My Alter Ego: Rethinking Humanity with muddy feet
I spent my weekend with a group of about 30 systems change practitioners at the Alter Ego gathering in France that was skilfully, vulnerably, playfully hosted by Rich Bartlett and Ronan Harrington and I wanted to use my post-retreat high to collect some of my takeaways that I’d like to share with the different communities I am a part of.
Alter Ego was a three-day event that took us through a journey of connecting, deep sharing, reflecting triggers and blind spots, discussing potential future scenarios, discovering opportunities for collaboration, nature connection, yoga, art, play and ritual. It ended with an invitation to stay in touch and practice microsolidarity. I went there with quite low energy and loads moving for me internally and got picked up right where I was.
With this article I want to share three main takeaways:
- The Rethinking Humanity Report — Because of the potential implications it has for activism & change-making and because I would like to know what people outside our group make of it.
- Covid-19 measures taken during the gathering — Because nothing can really substitute meeting physically, even though it’s great how much CO2 we can save by meeting online. This gathering was a prototype for how getting together during a pandemic can work.
- Bringing in the human — Because I believe tenderness, play and mystery have to be at the centre of any revolution.
Rethinking Humanity
To prepare for the gathering, we were asked to read James Arbib & Tony Seba’s Rethinking Humanity report. Tony Seba very accurately predicted major shifts in tech and economy in the past decades. The report is a 70 page document, but you could also listen to this podcast with Tony Seba that I found more accessible and where he brings some of the implications of his thoughts to point.
The report explains how systems have evolved throughout history, and why we’re on the brink of either a collapse into a new dark age or a new civilisation. In a nutshell they predict rapid tech disruption in the fields of transport, food, energy, information & materials in the next 10 years that will lead to a collapse of the current economic systems in the currently dominant countries/regions. They say disruption will come from places in the fringes and will completely transform our societies. All the technologies are more sustainable and give rise to a new decentralised system, but at the same time don’t per se foster any human or cultural transformation and could lead to a huge accumulation of capital and power for a few.
In general it was received with a lot of scepticism but also lead to a shift of perspectives. It implies that the work is not about creating change but how we could shape the transformation to bring in the human, ecosystemic and cultural components so we don’t move towards some kind of tech dystopia.
I’m curious to hear what you make of it!
Gathering during a pandemic
Among other things Alter Ego was a prototype for gatherings during a global pandemic. The organisation team took the current risks seriously, reminded everyone of their individual responsibility but also made sure we felt free enough to dive into connecting. We didn’t wear masks outside but kept being reminded to observe hygiene routines.
Here are some of the measures Ronan & Rich put in place:
+ They shared a very well researched Covid-19 briefing and gave regular updates on the Covid situation and country regulations before & during the event.
+ They had a flexible cancellation policy.
+ They introduced a social distance “graphic light” bracelet system for people to indicate how much contact they are ok with.
+ Most sessions happened outside/with open windows.
+ Max 2 people sharing rooms /max 3 for cars.
+ They planned all exercises to allow for 1m distance between participants.
+ Temperature checks were done at arrival.
+ They prepared rooms to self-isolate in case anyone would develop symptoms during the gathering.
Soft Animal Bodies
Other takeaways for me were how much we all are in need of play and connection. And that there is probably no-one in the system’s change field that is not carrying some sort of wound and how beautifully we can grow around them.
Alter Ego created a beautiful container to hold some of that, not least thanks to the fantastic co-facilitators that were invited to host parts of the programme. To me it felt a bit like the very best parts of childhood: curiosity, play, muddy feet, learning, bravery, vulnerability, crying, being held, singing out loud, discovering, making friends, sharing, mystery, tenderness and silliness. There was connecting, sharing, deep-diving, boundary exploring, dirt-rolling, bubble blowing, foot flirting, moss-smelling, vegan food goodness and poetry. The soft animal of my body and little-me felt such relief.
There was also space to talk about what is hard in our lives, our triggers, shadows and hidden assumptions, what we are struggling with in our organisations as well as about how predominantly white and privileged the gathering itself was. There were opposing opinions and definitely loads of unanswered questions. I enjoyed the vulnerability.
If you are interested in joining, you can follow this link and apply for the gathering from November 12–15th 2020 or April 22–25th 2021.
