FLP equips you with everything you need to share this opportunity and spark local impact:

 An Ambassador Toolkit with digital posters, emails, messaging, and outreach templatesA fully resourced, no-cost program ready to be shared across your communityA growing network of like-hearted citizens working to co-create a thriving futureThe flexibility to lead at your own pace—in your own way

You don’t have to manage the program.  You just help people find their way in.

Three Ways You Can Make a Difference

1. Rally Your City: Share the FLP opportunity with educators, schools, city leaders, local orgs, and youth groups. Be the person who says, “Here’s something meaningful—and it’s ready for us.”

2. Spread the Word: Use your Ambassador Toolkit to share the message online, in person, or through local networks. Whether it’s an email to a school or a post in a neighborhood group, every connection counts.

3. Build Local Momentum: Encourage registration, help spark local Learning Circles, and connect people who care. Your role is to ignite curiosity and invite collaboration.

This Is Your Moment …You don’t need permission to lead change. You just need to begin.

Your Next Steps…

Watch our FLP Ambassador Webinar: An 18-minute online webinar hosted by Living Cities Earth – FLP Foundational Introduction to Partnership Webinar

Join the Ambassador Network:  https://futureleaders.info/

To receive your toolkit and get started: Fill out the Ambassador Form – https://forms.gle/T37RP9o8DauCvTXP8

Living Cities Earth at IEC2025: Finding Wholeness for Integral Age

Living Cities Earth (LCE) was well represented at Integral European Conference (IEC) by Co-Founders: (Right to Left):

Theo Eisenman, Marilyn Hamilton, Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller, Said Dawlabani, Anne-Marie Voorhoeve, Kara Stonehouse.

Here below are abstracts of some of our presentations. 

Click these links to read Christiane’s IEC Opening and IEC Closing wisdoms.

Click here to access the recordings and livestreams from IEC. Marilyn Hamilton: AQtivating Soul Power: Action Research Design for Cities in Metacrisis

In this action research design workshop, we explored the possibilities of Soul Power to resolve the Metacrisis that cities face. We asked – “What?” is the challenge? Why are cities so fragmented, climate threatened, at war, polluted, biodiversity deserts, chaotic, destructive and disrespectful. Then we asked: “So What?” How do these conditions arise from and contribute to cultural collapses, aging infrastructure, insufficient housing, degrading environment and broken economies? We shared our research on “Now What” can we do about the Metacrisis? Gleaning from Integral and Living City practitioners, polymaths, cosmologists, transdisciplinarians and ecovillage realities we considered if the fundamental cause of city Metacrisis might be a disconnection from our Soul? What is Soul Power? And how can the Beauty, Truth and Goodness in Integral/Living City frameworks AQtivate us to address the Metacrisis in our cities?

Anne-Marie Voorhoeve of LCE/The Hague Centre Team: Research on EU Coherence+What is Coherence?our natural state of being, our true nature guided by the divine intelligence of life  – What makes your heart sing?  An experience of harmony and flow among a group of collaborators without a lot of pressure and control required to effectively achieve outcomes. a means to strengthen the collective power, focus and impact of social change agents working towards global systems transformation.Working through periods tension is necessary for coherence.

Cohering in the Workshop

Reflect on your purpose driven, heart centred work for the world…

Where does your work fit in the big picture of the great movement and our collective capacity developmentWhy is that important

Launch European Conscious Media HUB

PreparationSensing and researching the conscious media landscape in Europe, Continuing to form the Vision of the Global Alliance with core team of Media Colab. FormationInviting partners to ‘play’ and dialogue to develop the principles and strategies together, seeing the whole together and allowing synergies to emerge.ActivationImpactful opportunities and projects identified.  Partners commit to the Alliance co-created vision and feel enough trust to share resources and airspace.IntegrationEmbodying the vision and commitments, grounding the governance processes and procedures. Kara Stonehouse: LOVE organized – a Gaian system of co-creation.Kara outlined a vision of how to get from meta crisis to metamorphosis into a healthy, peaceful world.

She offered a 50 year business and governance model for massive transformation to a thriving civilization

