Living Myths for Transformation

On Biospheric Trauma and Becoming Indigenous to the Earth

The panpsychologist Zhiwa Woodbury talks about paths towards realigning our relationships with the natural and social world. How can we overcome our pathological responses to the climate crisis?

The Poetic Art of Living in a Time Between Worlds

Mike Kauschke

Poetic speaking and being can hold the nuance, complexity, openness and connectedness that our liminal times require.

Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown

Niels Devisscher

An exploration into stories and the in-between.

NOW THAT YOU’VE FOUND THE OTHERS WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

Jonathan Rowson

Part 7: Entelechy - The Future Within Us. Philosophical and strategic reflections on Emerge.

Now that you’ve found the others what are you going to do?

Jonathan Rowson

Part 1: Introduction and field-creation. Philosophical and strategic reflections on Emerge.

The Sacredness of Rituals

Kristina Dryza

The purpose of ritual is to invite the presence of the sacred into our lives and to dwell with it - even if only occasionally.

Sustainability in Swiss Agriculture: Sacred Swiss Cow

Scott Haas

Reflections on inspirational regenerative agriculture projects ranging from integrative community harvest crews to 'Adopting an Alp' schemes to converting cow flop into energy.

Why I am Choosing to Serve America's Last Wild Buffalo

Zhiwa Woodbury

Zhiwa shares his journey from climate lawyer to ecopsychologist to buffalo campaigner. Buffalos are a climate keystone species and have the potential to lead us out of the gathering climate storms we have brought upon ourselves and to heal our collective biospheric trauma. Buffalo can help us draw down carbon from the atmosphere in amounts that really matter.

The Rhythmic Cadence of Life

Kristina Dryza

On all levels, long and protracted arrhythmic conditions are life-destructive. Rhythm, in all its various manifestations, is one of the most healing forces on the planet. When we center ourselves in nature’s rhythms, we’re afforded some immunity from the incessant, unsolicited noise and friction that presses upon us from the outside world.

Activism, the Very Idea...

Anthea Lawson and Rupert Read

Is the concept of activism itself a key block to mass action on climate? Anthea Lawson and Rupert Read discuss entanglement, moderate flanks, the gap between caring and action, activism's shadows and how to make activism more inclusive.

Rethinking work and creative practice in times of socio-ecological crisis

Carmen Salas

We need more art projects, cultural practices and narratives that help cultivate sustainability, relationship-building and dialogue. Practices that are not only sustainable and ethical, but that also nurture human values such as collaboration, active participation, empathy and care.

Education as the Fulcrum of Civilizational Transition

The philosopher of education Zak Stein in conversation with Elizabeth Debold.

“If we are to heal divisions we need to find ways of better responding to the threat and loss that so many people feel at the very same time that others feel empowered."

Robert Kegan is a psychologist and one of the pioneers of developmental psychology. His stage model of the evolution of consciousness is widely used and talked about today.

Changing Our Self-Perception as a Compassionate Deed for the World

Kristina Dryza

Many of us fail to develop a gentle rapport with ourselves. Too often we’re a tiger to our own gazelle. In this we can become a danger to ourselves, forgetting that together we are all on the same team: the team of humanity.

"We're in a major world-historical moment of transformation, in which the old world is passing away, and the new world hasn't emerged yet."

Zak Stein is a writer, educator and futurist, who emphasises the importance of education in our time between worlds. Zak is also a co-founder of the Consilience Project.

Web 3: A Crisis of Sensemaking

Rufus Pollock and Theo Cox

Web3 is becoming a huge phenomenon, but can be hard to make sense of. To address this sensemaking gap, Life Itself is launching a new collaborative initiative “Making Sense of Web3” with a focus on the social and economic mechanisms driving web3 and its potential impact.

Bombs and Bildung: Ukraine as the Educational Centre of the World

Jonathan Rowson

The critical question today is what 21st-century Bildung looks like in a world of war, ecocide and disinformation. Democracy depends on solidarity and both depend on good collective sense-making and decision-making, which in turn depend on a free press and ultimately on a healthy education system.

The Return of the Age of War, Or: Has the Meta Been Grounded?

Anna Katharina Schaffner

Emerge Digest March 2022. A new monthly series reflecting on what has been emerging.

Putin, Ukraine, and 1945: The War Never Ended

Bayo Akomolafe

The campaign for Ukraine is also an infection, an epidemiological moment, a political tentacle of a virus that exceeds the biological. A spiritual inflection.

Where the Meta Hits the Ground

Indra Adnan

We live within structures that were imagined before they were built. No matter how grim things may look, humans are the animals that can refresh our experience, by redefining our take on reality.

Re-Enlivening Relationship in Fractured Times

Hannah Close

To be in relationship is an affirmation of the essential porosity that keeps us alive, a process of becoming through reciprocity with the ‘other’.

Three Theses on Liminality

Jeremy D Johnson

On Thresholds, Interregnums, and Coyolxuahqui

Gavin Wood on Web3

Lovisa Björna in conversation with Ethereum Co-founder Gavin Wood. This is the first of a series of interviews in which Lovisa talks to key WEB3 pioneers.

