Seeds of Radical Renewal

A twelve-part leadership course offering emerging leaders working in social and environmental fields the opportunity to deepen their skills in co-creating spaces of renewal, reciprocity, and reverence.

With Emergence Magazine, March 2021
Created in collaboration with Devin Tellatin (Emergence Magazine)

The pace of our planetary unravelling is accelerating. Global pandemic, raging wildfires, social injustice, deepening divisiveness—the signs of destruction and desecration are now inescapable. As we come face-to-face with ourselves in the darkening days of a dying civilisation, and as we increasingly recognise that the root cause of ecological destruction is a spiritual crisis, so too do we sense the possibility of radical renewal. The seeds of new beginnings are emerging from deep within the understory, and the hidden forces of creation are awakening and slowly taking root around the world.

The role of leadership in younger generations has never carried more weight than it does now. There is a growing global movement of young leaders who are calling for change and challenging us to abandon destructive stories of progress that are rooted in oppression, colonisation, and unlimited economic growth.

As we witness the deep fracturing of our civilisation, how can we seed the stories and foundations for a society to come? How can our leadership skills serve the work of reuniting people, the land, and the sacred?

The curriculum was built around six themed modules: Origins, Transitions, Principles, Practices, Leadership, and Project Application. Each module consisted of two parts: The first offered an introduction to the corresponding theme. The second gave the opportunity to learn from the wisdom and expertise of guest teachers and Emergence contributors, including: Joanna Macy, David Abram, David G. Haskell, Dekila Chungyalpa, brontë velez, Jim Enote, Bayo Akomolafe, and others.

Each session provided space for participatory exercises and experiential practices, as well as creative and reflective time to learn together in a global community.

MODULES

Origins: The Seeds of our Beginnings
As we seek to reconnect with what has been lost and seed new beginnings, let us root in our own diverse experiences and practices of remembrance and reverence. What are our personal and collective spiritual ecology origin stories? What memories and teachings are held within our own connections to place, land, or ancestry? How do we define what is sacred?

Transitions: Witnessing the End of an Era
We are living in a time of great social and ecological instability where the forces of creation and destruction are both evident. There lies before us a lot of uncertainty; but so too does there rest a great deal of possibility for what is to come. What does it mean to live at the end of an era? How do we hold the darkness while finding the power to contribute to ecological, spiritual, and cultural renewal?

Principles: The Inner and Outer Work of Restoration
The work of restoration applies not only to polluted waters, degraded lands, and broken human systems but also—and more deeply—to our relationship with the more-than-human world. How can the spiritual ecology values of reverence for nature, interconnectedness, stewardship, compassion, and service guide us in entering into and embodying a new way of being? What does it mean to live in right relationship with the more-than-human world?

Practices: Invitations to Belonging
When we turn our attention to the trees, birds, and land, we are reminded of the power of belonging and how an embodied knowledge of place can enable us to more fully enter into our homes and communities. Coming into an experiential knowledge of spiritual ecology requires commitment and practice. How can nature immersion practices help us to reopen the gates of our perception and deepen our relationship with the more-than-human world? How can we build an inner container that can help root us in a different way of being and quality of attentiveness?

Leadership: Creating Spaces for Renewal
As global leaders and institutions fail to take responsibility for the planetary crisis, younger generations are increasingly stepping into roles of leadership, rooted in the desire to be of service to all life. How do we take our skills of leadership and apply them to building spaces for renewal, reciprocity, and reverence? What are the inner and outer dimensions of changemaking and the skills needed to be effective social and environmental leaders?

Project Application: Reuniting People, Land, and the Sacred
We each have our own individual contributions to make to the growing global movement of reuniting people, the living world, and the sacred within the realms of our outer work and communities. Whether integrating into existing work or new projects, how do we apply spiritual ecology to social and environmental work? How do we invite others into this story and create deeper impact and influence? What case studies and examples can we learn from?