Reflective Organ Newsletter June Solstice 2023: We-Space, Ecologies, Holobionts

This newsletter is published quarterly using a cycle of perspectives on the Integral City viewed from: Planet, People, Place and Power. The theme of this issue is People.

Communities and cities who care have the capaocity to rapidly respond and evolve into new ways of being and becoming together. Research is showing that caring is core to the building of trust across the multiple scales of human systems and impacts the capacity to collaborate and generate impact (Weaver, 2017). (This is frequently evidenced as a shared intelligence when people respond with magnificent acts of generosity and capability in times of crisis like Hurrican Harvey in 2017, Fort McMurray Fires in 2017 or Gander Newfoundland when the planes landed as a result of the World Trade Center strike in 2001.

Hamilton, M. (2018) Integral City 3.7: Reframiing Complex Challenges for Gaia’s Human Hives. Minneapolis, MN: Amaranth Press p.64

Scroll to end of newsletter to access Free Resources.

We-Space Emerges from Social Holons, Ecologies, Holobionts

Is the world longing for a new kind of We-Space? Are we seeking the power of the collective to transcend the ego-ethno-centric predispositions that draw the world into conflict? Could the We-Space we seek fractally multiply and transform our capacities to enable the emergence of a shared community-city-eco-region Space that lives in service to Gaia’s wellbeing?

How does We Space emerge? Some years ago the Integral City Core Team experimented with research into We-Space. (The results of our study were published as a chapter in Cohering the Collective We-Space (Gunnlaugson, Brabant.) When we wrote the chapter entitled, We-space, Cities and the Knowing Field we suggested We-Space emerges as moving from “being a “we” as merely an aggregate of “I’s” toward being a “we” that was an emergent higher-order Conscious Presence”.

We noticed that in “our We-space an attractive force, emerged that was sensed by each individual but at the same time seemed to have become a container in which we could think/sense, act relate and create. This attractive force seemed to be neither simply the energy from inside the boundaries nor the energy from the outside the boundaries of our container – rather it was a force which had a palpable energy of its own that we simply named the ‘Space Between’ “.

I am very curious if this We-Space transformation can happen through the journey of cooperation and collaboration. We have written elsewhere about the natural evolutionary path of the human species and the natural encounter with these higher order ways of being, worldviews and capacities (Sahtouris as quoted in Hamilton, 2019).

Recently I have been confronted by the conflicts that seem often to arise in the journey through cooperation and collaboration. I have become aware of the tensions that arise when individual agency seems to be threatened by the expectations on the agentic path to revise and/or recalibrate relationships that question the value of collaboration. I get the impression that these experiences even feel like a person and their contributions are being co-opted by others exerting Power Over and Power With.

So I have been contemplating, “What is the difference between co-opting, cooperating and collaborating?”

…

My curiosity was further piqued when I asked a respected colleague about their experience with a group of people who generally act as if their worldview is global, systemic, evolutionary and integrated (if not integral). The quick reply was, “ I am not attracted to these people because their response to me is either collaborative or co-optive.”

I have been puzzled by this response. My assumptions about cooperation and collaboration relate to my expectation that in order to reach a more complex stage of human endeavour we must be minimally cooperative and collaborative. This is the holarchic journey that has moved all species from single celled organisms to the multi-celled organisms, organizations and communities that characterize human systems today.

Evolutionary biologists (Margulis, Sahtouris) propose that biologically transformative shifts strengthened cooperation as cells changed from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. I seemed to recall that evolutionary eukaryotic cells subsumed, captured and contained other cells – such as mitochondria that were once separate entities but now are part of every cell (as organelles) of our body? Was this change in relationship explained as cooperation? Or was it a form of co-option? Could that put a positive spin on co-option?

… Integral City frameworks have always embraced holons, social holons, ecologies and living systems – that at their healthiest are dynamically cooperating and collaborating.

What can the consideration of a holobiont add to our appreciation of human habitats as living systems? Let’s start again with a definition – “a holobiont is a meta-organism made of up of animals, plants and the microbiota that live on and inside them.” (The Economist, June 14, 2023) The science of holobionism proposes that we have looked at the biological entities in too simplistic terms – that in fact holobionism is a new paradigm that embraces not only the fractal make up of cells/organelles/organisms but the biota that live on them and within them as well.