Theo Eisenman, Marilyn Hamilton: Integral Approach to Urban Planning  The Goal of this workshop was to brainstorm and co-generate urban planning, design, and management approaches across integral’s 4 Quadrants for cities and districts at different stages of development.Human society is urbanizing à “age of cities” (Young 2017)
2008:   1st time >50% of humans living in cities
2100:   ~80% of global population urban
3 periods of urbanization (Angel 2011)1/ DOMESTICATION (~10,000BC – 1800)     <10% of global population    – premodern: warrior / traditional2/ INDUSTRIALIZATION (Late 1700s to early-1900s)     < 16% of global population urban in 1900    – Europe & North America    – modern3/ GLOBALIZATION (mid-1900s to 2100)   – Africa & Asia   – 2/3 urban by 2050; 4/5 urban by 2100   – premodern, modern, early-postmodernMaturing human species development beyond the stage of competition into the stages of cooperation and collaboration – expands our capacity to plan (Sahtouris).Cities move through stages as energy resources shift from Bio to Fossil to Renewable to Solar.Developments Rights matter: Everyone has the right to be where they are, without judgment and without them needing to change (Stages Intl. 2025) Said Dawlabani: The Great Obsolescence, A Spiral Dynamics View on Geopolitics, War & EcologySaid’s Keynote walked us through the challenges to Finding Wholeness in an Integral Age. He addressed the Post WWII World Order, the Digital Age and the Collapse of Planetary Systems.A powerful slide showed us how the tipping points of Mother Nature had moved from 3/7 boundaries exceeded in 2009, to 4/7 in 2015 and 6/9 in 2023.The unintended consequences of our “Digital Disruption” has been to make obsolescent many of our democracies, while opening the door to old autocracies to dominate, while new autocracies take advantage of the lack of guidelines, rules and laws to govern our new realities.Celebrating People Caring, Curating, Choreographing

Metamorphosis is the soul’s slow unfolding into wholeness — not an escape, but an embrace. (Anonymous)

As we turn toward the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate the emergence of People who are Caring, Curating and Choreographing the Integral City in Metamorphosis. Like bees tending the hive, they care for the wellbeing of others and the commons. Like curators of living museums, they make visible the stories, structures and sacredness of place. Like choreographers of emergence, they attune to the rhythms of coherence and cultivate graceful transformations. Each of these roles reveals how we are becoming conscious agents of regeneration — co-creating new possibilities for our cities as living, evolving ecosystems. In the light of the longest day, may we pause to honour and amplify the wisdom and work of these soulfully engaged citizens in our human hives.

Blessings of Aliveness as we Celebrate People across our Planet of Cities …Marilyn Hamilton PS Here are some FREE resources for Transforming Integral City People: Bees & PollinatorsUK bumblebee numbers fell to lowest on record in 2024 – The GuardianWisdom of the Hive – Amy Burtaine & Michelle Cassandra-Johnson (Sounds True podcast)Unexpected Pollinators – Resurgence issue landing pageBees: a guide for the curious • Susan ClarkIntroducing… the Beetle Lady • Katie Dancey‑DownsIn the breath of a bee • Anisha Jaya MinochaPollinators and scent • Simon Constantine

2. Cities & Urban Livability

The World’s Most Liveable Cities in 2025 – The Economist

3. Blogs

Prof‑essencing Dancing Soul Connections for Integral Cities Bernie Sanders Walks the Needs Path of the City March  2025 Equinotes: Regenerating Our Planet ’s Soul Join Global Earth Day Summit April  22,  2025 Sing the Song of Democracy – Stephen Dinan Breaks Deafening Silence Do We Want To Be a NORC? AQtivating Soul Power: Action Research Design for Cities in Metacrisis Islands of Coherence – Now in the Light of Findhorn Sanctuary Opening: Integral European Conference  2025 – Christiane Seuhs‑Schoeller The Matriarch’s Call – Closing Integral European Conference  2025 Cultivating Regeneration: A Metamorphic Invitation for Cities Carers, Curators, Choreographers: The Integral City in Metamorphosis 4. Newsletters Past Issues 2024-2025 March 2025 Equinotes: Regenerating Our Planet’s Soul Reflective Organ Newsletter December Solstice 2024: Soul Power as Beauty Truth Goodness September 2024 Equinotes: Placecaring & Placemaking Capacities March 2024 Equinotes: Surviving Shadow, Trauma, Loss

5. Integral City MetaBlog 2024 – A Synthesis and index of all Integral City Blogs from 2024

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Carers, Curators, Choreographers: The Integral City in Metamorphosis

As summer unfurls across the Northern Hemisphere, the natural world reminds us: transformation is not linear. It is a dance of unfolding — messy, mysterious, and necessary. In the same way that caterpillars surrender to the chrysalis, cities around the world are entering their own season of metamorphosis. No longer fixed entities, they are becoming fluid ecosystems of purpose, pattern, and possibility.

At Integral City, we sense this shift. Across initiatives — from community regeneration efforts at Findhorn to international Soul Power dialogues — a deeper pulse is becoming audible. It hums in the background of feasibility studies and forums, meditations and movements. It is the sound of cities cocooning. And with it arises a vital question: what roles are needed now to midwife the future?

Three archetypal functions are emerging with renewed relevance: Carers, Curators, and Choreographers. These are not fixed roles or job descriptions. They are evolutionary responses to the metacrisis — expressions of Soul Power in action.

