re/ The Transformation Project: full version

The Transformation Project: full version

https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/cyberjournal/2012-07/msg00006.html

Thanks for forwarding, and please let me know if you get any feedback. I’ve never gotten around to looking at the Course in Miracles. What kind of work do you see being accomplished that way?

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Vera Bradova wrote:

“The guiding question helps us build a serviceable bridge from the world we have, to the butterfly world, and the building of the bridge proceeds from the butterfly end.”

That’s not how a butterfly grows. It emerges from the caterpillar end, step by tiny step. There is genetic guidance, of course, but that itself emerged, step by tiny step.

You are still longing for a totalitarian solution, Richard, the way it looks to me. Agree on a the One Solution beforehand, and how to get there, then march! But the future will belong to those who evolve, flexibly and in response to what happens on the journey. Unified vision, yes. Plan, no. Emergence. That’s what self-organization is all about… emerging via its own internal logic.

But don’t take my word for it. Open up your very assumptions to the process you describe, and see what people find useful, and what not. 

You assume that once people go through this process, they will want to implement whatever they come up with. But that is where the disconnect happens, over and over, isn’t it? Fancy plans that don’t get implemented. Wishful thinking will not resolve this. That is the hole in your scheme… 

Think Wright brothers. Think tinkering and trial and error. Think radical incrementalism and organic emergence. Think evolving the solutions through alternating cycles of thinking and doing and feeding back what works and what doesn’t. 

Best —

Vera

I spent many years researching incremental, emergent, organic approaches to transformation.

To my regret, I found that none of the emergent initiatives have succeeded in achieving anything beyond marginal results – and they show no signs of escaping from marginalism. ‘Local production for local consumption’, for example, simply can’t achieve economic significance, in the face of cheap megastore prices. Local-currency and Transition-Town initiatives attract activists and visionaries, but have only marginal effects as regards economics, sustainability, or the emergence of popular empowerment. 

My book proposes an incremental approach, based on community empowerment and consensus-building processes. Unfortunately, when that very approach was tried in various communities, only marginal results were achieved. From what I learned through this research and thinking, I wrote a summary of emergent initiatives:

The emergence of localism

http://rkmdocs.blogspot.ie/2010/11/localism.html

Perhaps some new incremental initiative will emerge, that has more promise. If one does, I’m sure I’ll support it wholeheartedly. Meanwhile however, I’ve come to the conclusion that other lines of inquiry need to be pursued. 

The incremental approach seeks to unify people around things-they-can-do-now, within the current system. The approach is failing because the things-that-can-be-done-now simply don’t provide enough benefit to be worth the bother to most people. 

My current line of inquiry begins with this observation: if people won’t come together around what-they-can-do-now, perhaps they might come together around what-they-really-want. Something I forgot to mention about the Transformation Project, is that its inspirations include The Pollyanna Principle, which is about working backwards from what you want to achieve. You might find that worth looking at.

In fact, the Transformation Project is entirely about emergence. The project seeks to convene some conversations, and it seeks to introduce some structured thinking about future visions into those conversations. I have some specific hopes about where that might lead, but what actually happens in the conversations depends entirely on the people who participate in them. If a vision emerges and converges, and if people get it together to pursue the vision, that will be an emergent, organic, incremental process. 

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Jane Sahin  wrote:

Thank you Richard for this, I have been following your emails for some time now and feel that you and a few others are going in the right direction best wishes,

Many thanks for putting me in touch with many others 

Jane Sahin

I’m glad you’re enjoying cyberjournal. I was distracted for six months working locally with Awaken Ireland. It feels like coming home now, developing ideas again with the help of the cyberjournal community. 

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James McCumiskey wrote:

As always excellent work – really intriguing.

  On another topic – WW3 is on the cards right now – what do u think? Also, there is major speculation about an attack on London during the olympics. given that an israeli company in charge of security it would appear probable.

 Best wishes

 James

The US has quite obviously done everything necessary to be ready for an all-out war with Russia and China, with bases surrounding them, and with first-strike strategies all worked out. In essence, the US is holding a gun to the heads of Russia and China, holding them in check, while the US-NATO axis proceeds to seize control of global resources.