Seeking the “Holy Grail” - of Community Chapter 10 Part 8 (conclusion!)
Seeking the “Holy Grail” - of Community Chapter 10 Part 8 (conclusion!)
Symbiotic Circles As Our Collective “Recovery Group”
Welcome to the Birthing the Symbiotic Age Book!
NEW here? — please visit the TABLE OF CONTENTS FIRST and catch up!
You are in Chapter 10, Part 8 (conclusion) — Symbiotic Circles As Our Collective “Recovery Group”
Chapter 10 posts:
The Greatest Obstacle to a New Way of Living — The De-Platforming of God
Breakthrough to a New Creation … New Wine in New WineSkin Networks
Are you trying to figure out where this is All Going? Read Building Bridges to a New World — embodying the Transcendent through the nodes of intersection within local, grassroots-empowered community networks.
Voice-overs are now at the top of my posts for anyone who doesn’t have the time to sit and read! Also, find this chapter post and all previous posts as podcast episodes on
Spotify and Apple!
Previously, at the end of Chapter 10, Part 7
So, if you’re building your networked silo, or business, or any other endeavor for the betterment, keep doing it …and …consider the next step – initiating a Symbiotic Network in the communities you are a part of. It is as simple as one conversation leading to another …and another … and another. That is how we built our Symbiotic Networks in Reno, one conversation at a time.
And if you are not the one to initiate Symbiotic Culture in your community—or communities—who do you know in your network who might be?
Only 600,000 individuals worldwide are needed to fractally spread Symbiotic Culture DNA and have it emerge spontaneously in 50,000 communities.
And that “big picture” depends on the “little picture”—individuals practicing and proliferating “Universal Symbiotic Kinship” wherever they are.
To do so involves a dual “recovery program”—recovering FROM the Culture of Separation by recovering our connection TO the Ancient Blueprint. The Symbiotic Society and Symbiotic Circles, which I will introduce in the next section, offer a proven model for doing just that.
Symbiotic Circles As Our Collective “Recovery Group”
“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.”
-- Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize-winning chemist
Considering how far from equilibrium our world's economic, social, and political systems are, this is a heartening statement from a Nobel Prize chemist. However, like everything else inside the Culture of Separation, the coherence at the foundation of those “islands” remains unacknowledged.
While on the right track, modern scientists like Prigogine could only go so far with their materialistic orthodoxy and couldn’t talk about islands of coherence emerging from an underlying spiritual reality!
As I have shared throughout this book, there are indeed human Islands of coherence—found in the actions of billions of people and millions of organizations—as a coherent reflection of Divine Love, of an Ancient Blueprint.
While Prigogine was a chemist, the idea of “islands of coherence” can be applied to society --- in the emergence of the billions of coherent actions of Goodness and Good works being done worldwide.
The problem is that until now, the islands have remained islands, largely
separate from one another.
Countless loving actions are happening in isolation, trapped inside a Culture of Separation, so there is a literal barrier for that Love to flow freely, coming up against self-interest and self-serving behavior endemic to our modern way of life.
As I have shown through my life and community-building experiences, these loving islands of coherence are not random phenomena but reflect a deeper Transcendent order acknowledged by every culture and religion on the planet, East, West, and Indigenous.
The best articulation of an underlying coherent order comes from C.S. Lewis, a Christian, who, almost eighty years ago, described an underlying, Absolute, objectively transcendent, ordering principle — what some Eastern traditions call “The Tao.” Lewis went so far as to call The Tao “the moral grain of the universe.”
He wrote:
“The Chinese speak of … the greatest thing called The Tao. It is the reality beyond all predicates … the Way, the Road. It is the Way in which the universe goes on, the Way in which things everlastingly emerge, stilly and tranquilly, into space and time.
It is also the Way which every man should tread in imitation of that cosmic and super cosmic progression, conforming all activities to that great exemplar.… This conception in all its forms, Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Christian, and Oriental alike.”
So here it is – a Christian citing the Tao – literally describing how these islands of coherence “everlastingly emerge” from what I call the Ancient Blueprint! I bring this up to ground the work of Symbiotic Culture in the coherence of the Ancient Blueprint, with its foundation in Divine Love itself.
