Collective evolution beyond the individual

A deep collective intention to ongoingly discover what it means to bring forth the next stages in collective evolution -a shared understanding of what that means and what is involved -a cultivated capacity to move into shared higher states of consciousness and a valuing of what can be seen and understood from these higher places. -a valuing of risk-taking and radical creativity -a value hierarchy which places the good of the whole above the needs of the individual -a belief that transforming oneself is a moral, evolutionary act with implications far beyond the individual

Thwarting forces inside WE

Thwarting forces to look upon

• Culture of insularity or collective disconnection from and devaluing of the larger “outside” world -overinfatuation with their own collective experience contributes to this insularity -overly hierarchical structure with a punitive leader contributes to a culture of “groupthink” in which individuals are hesitant to go against the grain, voice disagreement or raise questions. This leads to a lot of poor decision-making, as well as a background tone of fear of punishment.

• Loneliness. States, Structures, Shadows, the fact that none of us inhabit exactly the same world. Each of us phasing, alternately trying too hard or not hard enough to break through existential aloneness into a “We-Space” that satisfies. Acting as if it’s still there even after it fades. The way we fall in love with the images we project and the way that keeps dragging down the group samadhi.
  

• Each time that we loose the idea of collaboration/contribution, or the respect and the recognition of the relevance of the difference. In a group, can only work the exchange of differences between the people.

• If a community does not revisit/refresh its vision from time to time, then the initial meaning associated with it may lose its relevance as a driver to success. Without recognizing when it is time for new norms and goals, the community may seize to be relevant.

• Rigidity again. The inner collective must be encouraged to go into some chaotic space, and some real discomfort. From this, the new learning is born. Locking in with “we all know” statements collapses the creative potential of that shared we.
  

• Inequal workbalance “jobs” without reward consumer mentality and energy taker inability to participate, e.g. due to wrong time estimation/effort unclear purpose .
  

• We tend to protect our identity by criticising or fighting against those who are different. We are comparing ourselves with the others all the time, because we feel satidfied or not depending on our relative situation with respect to the others. This makes cooperation difficult, and works agains the benefit of the community. Individualism also fuels the race to the “positional goods” that leaves everybody worse off, standing on their tiptoes to see better, but actually seeing the same or worse.

• We are committed to diversity, and that seems to challenge at times the principles we hold so dear. This is hard to explain. I guess sometimes people bring different “most salient issues” to the table, and then we have to negotiate. And they can broadly be in the same rubric. For example, person A may want to eat organic at any expense. Person B may want to eat local (ideally organic) at any expense. Both are admirable and can be defended by our principles…

• Relationships between people will be always a concern. I’ve seen the greatest projects and ideas fall just because team members couldn’t get along and reach a common understanding and working methodologies. Social culture can also be a thwart factor. Here we will find behavioural patterns that people has grown with and in places like Mexico are a thwart factor. There are also positive factors in the mexican social culture, and we should focus to enhance those, but for the negative ones, we must do a deep job of making them visible and aware the community about them, so we can act accordingly with consciousness to correct them.

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The fuel of community

My experience tells me that the fuel of any team is a shared vision & specific and timely achieved goals. Any endeavour needs a core team. It’s heart, and that is created when a group of people shares a vision and an intention to act to make it happen. The shared vision will help a team to overcome any obstacle, because it will bring the passion and the desire of never give up and find the way of how to find solutions to any difficulty.

An ingredient that might help even strengthen more the passion and the shared vision are stories and myths. Myths rest in a very deep part our hearts. It brings a sense of hope and faith for a better future. Stories help the Myth to be understood and felt. We must be dangerous when we talk about myths because they can lead to a sort of fanaticism. It should not be the center, should be accompanying the vision.