This is not an 'Emergency'... It's Much More Serious Than That

Rupert Read and Wolfgang Knorr

The real climate emergency is that we don’t treat the climate crisis as an emergency because we feel no emergency. Call this ‘the meta-emergency’.

Apocalyptarians, Or: What the F*%k is Soolionensius???

Layman Pascal

On how to be a good apocalpytarian. The old question is: Will there be an apocalypse or not? The new question is: How do we live under the conditions of the apocalyptic mood?

Dark Hope and the Climate Crisis

Jonathan Rowson

Why aren't we rising up? Because the effects of climate change are distant in four dimensions: not here, not now, not me, and not clear. But here’s the dark hope: It is here. It is now. It is me. And it is clear.

Missteps as a Redemptive Path to Destiny

Kristina Dryza

We all blunder into the Grail Castle, exactly as Parzival did, before we can even hope to formulate and ask the question that may end our exile. And yet everything can be redeemed.

"An indigenous perspective gives you the capacity for a deep time view of history and a dynamic systems view."

Tyson Yunkaporta is a researcher who looks at complex global problems from indigenous perspectives to challenge entrenched Western ways of thinking and acting.

Cultivating an Emerging Paradigm

Tomas Björkman and Rufus Pollock

Context, challenges and a thesis.

Move Over

Indra Adnan

Most of us are still stuck in a conception of vertical power. How can we truly find a voice for the wider population, rather than simply seeking to replace the current leaders as sources of knowledge and wisdom? And how can we avoid celebrity cults in our own network?

We are the Comet

Zhiwa Woodbury

"Don't Look Up" is a powerful counter-cultural statement that taps into something deep in our collective psyche. It shows us that we have been looking to all the wrong people and institutions to solve our problems. Will it have the power to bring about a sea-change in our death-phobic culture?

The Transformative Power of Peer-to-Peer Learning Networks

Carolin Goethel

A plea for rhizomatic learning in community.

Playing and Creating in an Infinite Way

Peter Limberg

Like the player of life who expands the notion of game along with what it means to play, the artist of life expands the notion of art along with what it means to create. On meta-gaming vs. creating in the liminal web.

Powering the City: Energy Transition in Berlin

Tarn Rodgers Johns

Nothing is more urgent than the global energy transition. Across Europe, solar parks and off-shore wind farms are being ramped up in the drive towards carbon-neutral. At the same time, many countries are facing an "energy crisis" because of rising costs. How can we localise our energy supply, so that we all benefit from this transition?

Christmas, Consumerism and Confusion

Jonathan Rowson

Christmas is the season of shallow critique. We lament the commercialisation around us as if it were a seasonal problem, but lurking inside the wrapped presents, juicy puddings and roasted birds there are deeper questions about ethical drift and the social logic of our entire economic model.

What if We are all We've Got?

Zhiwa Woodbury

We urgently need to move from a blame- and victimhood model towards one of shared responsibility for the climate catastrophe. What might happen if all of us became ‘climate influencers’ by acting every day as if our lives depended on minimizing our carbon footprints?

Mapping for Emergence

Theo Cox, Rufus Pollock and Anna Katharina Schaffner

Life Itself and Emerge will join forces to map the emergent metamodern ecosystem. But what is so great about social network mapping? Why does it matter, and how can it help?

Systemic wisdom for and beyond Systems Change

Louis Klein

A critical systems perspective allows for exploring the universality of indigenous wisdom traditions and their understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependence of the flow of the world.

Learning to Walk Together: Small Steps towards the We of Us

Joe Ross

What is the calling that pulled us from the sea? Whatever will become of you and me? And how to become WE?

Emerge Documentary 2021

A beautiful deep dive into the Emerge Gathering 2021 by Tommy Gärdh. Indra Adnan, Tomas Björkman, Naresh Giangrande, Jonathan Rowson, Pamela von Sabljar, Anna Katharina Schaffner, Thomas Steiniger and Phoebe Tickell discuss the magic and potentiality of emergence, what Emerge is and their hopes for the future.

The Beautiful, Hidden Harmony of Chaos

Kristina Dryza

It is unhelpful to believe that chaos exists only outside of us. And that this external chaos presses in upon our internal lives in an intrusive and disruptive manner. Almost all creative processes happen in a space between order and chaos. Nothing new can emerge unless we learn to dance with the chaos within.

‘Mama Ayahuasca told me to invest in crypto’

Jules Evans

There is an overlap between crypto and psychedelics: Both operate at the margins of legality, are popular with libertarians who are suspicious of governments, and are symptoms of despair with the State of Things. Both are moonshots for a better way of living, and seem to inspire a similar fervour that a new age of love is dawning.

The Art of Self-Improvement: Ten Timeless Truths

Anna Katharina Schaffner

When it comes to self-improvement, we have much to learn from our ancestors and other cultures. What is more, self-improvement practices provide powerful barometers of the values, anxieties, and aspirations that preoccupy us at particular moments in time and expose basic assumptions about our purpose and nature.

The Matter With Things

In this landmark new book, Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest and hardest questions humanity faces – ones that, however, have a practical urgency for all of us today: Who are we? What is the world? How can we understand consciousness, matter, space and time? Is the cosmos without purpose or value? Can we really neglect the sacred and divine?