Carers: Tending the Hive

Carers are the ones who respond first — not with grand plans, but with steady hands and open hearts. They show up through the 4 Voices of the City — Citizens, Civil Society, Institutions, and Business. At Ecovillage Findhorn, Carers are busy gathering nectar — not metaphorically, but practically: initiating feasibility studies on retrofit, recycling, nature-based education, and regenerative construction. These are acts of care at the intersection of inner and outer sustainability — preparing not just buildings, but people and systems, for an emerging future.

Curators: Midwifing Coherence

As old forms dissolve, Curators hold a sacred responsibility: to discern what is essential. They are the ones who listen deeply and sense what fragments still carry life — and which are ready to be composted. Curators are at work in community governance dialogues, in the design of Islands of Coherence meditations, and in the careful tending of storylines and systems. They help the Hive remember its deeper coherence, even as chaos swirls.

Choreographers: Dancing with Emergence

The chrysalis is not a quiet place — it is alive with movement. Choreographers are those who can sense the rhythm of that inner alchemy. They don’t dictate the dance; they invite participation in its unfolding. They coordinate learning journeys, align multiple intelligences, and tune into subtle fields. You’ll find them creating maps of potential, facilitating collective sense-making, or composing Taizé services that awaken the 4+1 Elements.

From Hive to Flight

This is the work of metamorphosis. It is not orderly or guaranteed. Yet it is happening — sometimes in shadows, sometimes in plain sight. Bees remind us how to pollinate across difference. Butterflies flirt at the edges of the known, whispering from the future. And bumblebees, in their defiance of physics, remind us that transformation often begins where logic says it can’t.

Integral City’s Human Hive is not just a metaphor — it’s an invitation. An invitation to participate consciously in the city’s becoming. To embrace the cocoon as sacred space. To activate Soul Power — not only in ourselves, but in the very systems we co-create.

So we ask:

What in your city is cocooning?What Soul Power is stirring beneath the surface?And which of these roles — Carer, Curator, Choreographer — is calling you now?

Metamorphosis is not a phase to survive — it is a call to evolve.
Let us tend, midwife, and dance this moment together.
The Hive is humming with possibility.

Cultivating Regeneration: A Metamorphic Invitation for Cities

As the Human Hive navigates the metamorphic threshold from breakdown to breakthrough, the question facing every urban steward is not just how to sustain, but how to regenerate. In his thoughtful post, “10 Reasons Why Urban Environment Stakeholders Should Cultivate Regeneration,” Menno Lammers outlines a compelling case for why cities must evolve beyond extractive systems into living, breathing ecosystems of care, creativity, and resilience. His call aligns powerfully with the Integral City view of transformation—not as linear progress, but as emergence through coherence. Below, we’ve distilled his key reasons. Follow the link for the full article. (mennolammers.com).

Cities Become Living EcosystemsRegenerative cities learn, feel, respond—not just operate—and grow value rather than extract it. Return on IntelligenceROI evolves from raw investment to the regeneration of ecological, emotional, cultural, and systemic intelligence—for resilience, creativity, and deep community value. Future-Proofing InvestmentsEmbedding adaptability into urban design ensures places endure and evolve amid climate, demographic, and policy shifts. Uncovering Hidden Value StreamsRegeneration reveals overlooked assets—healthy soils, water systems, local culture—that create long-term social, ecological, and economic return. Cultural Resonance & Place-MakingBy rooting regeneration in local stories and identity, cities attract innovation, pride, and long-term engagement. Transforming InstitutionsRegeneration shifts organizational DNA—governance, culture, strategy—moving from rigid hierarchies to living systems aligned with purpose. Comprehensive Ecosystem RestorationProjects like green corridors, agroforestry, and soil remediation turn degraded urban sites into hubs for biodiversity, learning, and wellbeing. From ESG to Regenerative LeadershipRegeneration goes beyond sustainability metrics—it demands commitment to positive, systemic change and non-reductionist approaches . Nature-as-Inspiration for DesignTreating nature not as an add-on but as a design partner (e.g. biomimicry, biophilic design) drives creativity, resilience, and ecological integration. A Mindset Shift Toward “Cultivation”The core isn’t fixing but nurturing—the question becomes whether we will continue feeding depletion or instead cultivate what truly endures.Follow the link for the full article. (mennolammers.com).

The Matriarch’s Call – Closing Integral European Conference 2025

Just as Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller had been invited to open Integral European Conference 2025, she was also invited to close it.And she did so with this beautiful poem. The Matriarch’s Call.

Opening: Integral European Conference 2025 – Chritiane Seuhs-Schoeller

Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller opened the IEC 2025 with an inspiration to open the theme Finding Wholeness for an Integral Age. Christiane is a pioneering entrepreneur and a leading voice in transforming how humans relate to power and how they collaborate. With a career rooted in challenging the entrenched dominance hierarchies of society, she has dedicated over a decade to exploring how self-organization reshapes power dynamics and human interaction. Her life’s purpose—the unification of love and power—guides a deep personal and systemic journey that bridges individual transformation with collective evolution.

