Marilyn Hamilton's Blog, page 9

Artificial Intelligence or Amplified Intelligences in the Integral City?

Several days ago George Por appeared in my email. George is an expert in many things but he has long impressed me as a world expert on collective consciousness and a true shaman of human development (and an original action researcher into Integral City 2.0). George asked, “Did you give some thought to how artificial intelligence could enhance the intelligences of the integral city? I’m curious about your take on it.”I have been curious for a while , so thanks to George here is a blog with a few of my thoughts on how AI could enhance the intelligences of the Integral City.Artificial or Natural?

First off I reflect on the implication of “artificial” in the usual sense of AI. I wonder why these intelligences are considered artificial? I would consider intelligence to be evolutionary however it manifests.

It seems to me that when we use “artificial” as a descriptor of intelligence we are viewing it outside ourselves – taking an objective stance. Which from an integral perspective would be true but only partial (Wilber).

Surely the qualities of the intelligence we see emerging are tetra+-arising with impacts in all the AQAL quadrants regardless of how you parse them – integral mindsets: subjective, intersubjective, objective, interobjective;  or Gaia’s reflective organs: person, people, place, planet; or City Voices: Citizen, Civil Society/3rd Sector, Civic Managers, Business/Innovators.

These intelligence capacities may be manifesting the qualities of the Kosmic Mind – and call us to not only consider the trajectory of capacity development from ego to ethno to regional to planet, but to consider the quantum leap from Patrick Geddes’ Think Local/Act Global to Currivan’s proposition Think Cosmic, Feel Global, Act Local – a more wholistic evolutionary reframing.

From the very beginning of my inquiry into learning and leadership in self-organizing online communities (where I first met Georg Por), it was obvious to me that recursive, iterative, reflection would amplify the emerging intelligence. Isn’t this what a living system does? It resonates with self and other. It coheres with self and other. And it emerges capacities for self and other. This is how it survives, adapts and regenerates.

As the VUCA world has demanded that we gain capacities that enable cities (and all their sub-wholes of individuals, families, neighbourhoods, workplaces, communities (Map 2)) as complex adaptive living systems to expand their intelligences, it is natural – not artificial – that the GPS of city intelligences evolutionarily matures.

This seems fundamental to what Clare Graves proposed as a Never Ending Quest. Perhaps most people have considered that quest would be a simple (or merely complicated) linear unfolding, because when we look back at evolution it looks like we move in a fairly straightforward way from one level of complexity to another – until the quantum leap into Tier 2.

But anyone who studies complexity seriously, knows there are non-linear bifurcations and jumps in the capacity of evolving systems that are exponential in effect. So when we seek to connect the system to more of itself, “simply” to enable greater wellbeing, a natural effect is bound to be an exponential emergence of capacity aka intelligence.

So I think that this path of “artificial” outcomes is actually quite natural. Nevertheless, it is categorically on a different level of complexity and therefore merits a new descriptor. I might suggest Amplified intelligence? Quantum intelligence?

Whatever name we give it, this intelligence is ALIVE and it calls us to be more of who we have been in an AQAL way. Clare Graves would point to our life conditions and the dissonance they are causing in our lives – necessitating learning on a scale and at a speed that has never been necessary or possible before.

I am grateful to Evolutionary Leader Deepak Chopra for publishing this article on Artificial Intelligence that enumerates in considerable detail recent manifestations of intelligence (related to healing and wellbeing) at a new order of magnitude. The examples he points to include:

AI Imitates ScienceMicrobiomeCRSPR Gene EditingMessenger RNAPsychedelicsEpigeneticsNeuroplasticityVagal ActivationCreative Intelligence

Let me use Chopra’s exploration to examine the 12 Intelligences that I first wrote about for cities in Book 1: Integral City, Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive (described on the website here ) . They are embedded in the Integral City Global Positioning System (GPS) – clustered into 5 Sets of intelligences that are pictured as bezels on the GPS Finder: Contexting, Strategic, Individual, Collective, Evolutionary.   

Figure 1: Integral City GPS

How Are 12 Integral City Intelligences Amplified?

Let us consider how these 12 Intelligences are impacted by the technologies that Chopra points to. Then we might have a chance to consider the implications for Cities of amplified intelligence. (See Table 1).

Chopra AI>

IC Intell  \/

1.AI imitates science2.Microbiome3.CRSPR Gene Edit4.Messenger RNA5.Psychedelics6.Epigenetics7.Neuro-plasticity8.Vagal Activation

9.Creative Intel

ContextingEcoxxxEmergxxxxxxIntegralxxxLivingxxxxxStrategicInquiryxxxxxMeshworkingxxxNavigatingxxxxxIndividualInnerxxxOuterxxxxxxxCollective

Cultural

xx

x

StructurexxxxxxxEvolutionaryxxxxxxxxx

Table 1: Integral City Intelligences & Chopra Artificial Intelligences

(Note for detailed descriptions of the Integral City intelligences connect to the website here (https://integralcity.com/voices-intelligences/).)

Integral City: 12 Amplified Intelligences

When we look at the city’s Intelligences and consider how AI as explored by Chopra (Medium x) let us consider how just 2 to 3 impacts (indicated by Cn for Chopra n in the table above)  will recalibrate the intelligence certainly to a digital capacity (If not a quantum capacity).

Contexting (Bezel 5)

Contexting Intelligences include Ecosphere, Emergent, Integral, Living.

Ecosphere

Ecosphere intelligence is an awareness and capacity to respond to the realities of a city’s climate and eco-region environment. More… We can amplify Ecosphere intelligence when AI looks like it is imitating sentience (C1) . This might get translated into digital and quantum dashboards that enable all City Voices to know what is happening everywhere all at once. Likewise the impact of the microbiome (c2) in individual awakening can be translated through the collectives to influence the type of food and health resourcing that will flow through the city’s intelligent distribution system. In a supportive way, becoming aware through mapping of the effect of epigenetics (C6) in individuals and collectives can help a city to heal from traumatic impacts and create life conditions that enable all life to thrive.

Emergent

Emergent intelligence looks at the city as a whole, through the lenses of, aliveness, survival, adaptiveness, regeneration, sustainability and emergence. More… Using the supercomputing power of AI to use CRISPR gene (C3) editing means that a city can create life conditions for improving the immunity of individuals and the collective. This could translate across the many cultures in our large cities to enable all human life to have improved (if not equal) access to optimal gene performance.  In a similar fashion the success of mRNA Vaccines (C4) could lead to an era where diseases are both prevented and cured with the benefit of supercomputing health systems accessible by all. And the amazing power of neuroplasticity (C7) can not only repair the damage on brain cells of individuals, but reframe the city’s capacity to see itself as having high flexibility and responsiveness to its overall intelligence (aka hive mind?).

Integral

Integral intelligence uses four essential maps of city life to see the whole city. More…The power and attractiveness of psychedelics (c5) to reveal and restore the wholistic fractal nature of humans as individuals, collectives, cities and a whole planet opens up the viability of living Gaia’s Code of Care – embracing care for self, others and cities/places – because we gain deep experience of beings evolved by Gaia to be her reflective organs (Lovelock). This in turn is supported by the deep insights of neuroplasticity (C7) to enable the tetra-arising of all AQAL capacities in the Integral City.

Living

Living intelligence relates to the aliveness of each citizen through each of its lifecycle stages and the aliveness of the city through its lifecycle stages. More…With our cities now containing 7 generations – every decision we make impacts an ancestry and a succession of interrelationships. As explored above every version of Chopra’s AI from C1 to C7 will amplify the intelligences of the Integral City. Looking at C7 Vagal Activation we can see that this Living Intelligence will be enhanced by patterns that flow through individual nervous systems so that we influence the energetic fields of all our collectives and the city as a whole. Both the design of the city (through Structural Intelligence – see below) and behaviours that we share at all interactions/interrelationships/interbeingness of the city will open up doors to calm stressed states and enable Peace as an Intelligence that is an outcome of optimizing all the intelligences. Likewise Creativity (C9) will be naturally nourished and amplified by the enactment of the AI’s through yogic practices and creative expressions.

Strategic (Bezel 4)

Strategic Intelligences include Inquiry, Meshworking, Navigating.

Inquiry

Inquiry intelligence asks key questions that reveal the meta-wisdom of the city. More…Strategic Intelligences are headlined by the Inquiry Intelligence because a city that inquires about its state of being/becoming through asking good questions from all Integral Quadrants (see IC Book 2) positions itself to use science (C1), reveal more of the whole through natural psychedelics (C5) and repair and respond to life conditions through applying the principles of neuroplasticity (C7) to the whole city. This will enable wellbeing and resilience.