On Weltschmerz and Weltanschauungen

Jonathan Rowson

Our challenge is to channel world pain into worldviews that clarify who we are, and how we should act, to inspire a shared sense of hope for the future.

“We are trying to bring the market to reflect the reality of life on the ground.”

Dr Ana Trbovich is the co-founder of Grid Singularity and The Energy Web Foundation (EWF), two technology ventures working to design the smart, green, decentralised energy ecosystems of the future.

RECLAIMING OUR INDIGENEITY: A Cure for Climate Trauma?

Zhiwa Woodbury

With only a limited window of time to bend the emissions curve, adapt to changing climate conditions, and halt the rapid decline in biodiversity, the values and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples can help us achieve this transformation.

"We need Inner Development Goals to reach the SDGs"

Jan Artem Henriksson

We may be lacking crucial inner skills to tackle our most urgent global action problems, of which the most pressing is the climate crisis. In this interview, Jan Artem Henriksson, the CEO of the Inner Development Goals Initiative, discusses with Waleria Schüle why inner work is needed to achieve a more sustainable global society.

The Future of Philanthropy

Louis Klein

What kind of philanthropy does our world need right now? Why venture philanthropy doesn't work, and how community and social value philanthropy can contribute to a global civil society realising the love for humanity.

Emerge Gathering 2021

A beautiful snapshot of the Emerge Gathering 2021 in Berlin by Tommy Gärdh

“Token Engineering is a very powerful tool, and an exciting challenge.”

Angela Kreitenweis is a co-founder of Token Engineering, a global community and ecosystem of people exploring the building blocks of future “token economies”.

Deliberately Developmental Spaces: A Key to Addressing the MetaCrisis?

Theo Cox, Rufus Pollock and Anna Katharina Schaffner

In this time of pressing global action problems, development in individual and collective “being” is a top priority. One promising approach is the creation of deliberately developmental spaces. We outline the key features of these spaces as well as some principles for their design and operation.

The Impossible We?

Jonathan Rowson

A bigger 'we' is often called upon to take collective action to address our burning global emergencies. But 'we' is the most problematic pronoun of them all: The We that wants to say there is an emergency is not the same We as the We that needs to hear it, and the We that needs to hear it has several different ideas about the nature of the We that should do something about it.

2020: The Walk

We are unprepared for the danger our future holds. We face floods, wildfires, extreme weather, crop failure, mass displacement and the breakdown of society. The time for denial is over. It is time to act.

"Practical Emergence" - Building a Bridge or Squaring the Circle?

Rike Pätzold

What may good leadership look like in times of great uncertainty, when planning and controlling have lost their effectiveness? How can we facilitate generative emergence in organisations?

“We are suffering from a wisdom famine in the West.”

John Vervaeke, professor of cognitive science at the University of Toronto, is the prophet of the "meaning crisis." The crisis of wisdom, he holds, is the defining crisis of our times. To overcome it, we must learn to steal the culture.

Sacrificing the Gods

Elizabeth Debold

We urgently need new myths to ground us in this time between worlds and stories. What may take the place of our current myths - the myths of rationality and science, materialism, capitalism, meritocracy and democracy, justice and equality? May Eros hold the key to our future social imaginaries?

Sylvia Plath's Plight

Josie Glausiusz

The brilliant poet Sylvia Plath's battle against post-war sexism and her attempt to juggle writing and motherhood resonate uncannily with our own age of unresolved structural gender inequalities, brought into sharp relief by the COVID pandemic.

How to Move Towards an Ecological Civilisation with Jeremy Lent

“We need to adopt a different kind of worldview that emphasizes our connectedness and interdependence.” Jeremy Lent talks about how to build a regenerative culture and an ecological civilization.

“Agriculture is a gateway into solving the bigger problems of our time”

Agricultural economist and farmer Benedikt Bösel is looking “Beyond Farming” to find agricultural solutions to the climate crisis.

What is Emerging? A Conversation with Indra Adnan and Anthea Lawson

Indra Adnan and Anthea Lawson talk about the politics of waking up, entangled activism, agency and the importance of inner work for outer change.

Obedience As Laughter: From the Great Dictator to the Great Spectator

Hanzi Freinacht

The next murderous regime will not be based on fear-mongering but on comedy. In the echoing laughter of the crowd we will find the next genocide. Un­wanted popul­a­tions violently exterminated, and the crowd laughing.

On Environmentalism and Spirituality

Jules Evans

While Romantic worshippers in the cathedral of nature were the first conservation-converts, the reverence for the interconnected whole remains at the heart of modern environmentalism. The shift from egocentric to ecocentric philosophies was driven by spiritual experiences.

Define or Be Defined: On Labelling Ourselves

Anna Katharina Schaffner

The titles we choose reflect our sense of identity, how we view ourselves, and how we want to be seen by the outside world. Mini-cultural barometers, they are also indicative of dominant social trends.

Introducing Perspectiva Press

Jonathan Rowson

Perspectiva Press publishes soul food for expert generalists. It celebrates integrative and imaginative perspectives that explore what it means to be human at a time when we expect too much of our minds, and in an era where life is increasingly shaped by technological forces beyond our control.

