The Rhythms and Rituals (our Being and Doing)
Bongi: Updated. Edited to move towards plain english, readability and a more logical narrative. Developed rhythms to link to supporting future DHO's more clearly and succinctly a the end + incorporated recent proposals/potential.
Rhythms
Over the first few months of its existence, Samara created these Rhythms:
Wednesdays: Roots call (governance, funding, compensation, etc)
Thursdays: Trunk call (overlap and alignment of Roots and Branches
Fridays: Branches call (regional pilots, outreach, engagement, etc)
Plus various pod calls and ad hoc calls, often but not always between noon and 5pm UTC.
Regular call Rhythm:
- Each call starts with a minute of silence to settle into the space.
- The beginning and end of the minute is marked with a sound from a singing bowl, sacred rattle, or similar.
- This is followed by check-ins, so we acknowledge and own any tensions or joys that we are bringing into the collective field (and if these are not named, there is a good chance that our resident shaman, Justin, will pick them up and name them anyway - we appreciate you, Justin!).
- A facilitator is then voted in unless a longer term regular facilitator was already chosen. This is done with awareness of the check-ins and opt-outs aired. The method is everyone typing a name and a countdown with simultaneous sending. There is a round of check-outs at the end of the call.
Anneloes: In the call process, I didn't see any reference to setting a conscious intention in the beginning of the call? There is mention of owning the tension, but is there also an intention of process for transforming the intentions by the coherence of the group -i.e. a symbolic cauldron or sacred fire in which the tensions can be transmuted.
The organization faces the challenges of reconciling many interconnected variables:
- Time zones (from New Zealand to California)
- Tolerance for keeping unusual hours
- Commitments to family, self-care, other projects, etc.
- The necessity of paid work outside of Samara pending remuneration within Samara
- Varying needs for forward planning ("let's have a meeting now!" / "I can fit you in a week on Tuesday")
- Varying needs for yang-time and yin-time ("I'm available for action whenever needed" / "I can be active for a while, but then need time to consolidate and/or do deep work")
Emerging patterns and considerations for future Rhythms and Rituals:
Like Seeds, Samara recognizes the waxing moon for and contraction. The waxing moon stands for expansion/activity and calls for yang. The waning moon stands for reflection/consolidating and calls for Yin. Samara hopes to start using this Rhythm in some ways, but to plan projects on a longer cycle. Our aim is to discover the rhythm that will emerge to best facilitate:
- Our creative and project needs.
- Our emerging purpose.
We also want to discover which are best made regular and which to apply at activation events. There are current proposals to use dynamically applied sensing sessions and metrics. These aim to check when the threat response is starting to increase in the group. This is not simply a case of changing the external of the group or individual to lessen the felt threat. It is also about having explicit agreed processes to create safety and learning and growth out of each opportunity for each member of an org.
Having clear pathways to respond, in the right way, at the right time: these are models and evolutions we are sensing into.
Bongi: The below is probably for complete removal. At the moment this is some of my synthesizing of only a few ideas heard from you all here and linking to Hypha. I can't see a way to shorten/consolidate without others voices here as I don't know how it reads/links/integrates yet etc.
There is recent talk about taking inspiration from the SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness). Aims:
- Create processes that prevent or reduce a threat response in an individual on a group level.
- (Outside in change: external 3rd person change > Individual 2nd & 1st person internal change > org wide internal change)
- Agree standard learning processes; to help members grow and gain more insight 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 game rules for each stage.
This is 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.
- A model which is identified and refined from a deeply imbedded, pervasive and longstanding pattern that already defines behaviour and perception. These 'monomyths' are just that.
The Hero/Heroine's Journey is an Emergent model. It has 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 properties.
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 the 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. That internal balance aside, there may still be primary functions and resonant cycles depending on the purpose of a DHO.
Joachim has pointed out that Samara does most of its work within calls, while Hypha uses calls more to verify work done asynchronously in between calls. In the future, Samara may wish to shift more towards this pattern. We could explore whether it seems more effective and productive, and/or enables Samarans further to the east and to the west to catch up on some sleep (!).
There is also the possibility 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 the synergy to their own context.
Consider the huge wave of organisational change on the horizon.
Consider unknown numbers of DHO's forming just 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 some of 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 more fundamental across the network and yet unique in each case?