This reframe means that the health or well-being of any particular organism may well depend on the health of the biota that lives as part of its internal and external being. Moreover, what were definable stable boundaries of these organisms in the old paradigm are much richer, more dynamic and more porous in the holobiont – and that apparently these boundaries include and enclose multiple living organisms. Thus, we can’t realistically separate one from the other if we wish to understand their behaviours and wellbeing.

Read the full Editorial here (download pdf ).

Living Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities Summit

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim of human existence… and we are the masters of our own happiness”

– Aristotle

The research conducted by Living Cities.Earth experts in 2020-2022 among thousands of citizens across all social groups confirms that most people desire to be happy and to live in cities and communities that are happy and thriving.

But how this could be accomplished?

And who is responsible and capable of creating happy life and happy cities?

If you as a city leader want your city to be happy – what path could you follow?

Come to learn, share and connect with other likeminded city leaders from around the world at the HAPPY CITIES, a Global Living Cities Summit that takes place online and worldwide on June 21-24, 2023!

Register

Living Cities Earth: Global Happy Cities Marathon

Integral City Meshworks is a Co-Founder and Partner of Living Cities Earth (LCE). We invite our readers and family to join LCE’s exciting launch for spreading the Integral City memes across the globe, as we human well together.

On Solstice, June 21, the LCE Happy Cities Marathon starts to discover the theory and practice of happiness and well-being in 10,000 cities on Earth. Special events will run for 92 days until the Autumn Equinox on September 21.

You can view the whole program and share it registering here:
https://www.livingcities.earth/happycity.

On 21 June, at 16.30 CEST we will start with a warm welcome to all our guests and a presentation of the LCE approach.

From 17.30 till 20.00 CEST the LCE action leaders and world-class experts will join our plenary session to share their ideas, insights, approaches and case studies – answering this question:
“How people in 10 000 cities on Earth could become masters of their happiness? How could we increase happiness – in ourselves, our families, organizations and communities, our cities and on our beautiful planet?”

Join us here – https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89815036086?pwd=TWIwNnYzbHNMS28wTDRxWUxnenBqdz09

On June 22 — we’ll have a joint plenary session with the World Unity Week “Happy City: Love, Unity and Peace” – where we discuss a framework of integral happiness.
Join us in Room One at 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm EDT – http://zoom.us/j/6060001111

On June 23 from 15.00 tIll 19.00 CEST there will be the sessions dedicated to Youth and Happiness, and we will design a program “Future Leaders” together.
Those interested in developing youth invited to join us!
Registration and program – https://www.livingcities.earth/happycity

And on June 24 at 15.00 CEST we kindly invite you to join several sessions around the topic of creating institutional partnership aimed at increasing happiness and positive impact on a global scale. Global leaders invited to join!

Registration and full program here – https://www.livingcities.earth/happycity

Books for People Development

New Stories of Love, Power and Purpose: A Global Invitation to Experiment with the Unknown

In this book, Christian Seuhs-Schoeller, shares what becomes possible when you act from unified love and power in service to purpose and the more-than-human world.Engaging with the challenging needs of our times in a meaningful way requires us to express ever more of who we truly are . It’s time to co-create new stories, inspired by the author’s personal journey—along with gems from many teachers and wisdom traditions gleaned along the way.

This book provides you with a path to collectively manifest what is needed now, addressing the interconnectedness of everything on the levels of self, other, and all. Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller is an internationally renowned self-organization specialist. In this book, she shares her wisdom from the new world of work, power shift, and self-organization. She guides the reader to:

• Develop a strong and trusting relationship with powerful inner resources

• Make aligned decisions that put you in the driver’s seat

• Create new stories that help you live your purpose

Creating Social Enterprise

Patrick Nash became a social entrepreneur in 1980, aged 22 and this is his story of social enterprises he has started-up and led – companies, charities and co-operatives. It’s a tale of highs and lows from rapid growth to financial cliff edges. He shares mistakes and accidents, successes and failures, risks taken and what he learned.

