Design Principles
for Co-Evolution
Co-Evolutionary Intent
Emergent Strategy
Walking our Talk
Embodying Presence
Design Principle:
Co-Evolutionary Intent
Co-evolution refers to how Life evolves. It is the larger deep time story of how Earth is unfolding. The process of co-evolution happens, overtime, by Life expanding its conscious awareness of itself. And this expansion of awareness happens through the process of all of Life's component parts getting to know themselves, and each other, more and more, as part of an ever co-evolving cross-species Web of Life. Donna Haraway, author of Staying with the Trouble and Tentacular Thinking, calls this becoming-with.
When we talk about Life's co-evolutionary intent then we are referring to Life’s seemingly inherent impulse to include more and more of itself. That is, for Radical Inclusivity.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are all already co-evolving and therefore co-creating with Life. For example, our world is tangibly shaped according to our culturally conditioned desires, beliefs, fears, habits of thought and presumed power.
The only way out is through
Rather than be in denial of of our current crises and collapse, or desperately try to exert our 'predict and control' will to do things differently, Life's co-evolutionary intent invites us to expand our conscious awareness to include and take responsibility for the ways we are complicit in these culturally conditioned power-over ways of being. The route to meaningfully going beyond our current crises is in deeply landing in the truth of how we, our groups, organisations and movements are acting out our power-over paradigm, and then composting this into new relational ways of being. This is how we honour the reality that the only way out is through. This seems to be the only way we can truly go beyond our power-over paradigm to support the emergence of earth-centric ways forward.
Earth-centric ways forward
When we co-create with and in service of Life, we acknowledge that the current extractive way of relating is not in service to the planet’s aliveness as a system (which, to be clear includes cycles of both death and life). In these times of collapse and transformation more than ever, it is vital to remember that we don’t know what Earth as a self organizing system is “up to”. We do not know where we are headed, which often makes us afraid, which then causes us to act out of internalized power-over habits of 'predict and control'.
When we surrender our culturally conditioned notions that we are somehow able to predict and control how life goes and start to understand that the process of change is governed by a power way beyond the individual human self - and way beyond the clever strategic minds of groups of humans, we can start to co-create with life.
Co-evolutionary intent is the intention towards this co-creation, which requires that we first expand our conscious awareness to include the ways we are complicit in our current power-over paradigm, and then learn how die to these culturally conditioned ways of being and identities we have spent our lives creating. This is how we empty ourselves out to make ourselves available to supporting the emergence of new ways forward that are grounded in our inherent relationality and wild reciprocity as part of the wider Web of Life.
This process of psycho-spiritual death almost always feels deeply challenging to so many parts of us. This is because it is terrifying to the egoic self that has been culturally conditioned by our power-over paradigm to centre the survival of the individual self and its plethora of protective strategies which cannot fathom anything other than predict and control.
Civilisation trauma as blessing/ curse
It is through the process of wholing and healing that we access enough resourcedness and trust to go beyond these childhood survival strategies that centre the wellbeing of the individual human self. As we become increasingly aware of and in relationship with our power-over protective strategies, rather than governed by them, we are able to begin to tune in to what Life is creating with and through us in service of the co-evolution of us as an interspecies (humans woven into the larger Earth Community).
It is not possible to compost our power-over protective strategies, and the human centrism they perpetuate, without meeting and alchemising the fear, terror and helplessness that transforming trauma requires. Working our muscle to be able to tolerate these intense emotions is exactly what is needed to liberate ourselves from the stranglehold of our power-over protective strategies. As Bayo Akomolefe says:
Trauma is the assemblage
of body- proofing rituals
we use to defend against
the influx of
the more-than-human.
Transforming civilisation trauma then is how we come to experience ourselves as the relational, wildly reciprocal and inherently inter-connected more-than-human beings that we are. We could say then that recent increases in trauma revealing itself is in fact Life living out its co-evolutionary intent for us us humans to heal our separation wound by composting our power-over paradigm into the relational cultures our collective futures depend on.
For example, without the privilege of support to transform trauma as it shows up in us, the excruciating pain it unravels can make it very hard to lean into the idea that civilisation trauma is in fact part of Life's evolutionary intent in that healing and transforming requires us to reconnect with our inherent connection with ourselves, each other and the natural world we are an inherent part of.
