1. ALL HUMANS HOLD INNATE REGENERATIVE CAPACITIES
Homo sapiens have roamed the Earth for around 300.000 years, evolving from a long line of hominids tracing back to 7 million years ago. For the vast majority of this timeline, we didn’t leave a lasting (destructive) trace and served just like wolves and whales as a key stone species, a healthy, vital member of the web of life. A lot in the world has changed since 300.000 years ago, but on an evolutionary timeline, it’s a relatively brief period. We still hold the innate capacities as human beings to be a thriving part of the ecosystem.
- What if we unravelled the false promises and myths of modernity and healed our wounds to resurface our ability to thrive?
- What if we remembered and nurtured the capacities of our ancestors who lived in harmony with wider nature?
- What if we brought these capacities to the context of the future and our role in what kinds of futures may emerge?
2. Dominant stories, beliefs and promises are blocking our ABILITY TO THRIVE AS LIVING SYSTEMS
The myths, stories and promises of modernity, such as the master myth (having control over nature), the makeability myth (the belief we can dictate the future), the promised comforts of hyper-capitalism and the story of separation (us being separated from each other and wider nature) have shaped our language, behaviour, organisations and systems. Our society is being crushed under the pressure of the extreme misalignment between the principles of living systems and the structures of the dominant story of progress and growth.
The vast majority of omnipresent systems in our society, education, healthcare, social media, transportation infrastructures, and food systems are designed on the premise of individualism and separation; they do not nurture our ability to thrive. On the contrary, they are blocking these abilities systemically.
3. We can CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR THE RE-EMERGENCE OF our INNATE REGENERATIVE CAPACITIES
That the current dominant system is stifling our innate regenerative capacities, such as, to wonder, to care, to love, to communicate, to tell stories, to reason, to dance with uncertainty, to live with the rhythm of the seasons, to know the water you drink from, to slow down, to be bored, to feel interconnected, to discern thrivability, and to connect to the source of your food, doesn’t mean we can’t remember, reclaim and nurture them.
I am seeing it as a collective invitation to hold space for each other, to create room for the re-emergence of these capacities. We need to remember, love, appreciate, respect and nurture them and bring them into all aspects of life. For too long, we have compartmentalised our lives, leading to a severely misaligned society and a destructive and short-sighted business and political world.
What conditions can you create for the re-emergence of awe, wonder and love for life?
4. tHE JOURNEY TOWARDS REGENERATIVE FUTURES IS NON-LINEAR, UNCERTAIN AND MESSY
Navigating a world with multifaceted challenges, facing ecological and societal collapse is, to say the least, a daunting, existential, overwhelming endeavour. This isn’t a neat understanding, solutionizing and fixing situation. It is a multigenerational, non-linear, hot mess of a journey, and it’s not one suitable for travelling solo. We need help from each other, from other beings, from our ancestors and predecessors, from our hearts, our heads, our hands and our guts.
I am glad you are here! We have work to do.
