A Community for Deep Transformation
Novasutras emerged in 2017 with an intention to create an ecospiritual community to bring about a deep transformation of our global societies. We are not alone in sensing the need for profound change. In early 2022, a new online community formed: the Deep Transformation Network (DTN). Last month, we created a space for Novasutras within the DTN.
The Mighty Networks platform used by DTN allows any of us to create events, start conversations, and share information easily. The large community gathered by DTN will have opportunities to discover Novasutras. At the same time, our community will gain new opportunities to make connections all around the world.
What is the Deep Transformation Network?
Author Jeremy Lent (The Patterning Instinct & The Web of Meaning) started the DTN because he saw the need for “a community sharing deep concern about our civilization’s direction, with an intention to engage constructively to change its trajectory.”
Purpose | To help amplify the forces for Deep Transformation that could set humanity on a path of future flourishing on a regenerated Earth.
Values | With reverence for the dignity of all sentient beings, we pursue sustained mutually beneficial symbiosis within human society, and between humans and the living Earth.
Deep Transformation Network’s Community Character and Guiding Principles
DTN maintains a conversational environment of caring, diversity and respect. There is an intention to be generative: “Encouraging thoughtful and deep discussion of ideas, sharing different perspectives with the intention of co-creating a greater understanding—not trying to win a debate.”
Novasutras’ connections to the Deep Transformation Network
Michelle has volunteered as a moderator on the network since August 2022, helping to keep people engaged in healthy ways. She hosts a monthly Meditate Together for Regeneration Zoom session. She assists with the monthly Live Network event series and events for the Education Commons on the DTN.
As part of the vision of growing a healthy and vibrant online community, Jeremy offered Michelle the opportunity to create our own Novasutras “space” on the DTN, as part of a broader gathering of Ecospirituality Groups. We can use our space for conversations and events more specifically focused on Novasutras principles and our concerns as an organization. We can also engage with the broader DTN community to share our ideas and information with thousands of others.
How to Engage with the Deep Transformation Network
In their first anniversary celebration event, Michelle led a tour of what’s available on the DTN. She showed participants how to use some of the key features. This 20-minute video recording shows you the basics of how to find your way around, and connect with others in the network.
Many people primarily interact with the DTN through its social-media-style feed. In the feed, people read and comment on things that others have posted. Everyone can share links or their own thoughts for consideration by the community.
Others focus more on DTN’s live online events. Many actively participate in both asynchronous text-based interactions and real-time, spoken conversations.
Deep Transformation Network Online Events
The Live Network Meeting monthly series hosts guest panelists in conversation about a chosen topic with Jeremy Lent. After the panel, there are short breakout rooms, then an extensive Q&A session for the audience to engage with one another and with the speakers. These structured events are recorded and archived. Often, the conversation in the comments on the recordings can continue for months after the event.
At the other extreme, there are sessions called The Listening Space, held about once per week at varied times. Here a small group can gather “in circle.” There is no fixed topic, so each person can speak what is on their heart and mind for several minutes. Appreciative and supportive listeners hold a caring and confidential space, so that everyone may be fully heard. (This feels very similar to some of the Discussions in Difficult Times sessions Novasutras had in 2020-2021.) Spaces like this are wonderful for creating the interpersonal relationships that maintain healthy and vibrant communities.
The monthly Meditate Together for Regeneration sessions are somewhere in the middle. They offer brief before-and-after conversations with a guided meditation and some silence. The DTN boasts plenty of topic-driven events as well, with varying emphasis on presentation or interactivity.
A New Space to Nurture Novasutras
The Deep Transformation Network may be an ideal space for the future growth of the Novasutras movement. Though we are still a long way from our movement’s ambitious founding goals, DTN provides some of our best opportunities for creating change in the world. They have freely offered us these accessible online tools for collaborative community building. We can be in an online space without the influence of profit-driven algorithms and advertisers that characterize most social media platforms. It is a global space where ubuntu might be realized, in service to a future of thriving agaya.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
At Novasutras, we see the DTN as a valuable tool for helping us to achieve our vision. By working with this network, we can inspire a movement large enough to change the whole paradigm of civilization toward one abiding in agaya and ubuntu. We can tap into the DTN community’s abundant knowledge and resources, and draw upon the collective wisdom of groups and individuals who are dedicated to transformative change. As we come together to cultivate greater awareness, compassion, and wisdom, we can truly change the world.