Meshworking

Meshworking intelligence attracts the best of two operating systems- one that self-organizes, and the other that replicates hierarchal structures – to align systems that flex and flow. More…As Meshworking arises from the brain sciences, perhaps this is the most natural IC Intelligence to reflect the value of AI?( C1), Imitating science will transmute into science that explains structures plus (C9) Creativity that enables self-organizing – and Meshworking will become a pervasive, natural dance that amplifies city capacity to serve Gaia as her Reflective Organ(s) and together an Organ System that is naturally and continuously amplifying itself.

Navigating

Navigating intelligence monitors and discloses the wellbeing or general condition of the city. More…This intelligence is naturally aligned to the Emergent Intelligence (discussed above) aligning (C1, C3, C4, C5, C7) for intelligences that flex and flow because of their interconnectivity and inter-impact on one another. This will enable quantum navigation that is as intuitively creative as it is patterned and systematized.

Individual (Bezel 3)

Individual Intelligences include Inner, Outer.

Inner

Inner intelligence is ‘I’ space of the citizen – the seat of intentional consciousness, attention, interior experience and lines of development. More…Inner Intelligence can be impacted by all the Outer AI but will particularly reflect the effect of neuroplastic flexibility, Vagal calming and Creative insights. (C7, C8, C9) The application of AI to individuals is resulting in a Renaissance of quantum intelligence that differentiates those who engage/are exposed to AI from those who are separated from it. But demonstrating its rapid uptake where conditions allow it, means AI can provide the bridge to accelerate the reduction of individual differences (instead of the alternative which focuses on the widening gap.) Such application of equal justice will become a practise in Integral Cities and will differentiate their performance – and also model the possibilities.

Outer

Outer intelligence is the biological ‘it’ space of the citizen- the space where the body acts and behaves. More…Much of the AI noted by Chopra applies directly to the human body. (C1,2,3,4,6,7,8). If all of the recalibration that these AI’s permitted were enabled and invested in, the health and wellbeing of the human species would take a quantum leap through healing, repair, recovery and recalibration. These behaviours would underlie a new era of Peace and Unity in cities because so much of the cause of stress can be addressed by these AI practices.

Collective (Bezel 2)

Collective Intelligences include Cultural, Social.

Cultural

Cultural intelligence represents the ‘we’ life of the city-the relationships in the city which transcend boundaries that both contain and separate. More…Collective intelligences of the inner lives of people, reflect the cumulative practices of the inner lives of individuals. Where these groups become cohesive (developing affiliations with former tribes, work places, nomadic links, work places) then the spread of AI to individuals will be accelerated while the resonance, coherence and emergence amongst affiliated groups will co-arise. (C5, 7, 9) offer great possibilities through deep dives through psychedelics, demystifying neuroplasticity and investment in creativity that is shared city-wide. The application of the Chopra AI’s within a city can mature an Integral City into Tier 2 capacities that model for whole eco-regions the improvement of life conditions across the city – and not just reserved for elites or ethnic enclaves.

Social

Social intelligence is the ‘its’ space of the city that gives us the capacity, to structure and systemize our environment. More…Like the Outer Intelligence of Individuals the Structural Intelligences is perhaps optimally positioned to benefit from the AI accelerations from (C1,2,3,4,6,7,9) – partly because we tend in cities to focus on the structural Lower Right quadrants of systems and structures. But AI shows us how these need to be designed and implemented with the deep intelligence that AI can offer so that we can actually test out our new patterns and structures to see how they optimize all the other intelligences in the city. The Structural Intelligence supported by Chopra’s AI’s can create the vessel that optimizes the conditions for Humaning Well in the City not because it dominates all other AI’s or Intelligences – but because it is responsive to them and co-creates the conditions for optimal Aliveness for all life in the Integral City.

Evolutionary: Bezel 1

Evolutionary Intelligence is the core evolutionary impulse empowering all intelligences.

Evolutionary intelligence is the capacity to transcend and include the intelligences, we currently demonstrate, in order to allow new intelligences to emerge. More…This cardinal intelligence is the one that embraces all the AI’s (C1-9) precisely because it represents both the Evolutionary Impulse that lies underneath every other Integral City Intelligence and every manner of manifesting Amplified Intelligence. It is both summative and transcendent; complex and emergent; nascent and future oriented. Effectively it represents the Cosmic conditions that enable the arising of intelligence in the first place and the expansion of intelligence as the Universe unfolds for every living system.

Conclusion

By examining the Integral City Intelligences in syntony with the Chopra Artificial Intelligence Set we create a scaffold for applauding, nourishing and encouraging the amplification of all Intelligences. We also open an inquiry into how Integral City Intelligences will be amplified by many other expansive living intelligences that are arriving from the discoveries of the Intergalactic Telescopes, Hadron Collider and Deep Evolutionary Cosmologies (like Jude Currivan’s The Story of Gaia).

As we use the GPS tool/metaphor in this expanded way, we are essentially recalibrating it from an analogue through a digital to a quantum GPS.

And this gives us Power way beyond domination of self/other/places/planet or even expressed as co-creating with self/other/places/planet. It gives us Power to co-exist AS self/other/places/planet. We learn deeply we are part of Nature. And  Life asks us to continue to Evolve and Amplify so that Aliveness is a benefit for all Life, seen and unseen.

References

Chopra https://deepakchopra.medium.com/nine-ways-that-ai-is-going-to-triumph-daae8d62c5f

Graves, Clare

Integral City: https://integralcity.com/voices-intel...

Hamilton Book 1

Hamilton Book 2

Hamilton M, Sanders B (2013a) Integral City 2.0 – Online Conference 2012. In: M. Hamilton (ed.), Proceedings: A Radically Optimistic Inquiry Into Operating System 2.0 http://www.scribd.com/doc/120713339/Integral-City-2-0-Online-Conference-2012-A-Radically-Optimistic-Inquiry-into-Operating-System-2-0. Accessed Sept. 5, 2023

Hamilton M. et al (2013b) Integral City 2.0 – Online Conference 2012. In: M. Hamilton (ed.), Appendices: A Radically Optimistic Inquiry Into Operating System 2.0—36 Interviews http://www.scribd.com/doc/123005653/Integral-City-2-0-Online-Conference-2012-Appendices-A-Radically-Optimistic-Inquiry-into-Operating-System-2-0-36-Interviews. Accessed Sept.5, 2023

Por, George https://technoshaman.medium.com/from-eies-to-ais-in-the-city-f392b0213905

Wilber, Ken

Cool Blocks & Carbon Neutral Ecovillage Findhorn

Welcome to our Infographic on Cool Blocks* as it has unfolded in Ecovillage Findhorn, Scotland. We followed simple steps in 8 Topics that helped us translate our Carbon Neutral 2030 plan into positive actions to improve our resilience as they improve our quality of life. (Cool Blocks* is an initiative of Empowerment Institute coolblock.org)Topic 1: Cool Blocks for Park Ecovillage Findhorn WHERE Do we Start?

We build on the positive change started with the Household Emergency Resilience Plan published by Moray Council and distributed by the Park Emergency Resilience Group, a subgroup of the Findhorn Kinloss Community Council.

Look at your copy and you will see that most of the steps look like the Cool Blocks Topic 1, Priority Actions for the Energy-Resilient Home (see below). This list is common sense for emergency preparations for: Food, Water, Communications, Lighting, Cooking, Composting, Heating, Toilets, Children, Clothing, Safety and Electricity. It also helps us plan for the future in our Caring Community Circle.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

When we prepare for emergencies, we become aware of the basic needs we have for daily life. This helps us learn about how we depend on the infrastructure that supports us for eating, heating, moving, caring, recycling and working. In our CN2030 Survey we asked you questions about all of these activities. Emergency planning helps us measure a minimum requirement for each activity. This gives us practical hands-on experience in what we depend on for living as individuals, families and organizations in community and how we can meet our commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Topic 2: Resilience With Cool Blocks WHERE Do We Go Next?