Let's Meet at the Crossroads

Bayo Akomolafe

What does it mean to live at the end of the world, during a pandemic? What do our old rituals of mastery signify – if anything – at a time when mastery is troubled by the breakdown in the world? When what it means to be human is no longer clear?

Shifting Paradigms

Carmen Salas

Systems thinking in the arts in pandemic times: How can the arts reinvent themselves and how can they help to catalyse a shift to more eco-social ways of being, thinking, and doing?

"Ancient Yoruba knowledge can be used as a pathway to food sovereignty."

Karina Karim is a Brazilian engineer and educational reformer. She has created a nano-satellite that bridges the gap between ancestral knowledge and space tech and that can be used in urban gardening projects.

Savages and Cannibals: Revisiting Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle

Josie Glausiusz

Racist assumptions are deeply embedded in the cultural fabric of the West. Lurking even in beloved texts where we may not expect to find them, they can easily translate into atrocities.

Crisis of Leadership

Sahana Chattopadhyay

Part 1: A lack of leadership has contributed substantially to the current pandemic emergency in India. It is a dual crisis of consciousness and conscience, created by arrogance and ineptitude.

The Mytho-Poetic Imagination and Why It Matters

Kristina Dryza

A reflection on Joseph Campbell and why imaginal thinking is essential for the creation of better worlds.

Chapel Perilous

Peter Limberg

A beautiful meditation on our need for belonging and truth and on the perils and promises of post-tribal identity. Words by Peter Limberg and illustrations by Rebecca Fox.

Co-Creating Urban Regenerative Futures: Food in the City

Tarn Rodgers Johns

Part two in our new 'What is Emerging? Dispatches from the Future' series looks towards creating alternative, diverse regional food systems to address food poverty and climate change.

"Without feeling, knowledge becomes stale. Without reason, it becomes indelicate."

The Feminist Theorist and Writer Minna Salami talks about Sensuous Knowledge, Afropolitanism, what we can learn from Yoruba philosophy, and the Politics of Joy.

What would Emma Do?

Josie Glausiusz

Timeless Insights from a Fearless Visionary Anarchist

Co-Creating Urban Regenerative Futures

Tarn Rodgers Johns

Part 1: Why we can't buy our way to a regenerative future

"Scaling 'We' Takes Heart-Centred Deliberation."

Traci Ruble is a psychotherapist and the founder of Sidewalk Talk, a community listening project that has turned into a global movement. Traci and Sidewalk Talk volunteers all over the world seek to create public spaces of connection and belonging.

Pressure and Possibility: How to Write Fiction on a Changing Planet

Isobel Wohl

Isobel Wohl reflects on the ethical and aesthetic challenges of writing fiction in the age of fires, floods, hurricanes, droughts and extinctions. Place forms fiction, and place has become unstable. Every novel is a climate novel now.

Imagining an Alternative Media System

Pat Kane

How can we create news, media and communications that effectively address our planetary, societal and technological challenges? Join the debate.

Agency: What Are the Inner Conditions for Intentional Action?

Jamie Bristow and Rosie Bell from The Mindfulness Initiative, Ronan Harrington and Anna Katharina Schaffner discuss the social significance of mindfulness.

"The Forest Is A Sacred Space For Our People.”

Chief Ninawá Huni Kui is the current president of the Federation of Huni Kui Peoples of the State of Acre. His life is dedicated to defending the land of his ancestors, the Amazon rainforest, the culture, and the spirituality of the Huni Kui people.

Contributing Effectively In TImes Of Crisis

Roger Walsh

This is not a time to play small. Our society is in turmoil, our planet plundered, our civilisation at risk. How can we contribute most effectively to help heal these crises?

“Knowledge Used To Be Power. Now, Knowledge-Sharing Is Power."

Lucian Tarnowski is the founder of Civana, an ambitious startup that connects the social impact entrepreneurs prototyping new institutions, systems and cultures fit for the 21st century.

How Deep Is The Shift We Are Facing? Transforming Our Collective Imaginary

Tomas Björkman

This article is an edited version of the conversation between David Fuller and Tomas Björkman on the Rebel Wisdom media platform in July 2020.

Cancellation Is The Child Of A Culture That Doesn't Compost

Maria Clara Parente

‘Call-out culture' is a by-product of postmodernity, where ‘post-humans’ can ‘cancel’ and outsource other human and non-human lives on a daily basis.

“Leaders Of The New Era Are Being Asked To Hold Space In A Completely Different Way.”

Laura Storm is part of a new generation of sustainability professionals calling for a change in how we approach our planet, our work and ourselves.

“When We Talk About Space Activities, We Are Talking About The Future Of Humanity."

As the first artist to launch an interactive artwork in outer space, Nahum founded KOSMICA to bring a socio-political and artistic lens to space exploration.

“Blockchain Better Reflects The Abundant Reality Of The Planet Around Us."

Franz Josef Allmayer is the co-creator of SEEDS, an alternative economic system driving cooperation over profit and creating a financial vehicle for the growing regenerative movement.

“People Have Never Used Technology In This Way Before.”

