Dear Matt, A number of people have sent me the apocalyptic Kingsnorth/Monbiot correspondence below and, now that you have sent it, I have read it. . It brought to mind one of my mentors, psychologist Arnold Mindell, who works with group fields, es…
The blog entry below is a specific application of the principle of using crises to facilitate the life-affirming evolution of civilization. This perspective is part of a larger spiritual activist narrative described in another piece I sent to my l…
Disturbance represents diverse life energies trying to find their placein the next wave of Life. Dear friends, We are watching some intense disturbances in the public debate over health care. Before I explore them, I offer this full disclosure sta…
I wrote an article “Expanding ‘public participation’ in hard times” for the International Journal of Public Participation which, although it did not meet their requirements, expressed something I believe is vital for our era — an expanded vision …
A month ago a colleague sent me the New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/opinion/07cohanWEB.html “The Economy Is Still at the Brink” by Sandy B. Lewis and William D. Cohan with a note saying it was one of the best articles he h…
Donations are understandably slow, given the economic downturn. Many good efforts are having trouble getting funding, as people hold onto their funds because of real shortage or to protect themselves and their families in an uncertain future. This…
Paul Hawken is author of a number of remarkable books whose titles alone contribute to our thinking — titles like SEVEN TOMORROWS, THE ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE, NATURAL CAPITALISM and BLESSED UNREST. Several years ago he founded a vast, remarkable, in…
Dear John, Thanks for your note. I’m not sure I have an answer to your specific question about shifts (towards random selection) in the way delegates are chosen for constitutional conventions, but here are a few resources in the general area of ra…
A very knowlegeable colleague wrote me “As a believer in the principle of collective intelligence since the 1960s, I do however remain very cautious about how I would sense its manifestation in the [community dialogue] events that you describe. My…
I just had another fascinating conversation with Peggy Holman http://opencirclecompany.com, author of THE CHANGE HANDBOOK http://thechangehandbook.com who has been working with journalists for about 8 years in a project called Journalism that Matt…