Go back to your Household Emergency Resilience Planning booklet and you will see that more steps embrace the Cool Blocks Topic 2, Priority Actions for the Disaster Resilient Household. This list guides us to think through being ready for natural disasters, including:  Preparing a Go Bag, First Aid, Communications, Preparing for Fire and Wildfires, Medical and Special Needs, Animal Protection and even Cyber Attacks.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

When we prepare for natural disasters, we become aware of how complex the world is and how we depend on others for the systems and structures that enable the quality of our  daily living. Thinking through what can happen if fire, flood, windstorm, polar vortex, or sea rise might impact our lives as isolated or clustered incidents, helps us prepare not only for our own survival, but learn how we can better survive any natural disasters when we work together. We can learn about the variety of life conditions we might face in planning to achieve Carbon Neutrality and prepare for the worst case scenarios (and not just hope for the best). Expanding our capacity to take responsibility for our individual needs,  grows capacity to respond to the needs of our families, friends and organizations in community whether we face natural disasters or prepare to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Topic 3: Calculate Carbon Footprint to Refine Life Style Practices WHERE Human Behaviour Counts

Moving on from Cool Blocks Topics 1 &2  (Household Emergency Resilience Plans), this week we calculate our Carbon Footprint. PET has the link to CALCULATE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT HERE: https://parkecovillagetrust.co.uk/carbon-strategy/carbon-calculator/. PET’s Carbon Footprint Survey Reports on our track record for: Eating, Heating, Recycling and Moving by:  Recycling Household and Food Waste;  Eating Vegan, Vegetarian or less meat; Reducing Hot Water for Showers, Dishes, Clothes; Turning Thermostats to 19C and Turning Off Appliances; Car Sharing and/or Driving Hybrid/E-Vehicles; and Flying Less. 

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Personal behaviours reflect life style choices. Our PET survey said 78% of respondents care about climate. IPCC/UN estimate that human behaviour contributes to 27% of effective strategies impacting climate change. As an individual we can pay to offset our carbon footprint – but more importantly, as an ecovillage we can model our choices for a simpler, sustainable life style that co-creates with the intelligences of Nature. Proactively tracking our choices helps us learn by measuring emissions from Eating, Heating, Recycling and Moving. This data gives us feedback to track and reduce emissions while improving our lifestyles through informed choices, working together in households, blocks and the whole community. The image of East Whins symbolized this for the cover of the IPCC 2022 Report – so our choices do have impact in the wider world!!

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Calculating your Carbon Footprint: https://parkecovillagetrust.co.uk/carbon-strategy/carbon-calculator/ ). Once we know our Carbon Footprint, we can make choices everywhere we live, work and visit. At the Park Ecovillage Findhorn, when we switch from LPG to Air/Ground Source Heat Pump and/or Solar/PV panels, we notice how quickly our electric bills drop as we use “free energy” from the sun and wind. This improves when we seal air leaks around windows and doors. Driving my EV car uses the wind (as the wind turbines supply the power). Growing my own food or purchasing from local growers strengthens the local circular economy. Turning down the thermostat, tuning up the furnace, heating water efficiently, using appliances when the sun shines/wind blows and air drying clothes all reduce electricity bills.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Individual lifestyle choices impact our collective ecovillage commitment to become Carbon Neutral by 2030. Every day in every way we walk along the path of renewable energy choices, we create the conditions for improving neighbourhood action. We gain new feedback from the data in our monthly bills that remind us adding an extra sweater or wearing a hat are easy choices that save money and the environment. Our ecovillage citizen scientists, Just Transitions researchers and energy technology experts have invested time, resources and expertise to work together on strategies that neutralize carbon emissions by planting, gardening, composting, bio charring, recycling and renewably heating.

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Become aware of how precious water is – just read the news and see how blessed we are in Findhorn Peninsula to have our aquifer. Though we may complain about the rain – when we see the parts of the world that are parched, we realize this natural resource is vital to people, animals, gardens, Nature. Start to track how much water you use – by using  a container to dispense drinking water and count how often you refill it during the day. Install water savers in the shower and/or try the 3 minute shower – turning the water off when you are soaping hair or body. You can preserve water by reducing toilet flushes (if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down). Mulch your garden beds to retain moisture. Only water gardens late in day – and if possible use your rain barrel. In many parts of Ecovillage Findhorn we are using grey water for lawns and landscapes. And as we build dwellings we are installing more porous surfaces for roads, returning water to the ground.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Use of water flows through all the strategies for our ecovillage CN2030 commitment. How we eat as vegans, vegetarians or reduced meat consumers demands water to support our choices. Whether we heat water for hygiene, clothes washing or radiators, the effective use of energy for the comfort of our home depends on water. Even selecting room temperature or refrigerating water costs (renewable) energy. We don’t meter water usage on Findhorn peninsula, but you can act as a voluntary steward of water.

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Ecovillage Findhorn has a vision of itself as a green healthy and safe place to live. This showed up in the Call for Ideas sent to Moray Council (https://findhorn.cc/call-for-ideas-july-2023/). Becoming Carbon Neutral starts with knowing yourself, your neighbours, your address and the special cultural, social and geographic features of our ecovillage. Connecting with our near neighbours not only improves emergency responsiveness (see Topics 1 and 2) but is daily practice that keeps us aware of how to support vulnerable friends and neighbours. When we slow down to the speed limit in the Park (10 mph) we not only make it safer for pedestrians and children, we save fuel. “Eyes on the street” give us a collective sense of all “being well” or when something or someone endangers persons or property. (Special thanks for the new speed bumps on the Pineridge/Field of Dreams connector – they remind us to drive mindfully.) When our blocks are green(er) because of volunteers acting as the Park Gardeners, we are rebalancing carbon by recycling compost and nurturing our “bright green” uncommon commons.

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Living a healthy, safe and green lifestyle establishes, stabilizes, strengthens and supports the conditions for Carbon Neutral living. In Ecovillage Findhorn this amplifies the core principle of “Co-creating with the Intelligences of Nature”. This spiritual practice stewards interconnections with all life – seen and unseen. Through nurturing this web of life, we realize that Carbon Neutral commitments can simply be a celebration of the sustainable, regenerative way of living we model and teach our children and grandchildren.

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Ecovillage Findhorn is a naturally resourceful human habitation. We are blessed with opportunities to interact with the whole community at NFA Meetings and Friday Coffees. We participate in monthly Whole Community Meditations. Neighbourhood (aka Block) parties started during the Covid Lockdown with the Town Crier visits and continue in pop-ups to this day. East Whins and Soillse Co-housing share tools and laundry facilities. When the Barrel Cluster needed to dig up a pipe, they made a group decision, hired the expert and got on with the job. RB Kindness Corner reports random acts of kindness weekly. Recently we have had an increase in new owners and renters – maybe it’s time for us to introduce a Welcome Wagon? Living across from the Children’s Play Area I notice parents sharing daycare (and always applaud Fiona’s frequent parade of little people). So many ways we enliven our blocks – even offering veggie garden space to amplify our “growing” footprint!

HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Optimizing our resourcefulness at every level of the community multiplies our social, cultural, emotional and physical capital. We practise the skills of Donut Economics by living with Care for each other, our place and planet. Whenever we share resources we are living more sustainably – doing more with less. “Work as Love in Action” implements Carbon Neutral 2030, as we interact with the people who share our living spaces, ways of life and values. This strengthens the social fabric of our ecovillage blocks in “normal” times so that we have these resources to call on as a Caring Community Circle and Emergency Responders as well as Capacity Developers for the ecovillage we are designing for CN2030 .

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Committing to be a Carbon Neutral Ecovillage was a pioneering act when Ecovillage Findhorn first started surveying in 2015. Perhaps we have influenced our closest municipalities, county and other places in Scotland/UK? Now we are called to influence each other in the ecovillage by backing up our intentions with action. That is why we applaud the Topics set out by the Cool Blocks program. We know that behind every Priority on the Topics are Online Menus explaining how to practise each Priority. Those actions enable us to become “Cool Households” – and they also show us how we can help each other to make decisions that make a difference.

 HOW Does This Move Us to CN2030?

Working together – spreading the word – encouraging each other in the face of challenges means we can keep improving the results we have been tracking with our 5 Carbon Neutral Surveys (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019). Being open and willing to supply your data into this community information bank, makes visible the results of all our efforts. Our CN2030 Survey measures for residents, guests and businesses, carbon emissions for: Flying, Car Driving, Food, Internet Use, Heating/Cooking Gas and Electricity. In the midst of our cooperation and collaboration to become carbon neutral, we discover a modicum of healthy competition – because we want to know we are doing better than last year and better than other places – and the Cool Blocks menu for Priorities and Actions engages, coaches and amplifies our commitment.