Erik Fernholm is the CEO of 29k, a Swedish open-source non-profit tech platform making mental health treatment and personal development free and accessible to everyone.

“To Understand The Monetary System, People Need To Grasp The Idea Of Interconnectedness.”

Brett Scott is an author and the creator of ‘Altered States of Monetary Consciousness', exploring emergent forms of finance, alternative currencies and economic activism.

Defund (And Redesign) Everything

Jordan Hall

Our social institutions are relics of the past. We must redesign and replace all of our institutions, and make this decade the most creative and generative in human history.

Building Bridges Into The Fog

Joe Ross & Tomas Björkman

It feels like we're standing at the edge of our civilisation, looking into the void, and all we can see is mist and fog. No wonder the rise of social anxiety is rampant, expressing itself in violence, conflict and oppression. So what do we do?

Exousiance: What Rivers Teach Us About Power

Minna Salami

The silencing of women and rivers in institutions of power bridges a connection between reality and myth; it is no wonder river goddesses are vengeful.

The Politics of Waking Up 15: The Future Arising

Indra Adnan

Only 9% of people want life to ‘return to normal’ after coronavirus. This moment could bring about the convergence of a number of conditions that seemed impossible to orchestrate before.

Cocreation and Community Can Help Us To Build A More Resilient World

Futuro Possivel

The future is something to be built by many hands and not imposed by a few. Cocreation can help turn the collapse of the old story into a catalyst.

“It’s Possible For Human Beings And Our Natural Environment To Co-Evolve."

Felipe Tavares is the founder of the Institute for Regenerative Development in Brazil, designing regenerative agricultural methods based on the the interconnectedness of all living systems.

Exousiance: A Black Feminist Vision of Power and Nature

Minna Salami

Exousiance emerged from a need that I had to ‘speak' with nonhuman nature about power. It is an approach to knowledge production which integrates mind, body and soul.

The World We Create: From Big Bang to Homo Sapiens

This is the first episode of fifteen based on Tomas Björkman's book 'The World We Create'. It covers complexity, self organization, emergence of life and of Homo Sapiens.

Thomas Hübl and Matthew Green on collective trauma in times of corona.

Addressing our collective and individual traumas builds our capacity to respond to global crises with maturity and wisdom. This conversation is about the importance of building relationships in the midst of global chaos.

Corona: A Tale of Two Systems. Part Two.

Bonnitta Roy

The lock down won’t go on forever. Digital naturalism - using technology to converse with the natural world, and discover a greater intelligence there - offers a life-affirming future.

Corona: A Tale of Two Systems. Part One

Bonnitta Roy

Huddled in our homes, we are experiencing two very different kinds of systems. One at risk of collapse, the other ancient, resilient and based on pro-social values and collective intelligence.

Connecting Online In Times Of Corona

Sanna Rådelius

We planned a Gathering for 100-130 people, then Coronavirus happened. Here’s how we designed an event to facilitate connection vulnerability and deep encounters - over a Zoom call.

The Politics of Waking Up 14: Freedom and Independents

Indra Adnan

As Brexit proved, ‘taking back control’ can always be played upon in the collective psyche, but a broader social independence cannot be achieved without collective organisation.

COVID-19: A War Broke Out In Heaven

Zachary Stein

History is unfolding in real time. This is it: we have arrived at the end of the world. Finally. Now we can start to build a new one. This is our chance to reshape ourselves as spiritual, scientific, and ethical beings.

COVID-19: A Message of Hope

This crisis is an opportunity to reevaluate systems that have been killing people since before the virus. Phoebe Tickell shares a message of hope in the unprecedented time. We're in this together.

Transmodernity - The New Now

Stream now: A documentary about changemakers that challenge and transform the current system by exploring new possibilities for transitioning into a new paradigm with alternative social, economic and cultural approaches.

Reclaiming Our Indigenous European Roots

Lyla June

Our task is to honour our ancestors, even those who caved from systemic destruction and became conquerors themselves. This is the story of how I connected with my European roots.

We Can No Longer Save The World By Playing By The Rules

Tomas Björkman

Especially in times of crisis, the systems we live in need to learn to organise in new, more complex and deeper ways, or they will break down.

Sensemaking the Coronavirus, Rebel Wisdom

We are in the middle of an unprecedented global crisis. How do we make sense of it, and how do we respond? Rebel Wisdom talks to four people trying to make sense of what's happening.

Eight Emerging Lessons: From Coronavirus to Climate Action

Otto Scharmer

Disruption has two sides: the things we need to let go of, and the things that are about to emerge. How can we respond in ways that help this enormous potential for change to manifest?

The Collective Psychology of Coronavirus

Alex Evans

Fight-or-flight or tend-and-befriend? How we respond to Coronavirus has big implications for our communities. Now is the right time to be reaching out to our neighbours.

“Sustainability is a Process of Self-Knowledge."

Aline Matulja is a Brazilian activist and environmental engineer working to find a more integral and human approach to sustainability, using education as a tool to encourage greener and more regenerative practises.

Why Digital Entrepreneurs Need Contemplative And Systemic Practices

Kristofer Olsson

In the field of digital innovation, the solution is almost always an app or a platform, regardless of the problem. Contemplative practices can facilitate deeper innovation.