A culture of participation and contribution is a must. It will create the atmosphere, where people can openly express their concerns, feelings, ideas and will help to keep the water as a running river and not as water in a pond, where in the surface will appear to be clean, but in the bottom is muddy. A culture of participation and contribution also creates a sense of belonging, where people feels listened and taken into account. This will expand people’s ability to solve easily their problems and have healthier relationships. Any problem arising in the community will be solved in a participatory and in a smooth manner.

Collective Norms and Ethics are also crucial if we intent to preach “Unity in Diversity” which is one of the greatest gifts we have in humanity. They will guide the community into having a shared understanding and agreement on how to reach respect to each other personal beliefs, values and world view.

The role of language

An organization that has it’s own language can either include or exclude individuals from the community depending on the level of engagement. The individuals who have a history with the community are connected to the language and symbols and are more likely to have a sense of ownership with regard to it. These individuals have more of a responsibility of authentically inviting the newer members into community through storytelling and creating experiences for shared meaning of the values. It is also helpful to re-visit the values and vision of the collective to decide if it is still relevant and thereby provide an opportunity for shared meaning for the newcomers.

5 key issues in the community culture

• Bilateral communication on different channels
  
• Capability to renew the community when routine starts
  
• Expectation to learn from the others (contacts, links, stories, questions, etc.)
• Willingness to share own stories, etc. to trigger learning from others C
• ore team to act as “invisible” host and driver

Share, share, share

• Shared understanding of life as a school.
  
• Shared understanding of shared life as a shared school (with great room for individual autonomy.)
• Agreements about and enjoyment of sharing in doing a life of practice (self-cultivation, self-trascendence, communion, and development) as well as service.

The power of shared experience

Experience together so that the energetic pattern may be felt and associated with faces, with symbols. These aspects of human life seem to help so much to give name, even temporary, less tangible. There is a repatterning that is so enhanced by shared experience in multi-dimensional levels. A walk in the woods can be as powerful and lasting as other tools.

Degree of mutual understanding or fail

The degree of mutual understanding is do or break. It comes down to how deep we can communicate and respect the shared values. The key word here is degree since in some cases it could just be a misunderstanding or if the degree of understanding is not high enough it will create confusion and deteriorate relationships creating future conflicts. How community members relate to the environment and others could also thwart the success, we need to respect norms and ethics create our Story together, share our views and ideas if this is not present it could again put the community in danger.

La nutrición de la psique colectiva

Los sistemas de comunicaciones y de formación de una cultura propia -identidad, valores, sueños y visiones, etc- para la comunidad- Los valores deben estar alineados y en coherencia permanente hacia las estructuras de funcionalidad -reglas, sistemas de, gobierno, sistemas de operación, etc- Así mismo, la capacidad de mantener una visión “mítica” viva accesible para todos los participantes. Finalmente y de manera para mi definitiva, la capacidad de la comunidad para “acceder” al corazón de cada miembro y sus sueños y visiones de tal forma que exista un diálogo permanente entre la psique individual y la colectiva. Si la comunidad está pensada para integrar todos los aspectos de la vida de los participantes -vida en común- es esencial la definición de sistemas de educación que alimenten el alma y los sueños de la psique colectiva de la comunidad.

Sacredness of stories

Teaching by showing, by giving example, being enthusiastic, transmitting a powerful, hopeful story… that all helps to create new values and new social norms. But because we must respect freedom we’ll never be able to fully engineer it. We can just plant a good seed and hope that good fruits will come. Discussing culture and heritage, knowing it, sharing it, is really important to create that powerful story for the future, as well, and to build the common goals. I believe there needs to be at a least a core of views and beliefs that are shared. In a way globalisation will lead to homogeneisation of cultures, but I think there is no way to prevent this from happening to a certain extent. Otherwise community life is not possile. As mentioned before, a culture based on one’s own good will fail, because we don’t control the effects of our actions as good as to be able to maximise our benefit. Therefore, some sort of respect fro something outside us, something “sacred”, to restrain our power, so we do not do all we can do, is important. Promoting creativity also has an impact on our happinees, it can actualise what we are in potence, the best of us.