Let’s continue our momentum to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

 

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Reflective Organ Newsletter Solstice 2023: We-Space, Ecologies, Holobionts

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.

Communities and cities who care have the capaocity to rapidly respond and evolve into new ways of being and becoming together. Research is showing that caring is core to the building of trust across the multiple scales of human systems and impacts the capacity to collaborate and generate impact (Weaver, 2017). (This is frequently evidenced as a shared intelligence when people respond with magnifi cent acts of generosity and capability in times of crisis like Hurrican Harvey in 2017,  Fort McMurray Fires in 2017 or Gander Newfoundland when the planes landed as a result of the World Trade Center strike in 2001.

Hamilton, M. (2018) Integral City 3.7: Reframiing Complex Challenges for Gaia’s Human Hives. Minneapolis, MN: Amaranth Press p.64

Scroll to end of newsletter to access Free Resources.

We-Space Emerges from Social Holons, Ecologies, Holobionts

Is the world longing for a new kind of We-Space? Are we seeking the power of the collective to transcend the ego-ethno-centric predispositions that draw the world into conflict? Could the We-Space we seek fractally multiply and transform our capacities to enable the emergence of a shared community-city-eco-region Space that lives in service to Gaia’s wellbeing?

How does We Space emerge? Some years ago the Integral City Core Team experimented with research into We-Space. (The results of our study were published as a chapter in Cohering the Collective We-Space (Gunnlaugson, Brabant.) When we wrote the chapter entitled,  We-space, Cities and the Knowing Field we suggested We-Space emerges as moving from “being a “we” as merely an aggregate of “I’s” toward being a “we” that was an emergent higher-order Conscious Presence”.

We noticed that in “our We-space an attractive force, emerged that was sensed by each individual but at the same time seemed to have become a container in which we could think/sense, act relate and create. This attractive force seemed to be neither simply the energy from inside the boundaries nor the energy from the outside the boundaries of our container – rather it was a force which had a palpable energy of its own that we simply named the ‘Space Between’ “.

I am very curious if this We-Space transformation can happen through the journey of cooperation and collaboration. We have written elsewhere about the natural evolutionary path of the human species and the natural encounter with these higher order ways of being, worldviews and capacities (Sahtouris as quoted in Hamilton, 2019).

Recently I have been confronted by the conflicts that seem often to arise in the journey through cooperation and collaboration. I have become aware of the tensions that arise when individual agency seems to be threatened by the expectations on the agentic path to revise and/or recalibrate relationships that question the value of collaboration. I get the impression that these experiences even feel like a person and their contributions are being co-opted by others exerting Power Over and Power With.

So I have been contemplating, “What is the difference between co-opting, cooperating and collaborating?”

…

My curiosity was further piqued when I asked a respected colleague about their experience with a group of people who generally act as if their worldview is global, systemic, evolutionary and integrated (if not integral). The quick reply was, “ I am not attracted to these people because their response to me is either collaborative or co-optive.”

I have been puzzled by this response.  My assumptions about cooperation and collaboration relate to my expectation that in order to reach a more complex stage of human endeavour we must be minimally cooperative and collaborative. This is the holarchic journey that has moved all species from single celled organisms to the multi-celled organisms, organizations and communities that characterize human systems today.

Evolutionary biologists (Margulis, Sahtouris) propose that biologically transformative shifts strengthened cooperation as cells changed from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. I seemed to recall that evolutionary eukaryotic cells subsumed, captured and contained other cells – such as mitochondria that were once separate entities but now are part of every cell  (as organelles) of our body? Was this change in relationship explained as cooperation? Or was it a form of co-option? Could that put a positive spin on co-option?

… Integral City frameworks have always embraced holons, social holons, ecologies and living systems – that at their healthiest are dynamically cooperating and collaborating.

What can the consideration of a holobiont add to our appreciation of human habitats as living systems? Let’s start again with a definition – “a holobiont is a meta-organism made of up of animals, plants and the microbiota that live on and inside them.” (The Economist, June 14, 2023) The science of holobionism proposes that we have looked at the biological entities in too simplistic terms – that in fact holobionism is a new paradigm that embraces not only the fractal make up of cells/organelles/organisms but the biota that live on them and within them as well.

This reframe means that the health or well-being of any particular organism may well depend on the health of the biota that lives as part of its internal and external being. Moreover, what were definable stable boundaries of these organisms in the old paradigm are much richer, more dynamic and more porous in the holobiont – and that apparently these boundaries include and enclose multiple living organisms. Thus, we can’t realistically separate one from the other if we wish to understand their behaviours and wellbeing.

Read the full Editorial here (download pdf ).

Living Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities Summit“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim of human existence… and we are the masters of our own happiness”– Aristotle

The research conducted by Living Cities.Earth experts in 2020-2022 among thousands of citizens across all social groups confirms that most people desire to be happy and to live in cities and communities that are happy and thriving. ​

But how this could be accomplished? And who is responsible and capable of creating happy life and happy cities?If you as a city leader want your city to be happy – what path could you follow?Come to learn, share and connect with other likeminded city leaders from around the world at the HAPPY CITIES, a Global Living Cities Summit that takes place online and worldwide on June 21-24, 2023!RegisterLiving Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities MarathonIntegral City Meshworks is a Co-Founder and Partner of Living Cities Earth (LCE). We invite our readers and family to join LCE’s exciting launch for spreading the Integral City memes across the globe, as we human well together.On Solstice, June 21, the LCE Happy Cities Marathon starts to discover the theory and practice of happiness and well-being in 10,000 cities on Earth. Special events will run for 92 days until the Autumn Equinox on September 21.

You can view the whole program and share it registering here:
https://www.livingcities.earth/happycity.

On 21 June, at 16.30 CEST we will start with a warm welcome to all our guests and a presentation of the LCE approach.

From 17.30 till 20.00 CEST the LCE action leaders and world-class experts will join our plenary session to share their ideas, insights, approaches and case studies – answering this question:
“How people in 10 000 cities on Earth could become masters of their happiness? How could we increase happiness – in ourselves, our families, organizations and communities, our cities and on our beautiful planet?”

Join us here – https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89815036086...

On June 22 — we’ll have a joint plenary session with the World Unity Week “Happy City: Love, Unity and Peace” – where we discuss a framework of integral happiness.
Join us in Room One at 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm EDT – http://zoom.us/j/6060001111On June 23 from 15.00 tIll 19.00 CEST there will be the sessions dedicated to Youth and Happiness, and we will design a program “Future Leaders” together.
Those interested in developing youth invited to join us!
Registration and program – https://www.livingcities.earth/happycityAnd on June 24 at 15.00 CEST we kindly invite you to join several sessions around the topic of creating institutional partnership aimed at increasing happiness and positive impact on a global scale. Global leaders invited to join!Registration and full program here – https://www.livingcities.earth/happycityBooks for People Development New Stories of Love, Power and Purpose: A Global Invitation to Experiment with the Unknown

In this book, Christian Seuhs-Schoeller, shares what becomes possible when you act from unified love and power in service to purpose and the more-than-human world.Engaging with the challenging needs of our times in a meaningful way requires us to express ever more of who we truly are . It’s time to co-create new stories, inspired by the author’s personal journey—along with gems from many teachers and wisdom traditions gleaned along the way.

This book provides you with a path to collectively manifest what is needed now, addressing the interconnectedness of everything on the levels of self, other, and all. Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller is an internationally renowned self-organization specialist. In this book, she shares her wisdom from the new world of work, power shift, and self-organization. She guides the reader to:

• Develop a strong and trusting relationship with powerful inner resources

• Make aligned decisions that put you in the driver’s seat

• Create new stories that help you live your purpose

Creating Social Enterprise

Patrick Nash became a social entrepreneur in 1980, aged 22 and this is his story of social enterprises he has started-up and led – companies, charities and co-operatives. It’s a tale of highs and lows from rapid growth to financial cliff edges. He shares mistakes and accidents, successes and failures, risks taken and what he learned.

This book is timely, as social enterprises are tackling the triple threat of economic stagnation, social division and environmental meltdown.

Patrick notes that we live in a time of uncertainty. He questions the future o the climate, the economy, polititics, health and communities. He asks how we are to respond to this and reveals in this book how social enterprises as businesses that do good in the world can help to change the world.

In 4 sections, Patrick shares in this book, his experiences in Whole Foods, Ecovillages,  Teacher Support Network and Charity Helplines – to encourage readers to value and consider taking a social entrepreneurial path.