“A Shift in Consciousness is Needed to Decolonise Our Current Systems.”

As a former mayoral candidate for Detroit and founder of The Afrofuture Strategies Institute, Ingrid LaFleur is using the ‘spiritual technology' of Afrofuturism as a lens for systems change which includes and empowers Black people.

Rise of the Emergentsia: The Revolution Will Not Be Boring

Brent Cooper

Increasing numbers of people are suffering because their society has let them down. Indy Johar's solution calls for a “Boring Revolution" — but is it really as boring as it seems?

The Politics Of Waking Up 13: Real Time, Real Life, Next Politics?

Indra Adnan

In order to invent a new politics we need to bypass the existing system. Denmark's Alternative Party offers an example of new politics in-action.

How To Think About The Meta-Crisis Without Getting Too Excited.

Jonathan Rowson

It has become fashionable to declare a climate emergency, but the very idea of emergency only gets us so far. We cannot disentangle climate collapse from the broader crisis of civilisation.

The Politics Of Waking Up 11: Scaffolding, Skeletons and Fractals

Indra Adnan

Our political systems are slowly self-destructing in the face of huge global problems. Quality of relationships between communities is the key to creating new and better systems.

THIS IS NOT A Manifesto

Our global institutions are based on outdated ideas that excluded the wisdom of women, non-western and non-white people, and led us to see our planet as a machine. We need global systems change that takes into account indigenous and ancestral knowledge, feeling and intuition.

Christmas, Consumerism and Confusion

Jonathan Rowson

Despite it's bad ecological rap, consumerism meets a range of emotional and social needs. This is never more obvious than at Christmas. What can we do to fill the gap?

“Understanding Complexity Is As Important As Knowing How To Read And Write.”

Danilo Oliveira Vaz is the initiator of Emergir, a Brazilian media platform taking a decentralised, natural systems approach to media creation.

We Need To Feel The Change We Want To See In The World

Kathrine Lauritzen

Kathrine Lauritzen shares her transformative experience in a Collective Sensemaking workshop at the Emerge Gathering 2019.

The Politics Of Waking Up 10: What Is World?

Indra Adnan

The internet has dramatically shifted the relationship between people and the world they inhabit. We need a better understanding of the psychological impacts of this shift.

The Politics of Waking Up 9: Feminising the Future

Indra Adnan

The F word is becoming much more difficult to define. Is the suppression of the feminine why we have the multiple crises of depression, addiction and suicide in our society?

Rise Of The Emergentsia: A Great Mindshift in the Making

Brent Cooper

Technology itself is not the game changer everyone thinks it is, people are. Dr. Maja Göpel anchors her perspective on global change to sociocultural factors.

Middle Earth: the fight to save the Amazon's soul

In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, an alternative climate conference is taking place that brings together youth activists, indigenous leaders, scientists and forest dwellers.

“In Order to Live the Potential of the Digital Age We Need to Grow Personally.”

Social entrepreneur Joana Breidenbach is pioneering self-organised work structure in the digital transition era.

The Politics of Waking Up 8: Relationship As The Rebel Act

Indra Adnan

Personal and social disconnection is at the heart of the system destroying our planet.

This is What Recovery Looks Like: The Healing Potential of Trauma.

Zhiwa Woodbury

Respiritualising our planet is the next step to healing collective trauma. An ecopsychologist shares thoughts from the world's first ever Collective Trauma & Healing Summit.

The Politics of Waking Up 7: Everyone Has a Story

Indra Adnan

We need a new story. How many times have you heard that recently? Too often this call to action ignores what people's hearts are really yearning for.

Dear White People

Bayo Akomolafe

The notion of indigeneity is a product of white frames of knowing. You don’t have to travel far in order to be indigenous. To avoid reproducing exclusionary whiteness, you must recognise that where you are is already sacred.

The Politics of Waking Up 6: Where Is We?

Indra Adnan

Our current political system means that we give away our power to tiny numbers of people who decide how to run our world. Are we now seeing the conditions for more collective action?

“Architects Often Get Lost In Creating The Image, Not The Conditions For Human Development."

Architect Indy Johar is taking inspiration from Quantum Physics and ancient Sikh philosophy to design a post-ownership society with his organisation, Dark Matter Labs.

“It Was the Opportunity to Revitalise, Reimagine and Reshape Psychedelic Culture.”

Social activist Stephen Reid is exploring solutions to the meaning crisis with his organisation, the Psychedelic Society.

A Small World Future: From Start-Ups to System Change | Indy Johar

Our societal challenges need a new approach. Indy Johar argues that the biggest revolution of the 21st century will not be our technology, but how we organise ourselves.

Indy Johar – The Need for a Boring Revolution

In order to build, create and maintain a sustainable future, we need to reinvent things like bureaucracy, governance and the principles of democracy.

The Politics of Waking Up 5: What Counts as Spiritual?

Indra Adnan

From Extinction Rebellion to the Headspace app, a yearning for spiritual growth seems to be reentering our public discourse. How can we feed this awareness into a new politics?

Facing the Shadow, Zen master Doshin Roshi

In Jungian psychology, the 'shadow' is all of the things about ourselves that we deny or reject, and integrating those is key to psychological growth. So how do we face and integrate our shadow elements?

