It’s been hiding in plain sight. Here's some evidence.
Since we create our lives and experience through our world views and stories, an important purpose of the Cultural Butterfly Project is to give us new perspectives about the cultural stories we have been living by and see other possibilities.
For about 6,000 years we’ve been living the cultural story of the “empire culture”, which values acquiring, accumulating, and controlling. This shows up in every aspect of our lives, in which “things” (physical, material, money/financial, data/information, systems, etc.) are treated as more important and more valuable than nature, people, relationships, and Life itself.
Another possibility that's emerging is what I call a “butterfly culture”. It is regenerative and aligned with life, in "right relationship" and harmonious balance with all beings in a culture of respect for the well-being of all. This is a world that reflects our highest aspirations, our deepest desires, and our most life-giving dreams.
It’s obvious that our current world is crumbling in so many ways. What’s important to know is that while our old world is crumbling, our new world is developing and emerging.
This is not to dismiss the tremendous trauma and tragedies that are occurring in the world. In the face of all of that, it’s critical to activate a larger, life-aligned vision and energize a new cultural story in order to co-create the world we want as the old one unravels.
There are innumerable examples springing up of this emerging socio-economic cultural transformation that is creating new ways of living and working together. My new Kindle book Hiding In Plain Sight: Evidence of Our Life-Aligned, Regenerative Culture Emerging contains more than 200 specific examples with weblinks of actual on-the-ground, life-aligned, regenerative projects, programs, movements, and initiatives that have been and are occurring increasingly.
They show the socio-economic cultural transformation and paradigm shift taking place “below the radar” of mainstream news. These examples are showing up through the breakdowns and cracks in the “concrete” of our current structures and mindsets.
The examples with the references and website links are organized into the following sections. They are by no means exhaustive, and are not meant to be:
Section 1: New ways of relating to the Earth, ecology, climate, food, and agriculture
Section 2: New ways of relating to economics, working, and doing & being in business
Section 3: New ways of relating to ourselves, other people and other beings
Section 4: New ways of living and relating to our ”stuff” (clothing, houses, buildings, etc.)
Section 5: What Now? What’s Next?
As Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” May these examples help us have “new eyes.”
And as Iain McGilchrist says, "The kind of attention we pay to the world changes the world we pay attention to".
In that spirit, I invite you to take a look at Hiding In Plain Sight: Evidence of Our Life-Aligned, Regenerative Culture Emerging.
A final note: These challenging times are not just a speed bump. They are transformational, becoming a whole new road, and we build the road as we travel.
The path that brought us here goes no further.
Cultural butterflies, anyone?
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