The Shadow Playbook

The Shadow Playbook, by Cindy Lou Golin, is a guide to getting out of your own way and living the life you were meant to be living. Shadow refers to the parts of ourselves that are in the dark, that we judge, or don’t fully own or accept. These may be parts of us we don’t like or aspects we aspire to express. Shadow Play helps you shine light on shadow and enjoy being more You. You may have heard of shadow work, well, this is Shadow Play, it’s fun, uplifting, light-hearted, and impactful.
This book offers:

User-friendly, practical wisdom to help navigate the human conditionSimple approaches and practices to help you flourish in lifeActivities to support you in shining light on shadow and revealing a more Authentic YouAn opportunity for you to experience greater energy, enthusiasm, integrity, authenticity, loving, intimacy, inner peace, and more.

Regularly engaging Shadow Play can facilitate sustainable change and development, supporting you in living your life more freely and fully.

Celebrating Our Cities of Emerging We-Space

As a complex adaptive system, the city’s landscape is a container for people who are different from one another and who make exchanges with one another. … Exchanges could occur with any transfer of energy and/or matter: a kiss, an idea, a contract, a rule, a sale, a song or monetary exchange. If we use the integral map, we can locate differences and exchanges in both of the collective quadrants and at every level of complexity.

Hamilton, M. 2019. Integral City Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive, Edition 2. Minneapolis, MN: Amaranth Press, LLC. p.40

June 21 marks the start of what Integral City calls the People Quarter (from June 21 to September 21 ). We are publishing this newsletter as World Unity Week 2023, commences. This same week marks Living Cities Earth Global Happy City Summit and Marathon (see links above). In our experiences of travelling to 3 conferences and in our daily interactions in the Ecovillage Findhorn we are noticing the turbulence in the lives of individuals, families, organizations and cities. Nothing seems to be acting predictably or operating as it once did. How are you coping with these circumstances? Who gives you strength amidst uncertain times? Why does We-Space appeal to you (or not)?

Visit us on our Integral City Website and Blog or post a comment about your city interests in our sister Mighty Network.

Meshful Blessings of this Season Celebrating People across our Planet of Cities …Marilyn Hamilton 

Founder, Integral City Meshworks

Co-Founder, Living Cities. Earth

PS Here are some FREE resources for uplifting Integral City People:

Bees

Bees are predictors of a city’s Health New Research finds.When honeybees go foraging, they collect more than just pollen and nectar. They also pick up tiny particles from their surrounding environment, much of which ends up in their hives as debris. Researchers behind a new report are studying that debris (along with honey and other parts of the hive) to test whether honeybees can be used to effectively “swab” cities for their unique microbial footprints — key to understanding the health of communities. Their findings could benefit everything from pathogen surveillance to environmental justice. From me today on CityLab: How’s Your City Doing? Ask the Honeybees. Bees have consciousness What is-happening to honey-bees Beautiful Flowers Bees Can’t Use Pollinators of Slovenia: Humming of Cities & Bees Bees teach waggle dance to young bees Bee Stinging Research Wildlife Adapts to Cities

AWE, People

The New Science of AWE People Evolution: Millennials are not becoming more Conservative as they age Iain McGilchrist, Interview on spirituality and matter – the Matter with Things Thomas Huebl, Meditation for Ukraine

Energy – Renewable sources

14. Albert Bates on novel heat/electrification options.

15. Cities – European History 1848, Continental Rift Review of Revolutionary Spring by Christopher Clark,Allen Lane – shows 1848 year of revolution across Europe – changed life FAST, Economist April 29-May 5

16. Integral City Blogs Being in the World in 2023

Archipelagos of Calm

Connecting Integrally to Community in the 21C: Spiritually, Socially, Politically

Connecting in Community in 21stC: InterestsConnecting in Community in 21stC: LivingConnecting in Community in 21stC: CultureConnecting in Community in 21stC: PractiseConnecting in Community in 21stC: NatureConnecting in Community in 21stC: Gaia’s Reflective OrgansMarch Equi-Notes: Roots of City Peace in Joy, Happiness & CareIntegral City Islands of Calm 2023 Subtle Activism for Ukrainian CitiesJoin Earth Day Summit 2023I Am Addicted to IECAwakening a Planet of Living CitiesThe Sounds of Change as a Planet of Living Cities AwakensIEC 2023 Presences on Change Curve

17. Integral Europe Conference 2023 – Keynotes

IEC23 Ken Wilber Keynote – Planetary AwakeningIEC23 Robert Kegan Keynote – Shadow & Light in Adult DevelopmentIEC23 Vivian Dittmar Keynote – Awakening to Unity in Fragmented WorldIEC23 Mariana Bozesan Keynote – The Future, AI & ConsciousnessIEC23 Bence Ganti Keynote – How do We Support the Health of the Global Integral Movement?IEC23 Nomali Perera Keynote – Integral Let’s not Vanish into Thin Air!IEC Gabor Mate Keynote – It’s All One: Awakening to Reality Within and WithoutIEC Gail Hochachka Keynote – Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate ChangeIEC23 Terri O’Fallon Keynote – The Evolution of Planetary AwakeningSolstice World Unity Invitation to Integral City Global Family GatheringLiving Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities SummitLiving Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities Marathon17. Explore Integral City Archive of Newsletters and Blogs in our MetaBlogs:Reflective Organ Newsletter December Solstice 2022: Recalibrating (Re)connecting TransitioningIntegral City Meta Blog 2022Integral City Meta Blog 2020Integral City Meta Blog 2019 Integral City Meta Blog 2018 Integral City Meta Blog 2017 Integral City Meta Blog 2016 Integral City Meta Blog 2015 Integral City Meta Blog 2014 Integral City Meta Blog 2013 Integral City Meta Blog 2021Integral City Meta Blog 2020Integral City Meta Blog 2019 Integral City Meta Blog 2018 Integral City Meta Blog 2017 Integral City Meta Blog 2016 Integral City Meta Blog 2015 Integral City Meta Blog 2014 Integral City Meta Blog 2013 .fusion-fullwidth.fusion-builder-row-1 { overflow:visible; }

Living Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities Marathon

On Solstice, June 21, 2023 the LCE Happy Cities Marathon starts to discover the theory and practice of happiness and well-being in 10,000 cities on Earth. Special events will run for 92 days until the Autumn Equinox on September 21, 2023. Integral City Meshworks is a Co-Founder and Partner of Living Cities Earth (LCE). We invite our readers and family to join LCE’s exciting launch for spreading the Integral City memes across the globe, as we human well together.On Solstice, June 21, the LCE Happy Cities Marathon starts to discover the theory and practice of happiness and well-being in 10,000 cities on Earth. Special events will run for 92 days until the Autumn Equinox on September 21.

We launch the Marathon with Global Happy Cities Summit on June 21-24 and finish at the Global Happy Cities Summit (fall edition) on September 20-23, with many events in-between.

You can view the whole program and share it registering here:
https://www.livingcities.earth/happycity.

On 21 June, at 16.30 CEST we will start with a warm welcome to all our guests and a presentation of the LCE approach.

At 17.00 CEST, as the grand launch of our three-month Happy Cities Marathon, we invite you to a Solstice meditation with Sue Cooper, which will be based on experiencing stillness, expanding gratitude and love from a tender heart and sensing into the presence of being together.

From 17.30 till 20.00 CEST the LCE action leaders and world-class experts will join our plenary session to share their ideas, insights, approaches and case studies – answering this question:
“How people in 10 000 cities on Earth could become masters of their happiness? How could we increase happiness – in ourselves, our families, organizations and communities, our cities and on our beautiful planet?”

We’ll also have a question and answers session at the end of discussion and will announce a calendar of events
of the Happy Cities Marathon which will be held from Solstice to Equinox.

Join us here – https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89815036086...