Christiane is the author of New Stories of Love, Power, and Purpose: A Global Invitation to Experiment with the Unknown (https://lovepowerandpurpose.com/book/), and is currently writing her second book, The Art of Conscious Collaboration. As she embraces her role as an Elder, she is deepening her inquiry into the role of the Matriarch in humanity’s evolution. She continues to inspire a global community through her writings, teachings, and mentorship—inviting us all to consciously co-create our collaborative endeavors to be spaces of being, doing, and becoming both individually and collectively in service to all of life.

Dear friends, fellow wayfarers, and stewards of the possible,  Welcome!

It is with great excitement and reverence that I stand here among you—not as a solitary voice, but as one note in the wider symphony that is this gathering.

And if, in some moments, I sound like I’m preaching to the choir—well, perhaps that’s exactly the point.Because this is no ordinary choir. This is a living field of

inquiry, intelligence, love and power. We have come together across languages, lineages, and lands to cohere around a deeper calling.

The theme we are exploring—Finding Wholeness for an Integral Age—resonates deeply with the arc of many of our lives. But let’s begin here: Wholeness is not a destination.

It is not something we will one day arrive at with enough effort, enlightenment, or expertise. Wholeness is what we already are. Wholeness is what life already is.

The work, if there is any, is to remember. To remember that what we often interpret as fragmentation—the sense of separation, of deficiency, of something broken—that so often is seen as a problem to fix is in fact a deeper invitation. These experiences may reflect stories shaped by old structures and inherited metaphors.

But what if we see them as expressions of life itself— disruption, decay, and dissolution as natural parts of the cycle?  The invitation is not to avoid these states, but to meet them without clinging to the stories we tell about them. To stay present with the full spectrum of life’s emergence.

This is why we gather—to WAKE UP, GROW UP, CLEAN UP, SHOW UP, and to OPEN UP.

To turn toward wholeness with deeper awareness. To sense it more fully, to participate in it more consciously, and to let it guide us into the living rhythm of being, doing, and becoming – as we meet ourselves, each other, the world, and the cosmos. And here, within this rhythm, we are a collective presence. A fractal of the greater whole. Each of us a portal, a pattern, a pulse within something vaster and tender. We are a SOURCE-FIELD.

For the full text of Chritiane’s Opening, Click here to Download a Pdf.IEC Opening – Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller – Copy

Islands of Coherence – Now in the Light of Findhorn Sanctuary

Three years ago, at Ecovillage Findhorn, Scotland, we began Saturday morning meditations to create Islands of Calm in a VUCA world—volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous. Inspired by David Spangler’s reminder that calm within can ripple outward to 1,000 others, we gathered to cultivate inner stillness.

Since then, our practice has evolved. In today’s world of growing complexity, we now co-create Islands of Coherence—fields of resonance that can help shift entire systems. Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine reminds us:
“Small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.”

Each week we begin with a short check-in, a brief inspiration, and a chime into guided meditation, including 10 minutes of silence. We close with a second chime and optional sharing.

This Saturday, June 14, 2025 we move into the New Sanctuary, anchoring our intention for coherence in the sacred heart of the community. The space itself radiates stillness—and as sunlight streams through the high windows, we often witness radiant Islands of Light dancing on the walls, echoing the energy of our gathering.

We also draw on David Spangler’s Light Bank, deposit blessings, and follow the murmuration metaphor: keep flying, stay close, aim for the centre.

To join us at 8:45am Saturdays, send us a contact message. Doors open at 8:35.

All are welcome. Come as you are.

 

AQtivating Soul Power: Action Research Design for Cities in Metacrisis

This is the outline of a presentation by Dr. Marilyn Hamilton at Integral Europe Conference 2025.

Click here to download a Pdf of these Notes: AQtivating Soul Power Action Research Design for Cities in MetacrisisIEC 2025 Article final

Abstract

In this action research design workshop, we explore the possibilities of Soul Power to resolve the Metacrisis that cities face. We start with the Action Research question – “What?” is the challenge? We consider why cities seem to be fragmented, climate threatened, at war, polluted, biodiversity deserts, chaotic, destructive and disrespectful. Then we ask: “So What?” How do these conditions arise from and contribute to cultural collapses, aging infrastructure, insufficient housing, degrading environment and broken economies? We share our research on “Now What” can we do about the Metacrisis? Gleaning from Integral and Living City practitioners, polymaths, cosmologists, transdisciplinarians and ecovillage realities we consider if the fundamental cause of city Metacrisis might be a disconnection from our Soul? We consider What is Soul Power? And how can the Beauty, Truth and Goodness in Integral/Living City frameworks AQtivate us to address the Metacrisis in our cities?

