"The Pattern of Renewal: What to Look for and Help Bring Forth" by Christopher Reynolds

Chris Reynolds, teacher, musician, and traditional healer, writes about the regional economic and cultural transformation already taking place in Northeast Ohio at its centers of creativity, spirituality, and healing. 

He writes,

In our time, the general pattern is that the world, as perceived by the orphan, is much more expansive, meaningful, loving and merged with spiritual realities than the “real” world as delineated by the current family, educational, religious, political, scientific and technological systems. 

The resultant isolation and suffering brings the orphans to a crisis point that many do not survive. The individuals who do manage to find the healing information for their lives, usually through a form of death and rebirth experience, are now gathering in greater numbers at our local creativity and healing centers.

Chris writes further,

The renewal our region is seeking has already been quietly underway for some years now. This essay is a Calling in itself to those who would be leaders to invite those centers and individuals who have been living in this renewed, holistic manner into public awareness.

There is an astounding amount of wisdom for our times waiting to be welcomed home and permitted to share what Joseph Campbell in the Hero of a Thousand Faces called, “The Boon”, with the culture at large. 

Time, money, effort, generosity invested in the wave of renewal I described opens a better way forward for the future generations.

Who is the orphan in your community and how will you welcome their creative, wholistic insights?

 

 

The Passion of the Western Mind

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Homework from Chris Reynolds - teacher, musician, and traditional healer - in this collection of his favorite books connecting the power of creativity and the power of one's ties to the land, both integral to the economic and cultural renewal of regions.

…so I would like to introduce you to a thinker named, Richard Tarnas, and in particular, his book, “Passion of the Western Mind” which is followed by “Cosmos and Psyche”. For Tarnas, the falling apart that we’re doing right now is the end of a twenty-five hundred year arch. And for him, the passion of the Western Mind, what he calls the ‘Western Development’ has been predominately masculine, predominately male.

And the proof he uses for it, is the names of the human being in all languages in the West are, ‘man’, ‘lum’, ‘wom’ – it’s all, when we talk about a human being we say, ‘man’. For him, at this time in history, we are going through the end of man.

That doesn’t mean the end of human beings; it means the end of a way of life. And for him, the future looks like a completing of the masculine in the feminine or a sacred marriage where there is a balance between the two.

And I like to think of what we’re going through now in those terms. If you look through our culture through that lens, you will see all the qualities that were cultivated over the last twenty-five hundred years have reached a point where they no longer work. There’s this old way that’s dying around our feet and at the same this new way is rising up.

So, I would like to say again, the way it looks regionally is, where the new ground is breaking through, through what’s falling apart, is these healing centers, these places where the people who fell apart and who are coming back together. So, it’s right in our midst. The important thing for us as leaders is to be able to allow what wants to die, to die. And that which is being born, that’s where we would place our interest.

Learn more from Chris about the relationship of creativity, traditional rites of passage, and the cosmos to mindfullness, passion, and meaningful civic engagement at his page on I-Open.

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Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel http://www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

Transcription: Christopher Reynolds, teacher, musician, traditional healer Interview 02-07-09

Christopher Reynolds is a high school French teach, musican, and traditional healer from Berea, Ohio. Chris contributed an interview to I-Open research describing his thoughts about the role of creativity to transform regions, not just in terms of economics, but more importantly, in terms of culture.

From the interview transcription:

I’ve been in a dream to a place where the violence that’s done against the world has stopped. I know that because I look to the stream and the life in the stream is coming back and I look to the road that we’re walking on and the life is coming up through the stones. I’m walking that road with my friends and I know that we have made it past this time of transition. There was an African healer, his name is Mandaza Kandemwa: ”if we dream that place then we already are in that place.” So, I would offer this dream that you would get to that road in your way, you would get to that place in your way, but part of me is there now.

Chris is passionate about "waging creativity" - as he does this in all his work - to nurture that which is growing forth from the land, to help things to be born, instead of destroying things.