On June 22 — we’ll have a joint plenary session with the World Unity Week “Happy City: Love, Unity and Peace” – where we discuss a framework of integral happiness.
Join us in Room One at 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm EDT – http://zoom.us/j/6060001111On June 23 from 15.00 tIll 19.00 CEST there will be the sessions dedicated to Youth and Happiness, and we will design a program “Future Leaders” together.
Those interested in developing youth invited to join us!
Registration and program – https://www.livingcities.earth/happycityAnd on June 24 at 15.00 CEST we kindly invite you to join several sessions around the topic of creating institutional partnership aimed at increasing happiness and positive impact on a global scale. Global leaders invited to join!Registration and full program here – https://www.livingcities.earth/happycity

Living Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities Summit

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim of human existence… and we are the masters of our own happiness”

– Aristotle

The research conducted by Living Cities.Earth experts in 2020-2022 among thousands of citizens across all social groups confirms that most people desire to be happy and to live in cities and communities that are happy and thriving. ​

But how this could be accomplished? And who is responsible and capable of creating happy life and happy cities?If you as a city leader want your city to be happy – what path could you follow?Come to learn, share and connect with other likeminded city leaders from around the world at the HAPPY CITIES, a Global Living Cities Summit that takes place online and worldwide on June 21-24, 2023!Register

Solstice World Unity Invitation to Integral City Global Family Gathering

So much is happening in the world – including/especially in the world of cities. I have a deep impulse to reconnect with you all. I invite us to a Solstice family gathering to share how the evolutionary impulse of Integral City Meshworks is flowing through our lives.

A perfect opportunity has arisen for us to meet during World Unity Week (WUW) 2023. Integral City Meshworks joins Living Cities.Earth and The Hague Centre to host the WUW Meshworking Cities and Ecoregions Convergence Room.

Find us here: WUW/Living Cities Earth Zoom Room – Meshworking Cities and Bioregions Convergence

Time: Jun 20, 2023 07:00 – 9:00 PM Amsterdam/6 PM London/ 1PM New York/ 11AM Vancouver

Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8166068335?pwd=SzgrZk1aTEdmUnhCT3BBNk1KTDFVdz09

Meeting ID: 816 606 8335

Passcode: x1Hnz5

Integral City has new relationships to share as co-founders of Living Cities.Earth (LCE). We would love to tell the story of a series of initiatives that have unfolded over the last year.  LCE was an early responder and outcome of the Russian/Ukrainian war – attracting the Integrally informed 4 Voices from Cities across Europe and now from around the world.

We are asking ourselves, “How can we human well, together? How can we create the life conditions for healthy, happy cities in harmony with nature?”

As we have passed the 60 co-founder mark, we want to invite the Integral City Family into this space as Friends of Living Cities.Earth – to learn how are you humaning well?  

Please come to this Open House online event – for 15 minutes, ½ an hour, or the whole 2 hours! Visit us any time from 7 to 9 PM CEST in our June 20 Convergence room – see your friends, share a story, bring a question, make an observation, announce a course, invite collaboration.

Let this be a beautiful Solstice Gathering of the Integral City family that energizes the souls of our families, clans, tribes, communities. You don’t need to RSVP (but you can to marilyn@integralcity.com) – let’s surprise ourselves and see who can’t resist a good kitchen humaning well party!! See you soon.

IEC23 – Terri O’Fallon Keynote – The Evolution of Planetary Awakening

This is part of a series of blogs reflecting on the program of Integral Europe Conference 2023,  whose theme was Planetary Awakening 2.0. This blog introduces a Keynote  from the conference – curated in an Action Research Format – summarizing  What  the speaker said,  So What  could we take as the meaning? and Now What are options for action. What did Terri O’Fallon say about – The Evolution of Planetary Awakening

The STAGES model is built on an Integral frame.

From the Integral frame Terri started to look at the model in smaller pieces. She noticed Concrete Quadrants and Ken Wilber asked her to look at [epistemological] Zones.

With this direction she noticed that [in addition to 1st and 2nd]  there were 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th person perspectives.

As she continued this search what evolved was an “engine of development”.

This became the STAGES Matrix.

[Our research shows that] the Subtle stages begin to open to a Planetary Awakening.

Planetary is 4.0 [on the Matrix) – inside the subtle, collective, reciprocal structure.

Awakening is a whole body RECOGNITION of the web of life.Evolutionary is diagonal growth like a balloon expanding.Involutionary is intergenerational social construction of content

What is diagonal about the planet being alive?

Parents who have planetary perspective raise socially constructing children.

Terri offers Content Practices to Involute:

Encourage Positive and challenging emotionsAsk: What do you mean?Be Aware: of your own Projections

A focus on Positive emotions causes more awareness to come up.

If focus is on negative emotions awareness gets smaller.

A label can be an empty [development] structure…just focus on feeling in the exercise.

This allows individual construction.

Meaning arises when you feel triggered – if you notice a person is triggered, ask the person: “What do you mean by that?”

We put our own definitions in … We make things up.

At 5.0 Who triggers you will be expressing the exact quality that bugs me in me about my own assumptions.

OTH Who do you adore? The quality I love is in me too (e.g. gentle clarity subtle spirituality)

How can we be practical?

[Terri tells story of her brother and the God Bless Joe Biden sign that was torn down. Her brother responded with a compassionate letter to the editor inviting compassion to the role of President and offering blessings to the perpetrator(s) of the sign damage – thus demonstrating a Metaware stage of development that can transcend and include even those who disagree and do not [yet] share one’s perspective. This is a practical application of advanced stages of adult development.]

So what could this mean?

Terri’s STAGES matrix offers three generative questions to help notice one’s own and others’ perspectives:

Is the object of awareness Concrete, Subtle or MetAware?Is the experience individual or collective?Is the experience Receptive, Active, Reciprocal or Interpenetrative?

This refinement of adult development expands the evolutionary insights embedded in the Integral City Maps. It unpacks all the levels of development in Map 1. It offers insights into the differing perspectives embedded in the holarchies of  Map 2. It gives language to the Micro-Meso-Macro levels of development in Map 3. It explains the capacity for developing organizational structures in Map 4. It refines to 12 levels the involutionary and evolutionary emergence of spirituality in Map 5.

The STAGES model provides a roadmap for developing one’s own capacity and a scaffold for designing and/or holding the development of others – whether that be as parent, teacher, leader – or any of the 4 Voices of the Integral City.

STAGES can be practically combined with the Spiral Dynamics integral framing of Graves’ double (or triple) helix of life conditions – to understand the contexts which enable and/or trigger development.

Now what can we do?

Here are 3 possible actions/responses we can take to experience The Evolution of Planetary Awakening:

Take a self-assessment using the STAGES model to understand the perspective(s) by which you experience the world.When looking at others and their responses to any issue (like climate change, or emergency resilience) try to be receptive and sensitive to their stage of development. Use the 3 guiding questions in the STAGES Matrix model to determine targets, individual/collective and learning sequence that will be influencing their experience of the world.Become aware of “centres of gravity” of development in groups (referencing the STAGES matrix) to understand what strategies of communication and action might be most effective (for example in designing Climate Action – see Gail Hochachka’s research in this regard).

IEC23 – Gail Hochachka Keynote – Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate Action

This is part of a series of blogs reflecting on the program of Integral Europe Conference 2023,  whose theme was Planetary Awakening 2.0. This blog introduces a Keynote  from the conference – curated in an Action Research Format – summarizing  What  the speaker said,  So What  could we take as the meaning? and Now What are options for action. What did Gail Hochachka say about – Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate Action

This is a story different than the usual planetary researchers who focus on Planetary boundaries … I want to focus on the human response to climate.

It appears that warming will exceed (the Paris COP15 Agreement to keep below and increase of) 1.5 c.

But our approaches are not equal to the social and psychological aspects in play.

What can we do? What is the role for us, for individuals?

Generally climate questions use techno managerial approaches  and dismiss human behaviour.

We account for individuals in creating the phenomenon of climate change but dismiss the role of individuals in resolving it.

IPCC highlighted the role of lifestyles and behaviour change for the first time in 2022 report – they noted 40-70% reductions in greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 can come from demand side solutions.

When it comes to us – we react as alarmed (25%), Concerned (45%) Disengaged (5%) Doubtful (17%) and Dismissive (8%).

Where is the movable middle?

There is a values awareness action gap.

Noticing inductively three buckets interaction – Climate action logic, Climate Shadow and Climate Action Systems.

Our best intentions are even blind to reality – such as switching gas to coal when EV cars plug into a microgrid powered by coal.

Considering climate shadow, explanations for the social inertia to lower emissions has been explored as an avoidance of cultural trauma.

We need media and processes; climate action logics and climate models.

Our Climate action-logics are incomplete – future ways of knowing and being are unknown. Our climate models only hold in so far as the variables we have input are correct and complete.

Have we fully accounted for what is emergent and evolving?

Gail has worked with STAGES matrix to look at what changes in growth and lifespan might impact behaviour.

A pluralist achiever expert embraces matter as body/mind – but where is the soul and spirit?

Are there possibilities for soul-centric climate actions at later stages of development?

