“I believe
that artists are the harbingers of the future mentality required both
by science
and by the imperatives of living in our precarious times....
we now truly stand in need, not only as scientists
but as a civilization, of the artists’ cognitive capacities.”
- Arthur Zajonc -
In
a letter filled with passion and insight, Mimi Katzenbach explores
the connection between the medium of theatre and the work of collective
wisdom practitioners. What is it we can learn from the portrayal
of tragedy in theatre and its ability to generate real hope for
change and transformation? How is it, as Mimi notes, that our
collective witnessing of loss, failure, and even suffering can
leave both audience and actors feeling so fully alive? The implications
for collective wisdom work is inspiring and provocative.
Carl
Jung’s theory of archetypes helps us better understand the
interconnections of our minds, emotions, and spiritual constructs
with the world around us. He wrote, “…certain ideas
exist almost everywhere and at all times and can even spontaneously
create themselves quite independently of migration and tradition.”
Archetypes are those big ideas capable of exploding us into different
dimensions of understanding. They can heal us, restore our balance,
energize our creativity, and if we allow them entrance, they can
move us deeply. Particularly when we pose meaningful questions,
individually or as a group. Archetypal symbols prompt us to access
our own forgotten wisdom in thought-provoking ways. Archetypes
tell stories and invite us to journey inward. Symbols act as code
language. We unlock the symbol and then the symbol unlocks us.
Karen Speerstra
and her son, Joel,
give us a taste of expanded understanding available to us through
sacred symbols as they describe
the creation of their recent book, Hunab
Ku. They offer a bibliography
from their extensive research into archetypes and symbols along
with a sampling of Sacred
Symbols for our experience and deeper understanding of these
evocative images.
EXCERPT:
"Awakening the Commons of the Imagination" by Michael Jones
Michael
Jones, musician and composer, addresses a shift in the role
of leaders as we turn our attention to collective wisdom. He describes
the internal journey of leaders from one of personal artistry
as individuals of influence, to an emerging public role serving
as conveners and social architects of the whole. The transformative
and interior journey of the leader begins with entry into a state
of awareness identified as “coming into presence”
and through presence, becoming aware of the hidden wholeness behind
all things.
Excerpted here is a chapter from Michael’s
book, Artful
Leadership: Awakening the Commons of the Imagination.
Entitled “The
Social Architecture of Leadership”, it illuminates some
of the dimensions of this shift in leadership to convener and
enabler of collective wisdom: “Making Wholeness Visible”,
”Articulating the Field”, “Leading from Behind”
& “Creating an Impersonal Fellowship”. It demonstrates
a deepening of our understanding of collective wisdom by including
in our awareness the sensitivities and ways of thinking of the
artist and richness of insights that can come through juxtaposition
of diverse perspectives, i.e. artist and business executive.
Art Blocks from Centered On the Edge - Margaret Vaughan
The Collective Wisdom Initiative invited artist,
Margaret Vaughan, to visually express an image or images that would
make visible an experience of collective wisdom. Her response appeared
as these 12 unique but interconnected oil painted art blocks. Margaret
says:
"In thinking about my own experience
of the phenomena of collective intelligence, I was struck by the
pronounced authenticity and individuality of the group's members
that seem to be critical components for the magic to flow. The twelve
canvases that emerged, therefore, each represent the unique essence
of an individual and are designed to come together in a multitude
of possible combinations to form new compositions over and over
again. As the form of the composition shifts, a new panel begins
to draw the eye's focus much as a new, and perhaps unexpected, member
of the group organically comes forward as the channel for the collective
intelligence to flow in that particular moment."
Voyages Through Glass - Pia Davis' photos of handblown glass ornaments
"How is it that we so often do not or cannot
see what we are looking at? When this image first 'appeared' through
my lens, I felt a deep shaft of warmth touch my soul - where had
such beauty been hiding? The more and deeper we look, the more we
will see and experience... we must look through and beyond and differently."
- Pia Davis
