Caution:
This is a rambling, unfinished thread. I just want to put it out in the world.
I have some thoughts.
~~~~~~~~
What is a flourishing community?
How do we sustain & grow better, individually, in community?
Here is a start to the answer:
First, We need to grasp the idea that individuality, & community are completely and universally interdependent. Both are necessary but not sufficient to create flourishing. What is not widely understood is that story, a shared history, and myth making, play a vital part in defining the natural tension between the individual's, and the communities role, (as today's polarization attests.)
Without story, and the goal that myth provides, communities shatter and individuals isolate into fear and mistrust.
I have used these two quotes often to inform this.
“Talk, loudly and frequently and in detail, about the future you want. You can’t manifest what you don’t share.”
~ Madeline Ashby
And
“Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within.”
~ Ruha Benjamin
~~~~~
The single most important quality we need to plant, nourish, and harvest is human imagination. This work is scale invariant, it needs to happen personally, in families, in affinity groups, in local governance , and all the way up to federal policies.
Humans are fantastic pattern recognizers, and will assign patterns even if none exist. This is where story and myth gain power too manifest the real world. The stories we tell are the seeds to the fractal patterns that we recognize and strive to build.
~~~~~
Building community is a collaboration.
(I am going to steal these 10 rules)
1. The ‘yes… and’ rule
2. Keep going (until you stop)
3. Defer judgement
4. Use rapid prototyping
5. Embrace happy accidents
6. One conversation at a time
7. Don’t be scared to be stupid
8. Pretend to be someone else
9. Don’t repeat the same idea
10. Lots of tea and toast
10 lessons in productivity and brainstorming from The Beatles
https://medium.com/fluxx-studio-notes/10-lessons-in-productivity-and-brainstorming-from-the-beatles-ea14385e27a4
~~~~~
So we imagine a future, or perhaps many possibly futures. Yet this is not enough. For your image of the future will be quite different than mine, and in fact in opposition to others. This then highlights the difference between equity and equality. Equity, unlike equality, acknowledges different populations face different barriers to flourishing and works to limit or eliminate these barriers. Equity is not a zero sum game, you do not have lose or limit any of your freedoms or opportunities, for others to gain them. But this requires a vigilant justice, across disparate communities. A justice based on equity, not retribution.
I think any tool can be well used & misused. So ... what are the good and bad uses of mythology/story telling? what self imposed limits do we use, to maintain our commitments to good faith, tolerance, or values underlying what we are trying to maintain or develop?
:) This is an expression of "Yes! and..."
~~~~~
What advice would you give young people?
"Well .. I'd tell them to slow down, take a breath, unplug, and pay close attention to nature. Then speed back up, plug in, and tell us all about it."
~~~~~~~~
Random thoughts on Limits:
Temporal:
Time frame needs to be generational. Stories need to tell the effects of our actions on a much larger time scale than we have been.
Local:
Stories need to be placed. Rooted in the local environment, or at least regional. Forget the manmade lines on a map that separate us. Embrace the diaspora, for we all are or will be refugees.
Shared Ethnics:
Language, history, belief, experience.
This is a rambling, unfinished thread. I just want to put it out in the world.
I have some thoughts.
~~~~~~~~
What is a flourishing community?
How do we sustain & grow better, individually, in community?
Here is a start to the answer:
First, We need to grasp the idea that individuality, & community are completely and universally interdependent. Both are necessary but not sufficient to create flourishing. What is not widely understood is that story, a shared history, and myth making, play a vital part in defining the natural tension between the individual's, and the communities role, (as today's polarization attests.)
Without story, and the goal that myth provides, communities shatter and individuals isolate into fear and mistrust.
I have used these two quotes often to inform this.
“Talk, loudly and frequently and in detail, about the future you want. You can’t manifest what you don’t share.”
~ Madeline Ashby
And
“Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within.”
~ Ruha Benjamin
~~~~~
The single most important quality we need to plant, nourish, and harvest is human imagination. This work is scale invariant, it needs to happen personally, in families, in affinity groups, in local governance , and all the way up to federal policies.
Humans are fantastic pattern recognizers, and will assign patterns even if none exist. This is where story and myth gain power too manifest the real world. The stories we tell are the seeds to the fractal patterns that we recognize and strive to build.
~~~~~
Building community is a collaboration.
(I am going to steal these 10 rules)
1. The ‘yes… and’ rule
2. Keep going (until you stop)
3. Defer judgement
4. Use rapid prototyping
5. Embrace happy accidents
6. One conversation at a time
7. Don’t be scared to be stupid
8. Pretend to be someone else
9. Don’t repeat the same idea
10. Lots of tea and toast
10 lessons in productivity and brainstorming from The Beatles
https://medium.com/fluxx-studio-notes/10-lessons-in-productivity-and-brainstorming-from-the-beatles-ea14385e27a4
~~~~~
So we imagine a future, or perhaps many possibly futures. Yet this is not enough. For your image of the future will be quite different than mine, and in fact in opposition to others. This then highlights the difference between equity and equality. Equity, unlike equality, acknowledges different populations face different barriers to flourishing and works to limit or eliminate these barriers. Equity is not a zero sum game, you do not have lose or limit any of your freedoms or opportunities, for others to gain them. But this requires a vigilant justice, across disparate communities. A justice based on equity, not retribution.
I think any tool can be well used & misused. So ... what are the good and bad uses of mythology/story telling? what self imposed limits do we use, to maintain our commitments to good faith, tolerance, or values underlying what we are trying to maintain or develop?
:) This is an expression of "Yes! and..."
~~~~~
What advice would you give young people?
"Well .. I'd tell them to slow down, take a breath, unplug, and pay close attention to nature. Then speed back up, plug in, and tell us all about it."
~~~~~~~~
Random thoughts on Limits:
Temporal:
Time frame needs to be generational. Stories need to tell the effects of our actions on a much larger time scale than we have been.
Local:
Stories need to be placed. Rooted in the local environment, or at least regional. Forget the manmade lines on a map that separate us. Embrace the diaspora, for we all are or will be refugees.
Shared Ethnics:
Language, history, belief, experience.