Divine Love is the underlying pattern of spiritual reality in the same sense that Gravity is an underlying pattern of physical reality. Love is the only sound and practical basis for building a new society.
Without LOVE, new systems and structures will always fail and fall. That is why Arnold Toynbee and Oswald Spengler, after studying the rise and fall of empires, said that they all died of “moral and spiritual decline”—the systems of man-made empires always collapse under their own weight.
I have come to realize that it wasn’t the systems or structures that
created the transformation seen in Symbiotic Networks.
It was the HEART-GENERATED LOVE that flowed through these new systems and structures that liberated the frozen assets in communities.
Now, I recognize that “Love” is overused and can quickly become cliché. So, I say we recognize Love by its fruits. When I look at the work Sarvodaya Shramadana and our Conscious Community Network did to Connect the Good and proliferate goodness, I see Love in action.
As I have shared throughout this book, Love is not a feeling but the primal creative power of the universe — and the sustaining and connecting power. It nurtures goodness in our hearts and drives us to want to connect and be in communion with each other and all living things.
The question is, how can we practically cultivate AND connect new islands of a coherent Culture of Connection, of Love and Goodness, to transform our communities, regions,
and world?
Based on what I learned from our Connections Gatherings and Symbiotic Networks, a simple but elegant design has emerged – Symbiotic Circles. These circles simultaneously help grow Love and Goodness within us AND also Connect the Good already happening in each community – supporting and connecting every silo, networked silo, and every other circle -- working to uplift ALL.
Our civilization’s disconnection from the Spirit, the Transcendent, and Divine Love has caused deep wounding and separation from one another and living Systems. The result has been a pervasive battlefield mentality—even among those fervently working for the benefit and betterment of humanity.
If we are to build our Symbiotic Circles and New Wineskin Symbiotic Networks, these separations must be acknowledged and healed. That’s why I call this movement to “re-platform” the spirit of Divine Love a “recovery” movement.
Yes, we are recovering our connection to the Transcendent and using that to recover from the Culture of Separation.
And there is more.
We need to recover from the mistaken belief that the human mind ALONE will create the systems and structures to solve humanity’s challenges.
Islands of coherence won’t come from any beliefs, systems, or structures. Only Love itself can infuse any new system and structure with coherence.
There is another reason I use the term “recovery” to describe our healing process is to bring forth a “new way of living.” Traditional 12-step recovery movements like Alcoholics Anonymous have informed our Symbiotic Circles in several ways, which I will discuss shortly. First and foremost, recovery movements acknowledge the primacy of a “Power Greater Than Ourselves,” given that we are powerless to solve a problem with the same limited thinking that created it.
The classic recovery saying is: “Our best thinking got us here”!
They’re not talking about intuitive genius; they are referring to the rationalizations of the ego and the belief that the human mind, alone, disconnected from the Transcendent, can address the multiple crises we face as individuals and as a civilization.
Once again, I cite a noted scientist who acknowledged the power of the Transcendent.
Anthropologist Gregory Bateson, who studied alcoholism, found that the one thing that worked to unhinge alcoholics from addiction was the first three steps of the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Bateson realized the first two steps created the breakthrough.
One of the rationalizations alcoholics typically use is that they can “control” their drinking. Generally, this illusion would prevail until the individual “hit bottom.” Meaning that they could no longer deny the evidence that they couldn’t control their drinking and that the drinking had just about destroyed their lives.
Through the liberating humility of the first step:
“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable”, the alcoholic must release the illusion of the ego as the locus of control.
Into this “liminal” space, the second step offers a way up and out:
“We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
This “Power greater than ourselves” has been widely interpreted as God or some other deity. Indeed, the third step is:
“We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care and direction of God as we understood Him.”
However, there is no “Pope” of 12-step, no religious hierarchy or dogma. Some “secular” non-religious groups have adopted the 12-step program, which seems to apply universally worldwide and across religions.
The key appears to be in “surrendering” the illusion of control through mental machinations – and instead, embracing the spaciousness of “not knowing” so that
a “higher power” can indeed guide us.
So, what does this have to do with recovering from the Culture of Separation?
