There is a crisis with authority in a world where anyone with a computer can have his/her own TV channel with the potential to have millions of viewers, anyone can go into Wikipedia and contribute definitions to any terms, anyone can get information on any thing across the globe almost instantly, and anyone can publish his/her writing (like this blog) any time without getting permission, major financial constraints, or clearance from any power figure or groups! All the things I named above give people power to receive, create, and share, bypassing many of the “traditional” authorities.
If we continue in this movement toward decentralizing authority (which we will) the big questions are: How do we know what the truth is? Where or who is the authority in such a world?
After the Israelites left the oppression of slavery in Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea and ended up in the wilderness facing a completely new situation. Namely, there would be no masters with their repressive rules, and everyone was free. How could they create a sustainable community in this new context? Where was the authority? Their solution was a divine one – instead of having a human authority, they had God who gave them a set of commandments to follow, popularly known as the Ten Commandments. In some way, the Commandments, the new ground-rules themselves became the authority for this community of free people.
(Left image: This is a picture of the 1768 parchment by Jekuthiel Sofer emulated the 1675 Decalogue at Amsterdam Esnoga synagogue.)
We are living in a time like the experience of the Israelites. We might just have crossed the Red Sea when the utilization of the Internet flourished with Youtube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter and many other digitized media. Now, what do we do? How do we create respectful functional communities in a world where so many people are so powerful in their abilities to get information, network, create and disseminate? What are the new ground-rules for a sustainable community in this networked world?
Michiel Schwarz in his book, Sustainism is the New Modernism (with graphic designs by Joost Elffers) wrote:
in sustainist worldmaking there is:
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no ecology without community
no development without equity
no design that is not codesigned
no value without shared meanings
no information that is not based on open source
no action without local consideration
no community without participation
no sustainability without fairness
Schwarz’s proposal here can be the beginning of a new set of ground-rules for our new context. I found myself resonating with most of these phrases as I reviewed my approach to leadership development and community formation in the last 30 years. As I consult with many different organizations (mostly Christian churches), I often insist on decision-making processes that seek input and participation from as many people as possible, especially, those whose lives may be impacted by the decisions. This way of seeking information, experience and participation from members of the community is an essential ground-rule for creating a sustainist community. As members of the community share their different experiences, information and perspectives, they discover shared meaning, values and decisions together. These shared values will drive actions that automatically take into consideration the local contexts and people.
As more and more people arrive at this new individually empowered context, they expect to participate in the development and design of their communities. They expect to share power with others in decision-making. They expect to be part of a community that is fair and equitable in everything that it does. And leaders today must be equipped with knowledge and skills to facilitate this power-sharing way of decision-making and community formation. Since the authority resides with the people, leaders need to know how to engage the people to speak with authority, listen openly, and discover creative solutions in the midst of diverse perspectives and experiences.
At the Kaleidoscope Institute, one of the fundamental tools for building a sustainable community is the Respectful Community Guidelines. We present these guidelines at every gathering and invite participants to agree to uphold them for the duration for the meeting. This set of guidelines helps the community to move toward the sustainist approach to sharing and receiving information and experiences before arriving at a resolution or decision.
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Reflection Questions for Proper 22 (Year A) Exodus 20:1-4,7-9,12-20 Psalm 19 Isaiah 5:1-7 Psalm 80:7-14 Philippians 3:4b-14 Matthew 21:33-46 |
Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org
Come to Los Angeles in 2012 to study with The Sustainist, the first two opportunities: February 27–March 2, 2012 |