After the fall - rising rooted together.

We as humanity have lost the plot - as a consequence we've fallen from the grace of life's creative evolutionary process. It's time to return to our true identity - to participate in life's deep regenerative nature.

According to holistic practitioner, Daniel Christian Wahl, holistic practice should aim to enable regenerative cultures. We are calling this process ‘becoming re-indigenous’ - immersing again into life’s natural processes and then rising rooted together.

Global crisis

We find ourselves at a juncture where the evolution of consciousness to holistic practice, is not just a choice but a pressing necessity. This urgency arises from the looming prospect of a global crisis, both human and environmental, which appears more imminent with each passing day.?

Ecological disruption

Sir David Attenborough's warning to the UN Security Council that we can no longer evade the consequences of ecological disruption places fresh demands on holistic practitioners to assist in guiding society as it adapts to increasing turmoil. However the deeply vested interest in the prevailing political and economic status quo mitigates against our political and economic institutions contributing to top-down fundamental systemic change beyond ‘green-washing’. For example a recently released August 2023 report from Oxford University shows that fossil fuel producers have overshot climate targets. This harsh reality inevitably calls for bottom-up approaches.

Invitation to a conversation

In the fourth and final free 90-minute session of our Holos-Earth Project Summer Programme 2026 we’ll be exploring? the critical opportunity for humanity:?

‘Becoming Re-Indigenous - Rising Rooted Together.’

Coming Wednesday13th September 2023 - 18h00 BST (London)

Click on this link to register for this free event and?access a pre-recorded interview with Daniel Christian Wahl:?https://holos-earth.org/event/session-4-of-4-summer-with-daniel-christian-wahl-becoming-indigenous/

Rather than focusing attempts to design a sustainable future, our Holos-Earth Project exploration revolves around the empowerment and application of local agency. Since it involves navigating uncertainties and fostering effective participation, Daniel, whose practice and insights we've been exploring in our Summer Sessions, argues that achieving sustainability is not enough. He proposes that holistic practice should aim to enable regenerative cultures. We are calling this process ‘becoming re-indigenous’ - immersing again into life’s natural processes and then rising rooted together.

Our exploration has been about?finding new a more appropriate and co-creative ways?to respond to our escalating challenges and optimise the evolutionary potential implicit in addressing them.??

In this fourth and final session in the series, with the knowledgeable and deep facilitation skills of Yingzhao Liu, we’ll engage in further conversation on the topic of?‘becoming re-indigenous’. Building on our preceding examination of Daniel Wahl’s insights, around regenerative and holistic design principles, we’ll delve in the notion of rediscovering genius in the?community.? ?

Futility of prediction and control

According to philosopher and complexity thinker, Rhett Gayle, endeavours rooted in absolute prediction and control are only achievable within systems devoid of life, thus holistic practice shifts its focus. Rather than attempting to manipulate conditions to attain a sustainable world, he concurs it centres on enabling regenerative cultures. The concept of regeneration operates on a different plane, one that doesn't demand the same degree of control and predictability.?

“A regenerative approach aligns more harmoniously with the rhythms of life and adaptation. In the realm of regeneration, the act of living begets the potential for further life, even amidst the flux of unpredictable circumstances.”

Holistic practice

Holistic thinking emerges as the reflective component in the process of designing regenerative cultures. For Rhett crucially this mode of reflection, while enabling foresight, doesn't aspire to absolute foreknowledge. This understanding can form the basis for our exploration of reframing the notion of 'transitioning to a sustainable world' into 'designing regenerative cultures.'

Holistic design

Prof. Terry Irwin emphasises that holistic complex systems design and planning require novel principles and practices that incorporate continuous co-design and adaptability. This aligns with Daniel's view that co-designing complex systems is an ongoing process, as nature is in a constant state of change, and adaptations must accommodate both short- and long-term shifts.