A Contexting Note about Integral City Map 5

In exploring the Soul of the city we refer to Integral City Map 5: Spirituality in the City. We acknowledge how our sense of the Soul has been influence by our conversations with:

Nish Dubashia and his Diamond Model which shows the disconnection from the Toroidal flow. Karen O’Brien and her book “You Matter More Than You Think”, exploring the fractals, wholeness and entanglement that are in Integral City’s 5 maps. Jude Currivan and her video “A Radical View of Reality” which demonstrates how Consciousness is the primary energy/source of the Universe. Said Dawlabani and his book “Second Sapiens: The Rise of the Planetary Mind and the Future of Humanity”James Lovelock and his proposition that humans are “Gaia’s Reflective Organs”.Summary of Action Research Design for AQtivating Soul Power in the City

The backbone of our research design is based on the core questions of Action Research: What, So What, and Now What.

What: Cities are in crisis: they are fragmented, at war, polluted, disconnected, overgrown, destructive, disrespectful (Dubashia). The world’s intergovernmental panels of scientists have produced two definitive reports that summarize the details of these crises:

IPCC reports on Climate ChangeIPBES – reports on Biodiversity and Environment Systems

So What: Cities are damaging persons, people, places and the planet. The impact of cities can be measured by their destruction of the ecoregions that supply all city resources; by their ecocide of Gaia the planet that has given, gives, and will give life. If we don’t wake up, grow up, show up, clean up, lift up, link up that we are killing the very life regenerators we depend on from microbes to planet – we will all die together.

The intergovernmental panels of scientists have set goals for us to achieve to address the climate and the biodiversity and environmental challenges.

IPCC – addressing Climate Change identified 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).

IPBES – addressing Biodiversity and Environment Systems identified 5 sets of Inner Development Goals (IDGs).

Now What: What can we do to heal the brokenness in cities?

Working with the Contexting Influencers (see above) we have identified the key steps below. And working with our Action Researchers we identify specific steps that can be taken in specific locations.

Live with Gaia’s Code of Care (Hamilton)Implement SDG’s, IDG’s, EcoDG’s (A. Laszlo),Shake up our Paradigms: Wake Up, Grow Up, Show Up, Clean Up, Lift Up, Link Up, Whole Up (Wilber, Currivan)Open to CDG’s (embrace Cosmic View of Reality and define Cosmic Development Goals – Currivan)Exploring Details of Action Research

Now that we understand the design of the Action Research workshop, let us consider in more detail the perspectives that Integral City frameworks reveal about the metacrises arising from the disconnections in our cities.

 WHAT: Let us consider why cities are in crisis. What is broken?

We ask the Workshop Co-Researchers: Where and what do you see happening in your environment (city, community)? What is Broken? Can you cite examples of the following disconnections?