Without civilisation trauma revealing itself at the rates that it currently is, it is unlikely that so many people would be turning towards healing this separation wound that lies at the heart of our current crisis and collapse. Hence our hunch that trauma is the very wounding that carries the gifts we so desperately need in these times of crises and collapse. This is why, even though these times are urgent, healing work is not a waste of time.
Composting our power-over paradigm so as to be able to co-create with/at Life's evolutionary edge is precisely what these times need from those of us with the privilege to be able to access the inner-led support needed for this. It is also why it is so vital that support for healing and inner-led change is made more widely available and accessible, especially to those most harmed by our current power-over paradigm. This why we at Starter Culture are raising awareness with the international funder community around this.
You can read our publication Supporting a Hidden Movement: Why Fund Inner-led Change here.
Inner-led change as Life's Co-evolutionary intent.
Earth-centric inner-led change is our way of pointing to the reality that change happens when we expand our conscious awareness of who we are within the of the wider Web of Life. That is, we expand our awareness of who we are by getting inner-led support to create the conditions needed to be increasingly revealed as the plethora of parts that we have each lovingly, albeit unconsciously, developed to protect ourselves in the face of our power-over paradigm.
That is, Earth-centric inner-led change is how we humans radically participate in Life's co-evolutionary intent. This approach to is in stark contrast to most Theories of Change that, albeit unconsciously, centre 'predict and control' methodologies that are grounded in our power-over paradigm.
Integrating Life's co-evolutionary intent as a design principle within our change-making is therefore deeply revolutionary because it is a process whereby we observe and support the larger story of how Earth is unfolding rather than thinking we know what might be best.
Want to get more on board with Life's co-evolutionary intent?
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Design Principle:
Emergent Strategy
Emergent strategising is how we support emergence and Life’s evolutionary intent over time by tending the fractal of this moment. Emergent strategising begins with us connecting with our vision - what is it that we serve? What do we long to bring about in service of Life’s Evolution? What does Earth long to bring about through us? What would life look and feel like then?
Next we begin to sense and map the changes needed to manifest this vision and identify immediate next steps to help move towards this change. As we take these steps, we pay very close attention to how Life responds in each moment in the form of our own thoughts, feelings, sensations, intuitions, dreams and deep imagery. Often what happens is not what we planned or expected. Rather than trying to control the outcome to match what we expected (which can be very challenging for the parts of us addicted to having a sense of control) we embrace and work with what is actually happening - while keeping the north star of our vision bright and alive at the centre of our being and making choices from our values and ethics. This emergent approach flies in the face of our conditioned need for certainty. This is why it so challenging for most of us - and our groups, organisations and movements (and those who fund them) to meaningfully make this shift from power-over's 'predict and control', to one grounded in supporting emergence and Life's co-evolutionary intent.
Learning to love uncertainty
Despite uncertainty and change being the only constant, we in modernity attempt to defend against the discomfort of uncertainty through ‘predict and control’ approaches to how we lead our lives; projecting culturally conditioned ideas of how things will or should be - and freaking out when it does not go our way. Working with emergence invites us to learn how to tolerate and transform this discomfort so that we can meet life as the constantly-changing truth of any given moment or situation and surrender to the Life-Death-Life cycle at the heart of Life.
Transformative conflict
A great example of supporting emergence is how we relate with and respond to conflict. Most of us have been culturally conditioned to see conflict as a problem - an indication of something going wrong. As a result, instead of embracing conflict to harness its transformative potential, most of us tend to either shut it down, pretend it's not happening or perhaps indulge in the drama of it and allow it to derail us completely. When we bring the spirit of supporting emergence towards conflict, we choose to get curious about it and see what gold it has to offer us in terms of moving towards our longer term vision.
Chronic illness as ally
Another good example, particularly in these post-pandemic times, is when we or someone in our team gets ill and it’s not possible to go ahead in the way we had planned. Rather than stressing ourselves out by trying to fit with the original plan, we can creatively find emergent ways of moving towards our north star. Those with chronic illnesses tend to therefore be experts in practicing dancing with emergence, as they have spent many years learning how to ride the waves of uncertainty and unpredictability.
