Intentional Society: Season of Change
Click here to register for our next orientation video call on Saturday, September 30th at 1:00-1:55pm Pacific Time (4pm Eastern, 8pm UTC).
The thing I'm "not holding back" on is a disruption and reformation of Intentional Society. This calls for something like a chrysalis process, as we enact a deep transformation into a new level of capacity and complexity.
The previous core engine of IS has been our weekly community sessions, combining cultural-generation/absorption, cohesion/belonging, engagement-heartbeat, and skill-building functions all woven via relational practices. The practice part of this series will now fall in one of multiple (currently 4) zones: the practice zone. Alongside the practice/learning zone are likely the support/presence zone, the social/connection zone, and the work/impact zone. The overlaps are obvious and in flux — the model may evolve. The point of "zones" is to make clear the kinds of activities a broadened IS aims to cultivate.
This zoning project expands the metaphorical land in the Intentional Society neighborhood. Our current system is well-optimized for a group of 15-20 regular participants (out of about 30 members), while a 4-zone ecosystem probably fits 2-3 times that, if we imagine healthy energy investment levels and robust match-making in multiple domains. We won't snap straight to that, but we'll need to tend to the loopiness of "build it and they will come" with "builders wanted, time to build".
What kind of "Season"-ality will we end up with? There's a current "start over" feeling that comes with the current season-based membership infrastructure, and we'll need something more cumulative and longer-lasting (at least out beyond the practice zone). But this season is over - what next, right now?
We'll begin another season — Season 12 — with the existing form we have. And then, we'll look at this season as our chrysalis structure, within which we can get gooey for a bit and emerge out the other side with new capabilities. A season of change, of possibilities unfolding... while also tending to our existing cultural and relational strengths, endeavoring not to lose much that we value in shifting to the next attractor.
Want to join? Want to return? Want to be a part of the creative messiness? I'll get some kind of form out soon, but feel free to reply to this email to convey your interest.
Cheers,
James