Cities as complex adaptive living systems have stopped using 5 sets of intelligences for surviving, adapting to our environments and regenerating. We disregard the damage to individual citizens, organizations, and cities. The bombing of Gaza or Mariupol to reduce them to rubble destroyed civilian residences, hospitals, schools and the very basics of a civilized life and the bioregion in which the cities reside.Biomimicry lessons reveal our cities as human hives are being ignored – powerful resilient collectives, like the beehive is for bees. The military assaults on human habitats in the wars, or the industrial assaults on soil health, rainforests, fishing grounds and mining sites require the contribution of human life to extract all that wealth, and disregard its value through mass murder of species from bees to birds to mycelia – not to mention shootings of individuals, targeting women and children in refugee convoys.Acting blind to the 4 realities that inspire our lives denies our wholeness and interconnection to all life. When we separate our intentions, cultures, behaviours and systems and create anti-life conditions that: propagate intentional misinformation, cultural propaganda that engenders hate of humans, animals and life itself; inhuman actions like rape and torture; and systemic use of weapons to annihilate nature’s abundant ecosystems, disable infrastructure and incapacitates transportation routes that connect them e.g. roads, bridges, airports. – we destroy the life-foundations that we take for granted.Ignoring 4 ways of knowing fragments our unity as multiple perspectives are disconnected from one another: subjective, intersubjective, objective, interobjective. It would appear that invading forces act under autocratic control that denies individual conscience/consciousness, cultural history (e.g. of intertwined Russian/Ukrainian Palestinian/Israeli stories), ethnic bonds (e.g. intermarried families), combined infrastructures (e.g. of pipelines, sea lanes, agricultural supply chains) and ecosystemic inter-dependencies.Not listening to our 4 Voices prevents us from acting with a Unitive Narrative that creates conditions for Peace – thus we prevent the operation of our human hives (essentially disconnecting the 4 roles in the beehive: Citizens/Producers, Business-Innovators/Diversity Generators, Resource Allocators/Civic Managers, Inner Judges/3rd Sector). The 4 Voices of the Russians/ Israelis were strategically misinformed via news and propaganda thus disabling their intercommunication capacities. The 4 Voices of the Ukrainians/Gazans were damaged by the millions of citizens who exited the country as refugees, leaving behind further millions more people displaced within home countries (like Ukraine, Economist May 2022). The majority of City Voices were diverted from their usual peace-time occupations into military roles in defence of their countries. Thus, in all countries at war the 4 Voices are serving the Purpose of War rather than the Purpose of Unity (Peace).Regressing species development from possibilities of cooperation and collaboration into mere competition or authoritarianism blocks the emergence of Unity/Peace. War conditions ironically demonstrate the more complex stages of cooperation and collaboration amongst the countries (Ukrainians) who fight for the value of freedom and democracy. Meanwhile the combatant nations (Russia/Israel)  are rewarded only for service to the attacking of neighbours, wasting Russian/Israeli resources for generations. In further irony the Russian oligarchs (and Israeli military machine) become targeted by the EU and Western democracies to reduce their influence and recover their resources for the rest of the world supporting other nations, through diverting their own resources for the delivery of weapons, munitions and training,Preventing city growth through steps and stages because the war machine is just attacking or defending at the same time as it severs flows to support the development of capacities for Unity/Peace. While the wars and destruction of nature, production of emissions, continue no growth is possible. In fact, the wars have impacted the evolutionary trajectory and set it back into less complex stages of complexity possibly for generations to come. Not to mention having increased the carbon emissions and pollution.Forgetting Gaia’s Master Code of Care shrinks our circles of compassion. Some Russians/Israelis in the diaspora in the rest of the world have been able to demonstrate compassion for those involved in the conflict, including Ukrainians/Palestinians. The Ukrainians/Palestinians have been reduced to care for self and their immediate families and countrymen and women – while desperately trying to live as their human habitats (cities, towns, villages) have been reduced to rubble. The Gaian/Master Code of Care has been seriously thwarted, even while the Rest of the World assimilates the pain and trauma from the impact of refugee migrations.Weaponizing Human Security mechanizes human disconnections creating fragmentation of human relationships and deserts in Nature’s ecosystems. Denying this most fundamental assumption of daily life – that safety and security is fundamental to all human endeavours, and respect and love of Nature fundamental to support of life conditions that support human life – has shocked both human and non-human systems alike.Traumatizing the 4 Voices of Community prevents the emergence of a 3rd Side able to engage any issue and blocks the healing of trauma, pain, injustice, conflict, pollution, degradation. The impact of the Russian-Ukrainian and Israeli-Palestinian wars will last generations, as they derive from unhealed traumas from previous wars and conflicts. The great wounds of distrust and disrespect have damaged both victims and aggressors. Rescuers, Rebels, Witnesses of human and non-human life cannot be effective while the conflicts continue.So What: Integral City graphic description of metacrisis through lens of metacrisis.

When we look at the metacrisis in cities we can gain insight from our Map 5. We can see from our discussions with Nish Dubashia and the Diamond Model how we are no longer aligned with our Soul.

We are disconnected from Beauty, disrespectful of Goodness, displaced from Truth and out of unity with our Whole as Gaia’s Reflective Organ.

We ask our Co-Researchers: Where and what do you see resulting from these fragmentation paths? Where can you point to the fragmentation from Beauty,  Truth, Goodness, and our Role as Gaia’s Reflective Organ?

Now What:  How can Soul Power recover Unity and Peace?

McGilchrist says humans are disconnected from our Soul.  In order heal our metacrisis we need to reconnect to our Soul – through Beauty , Goodness, Truth, and as Gaia’s Reflective Organ System (Lovelock, Hamilton)

We ask our Co-Researchers: How Might We Heal?

Where and what do you see as possible healing journeys? How would you heal brokenness through reconnecting with Beauty,  Truth, Goodness and as Gaia’s Reflective Organs?

How would you design Action Research to study the impact of your choice(s)?

Here are some suggestions using the Integral City frameworks.

Designing a healing process for cities will call us to address all that is broken in the cities and nations. We can use the same 10 capacities as we identified in What is Broken? – but in a different sequence. We suggest a sequence below – (with the sequence from the What is Broken? In parentheses.)

(8)Practise Gaia’s Master Code of Care (MCC) (Goodness) to expand our circles of compassion. (Hamilton)

A fundamental place to start is with the MCC because it provides an ethic for Unity, a theory of change and a practice to calm the inflamed and damaged systems. It starts with Caring for Self and that makes possible caring for others and then caring for place and planet.

