The Heart-Centered Way of Symbiotic Culture, Chapter 12, Part 6
From Siloed Systems to Sacred Networks
Welcome to the Birthing the Symbiotic Age Book!
NEW here? — please visit the TABLE OF CONTENTS FIRST and catch up!
You are in Chapter 12, Part 6, The Heart-Centered Path to Symbiotic Culture: from siloed systems to sacred networks — The Ancient Blueprint – A Missing Piece Hiding in Plain Sight
Chapter 12 posts:
Living in Truth: Building a Parallel Polis Within a Spiritually Hostile Regime
The Ancient Blueprint – A Missing Piece Hiding in Plain Sight
I Write the Book, the Book Writes Me
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.
Previously from Chapter 12, Part 5
Today, as we birth the Symbiotic Age, we can draw inspiration from these historical models and expand them into a truly global, interconnected network of autonomous, Symbiotic Communities.
Rather than simply resisting dominant systems, the goal of Symbiotic Culture is to create entirely new paradigms of existence—ones that nurture cooperation over competition, interdependence over isolation, and shared abundance over imposed scarcity.
As Václav Benda wrote, authoritarianism thrives on “the atomization of society, the mutual isolation of individuals, and the destruction of all bonds and verities which might enable them to relate to some sort of higher whole and meaning.”
The Symbiotic Age seeks to heal this fracture, rekindling the deep relational networks that define a truly human existence.
By embracing the spirit of the parallel polis, the wisdom of movements like Sarvodaya, and the technological and social innovations of Symbiotic Networks, we stand at the threshold of a new world—one not dictated by systems of control, but woven from the threads of collaboration, spirituality, and collective flourishing.
The Ancient Blueprint – A Missing Piece Hiding in Plain Sight
Back to the story…
I returned to the States in the summer of 2022, eager to translate Sarvodaya principles to the world. This inspired me to finish my book and launch a Symbiotic Culture Lab training organization.
Right then, a fantastic synchronicity happened.
Out of the blue, I received a call from a former colleague, a highly connected business networker in Florida. She told me she had about twenty colleagues from around the country concerned about impending food and energy shortages and supply chain issues emerging in the US.
Would I be willing to help them build their own “symbiotic resiliency networks” in their local bioregions?
My previous vision of traveling the world to help set up these networks dissipated in the light of this better idea. My Florida colleague proposed using weekly virtual coaching sessions to activate these activists and start multiple symbiotic food and neighbor networks simultaneously.
What could I say? I quickly developed some training materials and set about sharing what I had learned.
However, after a couple of months, I discovered that no one on that call was prepared to do the inner and outer work to establish a viable Symbiotic Network. There is no blame here. These good people came motivated by necessity, with full intention and determination. It turned out that the food crisis in the US, at least at that time, wasn’t as urgent as they had thought.
And while these people were well-intentioned, they weren’t well-connected at “ground level” to the key resources in their community.
They were attracted to and wanted to immerse themselves in the Symbiotic Culture, but they had not developed the spiritual capacity to hold that space in their community.
I had not yet fully understood the importance of establishing the Virtues as the
foundation of our work.
Had I been able to articulate that, I’m sure some of those folks would have understood and joined the new mission. I ended up pausing the training, realizing the best thing I could do for the group and others was to finish my book!
My next experience highlighted and underlined the work I had done for the past forty years in a most surprising and affirming way.
In the Summer of 2022, my wife and I returned to Hawaii and settled in Kaneohe, Oahu. Soon after we arrived, we were invited to a meeting of indigenous elders representing Oceania.
This one-time continent now includes Australia, Fiji, Micronesia, New Zealand, Palau, Samoa, and the Marshall, Solomon, and Hawaiian Islands. In addition to these independent nations, Oceania also consists of territories and dependencies controlled by various countries, including French Polynesia (France), Guam (USA), New Caledonia (France), and the Cook Islands (New Zealand).
This two-day conference mainly focused on food systems, although something even more critical jumped at me.
When these Indigenous leaders shared their collaboration process, I was amazed that their approach seemed nearly identical to how we formed our Symbiotic Networks.
One of the speakers at the conference was Dr. Failautusi Avegalio, Jr., or Dr. Tusi, a Samoan elder based in Hawaii, as the Director of the Pacific Business Center Program (PBCP) at the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii.
Here is an excerpt from his work, "A Collaborative Strategy Grounded in Polynesian Values":
"{Dr. Tusi’s } approach is rooted in the Polynesian precept that all people are kin, connected through the spiritual energy of mana, which can be found in all things. In the human realm, mana is expressed by faaaloalo (Samoan for “trust and mutual respect”) and alofa (“love”).
When people exemplify these qualities, they are behaving in ways that produce balance, harmony, and mutual sustainability — the three foundations of a healthy universe and the essence of effective collaboration."
"Indigenous Polynesian cultures approach group work with a mental template that is organic rather than mechanistic. Farmers and gardeners start the growing process by cultivating; similarly, a collaborative process should start with cultivating relationships. By meeting with key stakeholders one by one, the leader gains a sense of who each person is and begins to build a foundation of mutual trust and respect that will be necessary for working well together in the future.
On an energy level, it involves gathering and channeling each person’s mana and then disbursing that energy so that the group is imbued with faaaloaloa and aloha; only then are participants truly ready to collaborate. When this transformation happens, productive thinking and a sense of wholeness are likely to follow."
Notice how closely this approach aligns with our Symbiotic Culture DNA. It is founded on purpose and our individual connection to the Transcendent then radiates out through virtuous practice and trusted connections to meet community needs.
It is incredible but unsurprising that Indigenous cultures innately understood and applied this Ancient Blueprint in their way and alignment with the lineage of
Jesus, Gandhi, and Dr. Ari.
To at least the indigenous cultures of Oceania, Symbiotic Culture is a “way of being.”
Even in 2022, I had not developed the distinction of the “Ancient Blueprint.” That would come during my next “deep dive” into writing this book.
Stay tuned for Chapter 12, Post 7 … I Write the Book, the Book Writes Me.
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richard, yes, as always in all ways, you share from my own direct experience and beyond experience. unified in oneness! i wuv you!