Saturday, March 11, 2017

Reaching out through the mycellium of life.

thank you for reaching out across the Mycelium of life, its always great to meet fellow travelers whatever colour their clothes…

I agree about Cog edge, for me its rather old fashioned these days, i trained on Dave's first course in 2003, and i’m surprised that people still ask for it. It probably forms a simple gateway into the nature of different systems, and i do it all with story, my cyenfin is called the farmers tale, which i then turn into a diagnostic constellation with people standing in the parts of the farm, i think they enjoy the physicality of feeling the chaos of the hippies, or the analysis of the ministry of agriculture.

my work really comes in three shapes today, the physical renovation of an old (1788) grain wind mill, now with electric motors, building a local short chain Bio flour and bread business based on the mill. Back to my roots as a farmers son, and real work!

Then the re-introduction of multistakeholder co-operatives to Belgium, via the Flietermolen co-operative.This is re-pioneering the way to optimising value in a value chain, (as opposed to maximising one sub system and what boils down to non agreed extraction at the point of maximisation) by having all stakeholders( farmers, millers, bakers, shops, customers, neighbours) as co-owners and navigating the complex field of apparently conflicting or paradoxical needs. I’ve been warned not to try - too difficult - so that's my cue, and i've been around complex humans systems for so long now that i forget most people don't even have the book on their shelf to help them with non-linear thinking or multiple attractors and all the other fun stuff we mavericks get up to.

finally getting non linear thinking into schools in the next thirty years. I’m writing a book called harvesting complexity with a old student of Prigogine, still at the ULB in brussels, Vasileios Basios brings the theoretical physics and i the stories of an ex crisis manager with practical heuristics around working in complex domains. Stef's work shop fits into this bit, Teal is on the rise, great destination but lacking a guide to the collective and personal journey required to reach it. I try to help with my toolbox of practical heuristics, these days pretty well populated. The AoH people have  had Cyneifn in their back pack since i put it there 12 years ago when they started, it seems only now do they get how complex stuff might really be different. Any seedling has to be given a chance to grow into a mighty redwood.


I suppose there is a fourth unspoken path too, this conversation for me is the natural spread of a mycelium of people who reach out through the sub soil and find each other, so that when conditions on the surface are ripe/right the mushroom ring can magically appear, and do its work.

It would be fun to meet and drink tea one day.