The Economics of Syntony in Action

Oct 20, 2021 | In Syntony

A conversation with Hazel Henderson on the Love Economy 

It was great to share the stage with Hazel. She spoke about the Love Economy as a system of caring for all productive work. I like that. Especially as it relates to the work of women in many societies where their contributions are traditionally seen as volunteer and invisible work. It reminded me of this quote I saw the other day:

“The majority of our mental load and emotional labor as modern-day mothers comes from constantly and creatively trying to piece together some semblance of a village, stepping into roles meant to be filled by other village members, and unconsciously grieving this soul-crushing loss (which is hidden in plain sight). We hugely underestimate the weight of villagelessness on mothers.” ~ Beth Berry (@revolutionfromhome)

Tru dat. The moderator, Rick Ulfik (of We, The World) asked us whether we can build an economy that works for all. Basically, we agreed with the quote from Mahatma Gandhi that “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed” — especially if we learn how to follow the patterns and processes of nature.

How do we remember that? I mean, it seems as though we’ve forgotten this simple truth… That’s why I like the Solarpunk Movement — it frames the future in terms of nature’s abundance and in terms of empathy and altruism, not in terms of the mistaken notions of survival of the fittest and cut-throat competition.

Ethical aspects of inclusive economics 

This is at the heart of syntony, after all. It’s just a matter of what messages we choose to tune into, as Rick pointed out and Hazel reinforced with mention of her Ethical Markets Media program. Jack Strasburg (Coordinator for We, The World’s Economic Justice Campaign) mentioned the Ecological Footprint (developed by my friend Mathis Wackernagel) and the Global Footprint Network (of which he is President). Yes, indeed. A tremendously valuable tool, no doubt. And
 it only measures all the damage we are doing. My friend Kathryn (Bottrell) Ananda of Australia has developed the Positive Handprint as an alternative (but complementary) measure of all the positive, life-affirming, future-creating, opportunity-increasing activities we do/make/are. I love that idea since it feeds into that evolutionary narrative of the type of Solarpunk future we know is possible.

How do we know? By using our syntony sense. By remembering that we are part of a grand narrative of the cosmos becoming. By knowing that we are the most highly sensitive instrument ever produced on this planet to tune into those Positive Handprint type engagements with life. And by harkening to that poetic Spanish phrase of recuerdos del porvenir — memories of things yet to come. This is the syntony potential that we can grow into, that we can elicit, that we can help emerge and flourish. If we listen for it with our syntony sense attuned…

Later… I thought about how much my brother Chris Laszlo is doing in this area.  His work truly informs and is informed by a deep understanding of what it means to engage in productive processes that contribute to the narrative of flourishing in our world.  His work at Case Western Reserve University as professor of Organizational Behavior and as an independent author on such topics as quantum leadership, flourishing enterprise, and sustainable value generation make him a leading authority on the emergence of this new paradigm in business and economics.  It is wonderful to be so connected and intertwingled with people who are truly being the systems they want to see in the world!  What an amazing experience to have ventured into this area myself, knowing that others are far more knowledgeable and able to work with it than I am.  But just knowing that they are there, and that I am connected with them — from Chris to Hazel to you right now — is what makes this co-emergent narrative so magical, so possible, so real.  Syntony in action!

I wrote this reflection soon after having participated in this event: 11 Days of Global Unity Summit 2021

Day 4 – Economic Justice – Virtual Summit: “Can We Create an Economy That Works for All?” Featuring — Hazel Henderson and Alexander Laszlo. 14 September 2021 at 1PM Eastern Time

Watch Recording at:

Educational Transformation — From Blueprint to Action Plan

Sep 15, 2021 | Evolutionary Learning

This was an amazing event:

The «8th International r3.0 Conference» on “Thresholds of Transformation – Piloting Regenerative and Distributive Economies and Cultures”.  I was on a panel dedicated to Education & Governance – Necessary Systemic Transformation of Education together with Dr. Anneloes Smitsman – https://conference2021.r3-0.org/agenda/#plenary4  

It felt like we were engaged in a conversation about learning how really to “be the change we want to see in the world” – together!  

A conversation about how to emerge a learning society

What was so wonderful about this is that we had worked really hard on putting together a major report, under Anneloes’s leadership, called the «Educational Transformation Blueprint» which you can access and download here – https://www.r3-0.org/blueprint-9-et/.  And now this conference was like harvest time!  We could share what we did and why it felt so important, and that somehow created a field of joy.  It felt like I was in a warm ocean, one that we had helped well up and populated with all sorts of amazing sea creatures in the form of ideas, themes and entire chapters that formed this narrative of change.  

The change we were focused on related directly to the work of the organization that was putting on the show: the r3.0 Organization, developed and headed up by Ralph Thurm and Bill Baue.  Through it, we got deeply involved in exploring redesign for resilience and regeneration for a green, inclusive, and open economy, and in this particular case, an educational transformation blueprint to help guide our way into a true learning society.  

Reflections from a conference dialogue on the future of education

More than just a simple blueprint for the future of education, this report – and the conference event to mark its release – provided a set of binoculars to explore the emerging horizon of educational transformation.  In addition, it provided a good set of sails to catch the winds of change, and a handy and practical compass by which to navigate the sea change it involves.  The Educational Transformation Blueprint charts out the life-long and life-wide learning that heralds a new era in empathy-oriented education based on relational intelligence.  From a systems perspective, this is the power of syntony as an organizing force for the comprehensive redesign of educational systems, and indeed, of societal systems in the living and breathing context of our ecosystemic world.   

Link to “8th International r3.0 Conference“ event on Events Page

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