A slight change of plans this week to accommodate new emergence. The Hedonic Engineering post will be released next week. Recently, in a 4-hour creative flowstate, a declaration was born. It speaks to how I currently think and feel, and it's an important signal for others who feel the same. The declaration is shared in full below, and then I elaborate on each point in more detail in the second half. Enjoy. š
ā”ļø "Thereās a way to do it differentlyā¦"
Itās not primitive. Itās progressive.
Itās artful. Thoughtful. Playful. Mindful.
Itās possible.
So, what does it look like?
All of it.
Financial systems. Materials Economy. Culture. Governance. Civilization.
Top down control is unnatural.
Emergence is not chaos. Itās creative evolution. š§¬
The answer isnāt a sound bite. Itās not a binary option. It canāt be bottled up. It's a living thesis, a disciplined pursuit.
Itās a Way of Being; your life is your answer.
You canāt rush genius.
True mastery is cultivated. Only friction creates sparks.
So please, sit, have some tea. šµ
Any answer worth hearing is not over quickly.
But Iām listening. I want your best response. Show me your School of Thought. Embody your Answer.
Bring your best, because you know Iāve been training: www.edgeofbeing.org / www.phoenixculture.org
Welcome to the Dojo, partner. ā©
š§ Exploring the Manifesto
"Thereās a way to do it differentlyā¦" | This is the creative spark. The origin point of every major shift humanity has ever experienced. Music, language, democracy, clean energy, communities, cultures, countries. This is the ethos of the creative urge. A deep Knowing that a different way is possible. This is the 'Think Different' campaign personified. Everything begins with the acknowledgement of this possibility, this feeling, this knowing. Just because it is the status quo does not make it the best answer we have. Embrace the possibility of the new.
Itās not primitive. Itās progressive. | It's not a step backwards, it's a bold movement forward. Though it may look on the surface to be a rejection of the old, it's truly an embrace of the new. A welcome invitaiton to the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. Minimalism is not dumb simplicty, it's refinement. Eco-friendly is not hippie nonsense, it's deep symbiosis with nature. These movements will often be seen as archaic and primitive, but in truth they are bold steps forward.
Itās artful. Thoughtful. Playful. Mindful. | Who told you that life was meant to be arduous and ugly? Anything worth pursuing is beautiful, thoughtful, steeped in the wisdom of the past and the love of the future. It's playful, open, and bold. Any evolution worth embracing contains all of these characteristics and more.
Itās possible. | Possibility is the starting point of any change. You must first believe that it can happen. That doesn't mean you know exactly what it looks like, but it requires a deep Trust that it can happen. If you don't believe it's possible, you'll never try. A felt sense of possibility is where all change begins.
So, what does it look like? | Possibility is only the starting point. Theories and ideas only carry you so far. You must ground the possibility and potential in the world. To generate real proposals and take massive courageous action to make it real. What are the specifics? What are the techniques? Expand on your vision, ground it in reality, begin to build from your inner knowing.
All of it. | All change is identity-level change. Any change, no matter how small, fundamentally changes the entirety of existence. If your consideration doesn't address all of it, it will fail. This is also an invitation to think as big as possible. What does a new culture, a new everything, really look like? You know it's possible, now show us what it looks like.
Financial systems. Materials Economy. Culture. Governance. Civilization. | These are the main drivers of the world-as-we-know-it. If you are to usher in the more beautiful world, all of these must be addressed. What does the next evolution of these core drivers look like? This is the origin of democracy, the origins of the Western and Eastern worlds. Share what they look like, outline what they are striving towards, and demonstrate what they look like in practice.
Top down control is unnatural. | Anything that requires force and coercion to enforce and maintain is unnatural. Nature and Reality need no top down control to reach and maintain equillibrium. Any response that requires this is doomed to fail. It leads to oppression, and crushes the Soul of the Individual and the Collective. Rigid hierarchy is outdated. This cannot be part of the design criteria.
Emergence is not chaos. Itās creative evolution. š§¬ | Maintaining outdated systems merely leads to stagnation. New ideas and changes are not mere chaos, designed to ruin everything you know and love. This is how evolution itself works. New ideas are presented, integrated, and a new iteration is born as a result. This is how your body, your culture, your country, your Earth has progressed since the day it was born. Though humanity has been trapped in a "business-as-usual" frame for far too long. We must embrace the emergent, the new ways of Being that wish to arise through us. Emergence is evolution, it must be embraced and facilitated.
