vesterberg.se

Some time ago I came across this video. I don’t remember where I found it, it might have been at KarmaTube. The language is foreign to me, but the message is clear. This video became very special to me.
It’s title is: Be The Change.

I am going to get personal now. As I watched this video I was very much moved and started to cry. It came from deep within my heart. I was taken aback because of the intensity of my feelings. I decided not to control myself and did not hold back. Something was stirred and awakened in me. When I look back, I can see that this experience brought faith into my heart that we as humans can cooperate and that I could be part of it. For me it was like finding a deeper level within myself or maybe that a deeper level made itself known. It was special event.

We live every day surrounded by information, possibilities and choices. Among this noise there are encounters that can affect us deeply. It is hard to describe how to find them, but they are out there waiting for us. When our hearts are touched deep down we become passionate and compassionate.

I began to reflect on the importance that we have our feelings as well as our thoughts engaged in what we do. We need a holistic perspective in our dealings with the world today and that is possible to achieve when our feelings and thoughts go together. Wholeness. Intellectual solutions is not enough. Compassion is the foundation because we are dealing with the living.

I had a similar experience a little later when I saw this video where Juanita Brown explains the vision of The World Café. It moved me deeply in a way I cannot describe. I had heard about The World Café earlier, so the information was not new. Perhaps you don’t feel anything special when you watch the videos. They are not magical. But it was an opportunity passing by for me at that time. There are other opportunities for you. That second experience strengthened my conviction; yes, we can do it.

I believe opportunities of deep connection like these are given more often than we realize. Sometimes we fail to find them, but when we recognize them and embrace them, the change is profound. Learning by heart and doing things out of your heart, have new meanings for me now.

There is a blog called “Conversation as a co-evolutionary force” hosted by the Word Café that recently had an interesting post: “Maturana and humanness” written by Juanita Brown, one of the originators of The World Café. After a visit to the Institute of Professor Humberto Maturana in Chile, she wrote some reflections.

Maturana explains (in Juanita’s words):

“Humanness is not a genetic mutation. It is a manner of living where there is pleasure in each other’s company, sharing food, nearness, caressing and tenderness – nor is the capacity for language a genetic mutation – it is an evolutionary drift emerging from the intimacy of human community and the coordination of actions in language together.  It is in the intimate community where humanness arises as a network of conversations that is conserved over generations as a lineage through the raising of children over hundreds of generations in manners of living that are conserved in that lineage.  Humanness did not arise in competition, struggle etc.  It arose in intimate family/community co-existence.”

Inside images

Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela have done some interesting scientific work on cognitive systems, in plain language: how our mind works. Their research has shown that we as humans live inside the images we hold of the world. This is true even for how we perceive colours. We think our individual understanding of the world is absolute and correct, a representation of what is out there, but it is not. We live very much in our thoughts about the world and in our thoughts about the people around us. Our culture has favoured conceptualization for a long time and as a result we get stuck in preconceived ideas of reality.

Conversations

Maturana also says that we as humans “live in our language” and through the networks our conversations, we bring forth a world.  We shape our culture. Dialogue is our human way of creating and sustaining the realities in which we live.  We think and coordinate our actions together through conversation. We create through our talking, for good or for bad, we know that. What a responsibility!

Networks of intimate conversations are true humanness. Mindful conversations, an evolutionary force, that shapes the future, how about that?

Create opportunities

What if we designed our lives and communities according to these (scientific) truths? What if we let go of our own stiff ideas and began to listen deeply to each other? What if our future on earth depends on that we on purpose create opportunities for conversations?

We believe that if we inform people enough, they will choose the right things. No, it doesn’t work as we think, because it is one-way communication. There is no cooperation and involvement. It is someone telling others what to do.

In the family

Think about it in a family setting. We ought to create opportunities for intimate conversations with our mate. That’s not always easy and automatic. As time goes by in a relationship and, since we often live a busy life, we develop separate worlds. Instead of living in two worlds, you and your mate could create a world together. Living with each other is listening deeply to each other. What if love is not something that suddenly comes and one day just disappears, but something that grows and is nurtured in close conversations.

Think about your children. What if intimate and personal conversations are the main ingredient in bringing up children. Taking the time. Listening. It is better to create a shared understanding, interest and involvement than commanding them what to do and what not to do. As your children grow up and become teenagers their world of thoughts change and you can be left behind. You might want them to come to your world,  but I believe there is a fantastic possibility in respectfully growing together with your teenagers.

