Subject: A transpartisan philosophy
Date: Mon, Mar 24, 2014
Msg: 100807
From: List for transpartisan leaders and innovators [mailto:TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG] On Behalf Of Bruce Schuman Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 8:11 AM To: TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG Subject: Re: [TRANSPARTISAN] a transpartisan philosophy
Hi, good to hear from you, thanks.
I did mean to edit my message -- I did not merely "buy the Chickering/Turner book" ("Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life", da Vinci Press, 2008) -- I studied it carefully.
On butterflies --
Well, maybe you know that Barbara Marx Hubbard has been using the metaphor of the metamorphosing butterfly for many years -- "Our crisis is a birth" -- and I have been involved with her work for many years (running the "CEN" here in Santa Barbara -- "Conscious Evolution Network"). When I bought The Transpartisan Imperative, I went out to the office of da Vinci Press in Goleta and purchased it there in person.
On this theme of "shift" -- depending on who you ask, there's a lot of meanings -- and a lot of new-age gurus talking about it. I like what BMH says, but I'm interested in the opinions of many others. One strong overview of "shift" is Edmund Bourne's "Global Shift: How a New Worldview is Transforming Humanity", published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 2008. Other relevant books might include the venerable "Spiritual Politics" by Corrine McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson (first published 1994) and the recent book by Joseph McCormick's associate Franca Baroni, "On Governance" (Samsara Press, 2011) -- an intuitive overview of social contracts. "The new social contract is an understanding of the principles of how whole sustainable collective forms and systems are created and continuously recreated." (p53)
Another book I am looking at right now is "The More Beautiful World our Heart Knows is Possible", by Charles Eisenstein -- which, though I was originally a bit skeptical, I am finding to be beautifully written with a lot of careful detail.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WHOLE
Here locally, I am starting to build a connection with Rinaldo Brutoco's "World Business Academy" -- the mission of which is to encourage business to "take responsibility for the whole". He's a strong guy, and is currently the president of the Deepak Chopra Foundation -- and is bringing Deepak to Santa Barbara later this month, for some very substantial fund-raising. WBA has just released a report they commissioned on the dangers of nuclear power; they are helping to organize the movement to shut down Diablo Canyon -- the last operating nuclear plant in California.
I like these guys. They are real-world players -- and very widely connected. They are pushing for "shift" -- a shift in the consciousness of business leaders. They are convening a conference of "55 progressive business leaders" here in Santa Barbara -- I think it's next weekend.
A PERFECT STORM
One of the themes on their website -- introduced by evolutionary biologist (and BMH associate) Elizabet Sahtouris -- is this idea of "perfect storm" -- that somehow, all these "simultaneous interdependent crises are hitting at the same time". It's a long list of concerns - and well-documented by many writers.
What are we going to do about it?
If we're stuck in gridlock -- for who knows what or how many reasons -- we might be in really big trouble.
Transpartisanship -- as I see it -- is not optional.
It is -- as the Chickering/Turner book states in its title -- an imperative.
Thanks.
Bruce Schuman
SHARED PURPOSE: http://sharedpurpose.net
INTERSPIRIT: http://interspirit.net
(805) 966-9515, PO Box 23346, Santa Barbara CA 93101
-----Original Message----- From: Jim Turner [mailto:jim@swankin-turner.com] Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2014 9:59 PM To: Bruce Schuman; TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG Subject: RE: [TRANSPARTISAN] a transpartisan philosophy
When a caterpillar turns into a butterfly is that a "shift into successful new future - or shift into spiraling decay and collapse" or both or something else?
-----Original Message-----
From: List for transpartisan leaders and innovators [ mailto:TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG] On Behalf Of Bruce Schuman
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 6:11 PM
To: TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG
Subject: Re: [TRANSPARTISAN] a transpartisan philosophy
So good to see this project emerge - and so good to see the very substantial quality of its founders and participants.
For anyone who loves democracy and the freedom and creativity of the human spirit, this undertaking should seem very significant. The leaders who have convened this network represent important sources of hope and vision for the collective human future.