We might begin with the idea that collectively, we don’t have a “drinking problem” – we have a “thinking problem.”
We have been taught to think the human mind is the be-all and end-all—well, it might just be the “end-all” unless we recover our connection to Divine Love and apply this in our lives, in the here and now, daily. That is the new way of living we all seek.
Before collectively recovering as a society, we must initiate the process as individuals and in our families, neighborhoods, organizations, workplaces, and immediate communities. Earlier in this chapter, I discussed the importance of being a space-holder – not on behalf of some structure, system, religious path, or material formula – but for Love itself, in action to build a united community.
When we enter the sacred space of the “recovery group,” Symbiotic Circles, we remove our “shoes” by acting in Symbiotic Kinship.
Before we enter this “sacred” meeting space, we set aside our separate tribal affiliations, viewpoints, and personal likes and dislikes to encompass the diversity of modern pluralistic society – as one humanity and one living system.
This doesn’t mean giving up our positions, preferences, and identities – our individuality.
Instead, we give up our addiction and over-identification with them and focus on our shared humanity. We remind ourselves that without the foundation of Love, “new” structures and systems are powerless to transform old ones.
Consequently, we surrender to the Higher Power, in a conscious state of not knowing, and allowing that still small voice of conscience to inform us rather than conforming to the world's conventions.
That’s why I keep coming back to the HEART OF LOVE in each of us, the voice of the Authentic Self, the beginning foundation for any system or societal change.
The purpose of our Symbiotic Circle “recovery groups” is not to dwell on what divides us but to support one another in living from “a heart full of Love” and spreading that Love through the nodes of intersection to reach the greater community.
According to the 12-step program, the “antidote” to addiction is “a new way of living”—for our purposes, we’ve defined that new way of living as Symbiotic Culture.
So, how do we get there? How do we address our collective “thinking problem?”
We can begin by applying the first three transformational steps of individual recovery to our society.
In the context of our collective – and largely unconscious – addiction to the Culture of Separation, “getting sober” means, first, acknowledging that our declining civilization has become “unmanageable” and out of control. The system is “unmanageable” because our problems are so complex and intertwined that any solutions designed to handle the issues one by one, either in silos or through siloed networks, will fall short --- because separation IS the fundamental problem.
At the same time, we must acknowledge we are powerless to transform that system using the same thinking and habits that created and sustained it. When it comes to transformational change, the price of admission is … an admission.
We must admit that society's current institutions, systems, and organizing structures—to the extent they reflect and reiterate the Culture of Separation AND any new structures we might devise to “change the system”—are powerless to create a Culture of Connection.
So, as a first step in “cultural recovery,” we might declare:
“We admit our society and its institutions have become unmanageable, and we are powerless to fix them with the same outdated approaches -- religious, social, political, economic – that caused the problem and sustain our separation.”
Taking this step requires applying several essential virtues, including honesty, courage, and humility.
It is sobering indeed to recognize that all our best thinking – inside of our beloved silos – has proven inadequate for the task. This means we must humbly admit the failure of ALL our mind-made solutions to transform the Culture of Separation, honestly assess how we have contributed to and sustained disconnection, and courageously let go of old patterns to welcome the new.
Then, we take the second step.
“We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore a sane and sacred Culture of Connection.”
This step also requires courage and humility to release the idea that we can “think” our way to the Beloved Community we all desire. It invites us to be open to something bigger than ourselves, with the hope and faith that a more abundant way of living is possible.
Likewise, it requires a profound surrender of the ego, the willful individual mind — to the Heart of Love.
This surrender of the old wineskins allows us to take the third step to embrace the new.
“We made a decision to turn our private and public will and lives over to the care and direction of Divine Love, expressed through the Ancient Blueprint.”
This step requires courage, a deep commitment, and dedication to taking positive actions toward an ongoing and life-long recovery of ourselves and society. It means trusting in the not-yet-seen power of Divine Love.
Now, I admit that “recovering the Transcendent” and “recovering Divine Love” can seem nebulous and abstract, so let me bring this concept “down to earth.”
On the most practical level, “recovery” boils down to recovering the Virtues.