Working with STAGES (Terri O’Fallon and Gail) created some Climate change sentence stems [for respondents to complete].

Then with the help of Pacific Integral we gathered 21 late stage responses and completed some statistical analysis.

The initial data presents some compelling results:

Tell new storiesUnderstand climate shadows

What people think about climate warming:

Distant (climate issue is distant)Doom (issue frames as disaster)Dissonance (lack of convenient climate friendly behaviours weaken attitudes over time)Denial (gives refuge from fear, guilt and threats)Identity ( activates cultural filters so one’s identity overrides facts).

We have ineffective climate communication.

This research shows that successful ways of communication are: personal , offer cognitive framing, reduce dissonance, and avoid triggering.

Later stages of development provide whole framings.

We need to understand Climate Shadow – the What and Why of shadow – leads to disruption, regulation, fear – key reasons why climate policies fail.

Science Daily says: Data shows increasing political polarisation on climate change.

We can’t fragment society … we must seek deep relationship, be open and ordered.

We tend to “other” people who deny climate change. How can we/they connect instead?

Later stages demonstrate compassion re emotions and climate shadow. Construct Aware tend to see that the denial is a function of the worldview they inhabit and the filters on awareness.

We are seeking to enact new responses – look at our just published article: Fractal Approaches to Scaling Transformation to Sustainability  (O’Brien et al).

Later levels respond in novel ways:

Achiever (3.5) responses are urgent.Individualist (4.0) responses are outraged at the structural, political dimension and calling out about the reality of climate change.Strategist (4.5) responses are moved to act, but from a less urgent place, more as being deeply called to do something.

It looks like we need to bring forward earlier stages … to transcend and include [our own responses and those of others].

(Gail Hochachka and Stephen Münzner  followed this keynote with a workshop on mindful practice for conscious climate change.)

So what could this mean?

Gail’s reframing of climate responses within an adult development model (STAGES) reveals that all responses are not arising from the same worldview or values system.

This insight helps us to understand the differing responses in a compassionate way.

It gives us strategies for communicating in ways that make sense to different stages. Taking an approach where “one size does not fit all” can guide policy framing and implementation.

This means that communications should be designed to resonate with the values, key words and worldviews of at least 3 stages of development.

Rather than dismiss people whose response to climate change is different than your own, it is more productive to be curious and open conversations that help us appreciate why and how people hold their opinions.

This research contributes to strategies for designing communications and policies that in turn support strategies for action across a span of adult development.

Now what can we do?

Here are 3 possible actions/responses we can take to experience Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate Action:

Be curious about your own response to climate change – can you assess and align your response with an adult development model like STAGES Roadmap . Can this help you to find actions that you can support and share with others?Look for action oriented models like Cool Blocks (Empowerment Institute) that offer a range of strategies and actions so that people can choose a place to start and become aware of how their choices impact their families, neighbours, communities, and cities using Integral City Map 2.Practise compassion instead of judgement when you meet people with differing views on climate change than yours. Share this approach with policy makers so that policies include people instead of marginalizing them. Use Integral City 4 Voices, Intelligences and Maps to embrace a whole systems approach.

IEC23 – Gabor Mate Keynote – It’s All One: Awakening to Reality Within and Without

This is part of a series of blogs reflecting on the program of Integral Europe Conference 2023,  whose theme was Planetary Awakening 2.0. This blog introduces a Keynote  from the conference – curated in an Action Research Format – summarizing  What  the speaker said,  So What  could we take as the meaning? and Now What are options for action. What did Gabor Mate say about – It’s All One: Awakening to Reality Within and Without

Awakening assumes we are asleep – are we dreaming?

A story of the Buddha relates as he is walking and radiating clarity that a stranger asks: “Are you a god?”  The Buddha replies: “NO I am awake.”

Minds and thoughts create the world

Everything we think creates our world … But actual mind is unity of everything.

In the Western world we are in separation. We need to shift from seeing a satellite to seeing one organism.

Daniel Siegel says we live a lie of separation.

In an ant colony the worker and Queen have the same DNA but different functions. The physiology of the individual ant is determined by the colony.

Humans are not individual creatures but an interconnected co-arising organism.

Much current science is the same as abstract spirituality.

A leaf contains the sun, sky, earth.

Thich Nat Hanh calls this phenomenon interbeing.

Psychology thinks of individuals and organs as separate entities.

Allopathic medicine studies pathologies.

Genetics can cause disease…but is not the only cause (rare 1 in 10,000).

We say …we have disease … this implies I is separate from disease and disease is independent from me.

Rethink illness as processes occur in life of individual.

History of individual is inseparable from family …multigenerational history of family represents the world. Therefore the process of disease represents the world.

For treating disease most people visit some kind of “…ologist”.

In 1939 Dr. Somowys (sp?) at Harvard…said emotional and psychological factors as important as physical factors when considering disease.

Bur at Harvard if today you talk about mind body medicine  you jeopardise career .

Dr Osler said disease is caused by stress.

Medical students are not educated re interbeing or stress.

Gives example of Valentina who has lupus symptoms – to treat her process we will represent her as a human being.

When she is not treated as a symptom but as a human being her disease went away.

Real people having real experiences

Spontaneous healing study of terminal illness diagnoses…This study was on people who don’t use doctor.

In Radical Remission Cases …i.e. people who didn’t die … they are usually not questioned. But what do these people do? What is the reason for remissions?  They change how they live and relate to themselves.

How do you feel re self as human being?

In 2008 during the Greece economic crisis, a study showed Greek youth were more fearful but stress hormones were lower – this crisis was affecting the biology of Greek people.

Sometimes traditional assumptions are obvious but not taken into consideration by science/medicine – like Grandmother’s good for grandkids! Closer they lived to one another the better !

We now have science research studies on epigenetics  and stress … we can see how it affects all organs.

Hans Selye showed animal adrenal glands impacted by stress.

Medical students don’t get lecture on stress or trauma. Trauma is the conduit through which all impacts affect the body.

Gabor relates a story that shows the more racism a black woman experiences the more this affects her asthma.

Racists see self as other.

The more stressed parents are the more stressed their children are.

Emotional states of children impact parents’ social conditions (and vice versa).

In Canada indigenous women have 6x incidence of asthma and autoimmune disease … this is an example of where cultural influence affects disease.

In the Vancouver downtown East Side (DES) which is the worst addiction site in Canada, 40% population are indigenous in DES Vancouver.

Western medicine defines addiction as brain disease, but social conditions impact addicts/addiction.

For example with covid, the worst factor for death was being American!

We are All One …who gets sick and who doesn’t…relationships to self to others to society [connects us all].

It turns out people with chronic illness:

 suppress their own needs to serve others – they are most likely to suffer autoimmune disease. They identify duty with role responsibility. as they self-Identify or self-make – the biggest stress is being who they are not. This is when internal locus is not recognised. The 3rd characteristic of identities who get chronic disease is they are not able to express anger.

Neurologists live from neck up . They don’t notice emotions.

People with ALS are too nice – this behaviour is noticed by professionals who diagnose them. Niceness is the repression of healthy aggression… it affects the nervous and immune and limbic system…all are one system.

Psychoneurilogicalummune studies show how all interconnected.

Telomeres – the end of chromosomes…shorten as we age …we fray … these become markers of cellular clocks.

Black people live shorter lives because of high stress.

4.  the 4th characteristic of people with chronic illness is they have a belief that you are responsible for how others feel and you must never disappoint anyone.

This is particularly true of women who are society’s shock absorbers for children and husbands.

Since the 30’s women also work outside home. USA women only have 2 weeks maternity leave … this impacts children and increases the stress of women.

Are we living in an isolated world of loneliness?

Does Capitalism influence people to be selfish and greedy?

But kindness –  is that human nature too?  … we evolved as small clans working together

We are experiencing an epidemic of loneliness… in the USA and UK loneliness is a risk factor for wellbeing.

Trauma means separation from self – a wound that is sustained.

Trauma is not disappointment … Trauma means a wound that you sustained as result of an event. The effect of Trauma is not controversial  – has high impact on social wellbeing. Trauma is what happens inside you.

Evolutionary humans …can’t live without emotional qualities…belonging…integration…safe attachment relationships…you can rest easy when relationship survives … we are born with certain emotional circuits in the brain …love, anger, fear, joy … a child needs to express these emotions.

Dr Jordan Peterson’s book re parenting says a parent (rightly) dominates the child and the child performs for acceptance .

We have Brain disease because of the depression of emotions… we get disconnected from self and this in turn disconnects us from self and body.