Could Psychedelics Help to Heal the Crisis of Disconnection?

Sam Gandy, Rosalind Watts & Alex Evans

We urgently need tools that can facilitate connection and foster a common sense of purpose for protecting and restoring our world.

The Individual and The Guru: How Things Go Wrong

The psychology behind the guru. Part of Eddie Vero's Ante-Spiritual series at the cocreation loft in Berlin.

What is Emerging? Dialogue with Future Thinkers & Emerge

Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller, Mike Gilliland of the Future Thinkers and Daniel Thorson of Emerge sat down at the Emerge Gathering for a three-way discussion about where where the conversation might be going next.

How to Lead in Uncertain Times

Sahana Chattopadhyay

Uncertainty is not a threat: It is creative and powerful. When leaders can learn to lean into and embrace unpredictability then they will infuse the same throughout their organisation.

Emerge Talks: How can we build a well-being economy?

Katherine Trebeck and Dirk Philipsen from the Wellbeing Economy Alliance introduce some of the fundamentals behind a growing movement to question our current economic model.

The Politics of Waking Up 4: The Russian Doll Effect

Indra Adnan

Part four of the Politics of Waking Up Series explores several theories of human development - what significance does Wilber or Maslow's model have for contemporary politics today?

COMPASS TALKS: Nadjeschda Taranczewski (presented by Infinity Institute)

At this Compass Salon Nadjeschda explained how we can understand (and use) what is driving our behaviour from underneath the waterline.

What Our Politics Needs Now: Anti-Debates

Peter Limberg & Conor Barnes

In the US and elsewhere, political debate has become a spectacle. We need a debate model based on the ability to respond to evidence. But what would this look like?

What Does it Mean to be a Feminine Leader?

Sanna Rådelius

Feminine Leadership can lay the foundation for a better organisational culture, but it's not achieved by simply having more women in positions of power.

Reports from the Kyiv Emerge Gathering

Andrew Sweeny

“The future belongs not to Paris, London, and Berlin but to the wild east, frontier places like Kyiv." Writer Andrew Sweeny shares his reflections from the Emerge Gathering 2019.

Healing Our Collective Traumas, Healing Our World

Zhiwa Woodbury

As we have learned from traumatology, the cure is found close to the wound. Acknowledging collective trauma is the first step on the path of climate recovery.

Joshua Fields - The Wisdom Race

In this talk Joshua Fields, the Executive Director of Consciousness Hacking, explores the connection between consciousness and collapse, what we can learn from failed civilisations of the past and how we might harness modern tools, systems and narratives to transform human behaviour.

The Politics of Waking Up 3: Why We're Hooked on Our Own Self Destruction

Indra Adnan

We like to believe that we are autonomous, but advertising has hijacked our human needs so totally that we are destroying our planet.

The Politics of Waking Up 2: What is ‘I’? Power and Agency in Politics

Indra Adnan

As the failures in our political systems become more and more obvious, we need to focus on creating a new internal ‘operating system’ for how we perceive ourselves and our role in the world.

“What Are Governments For If Not To Preserve Human Life?”

Scientist and social entrepreneur Phoebe Tickell is part of a new wave of climate activists applying a natural systems perspective to social change work.

The Politics of Waking Up 1: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age

Indra Adnan

In this series for Emerge Indra Adnan, founder of the Alternative UK, will be exploring what is emerging in politics at this crucial moment in human history.

Rise of the Emergentsia: Sensing the ‘Source Code'

Brent Cooper

How to navigate polarisation and culture wars? Understanding the ‘source code' - combining knowledge with the lived, embodied experience of others - is vital for constructive conversation.

A Mind-Bending, Reality-Warping Conversation With John Higgs

How do we understand the world around us even as advances in physics, psychology, art, pharmacology, and philosophy shatter our frames of reference?

A Story to Bind Us: The Intellectual Deep Web and a New Meta-Narrative

Alexander Beiner

In uncertain times popular culture can reveal something about the dynamics we’re experiencing. Could it be that we're looking for the wrong answers in the wrong places?

Tribalism in the 21st Century: Why It's So Hard For Us to ‘Love the Stranger'

Andrew Sweeny

Despite liberal ideologies, loving the stranger has never been easy for human beings. Keeping a world of 8 billion people from each other’s throats calls for great innovation.

A Statement to the Court by a First-Time Lawbreaker

Anthea Lawson

Anthea Lawson was arrested for protesting in London with Extinction Rebellion against Government action on climate change. Here she shares the statement that she read in court.

Transmodernity - An Introduction

What is transmodernity, and what is the socio-political context in which it arises? This art video by director Halea Isabelle Kala focuses around an interview with Dr. Irena Ateljevic, Professor for Cultural Geography.

“If Human Consciousness Doesn’t Catch Up Then Computers Will Just Leave Us Behind.”

Jerónimo Calderón blends ancient wisdom traditions with the visionary spirit of Silicon Valley to help burned-out social entrepreneurs pioneer ‘magical’ new forms of collaboration.