2. (9) NurtureHuman Security as Ecology for Peace. (Truth) (Hamilton, Buhaug O’Brien et al)

Recognizing that safety and security is a human right that is fundamental to every stage of development and manifestation of human habitats will depend on the MCC – we must be held by trusted others who have not been party to the conflict (on either side). Safety and security must start small with individuals and families and embrace the city block by block. This can be tied into the next step of creating a Peace and Conflict Restoration process (e.g., Truth and Reconciliation commission). (See O’Brien on Paradigm Shakes – small steps.)

(10)Manage Peace and Conflict with the 4 Voices as Community (Goodness, Truth), acting as a 3rd Side able to engage any issue and heal trauma, pain, injustice, conflict, pollution, degradation. (Ury, Huebl)

In this stage, the 4 Voices of Community (Citizens, Civic Managers, Business/Innovators, 3rd Sector) must be found and strengthened so that they can have the courage to engage issues, damages, and injuries in any of the 4 areas of reality (bio, psycho, cultural, social systems). They will likely need strong representatives from other cities who can come in and incubate (citizen) assemblies for Recovery (and reconciliation).

(1) Recognize cities as complex adaptive living systems with5 sets of intelligences for surviving, adapting to our environments and regenerating. (Beauty) (Hamilton, Capra)

Cities must be honoured as living systems who have intelligences at all scales from individual to collective to organizations, neighbourhoods, communities and are embedded in bioregions (Map 2). They need to use the contexting and strategic intelligences guided by the evolution impulse of Gaia’s Master Code of Care.

(2) Learn Biomimicry lessons that reveal our cities are human hives– powerful resilient collectives, like the beehive is for bees (BTG). (Hamilton, Bloom, Benyus) located in sensitive, interconnected bioregions.

When we look at regenerating cities as human hives, we will consider not only the rehabilitation of bricks and mortar, but the lives of individuals, relationships and purposes and values embedded at every scale of the city and look at how we must regenerate Nature – because as we do so, she will regenerate humans. Looking at how Nature can recover from natural disasters can give us inspiration and impetus to learn how best to be effective in our recovery efforts (e.g. After volcanos like Mt. St. Helen’s, or tsunamis (like 2004 in Indonesia, or fires in Los Angeles 2024, or floods in Germany 2024).

(3) Co-exist with 4 realitiesthat inspire our lives through: intentions, cultures, behaviours, systems (BTG). (Wilber, Hamilton)

We can use these 4 realities to look for early wins to build capacities for recovery (O’Brien, 2025, Paradigm Shakes). This will include individual cities and the people and organizations from the rest of the world – always keeping in mind to embrace the 4 realities as co-arising, co-existing dimensions enables us to be most impactful (and should be based on the Needs strata of (Maslow, Manfred Max-Neef).

(4)Empower 4 ways of knowing through multiple perspectives (Truth): subjective, intersubjective, objective, interobjective. (Wilber)

We can empower people’s recovery by using 4 approaches/ epistemologies/strategic designs that embrace all our senses, intelligences, response-abilities in the 4 Quadrants. We bring in specialists for each of the 4 Quadrants and work as recovery teams – co-operating and co-laborating with locals, non-humans and Nature.

(5)Serve the Purpose of Unity with the 4 Voices in our human hives (like the 4 roles in the beehive (BTG): Citizens/Producers, Business-Innovators/Diversity Generators, Resource Allocators/Civic Managers, Inner Judges/3rd Sector). (Hamilton)

We make room for the activities of all 4 Voices to serve Peace as we rebuild capacities. We keep Peace as an integrating/uniting Purpose in service to Planet/Place/People/Person.

(6)Mature species development beyond the stage of competition into the stages of cooperation and collaboration (Goodness)– in other words Unity and Peace. (Sahtouris).

We help the city systems discover what resources they can contribute, how their needs are being met – and create the life conditions for recovery to emerge. We need to meet people where they are at and help them regrow full, healthy capacities for living (surviving, connecting with the environment and regenerating). Wake Up, Grow Up, Show Up, Clean Up, Lift Up, Link Up.

(7)(Re-)Grow our Cities through steps and stages that scale the Capacity for Integration, Unity and Peace (BTG). (Eddy, Hamilton)

We are mindful of Gaia’s stratified elements/capacities and design Unitive Journeys to respect and recover how life depends on life in an ecosystem of Peaceful coexistence. We help the city design its own steps and stages and link individual cities to others in their bioregion so they can help each other.

Summary of Integral Soul Practices:

We summarize the key Soul Practices as follows:

Gaia’s Code of Care / Care-ma YogaExperiment in Eco-Villages (rural, urban, mixed)Wake Up, Grow Up, Show Up, Clean Up, Lift Up, Link Up.Self-Organize – keep flying, as close as possible to next being/bird, always tend towards the centre (city murmuration)Islands of CalmIslands of Coherence

When we look for a living example we might learn from Park Ecovillage Findhorn who responds to the metacrisis through its own metaphorsis expressed as follows:

More than an ecovillage

We are a thriving, regenerative, spiritual community

Hospitable to the Soul for Planet, Place, People, Person.