Myth of Normal – Maté book says parents are asleep with nightmare – this impacts children..

Tension between attachment and authenticity … We are all one …not separate  …within selves we are one.

People can wake up as a result of illness… they “suffer into truth”.

Your conflicts are yours specifically designed for you … they are the part of us that wants to wake up – so we design challenges to wake us up.

Our sufferings and illness are wakeup calls ..to be authentic.

So what could this mean?

What Gabor Mate proposes is that trauma is alive and active in out cities. It is caused by our fundamental separation from oneness.

Our separation impacts families and children – toxifying the Living Intelligence that passes from one generation to another.

Mate proposes that our economic system – Capitalism – is at the root of our separation and all the anxieties that causes.

If trauma and illness are accepted as processes that offer us ways to heal, then we can develop strategies to “clean up” our lives individually, collectively and in cities.

Mate speaks directly to the need to clean up so that we can wake up, grow up, open up and show up.

Realizing our need to care for self (in all our roles), others (family, children, friends, associates), will enable us to care for our places and our planet.

Not only do the practices of wellbeing for individuals – especially women – need to be changed – but also the framing of dis-ease and addiction as arising from the whole bio-psycho-cultural-social system – therefore we need to treat people and their life conditions to achieve wellbeing.

But the studies of radical and spontaneous remissions show that it is possible.

Now what can we do?

Here are 3 possible actions/responses we can take to experience It’s All One: Awakening to Reality Within and Without:

Consider that the Integral City Intelligences – revealed in the GPS – show humans as one system. The Living Intelligences should be particularly informed by Mate’s approaches.The Integral City GPS reveals the intelligences of reality in the city, both within and without – so checking in with the GPS and using the 5 Integral City Maps to locate our cosmic/city address can show us a direction and path to wellbeing.Women can help themselves and each other by recognizing the patterns of evolution that have lead to them becoming the Shock Absorbers of children and husbands. Women need to create life conditions that release them from the stress causing chronic disease. Consider the wisdom in this article of Where Are the Women? Saging the Invisible into the Visible.

IEC23 Nomali Perera Keynote – Integral: Let’s Not Vanish Into Thin Air!

This is part of a series of blogs reflecting on the program of Integral Europe Conference 2023,  whose theme was Planetary Awakening 2.0. This blog introduces a Keynote  from the conference – curated in an Action Research Format – summarizing  What  the speaker said,  So What  could we take as the meaning? and Now What are options for action. What did Nomali Perera say about – Integral: Let’s Not Vanish Into Thin Air!?

Nomali is from the East – Sri Lanka.

n 90s the death of father …he was surgeon … from back ache symptom to  diagnosis of cancer from liver … he died in 5 months.

This great personal loss led to deep grieving, and through this process she gained spirituality.

In Sri Lanka in a local library where there were few books, Nomali found 2 books …one was by Ken Wilber:  One Taste.

In a meditation centre in Colombo Sri Lanka, Nomali googled Ken Wilber (and the Book One Taste)

From this one book, Nomali gained a shelf of Wilber books.

She then moved to Boulder Colorado so she could study at Naropa University.

She met Colin Bigelow (KW’s PA) and through Colin met KW. Soon after the group started first website of Integral Naked and started offering seminars.

Fast forward to today: This IEC2023 event has sold fewer tickets than the last ICE …like the Integral Sedona event who also sold fewer than expected tickets.

What is happening?

Nomali invites us to take a critical look …do we want a succession plan [for Integral Movement]?

Integral theory offers useful tools.

But Ken Wilber is a recluse … the only time he was relatively available [to wider audience] was from 1999 to 2006 – mostly in the Boulder-Denver area.

After that serious health issues forced Wilber into being a recluse again…ICU virtually rescued Ken from death at that time … we almost lost KW.

So we (Integral Institute?) decided to make organization less KW-centric….we looked for a CEO.

We realized that we had lost the rock star that attracted Integral institute.

Since then the organization has mutated, changed, shrunk.

Integral has even felt obsolete [as the VUCA world has challenged us all].

KW predicted all this including about the impact/responses of postmodernity … he pointed out the influence of the mean green  meme … and ~Meto#, political correctness, cxl culture +++

But who were the [integral] voices we heard responding to these challenges? …Jordan Peterson and the Dark Web.

The Integral movement was mute.

The Voices we are hearing are not Integral messages/messengers.

In age of likes shares, tweets, retweets, tik toks … it is hard to keep up.

We hear some critics/criticisms from startups.

But our original Integralists are dying – we see the deaths of many: like Father Thomas Keating, Don Beck, Terry Patten etc

Ken has also slowed down and is aging …. We are witnessing the aging of the Integral community…so we must take some stock.

How do we come together … for life giving and life ending?

Our responses to the world are not inclusive enough – that is a recurring mistake.

Who knows Rebel Wisdom…Daniel Schmactenburger? … the Metamoderns? [a few hands for each].

How can we commit to the beautiful message of Integral? Both in responses that centralise AND decentralise?

How can we celebrate with others?

How can we strengthen Integral community…breathe in out?

It is good to see younger faces in Europe  IEC 2023.

Nomali uses polarity management as Integral life practice.

Don’t get stuck …look at options through polarity lenses.

So what could this mean?

Nomali has identified the demographics of the early Integralists. The aging of the originators – especially Ken Wilber – rightfully asks us to consider if we have a “succession plan”?

Perhaps Nomali is seeing more Integral movement from American fulcrum and the visit to Europe reveals younger cohorts of Gen X, Y, Z?

As a movement Integral is not centralised. IMO (Marilyn Hamilton) the decentralised nature of Integral has great value. But Nomali asks: How can we build both on the centralised “loose structures” that exist (like the Integral Institute and Integral Hungary) as well as the many decentralised structures in emergence (like Indra Adnan’s Alternative UK/Planet 4 incubators,  Integral City, The Hague Centre, Living Cities.Earth, Integrales Forum, IFIS, Ubiquity U, etc)?

As a movement Integral does not easily integrate AQAL and often marginalizes significant expressions like Spiral Dynamics (who also lost its 2 Founders in the last few years).

Is it possible Integral gets stuck in the flatness of the AQAL model, forgetting its basis of consciousness and biological/social expression that give Integral vertical Aliveness? This is a message/worldview that Integral City Meshworks  and Living Cities.Earth have continuously emphasized from the beginning.

Others at the conference dove into the Shadows of Integral that Nomali points to (including Cindy Lou Golin’s Shadow Playbook). Throughout the IEC 2023 conference I heard ongoing reference to these shadows – including the marginalization of people of colour, women, global South/East, hierarchical power.

Is it possible that the Integral Movement is not equally distributed? That means the trajectory of waking, growing, opening, cleaning, showing up are at different stages around the world – and we need to be sensitive not to connect the dots with the assumption of one approach/strategy for all?

Now what can we do?

Here are 3 possible actions/responses we can take to ensure Integral: Does Not Vanish Into Thin Air!

Go back to prior IEC2020 recommendations from Roger Walsh – how to translate and apply your work in an Integral Way.Consider that the Integral City GPS opens up the multiple intelligences of cities – including Meshworking so that we can align the differing stages to which our work/life worlds are connected to enable resonant, coherent, emergent strategies and developments (for succession and other issues/challenges).Translate the classic Integral Map into the 5 variations developed by Integral City Meshworks so you can gain insights into relationships, Micro-Meso-Macro Scales, organizational structures and spiritual/evolutionary impulses.

Here are the blog links in this series inspired by Integral Europe Conference 2023:

I Am Addicted to IEC Awakening a Planet of Living Cities The Sounds of Change as a Planet of Living Cities Awakens IEC23 Presences on the Change Curve IEC23 Ken Wilber Ketnote – Planetary Awakening IEC23 Robert Kegan Keynote – Shadow & Light in Adult Development IEC23 Vivian Dittmar Keynote – Awakening to Unity in a Fragmented World IEC23 Mariana Bozesan Keynote – The Future, AI and ConsciousnessIEC23 Bence Ganti Keynote – How Do We Support the Health of the Global Integral Movement?IEC23 Nomali Perera Keynote – Integral: Let’s Not Vanish Into Thin Air!IEC23 Gabor Mate Keynote – It’s All One: Awakening to Reality Within and WithoutIEC23 Gail Hochachka Keynote – Finding One’s Own Soul-Centric Climate ActionIEC23 Terri O’Fallon Keynote – The Evolution of Planetary Awakening