As I have said before, the Virtues are fractals of Divine Love, shards of heavenly light that we “bring” to earth through intentional actions. I spoke about how a constellation of Virtues " orders our personalities” to align with the Ancient Blueprint, build unity and coherence WITHIN us, and give us purpose and direction.
Virtues are the literal “interface” between Heaven and Earth.
They give form and substance to those high-sounding ancient concepts like “truth, beauty, and goodness” and new conceptions like “oneness and peace.”
Practicing the Virtues is where the rubber meets the road. Ultimately, reality is what we demonstrate, not simply what we believe.
The Virtues allow Divine Love to take residence, to actually Live within our minds and hearts, so that our hands are free to serve others—and ultimately, ourselves. Many who were raised in religious traditions learned the Virtues as children, often being told they were a way to “get to heaven” (carrot) or avoid “going to hell” (stick). In our modern and postmodern culture, these framings no longer have the power they once did.
What I have learned – and what those in the Sarvodaya Shramadana community have also learned is that practicing the Virtues allows us to “practice Heaven” now and avoid the hellish condition of being separated from the web of love and the web of life.
We are not being Virtuous to get “brownie points,” to “Virtue Signal,” to look good, or even to “be a better person,” all of which are concerns of the ego.
We are Virtuous because our actions align with something objectively true. Virtue also becomes the right thing because it’s workable and the foundation of a truly abundant life.
So, recovery means living the Culture of Connection starting now and right where you are -- applying the Virtues in our families, neighborhoods, organizations, communities, nation, and world. It means actively and intentionally practicing sharing and caring, generosity and kindness, and humbly asking for guidance when obstacles emerge.
It also means courageously bringing spirituality and religion back into the public square, not as competing brands but as a unified sensibility that honors all “brands” that serve Divine Love and mutual benefit.
Above all, we must recognize that this collective recovery begins with a personal journey.
Each of us has to acknowledge our egos, prejudices, and blind spots and move out of our comfort zone to be radically inclusive. This was a practice I had to learn, and it didn’t come easy. If you remember from previous chapters, I had to expand beyond my prejudices about “the business world " and traditional organized religion and overcome my unconscious “left-wing” political bias.
I had to grow beyond my beliefs about business, not just to become a business owner but also to create networks in Reno that included and benefitted main-street companies and organizations.
I came to realize that if I genuinely believed in a united, Beloved Community, I had to release my personal and religious judgments to gain the trust of both the “pastor” and the “pagan.” This wasn’t just one giant “kumbaya” – I had to face my own shadow emotions, both fear of the “other” and anger with those individuals and institutions I saw as perpetuating exploitation and injustice.
This was a truly humbling experience. In deeming certain religious institutions prejudiced or judgmental, I had to go, “Oh, wait. I am being judgmental and prejudiced about those I think are being judgmental and prejudiced. How can that work?”
In genuinely uniting a community and being a space-holder, I had to empty myself of the judgments that the ego binds us to and blinds us to.
I remember one transformational instance vividly. Early on, I was sitting with an Evangelical Christian over lunch, and he expressed some beliefs I didn’t share and, in fact, I disagreed with. However, when I shifted my attention from my head to my heart, I could feel his loving intention. I was able to keep my heart aligned with his, even as my mind was going to judgment.
Indeed, the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart!
And... self-emptying works best inside a community of others doing the same. That’s why I have taken the lessons learned from our Connections Gatherings and applied them to developing Symbiotic Circles that would be simple to start and accessible to everyone, anywhere in the world.
In certain ways, Symbiotic Circles are modeled after the 12-step recovery groups I referred to earlier in this section. Both share an intention to cultivate a “new way of living” – as a way to recover from addiction – and in the case of our Symbiotic Circles, “recovering” from our learned addiction to being on the battlefield of separation.
What is radical about AA and other 12-step groups is that they practice shared leadership, are non-hierarchical, and have a minimum of formal structure. Instead, “12-Step” is a coherent context, a decentralized worldwide network of millions of people in hundreds of thousands of groups, following a universal process focused solely on recovery from addiction.
The context is not philosophical. It is not a place for abstract conversations about religion, politics, social issues of the day, or discussions of people’s separating beliefs.
The context is functional. It’s about taking ACTION - rooted in Love.
