Great Wisdom - Blog

Report from ASP’s Great Wisdom Gathering

Here's what happened at ASP's Great Wisdom Gathering in Henley-on-Thames, facilitated by Mike Zeidler. The gathering was attended by people from Sussex to Dorset. The rules of Open Space state very clearly that 'whoever comes are the right people', and so it was. Of the 17 due to attend, 12 made it, so there was more great wisdom than great numbers. Certainly the quality of the conversations was very good, and the topics covered wide-ranging.  There was a theme around joining things up, system models and collaboration, another about personal support, and a third about our relationships with nature. The AGM turned out to be a great demonstration about the way ASP works as a learning organisation modelled as far as possible on 'the way nature works'. The form is self-evidently an association of people concerned about practical and applied sustainability. The clearly stated activities are all about supporting, challenging and connecting people on...

Art of Cosmic Thinking In Action

On July 22nd 2016, we put on the UK’s second ‘Art of Cosmic Thinking’ event, building on feedback from the debut in Manchester back in May.   The word cosmic comes from the word cosmos, meaning ‘the universe as a complex and orderly system’ and the talk explored how to hold the tension between keeping things simple and keeping things real. Having stimulated minds with this introduction, we created an Open Space for everyone there to explore their own ideas. Click here to see what went on.

The Art of Cosmic Thinking

Life can seem very random when intuition and creativity play big parts in what we do.  Mike Zeidler explains how to spot the patterns which make inner purpose and overall direction clearer on Friday 22nd July at 4pm in Redbrick House, Bristol.  It's a free event - Click here for full details and tickets.

Wanted: New Leadership – apply within

            When things go wrong and people are angry, the natural tendency is to look for someone or something to blame.  We hold a public inquiry to make sure we know who’s fault it was, why it went wrong, and to make sure it never happens again. The anger is stoked into a blaze of blame which gets so hot we step back from our own responsibilities.  Instead of looking at ourselves, we glare at the unfortunates tied to the stake while opportunities for useful learning get incinerated. Right now, there’s a scorched clearing where political leadership used to be. We’re all desperately keen to see hope rise from the ashes and need to see something new. Our own public inquiry distilled into two questions – who now? and what could be different?  To see what we found, read the full article here.

In or Out – it’s a question of courage

The EU Referendum COULD have been a fascinating, engaging, participative and educational debate about the relationships of people across Europe. So far, the political debate has been a two dimensional, shallow and emotive competition between two different kinds of fear. So how can we choose if we're feeling under informed, overwhelmed by complexity or simply angry at the poverty of leadership? I think it's a question of personal and collective courage.  Read the full account here.

The art of Cosmic Thinking

Inspired by a great TED talk called 'Inside the mind of a  master procrastinator' by Tim Urban, I've drafted a TED talk of my own.  With the working title 'The Art of Cosmic Thinking', my talk uses sort-of-art to explore super-connective networking and order in chaos. The first dress rehearsal will be at Revolution in Fallowfield, Manchester on Sunday 15th May.  Please arrive at 5.45pm for a 6pm start.

The democracy we deserve

Once the votes are all in around the country today, we should take stock of what brought us here. The electorate has the power to demand (and create) a more constructive and engaging form of politics if we choose.  The leadership challenge is one for all of us to reflect on.  See the full article here.