Do We Want To Be a NORC?

Occasionally I share insights into what it is like to live in Park Ecovillage Findhorn (PEF) in Scotland.

This short article originally published in the community’s weekly magazine, Rainbow Bridge, inquires about the kind of legacy PEF is creating as we consider our future through decision making, voting and relating to one another. How do we imagine life unfolding for the next generations?

This is part of the series I call Householder Dharmatalk.

What is a NORC anyway?

A Naturally Occurring Retirement Community. Some places and people fear becoming a NORC. But maybe it has advantages? Does it impact how we decide things (tried and true ways)? Does it influence who we vote for (trusted and respected candidates)? Does it create the life conditions where people with maturity and skills can resolve conflicts or difficult situations (trauma informed, non-violent communications)?

But maybe a NORC has disadvantages? How might it close doors to younger people still working? How might it stop families and children from feeling welcome? How does it prevent those who are diverse, younger, or differently skilled from being and feeling included in decision making?

Is it possible that NORCs don’t even know what they don’t know? What types of stories and storytelling are natural to young people but not to elders? What kinds of entertainment, music or art are neither shy nor retiring and are prohibited in NORCs? When, where and how do younger generations contribute time, money and effort to creating community they love? How can we fire together if we don’t even know how we might not be wired together?

I am just curious where PEF falls on the spectrum of NORCdom? Are we already a NORC? Do we prefer to become a NORC? Do we fear impending NORCdom? Are we looking for antidotes to NORCdom?

Maybe we could talk about it at a conversation cafe? To NORC or not to NORC? – that could be the question?

Sing the Song of Democracy – Stephen Dinan Breaks Deafening Silence

As 2025 has unfolded the terrible assault on democracy that the world is witnessing in the United States, I have been troubled by the “deafening silence” of the usually powerful American voice.

Finally Stephen Dinan speaks truths I have been hoping to be named – but he also tells the world how we can help Americans make a stand for the wellbeing of demoncracy in the USA as well as the rest of the world.

The article below is republished with permission from Stephen. Many thanks.

Stephen Starts his article by sharing:

“I’ve had a number of international subscribers ask more about what they can do. I thought a letter on my reflections that can be passed around could be useful.”

Dear Citizens of the World,

As you know, American democracy is in real danger.

We have already seen the betrayal of Ukraine, the menacing of our closest neighbors, the chilling of dissent, threats against lawyers and judges, lawsuits against media, the purging of the FBI and Department of Justice, the removal of independent military leaders, the dismantlement of wings of our government, attacks on universities, overt acts of corruption, and a rise in brutality and illegality. All are signs of rapid democratic decay and the potential rise of an American dictatorship. More and more people are sounding the alarm that we are in a constitutional crisis.

Clearly the recent economic turmoil around tariffs is another symptom of the same mindset that prioritizes aggression over collaboration, domination over partnership.

How far we go down this path is the question. That we are on the path to an American version of authoritarianism is no longer a real question among people who are not caught in partisan spin.

I am saddened that we have reached this point. I am sorry that the collective efforts of Americans who saw the risks of a second Trump presidency failed to prevent it. We not only let ourselves down but we let you down. For you have counted on a relatively healthy American democracy and the economic stability that provided to our world. Our failure to prevent what is unfolding will likely cause you harm as well as the Trump tariff wars have already demonstrated.

As an American who dearly loves this country, I am deeply saddened by what our government is doing, much of which is appallingly cruel. Please do remember that most Americans are good, that part of what is happening is a result of collective mind manipulation, and that there are tens of millions here who fully understand what is happening and are working to stop it.

With that said, I do want to ask for your help. It is clear is that the people who are holding the levers of power in our country are not responsive to reason. They are opposed to empathy. They respond only to power. You can think of their mentality as a form of sociopathy writ large. A sociopath is determined to maximize self-interest, engaging whatever deceptions, misdeeds, and even crimes are required to get what they want. Our government is now run with that mindset.

That is why you are hearing that Trump intends to seize Greenland, take the Panama Canal, colonize Gaza or annex Canada. When sociopaths see something they want, they try to take it, without regard to morality, empathy, or the needs of the other. They have to be stopped with power, not appeals to reason.

Much of our country is only just beginning to feel the pain of what is coming and remains in denial. It’s likely going to take more dramatic economic shocks, which are already roiling the markets, for the mobilization of our citizenry that will be required to stop what is underway.

The question then is, what can you do to help?

First, you will need to sing the song of democracy for us as we grapple with this force of authoritarianism.

Click here to read Stephen’s whole call to action.