People from every social class, race, religion, and belief system transcend their differences to focus on one singular purpose – in a group that exists above and beyond any divisions or silos. The only identity anyone ever professes is the one that brought them there – “Hello, my name is _____, and I’m an alcoholic (or whatever other addiction brought them to the program).
A 12-step Group in Europe … Asia …, and the United States follows the same protocol. There is no human “authority”—the protocol itself leads and self-directs the meeting.
The Symbiotic Circles, with its “protocol”—Symbiotic Culture DNA—is very similar in that regard. There is no external infrastructure other than the group process (we will describe it more fully in Chapter 12 and Part III of this book). As with 12-step, individuals will leave their personal agendas at the door—as if entering a cherished cathedral for the soul.
Symbiotic Circles are based on a set of universal protocols and practices for experiencing a radically new form of communion (sharing, intimacy, fellowship, joint participation) and community agency -- where authentic communion extends beyond our separate networked silos to the whole local community - and all of humanity.
While the 12-step process is focused on healing from addiction, the one thing that will unify everyone in the Symbiotic Circles is the purposeful commitment to “unite the Cosmos in Love” and bring that which is separate together by practicing mutual benefit in all relations.
I hope you can see how this unifying impulse transcends religion, spirituality, and secular ethics. It also encompasses the myriad solutions and projects emerging today—all of which can thrive and proliferate through Symbiotic Networks.
Symbiotic Circles differ from 12-step groups in a very significant way. AA and other recovery groups focus entirely on individual transformation to a new way of living. In this regard, they are “introverted.” Symbiotic Circles are also introverted, but they are also extraverted in that they seek to Connect the Good of all organizations to extend this new way of living with its broader sense of communion to the community at large.
Practicing the Virtues as individuals, we become that “island of coherence” inside the Culture of Separation. By practicing them collectively inside Symbiotic Circles, we connect many “islands” into a larger coherent community.
The Symbiotic Circles are a collective space-holder, an ongoing catalyst for Goodness, that intentionally spawns the networks that become the new wineskins for a new creation—the Culture of Connection.
Taking the distinction a bit deeper, in AA, you identify as an alcoholic and seek help in not drinking — defined by what you were and no longer want to be.
Symbiotic Circles are about “being” Love in the world now. We support one another to increase our individual and collective capacity to be more generous, loving, patient, forgiving, and kind. We are building our internal resources for external expression. Just as alcoholics attend AA meetings to be accountable when they find themselves faltering, the Symbiotic Circles hold us accountable to the symbiotic practice of recovering the Virtues and intentional mutual benefit.
By outward extension:
Symbiotic Circles offer a practicing learning community that empowers a vibrant network that liberates the frozen assets of the larger community.
Symbiotic Circles, like the Symbiotic Networks, are the “no-brand encompassing all brands.” They don’t replace any religious or spiritual path you are on – and that includes atheism! Instead, they replace the old battlefield where there are winners and losers with a new playing field where we all can win.
Anyone who seeks to nourish their connection to Divine Love and spread it in the world can participate.
Symbiotic Circles provide varied levels of involvement, from individual support like our Connections Gatherings to the ultimate intention of being a catalyst for forming Symbiotic Networks—around the passions and interests of the participants and the specific felt needs of your community.
So, individuals may join these Circles to cultivate this new way of abundant living in themselves, their families, intimate relationships, and those they encounter personally every day.
Just by practicing the Virtues, they are proliferating Symbiotic Culture DNA.
Others will take it a step further to bring the coherence that comes from recovering Virtue to the silos and networked silos they are already a part of – their church or religious organizations and networks; their schools and learning institutions; their professional organizations or unions; their businesses and nonprofits, and even governments and large corporations.
The culture of mutual benefit and extending the Good can apply anywhere!
Others will take it to the next step and actively organize their streets and neighborhoods—surrounding homes, apartments, condos, or rural neighbors.
Still, others will create Symbiotic Networks in their locale dedicated to any of the 12 needs (such as local food, energy, water, education, religious and spiritual communities, etc.) I identified in Chapter 8.
Their singular purpose is to unite communities of all sizes around the fundamental principle, “Love God (honor the Transcendent) and Love thy neighbor (by extending mutual benefit and goodness through the new connected nodes of intersection).”