Experts in emergence
It is becoming clear that the survival strategy of predict and control has largely contributed to the crises we now find ourselves in. The global pandemic, the current collapse and changing climate are all areas at scale that require us to respond with emergent strategy. Hierarchical and rigid structures favour those who have most structural power and rank within our current culture, at the expense of the collective intelligence and creative genius of the many. Relinquishing these structures of rank and power-over means relinquishing supremacy and dominance. Those of us who are marginalised by our current culture have needed to work with emergence for our very survival because ‘predict and control’ is much less available to us as a strategy. It is time to move beyond this power-over relationship with Life and give space to those who are skilled in working with emergence to guide us in these other ways of being, knowing and relating that go beyond the consciousness that has led to our current crises and collapse.
For more on this check out Emergent Strategy: Shaping change, Changing worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown.
Want to adopt a more emergent strategy in your change-making?
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For Further Reading: Reflective Learning, Transformative Conflict
Design Principle:
Walking our Talk
Holding an intention to ‘be the change you want to see in the world’ means embodying the changes we long for in the world, within our own relationships - with ourselves, with others and with the other-than-human world - and forgiving ourselves and others when this is simply beyond our limits.
It sounds so simple and yet it is perhaps our greatest challenge as human beings: instead of pointing the finger at others, start by discovering how to be the change yourself.
Walking our talk and being the change we want to see in the world is also sometimes referred to as ‘prefigurative politics’. This refers to the practice of enacting our desired approaches and relationships within our activism, rather than blaming, or waiting for others to implement change on our behalf.
Ontological shifts
There is a reality that unless we expand beyond the power-over consciousness that created the world we are wanting to change, we will not be able to walk our talk as our actions will remain grounded in this same power-over consciousness that created our current crises and collapse. This is why it is so essential that access to support around inner-led change, and composting power-over culture from the inside-out, is made widely available to all - so that we all become increasingly empowered to make the ontological shifts needed to walk our talk and be the change we want to see in the world.
Ontological Shifts+Justice
And with that said, walking our talk is not about bypassing the need for those with structural power to address systemic injustice as it shows up in the world in structural, infrastructural and cultural ways. Rather, it is an invitation for those in positions of power and privilege to participate fully in creating the world our hearts long for. We need both inner change and systemic change for composting power-over culture.
See Post Capitalist Philanthropy by Alnoor Ladhr and Lynne Murphy for more on 'Onto-Shifts+Justice'
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Design Principle:
Embodying Presence
Embodying presence is the process of coming home to ourselves as part of the ever-in-flux, intricately entangled, wider web of Life. It is about opening to and becoming all of who we are, both as beautiful, limited, vulnerable and very mortal people, and as limitless awareness across infinite space and deep time; both as Love itself, and as the neurotic, confused and shattered individuals that we can also experience ourselves as. Embodying presence is what composting our power-over paradigm from the inside-out looks like in practice.
Helping the anaesthetic wear off
Unlike what so many of the adverts for new age inner work offerings claim, coming more and more into embodied presence is not going to relieve us of the pain of existence. It may even exacerbate it. It will not solve your or your group’s problems or heal you once and for all. But it may start to allow the anaesthetic of our power-over paradigm to wear off and a gradual relaxation of being to emerge. It may allow you to awaken to all of who you are: body, heart, mind, spirit and soul; every facet of you from your unpredictable emotions to your sexual glory, from your infinite divine nature to the frightened child who never quite figured out the rules - no bits left out, in every hidden corner of your being.
Remembering how to embody presence is not for the faint hearted then! It will turn you inside out and reveal all, through the gentle yet relentless process of your own inter-being*.
Embodying Emergent Strategising
When we learn to presence our lived experience in our own bodies, we are gifted with the capacity to be with the world in a very different way. Rather than reacting to the world, we become able to respond from an actively surrendered place within the ever evolving, emergent cycles of life and death that the world is continuously creatively manifesting. This is the fertile ground then, of emergent strategising, in which we can sense the impact our actions might have in a far wider and more compassionate way, decentering our own narrative and listening with the ears of the heart, to the needs of the whole. Embodying presence enables us to track the emergent edge of creativity within the collective and discover our own part to play within the web of Life.
Embodying presence is how we honour and live as Life's ever unfolding co-evolutionary intent as part of walking our talk and our emergent strategising.
(*With thanks to Colin and Fanny at the Movement of Being for most of these words).
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There’s a thread you follow.
WILLIAM STAFFORD
It goes amongst things that change.
But it doesn’t change.
People wonder what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it, you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
Or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you can do can stop time’s unfolding.
Don’t ever let go of the thread.
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