Downloading the Social Architecture of the Future

Join us on Monday to explore a new course on trauma-informed leadership.

Jun 20, 2024

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Resonant World now has more than 1,300 subscribers around the world, of whom almost 50 are paying supporters. Paid subscribers automatically become members of the Resonance Council, a space dedicated to deeper exploration, where I share in more depth about my own process, in writing and via audio, and invite resonance in return. Any form of support — liking; commenting; sharing, or subscribing — helps this work reach more people, and serve the global movement to integrate individual, inter-generational and collective trauma.

The Resonant Man: Summer Dialogues

Jacob Kishere and I are launching the inaugural session of our Resonant Man Initiative this Sunday evening UK time, the first of three men’s circles we’re holding this summer, followed by a mixed circle in early August. (Details here).

Sessions will include a space-opening meditation, and a combination of big group and small group dialogue around various themes.

The Zoom sessions start at 7pm BST (11am PST / 2pm EST) and last 90 minutes.

First Session: Sunday, June 23, “Inviting Vision”

Resonant World #93

Some time in the future — perhaps the near future — we’ll be speaking a language that hasn’t yet been invented.

This language will emerge from the evolutionary impulse towards a new way of relating to ourselves and others that — for the time-being at least — goes under the somewhat crude umbrella of “trauma-informed.”

This term is useful, and we don’t yet have better shorthand for what we do.

Nevertheless, the emphasis on “trauma” centres one facet of the work at the expense of the many other equally important aspects — as if we’re presenting people with a white icosagon to represent the totality, and painting one of its 20 sides red.

Training to becoming “trauma-informed” over the last few years has radically expanded the scope of my previous understanding of trauma as the lasting imprint of a painful experience, and led me instead into a deeper engagement with the subtle perceptual processes that colour all our relationships, and thus shape much of our day-to-day experience. The potentials for new ways of being in the world that follow from this understanding suggest to me that the word “trauma” might belong in the background, and something else should be out front.

But what?

In search of alternatives, I quickly find myself reaching into the realm of even more abstract concepts: consciousness; awareness; alignment; knowing; revelation, and more mystical-sounding vocabulary.

Since none of that feels quite right either, perhaps because of the lingering cultural prejudice that still largely confines the exploration of expanded states to the counterculture, I’m going to leave this question open — and listen out for fresh language that lands in the years to come; especially any suggestions for how to describe our work anyone might like to share in the comments.

So with that caveat, I’d like to share details of a live preview event I’ll be co-hosting on Monday, where Kosha Joubert and Maria Leister, CEO and chief operating officer of the Pocket Project respectively, will be exploring their forthcoming Applied Trauma-Informed Leadership Course. (Details and free registration for the preview event on Monday June 24 at 2000-2130 (Berlin Time) here).

The course is aimed particularly at leaders of social movements, social enterprises, advocacy groups and others engaged in systems change, though anyone who wants to cultivate the principles of collective healing in their organisations, communities and homes will benefit. (I’m hoping it will draw wide interest among colleagues in the climate movement, who I think stand to benefit enormously from this kind of work, for reasons I outlined in this article for DeSmog).

The course seems to me to respond directly to the conclusions of the ground-breaking article in Stanford Social Innovation Review published in February by Laura Caldéron de la Barca, John Kania and Katherine Milligan of the Collective Change Lab, who interviewed dozens of practitioners around the world to understand more about the connection between collective trauma integration work and systems change. (Resonant World #69: Forward This When Words Fail).

They concluded:

“Trauma is a near-universal part of the human experience and an invisible force contributing to the “stuckness” of virtually all social systems — including child welfare, criminal justice, education, healthcare, and housing — even as humanity barrels headlong into the most destructive systemic breakdown of all: the climate crisis that threatens life on Earth.
“Yet the impact of trauma remains all but absent from mainstream discourse about systems change. Part of the reason is that we have a common tendency to believe trauma is “out there”—that other people are traumatized and need help, but we’re fine—when in fact we all carry trauma. The trauma we carry affects the way we look at the world and ourselves, and therefore plays a role in determining the future course of social systems. Unless we acknowledge trauma, engage with it, and find ways to support individual and collective healing, our systems will stay stuck.”

The course is designed to help us overcome that stuckness, and if you’re interested in hearing more, do join our preview, or visit the course page here.1

A few years ago, I would never have imagined having an opportunity to support work like this, and I’m grateful for the chance to bring some of the journalistic skills I developed in my old life into the service of the visionary work that Kosha, Maria and team are delivering via the Pocket Project. We’d love to see you there.

Work with Me: Activate your Inner Resources via the Tarot

Tarot sessions with me are powerful.

I work with the cards to connect you to the parts of yourself that know the answers you seek, and can communicate with precision via the 1,200 symbols in the Thoth Deck. It’s amazing to see what the beautiful, multi-layered imagery can unearth from just below the surface — and feel the clarity and energy that a reading can unlock.

I charge £70 / $90 for an online session that typically lasts 90 minutes, including a guided meditation to establish a coherent field linking us with the cards, a recording of the consultation, and a photo of your spread(s). Inquiries by reply to this email. Reading the Tarot is one of my absolute favourite things to do, and I love how people light up with the insights and realisations that a session evokes.

Note from the Editor: Resonant World is written in the gaps between work I get paid to do, notably editing investigations at nonprofit climate news service DeSmog. It’s a huge boost when people become paid subscribers, and support of any amount affirms that my mission to support the global community of practitioners engaged in supporting people to integrate individual, inter-generational and collective trauma has value. Thank you!

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This is an affiliate link, where means if you happen to buy the course via this link, I get a small percentage. I once got I think about $30 from somebody buying a course via one of these links, so all contributions gratefully received!