The answer isnāt a sound bite. Itās not a binary option. It canāt be bottled up. Its a living thesis, a disciplined pursuit. | Too often people look for the 1 minute explanation. The 'yes' or 'no', black or white response. The emergent culture can't be bottled up nicely and sold back to those willing to pay for it ā it's an open-ended question. It's a Martial Art. A practice that is cultivated, ideas that are tested and refined throughout the course of training and creating. You must be able to hold complexity and respond to thoughtful criticism. The world today loves the easy, the immediate, the convenient. The level of shift required now is none of these. You can't ask for the diluted, dumbed-down version of this. Rise to the occasion, enter the sparring match of ideas, and like the steel that is beaten into a sword, help create the strongest ideas possible.
Itās a Way of Being; your life is your answer. | A new way of living and organizing is exactly that, a new Way of Being. It is the very fabric of your existence and experience. The way you live, the things you value, the relationships you cultivate, the ideas you support ā these are your answers to the world you want to live in. It's an ongoing movement, a pursuit of the highest and most beautiful ideas you can muster. Your answer is your action. Do the best you can until you know better, and once you know better, do better.
You canāt rush genius. | Mozart's symposiums weren't made overnight. True genius doesn't arrive on a deadline. It is refined, edited, stylized, and perfected over time. We need genius responses, and you can't rush genius. It must have time to breathe, to refine itself, to emerge naturally. Nature is the archetypal genius, and it moves exactly as fast as it moves. No faster, and no slower.
True mastery is cultivated. Only friction creates sparks. | Mastery is a skill. You can hone your Way of Being into greater and deeper alignment with your Vision and Possibilites. Friction is required to generate the best response, to create the highest level of skill. You must enter the sparring match of ideas. Bring your best, and hammer it out. Find what works, discard the rest, add what is uniquely your own. Mastery is not an easy process, but it is exactly what is required.
So please, sit, have some tea. šµ | Sitting for tea is the ultimate metaphor. Coffee leads to jitters, focused on simply maximizing output-per-hour. Implementing ideas before they were refined and edited is exactly what has gotten us into this mess. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Tea is slow. It is intentional, graceful, welcoming, open. Differences in opinions and ideas can be confronting ā the metaphor of sitting down for tea is an invitation for a conversation, to tease out the truly best. To have good-faith conversations. To welcome your opponent as your brother. This is a collective effort, and comraderie is essential. Invite your intellectual sparring opponents for tea, welcome them into your School of Thought, and train together to see which answers survive the evolutionary process.
Any answer worth hearing is not over quickly. | Anyone who provides a quick answer has not thought it through. Simple answers lack depth and rigour. I'm not interested in the ideological sound-bites of your chosen Identity Tribe, these are superfluous and weak. Any response that has been given the time to evolve, to hone its strength, to explore its depths is filled with critiques, explorations, contingencies, tangents, and dependents. Any answer worth hearing, any answer that has been given the depth of thought required, is one that is not bottled up into a convenient sound bite. These points require nuance.
But Iām listening. I want your best response. Show me your School of Thought. Embody your Answer. | Not everyone wants to hear what you have to say, though there are some who are also on this path of Creative Mastery. And I am listening. Tell me your ideas for the future, give me the explanations of how to redesign everything. Show me your proposals. And because this is a Way of Being ā you must embody your answer. Ideas without action is insufficient. Show me, through your very existence, the kind of world that you wish to live in.
Bring your best, because you know Iāve been training: www.edgeofbeing.org / www.phoenixculture.org. | You do no one any favours by holding back your punches. You lift each other to new heights by bringing your level-best. Don't pity your sparring partner, truly serve them and yourself by bringing your best. Just because you have an idea doesn't mean everyone needs to accept it. All members become better by testing and hammering out their ideas. This is akin to Martial Arts training. Practice your School, your Way, individually, and then enter the ring to test your answer against others from different Schools, different Ways. See how your response holds up against Reality, and refine it as you engage deeply in the world. These are good-faith competitions. Small, finite games nested within the One Infinite game. I believe in you, I will not hold back. If you are ready, we are ready for you.
Welcome to the Dojo, partner. ā© | Humanity is a team game. Though we may sparring opponents in one instance, we are partners for each other. I am here to elevate your thinking, to hone your skills, and you do the same for me. We are partners, finding the best Schools of Thought and Ways of Being, to move humanity towards the more beautiful world that is possible. It is only together that we can achieve this. So thank you partner, for being here, for honouring me, yourself, and all of humanity in pursuing this creative evolution.
If you hear the call, if you want to enter the ring and steward a new culture and civilization, join me and the Phoenix Family. All are welcome. You can find more information here, and join the Dojo here.