Benjamin Life
CIVIC INNOVATOR
Evolutionary Alchemist &
agent OF HARMONY
Substack
I seem to be a verb…
making maps of harmony and collective thriving that inspire a cultural & civic renaissance in service of
All Life.
Writing
Weaving the work of Bhutan, Ecuador, P2P Foundation, and others into the larger story of new paradigms in regenerative economic thinking.
Could the ethos of Burning Man give rise to the next largescale social movement in the United States and beyond?
How systems design thinking and complexity science could rebirth our world in service to All Life.
Music
Featuring the voices of Mary Oliver, Ursula K. Leguin, and Nina Simone, this ambient track is an homage to my mother and grandmother who taught me how to listen.
Featuring the voice of Joanna Macy, this ambient track presents Joanna’s telling of the Shambala Warrior Prophecy.
Featuring the voice of Terence McKenna, this ambient track explores the edges of an emerging cultural renaissance.
Film
An invocation of stewardship, calling forth the spirit of feminine leadership in service of Life.
Travel in 360VR to the home of the Guajajara people and join them on a journey to protect the Amazon Rainforest from deforestation and destruction.
Meet Brittany, a young leader and survivor of trauma, as she tells her story of healing and integration through the medium of virtual reality storytelling
How can I serve your mission?
Strategy & Partnerships
I'm tracking a diverse array of evolutionary projects and I'm always looking to see the bigger picture that reveals latent potential and synergy.
Storytelling & Media
Let's tell the story of how your project weaves into the larger narrative arc of the Great Turning.
All Win Systems Design
Do you need help designing your project to more deeply reflect regenerative and all-win values? I got you.
CIVIC INNOVATOR
The term ‘meta-crisis’ is used to describe the interconnected crises of our Modern world. The crises of homelessness, economic inequality, chronic disease, hyper-polarization, and ecocide are themselves the products of underlying civic systems that are properly functioning to concentrate wealth and power but are failing to produce vitality and a thriving planet. Our crisis is a civic crisis.
Civics is more than bridges, roads, and municipal governments. Civics is the soil from which businesses, governments, and communities can grow. Civics is money, digital & physical infrastructure, markets, utilities, energy, and civil society. All of these fundamental aspects of human life need to be restored in order to address the root of the ‘meta-crisis’ we face.
“There are no separate systems. The world is a continuum. Where to draw a boundary around a system depends on the purpose of the discussion.”
Donella H. Meadows
Evolutionary Alchemist
Evolution is the process of parts coming together to create more life, more beauty, and more complexity. Alchemy is a process of transmutation in which light and shadow, matter and spirit are unified and harmonized.
As an evolutionary alchemist, I look for the latent potentials embedded in all aspects of our human experience with a pragmatic and mystical devotion to the continued development and expansion of All Life. This can take the form of visionary leadership, relational healing, strategic consulting, and storytelling.
This unseen realm is vital, non-trivial, and sacred— and it is real. I am increasingly finding that the most fecund realms of change, learning, and evolution are beyond the organism’s current capacity to perceive.
Nora Bateson
Omniharmonic agent
The Universe is a song. As unique notes within the symphony of Life, it is up to us to listen to our many contexts, find our place in the web of creation, and contribute fully.
Listening and attuning to each moment, I choose to be an agent, an active sovereign participant, in the creation of greater harmony across all domains, at all scales, and in all contexts.
This sometimes looks like dialogue facilitation, community weaving, and transpersonal healing.
Harmony is a product not only of yourself but of the surroundings. It is very much a question of what application creates harmony in that place.
Christopher Alexander