Originating Impulses for Novasutras: Big Ideas for Deep Transformation
I’m thinking it might be time to get back to some of the originating impulses for Novasutras. Now feels like the right time to revisit a few of the big, hairy, audacious goals that I considered on the path to establishing Novasutras. We’ve just passed Novasutras’ sixth anniversary: the website was launched in early November 2017, with the first Octal Celebration on the December Solstice. So I’m beginning this series of blog articles on the roots of Novasutras, just a few days before our seventh December Solstice celebration.
The original hopes for Novasutras were that people would come together to co-create of a set of new wisdom teachings, a variety of both global and locally-adapted practices, and even a whole new language. I believed that we could support resilience during the Great Unraveling, and provide insights for what would emerge in the times ahead.
![Tree with roots exposed. Photo by Aaron Escobar [CC BY 2.0]](https://i0.wp.com/novasutras.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/800px-exposed_mango_tree_roots.jpg?resize=800%2C591&ssl=1)
All things rise and flourish
Then go back to their roots.
Seeing this return brings true rest,
Where you discover who you really are.
~ Lao Tzu
Back in 2016-2017, I was (like so many others in the US and around the world) trying to figure out what went wrong, and where we might actually be going as a global species. As with many in the climate movement, I was aware that we were not making sufficiently rapid progress, and that we were approaching tipping points that would lead to collapse. But as an anthropologist and systems thinking advocate, I kept going back to the deep, unexamined fundamentals that had shaped how we got to where we are now.
Reviewing Novasutras’ Originating Impulses: A Series
As we begin Novasutras’ seventh year, it’s a good time to revisit the big projects I first considered as the ideas for Novasutras took shape. In the coming weeks, I’ll post further details about the ideas for:
- A Wiki for New Wisdom Teachings: Novasutras as a Collective (Re)Writing Project
- Ekolinga: a Constructed Language for an Ecological Civilization
- Co-Creating Practices in Local Chapters Everywhere
- Novasutras for Resilience in the Great Unraveling
I waited on going public with most of these until now. I thought it would be better to bring them forward once Novasutras had the chance to get bigger and more established. If we grew enough, I believed we would attract engaged people with the right sets of interests and skills. But progress toward Novasutras growth has slowed. We’ve fallen far short of achieving most of what I’d hoped for in the first six years.
What I’m now trying to figure out is whether I can a) use the skills I already have or the tools that I already know how to use, and/or b) get support from people who have applicable skills or who know how to use better tools, in order to advance these projects.
What do you think about these early ideas? Are you interested in helping to forward these visions?
Part 1 of 5 – more to come…