This book is timely, as social enterprises are tackling the triple threat of economic stagnation, social division and environmental meltdown.

Patrick notes that we live in a time of uncertainty. He questions the future o the climate, the economy, polititics, health and communities. He asks how we are to respond to this and reveals in this book how social enterprises as businesses that do good in the world can help to change the world.

In 4 sections, Patrick shares in this book, his experiences in Whole Foods, Ecovillages, Teacher Support Network and Charity Helplines – to encourage readers to value and consider taking a social entrepreneurial path.

The Shadow Playbook

The Shadow Playbook, by Cindy Lou Golin, is a guide to getting out of your own way and living the life you were meant to be living. Shadow refers to the parts of ourselves that are in the dark, that we judge, or don’t fully own or accept. These may be parts of us we don’t like or aspects we aspire to express. Shadow Play helps you shine light on shadow and enjoy being more You. You may have heard of shadow work, well, this is Shadow Play, it’s fun, uplifting, light-hearted, and impactful.
This book offers:

User-friendly, practical wisdom to help navigate the human condition
Simple approaches and practices to help you flourish in life
Activities to support you in shining light on shadow and revealing a more Authentic You
An opportunity for you to experience greater energy, enthusiasm, integrity, authenticity, loving, intimacy, inner peace, and more.

Regularly engaging Shadow Play can facilitate sustainable change and development, supporting you in living your life more freely and fully.

Celebrating Our Cities of Emerging We-Space

As a complex adaptive system, the city’s landscape is a container for people who are different from one another and who make exchanges with one another. … Exchanges could occur with any transfer of energy and/or matter: a kiss, an idea, a contract, a rule, a sale, a song or monetary exchange. If we use the integral map, we can locate differences and exchanges in both of the collective quadrants and at every level of complexity.

Hamilton, M. 2019. Integral City Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive, Edition 2. Minneapolis, MN: Amaranth Press, LLC. p.40

June 21 marks the start of what Integral City calls the People Quarter (from June 21 to September 21 ). We are publishing this newsletter as World Unity Week 2023, commences. This same week marks Living Cities Earth Global Happy City Summit and Marathon (see links above). In our experiences of travelling to 3 conferences and in our daily interactions in the Ecovillage Findhorn we are noticing the turbulence in the lives of individuals, families, organizations and cities. Nothing seems to be acting predictably or operating as it once did. How are you coping with these circumstances? Who gives you strength amidst uncertain times? Why does We-Space appeal to you (or not)?

Visit us on our Integral City Website and Blog or post a comment about your city interests in our sister Mighty Network.

Meshful Blessings of this Season Celebrating People across our Planet of Cities …

Marilyn Hamilton

Founder, Integral City Meshworks

Co-Founder, Living Cities. Earth

PS Here are some FREE resources for uplifting Integral City People:

Bees

Bees are predictors of a city’s Health New Research finds.
When honeybees go foraging, they collect more than just pollen and nectar. They also pick up tiny particles from their surrounding environment, much of which ends up in their hives as debris. Researchers behind a new report are studying that debris (along with honey and other parts of the hive) to test whether honeybees can be used to effectively “swab” cities for their unique microbial footprints — key to understanding the health of communities. Their findings could benefit everything from pathogen surveillance to environmental justice. From me today on CityLab: How’s Your City Doing? Ask the Honeybees.
Bees have consciousness
What is-happening to honey-bees
Beautiful Flowers Bees Can’t Use
Pollinators of Slovenia: Humming of Cities & Bees
Bees teach waggle dance to young bees
Bee Stinging Research
Wildlife Adapts to Cities

AWE, People

Energy – Renewable sources

14. Albert Bates on novel heat/electrification options.

15. Cities – European History 1848, Continental Rift Review of Revolutionary Spring by Christopher Clark,Allen Lane – shows 1848 year of revolution across Europe – changed life FAST, Economist April 29-May 5

16. Integral City Blogs

17. Integral Europe Conference 2023 – Keynotes