Archived: Stroll in the Forest, SCARF, Hero's Journey
Walk in forest:
In fact, the very idea for this book started with a gentle stroll through a forest, a virtual forest that is..
(click on the image to enter the forest and contact a Samarian if you want some company!)
As stewards of this forest we are seeking, (just like you are seeking in your stewardship in many areas) to nurture and learn in a way which supports a diverse and dynamic environment. May this environment serve multiple needs on multiple levels, but particularly the regenerative needs for growth and contribution, so that we can manifest the purpose that holds us together.
Like any good book (story, journey, cycle, creation), this is one that speaks of the Hero's Journey in each of us. It's about a beginning which calls us to act, the finding of a tribe, the meeting with a mentor, the inspiration to climb and the willingness to commit to going through the cave together to emerge into something new.
This journey is very new for Samara (ns), but already this universal pattern is playing out and the journey has fundamentally changed each individual who has stepped into it. The something new is emerging and we want you to walk through and out of the cave beside us into another dawn, familiar, but alive and new.
Inevitably diversity implies a greater variety of different points of view and this is a fundamental dynamic in any group, let alone those that seek to decentralize control, decisions and power and distribute authority. No story would be complete without seeing all the stages in a cycle and no D-HERO can realize their gifts and identity without every feature of a complete journey.
SCARF, Hero/Heroine's journey and other models: Synergy with SEEDS as part of org DNA.
There is recent talk about taking inspiration from the SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness). Aims:
- Create processes on a group level that prevent or reduce a threat response in the individual.
- (Outside in change: external 3rd person change > Individual 2nd & 1st person internal change > org wide internal change)
- Agree standard learning processes specifically for higher/lower threat scan results; to help members grow and gain more insight as a result of tensions.
- (Inside out change: Internal Individual 1st person change > Internal Group 2nd person change > external 3rd person learning recorded)
The Heroine's/Hero's Journey could be used to judge the right time to use different tools and methods. At the same time it could help Samarans to sense into and align around the stages we are going through. It could help members and different sub-groups to respond with awareness and acceptance of appropriate co-created, agreed game rules for each stage.
The hero/heroine's journeys are easy to see as just another model or methodology.
There is a fundamental difference, however, between these two types of modelling:
- A model that is formed to be applied to a specific set of circumstances or contexts. We see this with multiple highly effective models designed for a purpose. Some of these are widely applicable, but still 'outside-in' formulated.
- A model which is identified and refined from a deeply embedded, pervasive and longstanding pattern that already defines behavior and perception. These 'mono-myths' are just that. These journey descriptions and phases describe the most basic cycles humans go through and how the subconscious parts of our system perceives learning and success.
The Hero/Heroine's Journey is an Emergent model. It has an ideal use case: determining how and when to use other models, tools, processes and cultural values. Checking what is happening in this way (which builds on Hypha's 'org scan' process), would channel rhythms dynamically to create safety or many other desired regenerative organisational 'states'.
This dynamic way of adjusting rhythm:
- Still gives structure and direction
- Explicitly encourages a sense-and-respond process
- Could prove useful in allowing flexible, yet fundamentally patterned tools for new DHO's.
It is interesting to reflect on this and see that Hypha seems to have more of a masculine cycle, at least with their focus on building and launching tools and services. Samara has created a much more feminine space for emergence and quality. Obviously any organization must balance masculine and feminine in order to both sense and act in balance. An organization which is too stuck in action is missing opportunities and growth and an organisation too focused on sensing may be too slow or ineffective. Some DHO's will need to be primarily more masculine or feminine in quality depending on their purpose and activities.
It would also be possible to combine these dynamic methods with some of the regenerative and thrive-ability patterns named in the SEEDS Constitution. The Constitution Part 1 is a compass, which is already used by many to navigate and actualize within the game of SEEDS.
For example, the three principles of life (article 3 of the Constitution) relates to the expansion and contraction mentioned above in Samara. These are held and nurtured by the 4 suns (external) and 4 moons (inward) - which make the 8 values.
"ARTICLE 3 - PRINCIPLES OF LIFE 3.0
This Constitution is our compass for guiding how SEEDS grows, develops, and evolves in harmony with the evolutionary process of life, based on three essential life principles:
3.1 We acknowledge how our universe exists and evolves as a single unified entity, an undividable wholeness. The universe is a single being.
3.1.1 This evolutionary principle helps us understand how we each form part of that wholeness and how to design and relate from this wholeness.
3.2 We acknowledge how our universe evolves coherently and is finely tuned to make life possible. The universe evolves through deepening coherence and increasing complexity.
3.2.1 This evolutionary principle guides us how to evolve and embody complexity in a way that is coherent with the wisdom of life, to finely tune our systems to become more generative (as opposed to the degenerative growth of dominating systems).
3.3 We acknowledge our universe as an expression of consciousness, a continual learning journey of discovery through which we develop our capacities to thrive together. We actualize our consciousness by learning, experimenting, collaborating, and sharing together.
3.3.1 This evolutionary principle reminds us to honour systemic autonomy and autopoiesis (self-creation, regulation and adaptation) in the way we grow, expand and evolve this Renaissance as a consciousness increasing process."
A final question: how would this apply in a more outreach/seeds spreading facing org like Samara, which does not primarily focus on building tools like Hypha?
There are potential synergies here for collaboration with the Movement Building Circle within Hypha. Samara and MBC could be synergised in a way which links directly to the SEEDS constitution, while uniquely applying this synergy to their own context.
Consider the huge wave of organisational change on the horizon.
Consider unknown numbers of DHO's predicted to form very soon within the SEEDS ecosystem.
We have used the analogy of new DHO's forming as in the mitosis of cells. The forming of a new cell retains almost all of the original DNA. Is that the case here?
With numerous wildly differing DHO's forming and evolving their own DNA, what ties them all together? The ecosystem does in some ways. The origins do in others. How do we foster flexibility and a fundamental cohesiveness in the structural and operational realities across the network? How do we cohere our rhythms with something fundamental across the network and encourage a free and unique expression in each case?
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