This may seem like a paradox, but Symbiotic Circles simultaneously expand freedom and connection. I am reminded of a quote from Catholic cleric Bishop Fulton J. Sheen:
“It is not a unity of religion we plead for … but a unity of religious peoples.”
That is, the answer is not one world religion but unity around the fundamental purpose of all religions—to re-bind us to the Transcendent, the web of Love, and the web of life.
Imagine a group where individuals are totally free to be and express their whole and unique selves—yet are united around the singular purpose of Connecting the Good in their communities and promoting and proliferating mutual benefit.
Symbiotic Circles share one other thing in common with 12-step groups. They are not in competition with any other groups, nor are they in competition with one another. Consider that dozens of AA groups may exist in any particular city or region. None of these is vying for “customers.” People can join a group in one locale and visit a group anywhere else in the world and have the same experience.
Same with Symbiotic Circles.
Because they are generic—like AA and groups like it—there can be thousands or even millions of Symbiotic Circles worldwide, all focused on practicing Virtues and extending the good.
I want you to imagine being on a vacation or business trip and “dropping in” to one of these groups wherever you land just to get an infusion of Symbiotic Kinship!
The fundamental purpose of Symbiotic Circles is to create “fractal community empowerment” by spreading Symbiotic Culture DNA. There may be dozens of such groups in any region, each with its specific mission of Connecting the Good. And …just as we built our multi-nodal networks in Reno by connecting one circle of trust with another, so too can these individual circles connect to others and create a real-world infrastructure for a functional counter-culture parallel to and inside the Culture of Separation.
Imagine these Symbiotic Circles popping up in thousands of communities, creating a bottom-up “wineskin network” worldwide to reach our audacious goal of 50,000 village economies worldwide.
As these new networks gain self-awareness, they begin to act like functional organs in a coherent organism.
As a biologist, I have to say this sounds like the mycelial network I introduced in Chapter 2.
You may remember that the mycelial network is a “self-aware” emergent network in which fungi help break down decaying matter to nourish trees' root systems. To extend the metaphor, our symbiotic networks can digest the decomposing rot of unworkable structures and liberate frozen assets that can nourish our entire community. As demonstrated by the Sarvodaya movement and our networks in Reno, the result was a “redistribution of wellbeing” that transformed the country of Sri Lanka and the entire Washoe County region.
Earlier in this section, I referenced historians Arnold Toynbee and Oswald Spengler on the rise and fall of empires. Given our civilization's current precarious state, I want to offer a prescription for how Symbiotic Circles can shift this downward spiral BEFORE we collectively hit bottom.
I contend that every functional society and community begins with a win-win, with a formula for mutual benefit.
We can see it in the history of rural communities, where “barn-raisings” were common. Families would help one another raise a barn or harvest a crop and then celebrate with a huge meal and barn dance. This was also true of urban immigrant communities, where “community societies” would help those in need and provide a social circle for newcomers. Nobody ever needed to lock their doors in these impoverished tenements, and their children were safe sleeping on the fire escapes on hot summer nights.
Over the past century, we’ve seen the demise of rural communities and urban neighborhoods, replaced by condos and strip malls, suburban enclaves and urban ghettos, and a rural environment where corporate giants have supplanted small farmers. In this Culture of Separation, we have devolved into a win-lose, and as the gap between rich and poor deepens, there are more losers and fewer winners. Toynbee states this growing gap is more than economic – it reflects the moral decline that eventually kills a civilization.
At that point, win-lose devolves even further: to lose-lose. When a civilization collapses, even the elites are not immune. When there is no food or fuel, you can’t eat your BMW – or, for that matter, your Tesla.
Let me offer a personal story about how this devolution works in our daily business lives. My business, a consultancy for other hyperbaric therapy businesses, is a win-win endeavor. We help other businesses manage their businesses so that they thrive, and we share in the benefits. I had a Win-Win relationship with one of my clients until they decided to change the program.
They decided they could make more money if they violated our agreement and took on more of the activities themselves. All of a sudden, it was a Win-Lose situation. They chose to benefit at our expense.