Our shared challenge is being able to respond to what has not been seen before. The energy needed to do this in the classroom is the same energy that is needed to renew a region's culture.

Creativity is not just making things, it is in how you perceive what is before you. Each of us holds a receptive mirror, a unique way of seeing things, and when you are able to use the mirror, that quality is 'presence' - the capacity to reflect back and see the creativity, to see what is coming forth. Teachers in touch with their 'mirror' can reflect back and show the future it's own face, responding in such a way to strengthen what is coming forth.

When the future is carried in - in the classroom - it's carried in with shaky legs, it's weak, it's unsure, and you don't know where it came from. This is the kind of presence someone will bring.

Chris also describes a traditional path of healing each of us can take to strengthen our understanding of the role we play as caretakers of the earth. His art movement, "urrealism", teaches others how to bring forth what's best in people.  

The end of the transcription includes a reading list of authors and books to help you get started thinking about the power of creativity and renewal. Here are a few,

  • “Spiritual Emergency” (1986), by Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof
  • “The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View” (1991) by Richard Tarnas
  • “Love and the Soul: Creating a Future for Earth” (1995) by Robert Sardello

Meet Chris on video and learn more about his life work at I-Open

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel http://www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave Suite 301 Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

 

The Renewal of Culture - Christopher Reynolds, M.Ed., Teacher, Musician, and Traditional Healer

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Chris is passionate about "waging creativity" - as he does this in all his work - to nurture that which is growing forth from the land, to help things to be born, instead of destroying things. His art movement, "urrealism", teaches others how to bring forth what's best in people. 

Chris describes our shared challenge is "to be able to respond to what has not been seen before. The energy needed to do this in the classroom is the same energy that is needed to renew a region's culture.

Creativity is not just making things, it is in how you perceive what is before you. Each of us holds a receptive mirror, a unique way of seeing things, and when you are able to use the mirror, that quality is 'presence' - the capacity to reflect back and see the creativity, to see what is coming forth. Teachers in touch with their 'mirror' can reflect back and show the future it's own face, responding in such a way to strengthen what is coming forth.

When the future is carried in - in the classroom - it's carried in with shaky legs, it's weak, it's unsure, and you don't know where it came from. This is the kind of presence someone will bring."

Learn from the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

 

Civic Wisdom: The Value of the Older Worker

Bonnie N. Dick, Employment Consultant, CGI Cleveland, was recently awarded the "Most Valued Older Worker" in the State of Ohio. In her interview, Bonnie talks about the value experienced workers of all ages bring to workforce development.You can download the transcription above on Scribd.

Learn from the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

I-Open http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net
Facebook I-Open http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35942064712&ref=ts
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Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel http://www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open http://i-open.org/. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USABonnie N. Dick, Employment Consultant, CGI Cleveland, was recently awarded the "Most Valued Older Worker" in the State of Ohio.

The Value of the Older Worker - IOpen2's Channel

Bonnie N. Dick, Employment Consultant, CGI Cleveland, was recently awarded the "Most Valued Older Worker" in the State of Ohio.

Bonnie talks about the value experienced workers of all ages bring to today's expanded, multi-generational workforce development system.

You can learn more from the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

I-Open http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net
Facebook I-Open http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35942064712&ref=ts
Facebook The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35942064712&ref=ts
Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/iopen/sets/72157623351094216/
Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/user1999383
You Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/IOpen2

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel http://www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open http://i-open.org/. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

Building Collaborative Communities

This presentation provides an introduction to building face-to-face and online collaborative communities that generate social capital and transformative initiatives in Open Source Economic Development.

Collaborative communities form from I-Open Civic Forums, a simple but disciplined process to accelerate place based, globally connected innovation and entrepreneurship.

Learn from the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

    •    Facebook I-Open http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Open/170817416694?ref=ts
    •    Flickr     http://www.flickr.com/people/iopen/
    •    Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
    •    Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
    •    Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
    •    Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
    •    Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
    •    Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
    •    Vimeo http://tiny.cc/106p0
    •    You Tube http://tiny.cc/j5rse
 
Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/