Tomorrow 11a-1p EST ~ I Will Be at Bonnitta Roy's POP-UP School for a Live Conversation on the Emerge Conference in Austin.
Link here to join
Dear Friends,
My friend and mentor, Bonnitta Roy, invited me to join her Sunday session of the POP-UP School to talk with her and some other guests about the Emerge Gathering in Austin in June. We will be live tomorrow, Sunday, from 11am-1pm. You can drop in any time.
In her words: “This Sunday for our SOLUT session (11 am -1pm) we will have two guest speakers, Skye Brown and Ivo Mensch, who will share some reflections on the EMERGE gathering they attended in Austin. What worked? What fell short? What is needed to go forward?”
If you are not familiar with the Emerge Conference, here is a little background I put together to bring you into the loop…
Background & Context
The conference was organized by Perspectiva, an initiative based in Europe. On their website, Perspectiva is described as:
a community of expert generalists working on an urgent one hundred year project to improve the relationships between systems, souls and society in theory and practice.
One of their projects is Emerge, which they describe as:
an independent, non-profit media platform highlighting the initiatives, individuals and ways of thinking that are sowing the seeds of a new civilization.
Emerge is a response to the meta-crisis, which shows its face in the emergencies of climate, politics, environment and meaning. We believe not only that our challenges are interconnected, but that we must connect in new ways to grapple with the most urgent problems of our times. Linking people, projects, networks and ideas, we investigate what is emerging.
If you’re curious, the idea of emergence and their theory of change is articulated in more depth here.
If I had to summarize, I’d say the big idea behind the gathering was to get as many of the brightest minds working in the field of complexity and large systems change together in person for a few days; engage the spiritual technology/praxis of emergence with the help of those in touch with that possibility; and figure out how to actualize any emergent solutions through new forms of tech and finance.
We were, I think, looking for solutions to the Metacrisis. It was a very audacious undertaking. Also, a funny thing to describe on Monday when someone asks you what you did over the weekend… “Oh, I attended a conference dedicated to civilization redesign in the face of a multiplicity of increasingly hopeless and interlocking crises.”
The conference was the first in the U.S. (There were 3 previously in Europe.) Attendance was capped at 175 and there was an application process. The result was a small group of hand-selected people—thinkers and practitioners—who are deep into systems and culture change. The “fields of interest” we selected say a lot about the focus. I list them here from most-selected to least:
Complexity & Large Systems Change (60+ opted in as first or second choice)
Spirituality & Practice (~45 opted in as first or second choice)
Developmental Spaces & Communities
Technology & Web3
New Economic Thinking
Transformative Education
New Politics & Governance
Organizational Development
Personal Development
Philosophy
Climate Change & Environment
Media & Communication
Arts & Performance
Geopolitics & Big History
Activism (<10 opted in as first or second choice)
The patron was the “applied philosopher and social entrepreneur”, Tomas Björkman. Tomas gave the one presentation/Keynote of the whole conference and framed the situation quite dramatically. We basically see three possible scenarios at this point, either we: 1) fall into chaos, 2) submit to authoritarian overlords, or 3) find “The Third Attractor.” Tomas proposed that our work over the weekend was to find some clues as to the nature of the Third Attractor.
The Third Attractor is a mathematic term applied to the situation by Daniel Schmachtenberger, probably the leading expert on risk assessment and civilization collapse. He and his community use it to point to something other (and obviously BETTER) than chaos or enslavement. I once heard him describe it as the need for humanity to bowl a strike, not falling into either gutter. The analogy underscores just how precarious the situation is. Some of the criteria of the Third Attractor have been defined, but the vision is not clear. It’s always struck me that there is something blocking the view. Incredibly, I saw some of what was blocking the emergence of clarity around this Third Attractor, over the course of the weekend.
(We will talk about this tomorrow and I hope to write about it soon.)
The last thing I want to touch on is the theme of emergence. I call my work The Art of Emergence. This is a topic I have dedicated myself to understanding; applying in my own life and work; and teaching. Over the last 6 months, I have felt the emergence of a core group of practitioners and facilitators who are curious about this process and also the facilitation of intersubjective spaces (sometimes called WE spaces or the relational field) where something larger than the sum of the parts can emerge from the space between us, from the center, from … something holy, sacred, invisible and mysterious. It’s a matter of being spoken through. Of listening into the silence. It’s a very beautiful way to co-create. This community believe emergence is essential to the future of civilization. It is the way.
I went to Austin to experience emergence at scale; to practice it with great minds/dedicated beings. We never cohered enough to experience emergence at the conference. But, I do believe it happened in small breakout groups and on the periphery of the conference, in the hallways (so to speak).
What I did experience was beautiful and important, but emergence was not at the center of the convening mandala. Some people were holding it sacred, but ultimately, what won was the center. I’m still not entirely sure what was, though I have some guesses. Mainly, it felt like the organizing intention was connection and networking, which is great and important to emergence, but only just the beginning.
It was beneficial for me to see some of blindspots and the shadow (including MY OWN)—that currently stand in the way of our being able to do emergence (be emergence?) at scale. This learning was incredibly valuable, though it came at times through the experience of discomfort, disappointment, and frustration.
I can already sense that a lot of the value of the Emerge gathering is happening NOW in the aftermath—as all of us who attended and many in this community who are essential to its ethos, but didn’t attend (people like Bonnie and others) come together to sort through what happened and what needs to happen next. I believe we did some beautiful work in Austin ploughing the fields and planting seeds. Come tomorrow if you’d like to hear more!
Very enthusiastic about this conversation!