But then, since they didn’t know what they didn’t know, they failed to do what they needed to do to get paid correctly. They started to lose money. Having destroyed our relationship by taking advantage, they damaged their own business - Lose-Lose.
We are collectively at a point where a global Lose-Lose must be turned around. It can’t happen globally without first happening locally.
Here is where Symbiotic Circles and Symbiotic Networks come in. In our Reno networks, we transformed win-lose to win-win without ever having to hit the “lose-lose” bottom. Consider our local food network, where competing restauranteurs (win-lose) became friends and cooperative colleagues (win-win).
And you know what’s remarkable? How quickly that happened!
We have such a deep and unfulfilled longing for Beloved Community and Symbiotic Kinship that when we find them, we embrace them—because they work!
The global system is too strong and entrenched to achieve this transformation through some top-down movement. This new way of living emerges first as Virtues within us, practiced where we are … then through Symbiotic Circles to reinforce these Virtues … then extended through our families, neighborhoods, organizations, communities, and regions, and finally, to our audacious vision of 50,000 regional networks to Connect, extend, and expand the Good.
To truly transform globally, we need to start with our own Symbiotic Circles locally, which help us build community-based networks.
And it happens simultaneously, locally and globally, by injecting this win-win sensibility locally,
doing it in 50,000 villages, towns, and cities simultaneously.
That is fractal community empowerment, and it's within our reach!
I want you to, for a moment, put yourself in that picture.
Consider your neighborhood, your community, your region, your organization. Imagine yourself as a “node” in this more extensive network, helping to connect the trusted networks and communities you are already a part of. Imagine all these “islands of coherence” in communion, connection, and coherence.
What if all the good works already being done could be connected as part of one big wave—what I called a “superhighway” of Love, bringing a new way of living?
What would a “redistribution of well-being” look like where you live? What if radically coordinated collaboration and cooperation were applied to the “on-the-ground” seemingly intractable civic problems like homelessness … hunger, poor nutrition, health … restoring the soils and local food …loneliness and isolation, and much more?
Imagine what it would be like for prosperity to bubble up in your region as the community’s hidden assets are released for the benefit of all.
I am reminded of the words that came to me more than 40 years ago when I was at the beginning of my journey to bring Love and authenticity to the world of separation:
Yes, you may feel this universal dream and soul longing---calling, calling us into a deeper relationship with the Creator of All and this sweet harmony, ringing throughout creation, the mirror calling us into a relationship with each other.
WHO AM l? I AM YOU.
Circles and webs of light develop from the dark. Small at first, they join together, becoming larger and larger, shining as only Spirit can shine.
Can you see the light, the beauty, the perfect harmony?
Desire to experience this all-pervasive unity, where everything is connected.
The light of Spirit now spreads throughout the world in an explosive chain reaction of moral force, countering the nuclear chain reaction of physical force.
As I reflect on the decades, I am convinced even more about the need to connect with the spiritual aspect of our nature and use the energies of Love to unite our immediate communities.
Imagine if we each made this absolute commitment! We will witness the global emergence of thousands of local communities coming together, an unnamed eruption of spirit, transforming the battlefields of this world.
So ask yourself …
Would you like to play some part—large or small—in transforming your region and networks into thriving Cultures of Connection?
The book will explain in greater detail how these Symbiotic Circles operate and how to set one up in your community when it is released.
BUT FIRST, even before I release the physical book, in keeping with the way of Symbiotic Culture, I want to offer YOU, my 5,000+ dear readers, a unique opportunity to co-create the Symbiotic Circle process and operation.
I will soon send out an email with a brief survey to learn more about your readiness and interest in Symbiotic Culture and for those who may want to implement Symbiotic Circles.
During the next month, after I get the survey results, I will be organizing the first live video calls on two tracks:
I will do a series of Ask Me Anything video calls for a general audience who want to dive into the book’s content
I will begin a series of calls for those who are interested in getting started on implementing Symbiotic Culture.
For the rest of the book release, when I resume with the first post of Chapter 11, I will discuss how the Conscious Community Network in Northern Nevada sought to apply technology to Connect the Good and the lessons we learned. I will also share the exciting prospects for radically different social media and other technologies that become our servants instead of our masters.