permaculture

[Georg Parlow <g.parlow@gmx.at>]

Hi Scott, Declan, Jono, Lawrence et al,

I highly (HIGHLY!!) recommend Frederic Laloux’s "Reinventing Organizations" 
for everyone who intends to contribute to a noble cause that cannot be 
tackled by any single person (or organisation, for that matter), thus 
requires collaboration. I have mentioned this before, but it is apparent that 
not everyone here has integrated the wisdom flowing through and out of that 
book.

In the first chapter (basically an elaborate foreword) Frederic lucidly 
outlines how different people or organisations might approach, interpret and 
apply one and the same noble idea. E.g. one might prioritize purity of the 
idea (in religions this appears as 'The One Truth') and thus lean towards 
measurements to keep this purity, more or less resulting in a black-and-white 
worldview. Another one might prioritize the results this idea can give us (in 
religions this is science or the constant improvement of our understanding of 
the world) and thus lean towards evolution of the idea through trial 'n 
error, more or less resulting in practical application and achievement. Yet 
another one might prioritize the community of those who recognize the 
nobility of the idea (in religions this appears as fellowship or sangria, the 
love ’n peace approach) and thus lean towards harmony and tolerance, more or 
less resulting in good experiences and less quantifiable results. Still 
others might prioritize personal freedom and responsibility with the idea 
(dunno what this is in religions), thus leaning towards individuality and 
distrust in organised efforts, resulting in only temporary alliances and 
loose networks of very diverse people. 

One problem is, that most viewpoints view the own viewpoint as better than 
all other viewpoints. Viewpoints that one has been living through in the past 
are disregarded as antachronistic, and those that one has not yet experienced 
are distrusted as floady-woady. All viewpoints and approaches have their 
strengths and their weaknesses, and each and every one has a valuable 
contribution to make. But collaboration can be difficult, between some more 
so than between others.

'Reinventing Organizations' can be downloaded as an ebook on 
pay-what-feels-right from http://www.reinventingorganizations.com 
<http://www.reinventingorganizations.com/>, or ordered in print at any 
bookstore (ISBN 978-2960133509)
 It does not contain a simple recipe for our task at hand. But it can help a 
lot in the mentioned 'some serious training in building collaborative 
networks, mentoring, and working with our inner process'.

Greetings!
Georg


> Am 04.06.2016 um 22:03 schrieb Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>:
> 
> On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 2:02 PM, Jono Neiger <neiger@csld.edu> wrote:
> 
>> I sometimes think the permaculture network (to generalize broadly) could
>> use some serious training in building collaborative networks, mentoring,
>> and working with our inner process. Its new paradigms folks. Step into it!
>> 
> 
> This is probably the best way forward for the times we are in; use what we
> have and while we are at it remind them of how the permaculture movement
> got started with Bill Mollison's mission and works during that era. For me
> the 70's were the most interesting times because Mollison, Chadwick and
> Jeavons and many others doing hands on work and teaching or were writing
> and publishing out of print books. Encapsulate the past, bring it to the
> present and integrate it with the permaculture movement as it presently
> exists.
> 
>