In the city

Think about it in a wider setting, concerning city planning and administration. We ought to create places and opportunities for intimate conversation all over the city. We should plan our libraries and meeting halls so that they are inviting for small conversations; build cafés acoustically for easy talking. It is especially important to create opportunities for people from different backgrounds, different ages, different interests and different kind of positions and ethnicity to meet and talk. Let’s work on tearing down barriers and fragmentation.  What if small intimate conversations are the key to a thriving city?

Your city

I have a number of friends who are also thinking along these lines and we explore the possibilities together. What can we do for our city? What can you do for your city?

Some weeks ago I saw a report from Ecuador made by a Swedish film team. People in the rainforest are today suffering from ruined health because of oil exploitation done in the past. Between 1970 and 1990, Texaco (now Chevron) pumped 200,000 barrels of oil a day from over 400 drilling sites in the rainforest. When they left they made a half-hearted cleanup and managed to get the government to sign a document that clearance was ok. Today there is oil in rivers and canals. There are open basins with oil that contaminates the area and because of all this; people are suffering from sicknesses. A mother was interviewed in the program; both she and her daughter had cancer.

A lawsuit has been going on for many years against Texaco. The lawyer from Chevron was interviewed and showed no understanding or concern at all. He said “We have signed a legal document. This is not our business. The tribes just want to make some money on this”. Texaco earned millions of dollars, but left the place in a mess. Now they spend money on attorneys instead of taking responsibility for their exploitation.

So Chevron has a signed, legal document that says: “we are not guilty”. In business a legal document is very real. But there is something greater than the business world, something that encompasses market economy and that is life itself. Is it enough to have a signed paper? Is a legal paper the final authority? In a fragmented world view, yes, but I would say that Texaco is still guilty in a larger perspective. To have a narrow view of the world is really dangerous. The capital has its rules, but they cannot be allowed to violate the rules of life. Seeing the whole picture is the only right perspective. We have a saying in Sweden that you shouldn’t cut off the branch you’re sitting on. How true isn’t that!

I would have loved to find some email-addresses to the fighters over there; don’t give up. Your fight for your rights has echoed all the way to Sweden. What can we do?

My youngest son Albin, discussed with me the other day the fact that stores all over Sweden are beginning to sell ecological alternatives. What is the real motivation behind, he asked me? Is it because they are concerned about our environment or is it because people are asking for these kinds of products? If you are in business, you look for opportunities to sell. If there is a demand and you have the capabilities, you want to offer products accordingly. In the last year things have changed in Sweden. Customers are looking for eco-products and small and big stores are competing to offer the soundest alternatives. There are many more or less defined labels; for example eco-something and fair-trade.

Hopefully, the definition of the labels will not be diluted. When something becomes mainstream, not every offer is what you think it is. When we have reached one level of fair and ecological trade, there is a danger that we as customers relax because our conscious feels better. Likewise, businesses relax because they continue to make money feeling somewhat altruistic. The motivation is still centered on ourselves and on our needs, on the consequences for ourselves. A bad conscience is a weak force. A relief means that we stop moving forward and true innovation stops.

I believe we need a deeper conviction, a persuasion that has become an inseparable part of us. Even if the consequences turn out bad at first, we insist because we believe. Passionate conviction is powerful. Conviction mixed with passion means that we will not be mere spectators, but become involved. To believe in something is really to act.

We can be thankful for the people in history that believed passionately in democracy, in women’s rights, in children’s rights, in poor people’s rights. They did not stop; they pushed on, because of their conviction. They were creative, they found new ways, and they conquered governments and continued in spite of oppression.

Think about this being in us also. In the small things; we might choose a more expensive alternative because of ecological or fair trade reasons. We might choose a different kind of lifestyle. Business might choose less return of investment because of sustainable reasons.

In a bigger perspective; I have a feeling that creativity can be unleashed because of our persuasion. We can reach a new level of innovation and start to find new ways of solving our problems. Egocentric innovation is not as powerful as collaborative innovation. Monocultural innovation is not as powerful as multicultural. If we are convinced we will press a little harder, we will endure a little more and we will strive a little longer. I believe, we will discover that taking responsibility for air and water will not drain our economy in the long run. Taking responsibility pays back.

Those motivated by conviction took the first step. The others followed. Who is going to take next step? Those motivated by strong conviction.

How can I develop this passionate conviction, I said to myself? The answer that came to my mind was; “touch the reality”. Touch the reality by nakedly facing the fate of the earth and the daily lives of the majority of the people of the earth. It can be a fearful encounter. But it can also be powerful. I will challenge myself to touch other countries and other cultures. Shifting the center from my world to the outside world. Ouch!