Preface
If our Dedication ends with a commitment to tell a story that speaks to YOU, then this story should speak of something quintessential. What is the quintessential language of a good story? The Hero's Journey. When you hear of a HERO, what do you think of? Is it some muscly guy? A perfect being who breezes through to success? No. We all know no hero can speak to us without being as close as possible to our own experience and that the scale-able, viral stories and patterns that touch people all have something of the hero's journey in them.
We think you should think of YOU and US and the heroic acts that lead to a world that THRIVES as the the real Hero's in this story.
Enter DHerO's!
No organisational document would be complete without a glossary of terms, and this feels like just the right moment in the journey. Think of it as your Avatar's first tool pack:
Glossary of terms:
DHerO - Decentralized Human Organization that actually has what it takes to Save the World and discover the potion of Regeneration. Unlike old-world heroes, a DHerO is not about being the One and Only, but about being a being of belonging in the Connected and Co-Creative. DHerO's necessarily need to stick with it, learn from our Mentors, boldly go where the SHE-ROW's do (*See below) and stock up on the equipment, lamps and clothing they need to enter the caves and emerge into a new dawn.
HERO - Holonic Echo of a truly Regenerative Organization that succeeds.
SHE-ROW - Our very own Roz Savage in her rowing journey, which was a quintessential hero's journey driven by a Massive Transformative Purpose. See her personal story chapter in this book to hear how she links the journey in Samara with the lessons of that monumental and heroic effort. What if we could all contribute fuelled by a massive transformative purpose moment-to-moment, day-to-day? How do we transfer that DNA to the DHerO's being drawn to this Regen-aissance world in droves?
Samara is an incipient DHerO and we see that modelling the DHerO's Journey is a large part of our mission, whether these DHerO's journey to the sky palaces of new realms of thought and synchronicity, the engineer's caves of new systems and technology or the far flung regions of local villages, open fields and bustling market places.
We are here to birth a new Generation of DHerO's who can anticipate and map the journey, put on the right clothes and tools for the terrain and accept the hard knocks inherent in any worthwhile journey to come out stronger in the end. Along with these tools that set them off on the adventure, we must also, perhaps most importantly face new DHerO's with the kind of radical honesty, wisdom and context which will call to the Commitment, the Heart and the Perspective they need to never give up, adapt and overcome. Every DHO is a DHerO if they learn to do these things and commit to the journey while recognizing each stage is part of the cycle.
A DHerO's journey is a journey into complexity, which is fundamentally different from an old-world engineering project based in predict and control. Hear our Afro-Indian-Caucasian philosopher Bongi speak to this fundamental shift in approach:
So how did Samara's DHerO's journey begin and what can we learn which can up-level new HERO's, SHE-ROW's and baby or embryo DHerO's in the Regenerative Renaissance World?
This book itself is a template for this Journey. 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!)
Just like the forest, this book started as a twinkle in someone's eye, which sparked an idea and flowed into a newly planted field.
The light from that spark permeated this field-which-became-a-forest when I became WE. This began the co-creative process.
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 heroes 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 clear 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 decentralise 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 realise their gifts and identity without every feature of a complete journey.
We hope that like all good stories, this one captures you enough that the words fall away, the characters disappear and you find it speaking to your own hero, your own mentor, your own cave and the threads that have meaning to YOU when you look out towards the phenomena of organizations, DHO's, Movements and the Regenerative Renaissance. May this story live on in you and birth the quiet dreaming of the soil of the Regenerative Renaissance into something Real.