Author Michael Jackson additionally introduces human subjectivity, into his notion of creative holism. He emphasises the benefit of holism in developing theoretical awareness whilst recognising that knowledge is inherently partial and influenced by our adopted worldview. This insight aligns with complexity thinker, Paul Cilliers, who observed that all complex systems have memory and ‘history,’. This insight underscores the importance of evaluating the paradigms that shape our world views.?

We are integral to the systems in which we intervene

Holistic practice integrates the emergence of novelty into it’s thinking and acknowledges that practitioners are integral parts of the systems in which interventions occur. This stance can lead to a deeper awareness of the ‘intelligence’ and ‘purposiveness’ of the systems we interact with. Intervention transforms into collaboration, focusing on enabling the further evolution of the system rather than merely fixing it.

Intuition and feelings

With systems thinking having evolved into complexity theory, a new scientific lens is offered through which to perceive the world. Holistic teacher Brian Goodwin (according to Daniel Wahl) emphasised that when working with complex systems, practitioners must engage their intuition and feelings as essential components of intelligence for comprehending and sensing the dynamics at play.

Spiritual intelligence

In similar vein authors Bilder and Knudsen emphasise the need to shift from linear deterministic approaches to those that encompass emotional, cultural, and spiritual intelligence. What this challenge hints at is a deeper shift with holistic? practice from typically advocated enhanced interpersonal skills, to Titch Nhat Hanh’s insight of ‘interbeing’ as the deeper experience of wholeness.

Place-based

The concept of regenerative cultures is inherently tied to specific places, marked by their own complexity, dynamism, and unpredictability. As places are intimately intertwined with human agency, the scale of feedback loops becomes critical for meaningful and impactful human actions. Engaging with a place implies a fundamental interaction with nature, either in a de-generative or regenerative manner. Hence, the holistic perspective continually underscores the dynamic and participatory nature of our roles. Developing the reflexive capacity to identify effective practices in local conditions for future application, adjusting as necessary, or transforming them, lies at the heart of place-based regenerative cultures.

Community genius

The intention with the Holos-Earth sessions with Daniel Christian Wahl has been exploring coming to a deeper way of being. We have trusted that in sharing the holistic way of being with each other, in big and small ways, we might yet discover that genius actually lies in the community.

That is why?we have shared the profound interview recordings to offer his knowledge and experience in regenerative holistic practice. In a seemingly unravelling world, we have examined place-based participation to enable genuine wellbeing. This framework is offered as the only real way to enhance our capacity to become aware of, and engage with, emerging properties that accompany increasing complexity.?

Invitation to a conversation

In the fourth and final free 90-minute session of our Holos-Earth Project Summer Programme 2026 we’ll be exploring? the critical opportunity for humanity:?

‘Becoming Re-Indigenous - Rising Rooted Together.’

13th September 2023 - 18h00 to 19h30 BST (London)

Click on this link to register and?access a pre-recorded interview with Daniel Christian Wahl:?https://holos-earth.org/event/session-4-of-4-summer-with-daniel-christian-wahl-becoming-indigenous/

Join Wednesday's conversation

Yingzhao Liu will facilitate conversation around two key topics:

* What are unselfconscious expressions of being indigenous?

* How do we apply??regenerative and holistic design principles?

Yingzhao will share insights into:

? Design from fractals--starting from diversity

? Design from desire--active hope

? Design from sufficiency--how do we act when there's no sense of lack?

? Design to unlearn--contrasting leadership?with eldership?

? Biomimicry--organising ourselves in networks/webs, instead of hierarchies?

With our?Summer Programme, which we have subtitled?Conversations On the Way, we also begin our journey to the?Holism & Evolution Festival 2026?where we will celebrate 100 years of the publication of Jan Christian Smuts’ seminal work?Holism & Evolution?(1926). For further information on the Festival go to this link: https://holos-earth.org/pilgrimage-to-wholeness/

You are invited to join our pilgrimage which is about discovering how to collaborate joyfully in co-creating a future of wholeness.

?Register here: ?https://holos-earth.org/event/session-4-of-4-summer-with-daniel-christian-wahl-becoming-indigenous/

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