Thank you for the tour of the "dark side"! Totally agree with your analysis, but there are current examples of the "light side" leadership in mass movements. I know one and the for the past 35 years it has been an inspiration to me and my own, similar work.
Today is the 65th anniversary of a modern day movement and leader who has promoted the sovereignty of the human person and expanding the collective intelligence - to millions of people in their country over the past 65 years. The leader is Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne in Sri Lanka, who founded the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement on December 7th, 1958.
It has mobilized the pure goodness of people and organizations and connected the good within them to build a national network of 5,000 "micro" bioregional ecosystem networks.
I am celebrating them today by timing the release of my new book, Birthing the Symbiotic Age, here on Substack as a free weekly series. Sorry if this came off as a crass promotion, it is not. I have been wanting to connect with you for a while now and figured this would be a good introduction.
In fact, it might be great to aggregate the positive energy of those who are writing on Substack around aligned themes to actively network and support each other. Have a wonderful day and thank you for all that you have contributed to Sanity in the culture.
1) "Blue Lock" is an anime about soccer where the main theme is to explore and explain what it takes to be the number one Striker. It is said in the series that, in order to be the best striker in the world, you must be the biggest egoist in the world. Kind of twisted at first, the more I watched it I realized that you cannot value or really contribute to a group/collective until you have find your core "ego"(?). And that we are doing things backward in society by letting the group impose their goals over ours. I highly recommended you to watch it, because we are already seeing it's effect in the real world. That series changed the Japanese soccer style!
2) There is an old Andean myth that claimed that every 500 years there is an event the puts the world upside down. They called it the "Pachacuti", a cosmic event. It happen before, the coming of the Spaniards was a Pachacuti moment for the Incas . And now for us, it's AI. And there is an increase sense that we might change of leviathan soon. God, State, Network (powered by AI)
I would say these groups already exist the problem is they have no mechanism for proliferation as wide appeal can not be monetized and a lot of people don't really want to hear how greedy they can be.
There's a barrier to entry which is a strong desire to find them... And a little bit of 'luck'
Love this piece! I think for many power is the first thing sought, inner peace is nothing without a reason to wield it as a coersive weapon, not to harm but influence and sell.
The masses have found a collective guru in the form of rap music. The mycology of lyrical trends paint a picture of the modern psyche. Often misunderstood symbology renders the wants and needs of the enlightened modernity plain and to a beat.
Yes, and where are the stories of the ethical cults? (I'll look into @richard flyer's suggestion) Are they out there but hiding for fear of scale, perhaps an inability to scale? Or does drawing too much attention risk making them look like proselytizing "cult-y cults," possibly calling the kind of folk who could tip the balance that direction? As one who has been pondering how to find/build a community that might provide more resilience as we hurtle toward that omega point, just looking for a few more breadcrumbs.
What are your thoughts on the best governance, decision making, and conflict resolution structures for ethical cults? Sociocracy, NVC, etc? “Reinventing organizations” - Laloux. What shared flags should be waived regarding solidarity of mission, purpose etc. Is spirituality, God, and the transcendent a necessary component?
I love that you (re)turned to Icarus here. Poet Jack Gilbert (1925-2012) reconceived the tale this way, in his poem, "Failing and Flying":
"Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
....
"I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph."
Full poem available: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48132/failing-and-flying
Thank you for the tour of the "dark side"! Totally agree with your analysis, but there are current examples of the "light side" leadership in mass movements. I know one and the for the past 35 years it has been an inspiration to me and my own, similar work.
Today is the 65th anniversary of a modern day movement and leader who has promoted the sovereignty of the human person and expanding the collective intelligence - to millions of people in their country over the past 65 years. The leader is Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne in Sri Lanka, who founded the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement on December 7th, 1958.
It has mobilized the pure goodness of people and organizations and connected the good within them to build a national network of 5,000 "micro" bioregional ecosystem networks.
I am celebrating them today by timing the release of my new book, Birthing the Symbiotic Age, here on Substack as a free weekly series. Sorry if this came off as a crass promotion, it is not. I have been wanting to connect with you for a while now and figured this would be a good introduction.
https://richardflyer.substack.com/p/symbiotic-age-book-live-now
In fact, it might be great to aggregate the positive energy of those who are writing on Substack around aligned themes to actively network and support each other. Have a wonderful day and thank you for all that you have contributed to Sanity in the culture.
Jeez, it's synchronicity. 2 things
1) "Blue Lock" is an anime about soccer where the main theme is to explore and explain what it takes to be the number one Striker. It is said in the series that, in order to be the best striker in the world, you must be the biggest egoist in the world. Kind of twisted at first, the more I watched it I realized that you cannot value or really contribute to a group/collective until you have find your core "ego"(?). And that we are doing things backward in society by letting the group impose their goals over ours. I highly recommended you to watch it, because we are already seeing it's effect in the real world. That series changed the Japanese soccer style!
2) There is an old Andean myth that claimed that every 500 years there is an event the puts the world upside down. They called it the "Pachacuti", a cosmic event. It happen before, the coming of the Spaniards was a Pachacuti moment for the Incas . And now for us, it's AI. And there is an increase sense that we might change of leviathan soon. God, State, Network (powered by AI)
This is gonna be my new mantra for the young ones on their devices - "Click those thumbs and evil comes!"
why did you leave out the most dangerous cult leader, the Donald?
I would say these groups already exist the problem is they have no mechanism for proliferation as wide appeal can not be monetized and a lot of people don't really want to hear how greedy they can be.
There's a barrier to entry which is a strong desire to find them... And a little bit of 'luck'
Are the majority of people less capable that they once were?
Love this piece! I think for many power is the first thing sought, inner peace is nothing without a reason to wield it as a coersive weapon, not to harm but influence and sell.
The masses have found a collective guru in the form of rap music. The mycology of lyrical trends paint a picture of the modern psyche. Often misunderstood symbology renders the wants and needs of the enlightened modernity plain and to a beat.
Seeing a shift here from don't be the person to create the new church to we need new cults. And I agree with this shift. Somethings gotta give.
Yes, and where are the stories of the ethical cults? (I'll look into @richard flyer's suggestion) Are they out there but hiding for fear of scale, perhaps an inability to scale? Or does drawing too much attention risk making them look like proselytizing "cult-y cults," possibly calling the kind of folk who could tip the balance that direction? As one who has been pondering how to find/build a community that might provide more resilience as we hurtle toward that omega point, just looking for a few more breadcrumbs.
This is highly relevant to what Im writing. Thank you.
What are your thoughts on the best governance, decision making, and conflict resolution structures for ethical cults? Sociocracy, NVC, etc? “Reinventing organizations” - Laloux. What shared flags should be waived regarding solidarity of mission, purpose etc. Is spirituality, God, and the transcendent a necessary component?