Deep Code: Jordan (Green)Hall Documentary

In this Rebel Wisdom film, Jordan Hall explains how the structures of civilisation are breaking down at an increasing rate, and what we can do about it - and the necessary evolution we need to make to survive.

Rise of the Emergentsia: Feeling ‘Gobschmacht’ Yet?

Brent Cooper

All empires collapse but today we are living the first global civilisation and witnessing its collapse in real-time. Daniel Schmachtenberger helps us to understand this ‘phase shift'.

What Will You Say to Your Grandchildren?

Jeremy Lent

The concept of ‘Deep Adaptation' threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophecy by diluting the efforts toward positive change. What we really need right now is Deep Transformation.

What is Emerging? DEEP DIVE: Marz Saffore

This is not the truth speak with Marz Saffore about how a colonial mindset shapes our social structures, why decolonisation is a systemic process and the power of art and culture for imagining decolonial futures.

The Rise of the ‘Emergentsia': Meaning Making in a Time Between Worlds.

Brent Cooper

A new class of intellectuals is emerging to grapple with the meta-crisis and help manage the transition, and it is time to coin a new term to help us recognize them: The Emergentsia.

What is Emerging? DEEP DIVE: Vanessa Adreotti & Bayo Akomolafe

A conversation about how our obsession with using words to make sense of the world is numbing our other senses. How can we allow the others layers of our human experience to emerge to the surface?

Reimagining the 21st-Century University.

Otto Scharmer

What is the role of educational institutions in catalysing social change? Vertical literacy - i.e the evolution of consciousness - is an essential skill needed to rise to today's challenges.

What can Extinction Rebellion learn from Nigel Farage?

Farage's recent success exposes three blind spots and one fundamental weakness in XR that we need to reflect on.

Solve Everything at Once: Nora Bateson on systems thinking, warm data & singing out loud

What does systems thinking offer us with regards to changing our lives and institutions in a transformative way? And how do we do it?

What is Emerging? Episode 3 | IMAGINING: TOUCHING THE UNKNOWN

The separation of man from nature is the root cause of the global problems we face. How do we change the story, especially when our imagination is stuck in the logic of the old paradigms?

Jordan Peterson | ContraPoints

YouTuber and philosopher Natalie Wynn unpicks Jordan Peterson's notion of postmodern neo-Marxism from a left-wing perspective.

Ecopsychology, and its Critical Relevance to our Climate Crisis.

Zhiwa Woodbury

Why embracing the empathic worldview promoted by ecopsychology can help us to become more effective climate activists.

What is Emerging? Episode 2 | BEING: SEARCHING FOR ENTANGLEMENTS

In this episode Camilla and Maria Clara go searching for inspiring new ways to understand the global crises.

DEEP DIVE: Danilo Vaz and Philip Franses

This Deep Dive with two great thinkers in the field of Complexity Science considers the micro and macro changes we must undergo in the face of ecological crises.

Complexity Isn't Complicated, We're Already Living It.

Nora Bateson

Our institutions and laws don't reflect the reality of life on Earth. Understanding and embracing a more complex approach could be the key to overcoming world crises.

Grieve Play Love

Best Short Climate Film of 2019 by Jem Bendell, author of the Deep Adaptation paper, about the deep perspective change he experienced as a result of climate anxiety.

DEEP DIVE: Katherine Trebeck

This is not the Truth spoke to Katherine Trebeck, co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, about a post-growth vision of economics.⁣

DEEP DIVE: Tomás de Lara

This is not the Truth speak to Tomás de Lara about the role of businesses for transforming society.⁣

What is Emerging? Episode 1 | DOING: WE CREATE REALITY

Emerge presents: What is Emerging? A documentary series in three parts.

We Need a New Story of What It Means to be Human.

Phoebe Tickell

It’s time to accept that an increasingly complex world, we need to adapt to more nuanced stories and resist the urge to hone in on the one that is the most black-or-white.

“Emergence Disturbs The Concept Of Linearity."

After a spiritual upbringing in Nigeria's capital city of Lagos, Bayo Akomolafe founded a network of artists, activists and academics dedicated to using art and ritual to reframe the world's interlocking social and environmental crises.

Awakening the Twelve Tribes of Transformation.

Jonathan Rowson

How the human tendency towards tribalism can be harnessed to bring about a society focused on the right kind of unity, rather than the wrong kind of division.

“It’s About An Economy That Works For People And Planet, Rather Than The Other Way Around."

Katherine Trebeck is building a network of maverick economists, entrepreneurs and activists with a radically different vision for the future.

Higher Consciousness is The Next Stage Of Human Evolution.

Robert Cobbold

Robert Cobbold, founder of Conscious Evolution, makes an evolutionary case for spiritual practice.

Why It’s Time For Psychology To Go Collective.

Alex Evans

Why it’s time to start thinking about political polarisation as a collective psychology and public health issue.

Understanding What's Emerging: A Comprehensive Guide.

Stefan Ekwall

Resources for getting to grips with the changes currently being experienced in the world. How we handle this transition will define our future. What will emerge?

“The Human Revolution Has To Occur On The Inside First.”

Inspired by social movements sweeping Europe Indra Adnan, founder of the Alternative UK, says a divided Britain is ripe for a new form of grassroots politics.