COCREATIVE
We have a lot to learn from each other - and it might be true that only by listening to and learning from one another can a substantial solution to "the crisis of democracy" emerge and become vital.
And it could also be true that "the great man theory of renaissance" isn't quite up to the task at the present moment - as we teeter at the edge of what many have called "the shift" - whether that is shift into successful new future - or shift into spiraling decay and collapse. Yes, it's helpful if one brilliant genius can bring 500 pieces into a single integral framework - and I'd guess we need proposals and visions in that format. But nobody can be expert on the full range of factors we are dealing with today.
So, yes, we need "memes" and good principles of dialog and strong theories of collective intelligence, and visions of "what integral means", and strong insights into the role of "holism" and "inclusion", and a mastery of all sorts of "democracy" - including anything "co-creative".
Today in the world, we are confronting a complex array of interconnecting "crises" - to which we must somehow respond collectively. But in the context of a gridlocked governance process - our responses to this hydra-headed crisis seem dangerously inadequate. I hear this every day from my friends invested in the environmental and new energy communities.
INFLUENCES
I am guessing that this sophisticated new group will prove fascinating and fertile. Many of the founders of this network have been directly influential in my life for years, and have shaped my thinking.
I first started working on these political themes about 2005 (with the publication of Joe Klein's "Politics Lost: How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid"), attended a number of meetings convened by Joseph McCormick, and have explored transpartisan visions ever since. I built purplealliance.us in 2010, worked for the Coffee Party for 18 months, joined NoLabels when it emerged, tried to help Occupy, bought the Chickering/Turner book, read everything from Tom Atlee, have spoken with Michael Ostrolenk, tried to push my "sharedpurpose" notions on Joan Blades, think of NCDD as "almost sacred", and am generally an advocate for "Living Room Conversations"...
BANDWIDTH
Today, following a long process of creative evolution, I am exploring the thesis that the biggest issues we are facing most essentially involve "cognitive overload" and bandwidth questions. Human beings have limited capacity to respond to complex issues - and when there are so many of them, so complexly intertwined, and coming at us so fast, we are numbed into a kind of "collective boiling frog" psychology. It's just too much for any of us, and identifying a common direction seems almost impossible.
As I see it, we need a high-bandwidth collective solution that can be driven by the relatively low bandwidth of individual human beings. For my money - that solution will demand an internet-based system that can handle huge complexity in bite-sized pieces human beings can handle.
And along the way - it's almost certainly true that the opinions and suggestions and life-work of the founders of this network will play a critical role in leading us all towards "a world that works for everyone".
Thanks so much.
Bruce Schuman
SHARED PURPOSE: http://sharedpurpose.net
INTERSPIRIT: http://interspirit.net
(805) 966-9515, PO Box 23346, Santa Barbara CA 93101
From: List for transpartisan leaders and innovators [ mailto:TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG] On Behalf Of Rickrad
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2014 11:05 AM
To: TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG
Subject: [TRANSPARTISAN] a transpartisan philosophy
Thanks for creating this transpartisan listserv!
My name is Rick Raddatz and I am a transpartisan political philosopher, about to transition (finally) into a transpartisan activist.
I would like to share a first-draft copy of a transpartisan political philosophy that was developed over the course of seven years of dialog and deliberation with hundreds of people representing all points of views on the political spectrum.
http://Xiosoft.com/pentanomics.docx
The quick summary is that the three pillars of modern society-- capitalism, democracy and defense/diplomacy--are about to get two new peers: (1) a "collective resource economy" that pursues social justice within libertarian limits; and (2) a "future resources economy" which pursues environmental sustainability via a global implementation of cap-and-trade. The paper makes the case that these five pillars form a complete set, properly structuring all human conflict -- at least at a high level.
As policy debates are not allowed in this listserv, please send feedback directly to me. All feedback welcome!
I look forward to meeting everyone at the October NCDD meeting and the transpartisan pre-meeting, if not sooner.
- Rick Raddatz
303-949-8075
Rickrad@me.com
p.s. If I can be of service to you in any way, let me know.
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