Intentional Society: It all comes together
Want to learn more? The introductory material has been revamped for our new design, so come with curiosity to our next intro call this Saturday May 1st, 1:00-1:55pm Pacific Daylight Time (4pm Eastern, 8pm UTC).
Smash a bottle, cast off the moorings, here we go!
No longer just a large-group campfire sitting on the beach together, our newly christened flotilla has two cruisers, a dayboat, and a spirit of delightful adventurous serious play!
Looking at the charters of these 4-week small groups, I am amusingly confounded at the prospect of describing them to you here. They are more complex and creative than I would have imagined, with novel explorative aims and some emergent dynamics from their unique membership. Diverse interests and expertise make for exciting combinations! While this is certainly not optimized for legibility to outsiders, I'll try to give a brief taste:
One boat is exploring a Focusing-derived writing process guided by felt sense, while also looking to mix in Collective Presencing as a complementary practice weaving "group sense" in with the individual writing flow. Themes of integrating the body-mind system and of unblocking creative expression.
Another boat is planning group discussion starting with introspective sharing prompts, then flipping between content and process modes and orienting around the five dimensions of attachment theory on the process side. Themes of vulnerability and edge exploration and of relational-emotional develoment.
Those brief and dense descriptions probably sound intellectually intimidating - I'm not even certain I summarized the designs precisely! But the "we" that know these various things get to invite the larger set of "we" that don't into gentle learning via personal interactive practices with fellow explorers whom we trust and have similar aims. Like the Renaissance Académies as an environment of exploration and discovery, I am excited to see the wisdom and creativity of this community break out, ripple around, and re-combine in suprising ways to enrich our individual and collective journeys!
Again I'll say, the front door is still open: The dayboat welcomes newcomers and will be spiraling through:
- Empathy Circling (listening and reflecting)
- the Noticing game
- Hot Seat (curiosity and questioning)
- Collective Presencing (a variant called Inquiry Spiraling)
over the next four weeks, providing an easy on-ramp into connection and familiarity with some core(ish) practices.
On a personal note, I definitely had some anxiety entering into this structural transformation process, with many "corporate reorg" memories echoing in my past. Would it blow up or bog down? This was a big thing, to pivot our model and how we spend 70% of our time! But I've received a rich dose of learning these past three weeks - learning to trust the group, trust in the creativity and resourcefulness inside each of us, and trust that growing adventurers will embrace a challenge!
If you've read this far, what's in your head right now? I invite you to reply to this email and share your reaction or inspiration.
Cheers,
James