SOCIAL ARTISTRY Special Report BY DR. JEAN HOUSTON Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com Applying Social Artistry to Decentralized Governance for Human Development Paper by Dr. Jean Houston Given at United Nations I. Introduction and Context We are living in a time of whole system transition, a condition of interactive change that affects every aspect of life as we know it. On the shadow side, this includes the many problems we currently face: global warming and other changes in climate, disastrous ups and downs in our interlinked financial markets, worldwide unemployment, more than a billion people living in deprivation, disappearing soils and forests, the angers and actions of the disenfranchised, oppressive governments and corporations, a stratified economic system that rewards the most greedy among us. In spite of the negative factors that threaten to destroy us, there is occurring an emergence of patterns of possibility never before available to the Earth’s people as a whole. It is true that virtually every known institution and way of being is currently in a state of deconstruction and breakdown. And yet, given the scientific, technological, cross-cultural, and social tools at hand, and given, too, that humanity is searching as never before to cooperate in so many areas, it seems feasible that we may be ready to integrate inner and outer dimensions of life in ways which infuse new depth into human development and new purpose and responsibility into social transformation. Three powerful forces that have risen in this time are propelling the current state of collective potential growth. They work in parallel and fuel one another. These forces may be described as 1. The re-patterning of human nature. 2. The re-genesis of society. 3. The breakdown of the membrane between peoples, cultures, nations. Understanding, defining and working with these forces and their evolutionary potential provide the framework and foundation for the leadership training work of Social Artistry. The Re-patterning of Human Nature. This critical force pushes us to discover and utilize dormant or little used capacities and come to a more comprehensive understanding of our place and responsibilities in this world and time. Capacities that previously belonged to the elite few must become the province and requirement of the many if we are to survive the next hundred years. We must each learn to tap into the creative workshops of the mind to solve problems and to bring forth art, poetry, and invention. We must discover ways to feel at home with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Most people, given opportunity and training, can learn to think, feel, and know in new ways; function in their bodies with better use and awareness; become more creative, more imaginative, and aspire within realistic limits to a much larger awareness, one that is better equipped to deal with the complex challenges of life. It is true, as Albert Einstein reminded us, we cannot solve problems from the same level of consciousness that created them. Therefore, the 1 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com consciousness that can find solutions to such problems needs models of its own matured possibilities; visions of what the possible human can be and do that go beyond the limitations of academic excellence or dogged persistence to attain certain goals. The Re-genesis of Society. As the self is repatterned, the ways we relate to one another are necessarily shifting as well, toward the discovery of new styles of interpersonal connection and new ways of being in community, within a global society. The movement seems to be from the egocentric and the ethnocentric to the worldcentric—a fundamental change in the nature of civilization, compelling a passage beyond the mindset and institutions of millennia. Critical to this reformation is a true partnership society, in which women join men in the full social agenda. Since women tend to emphasize process over product, to understand the power of being as well as doing, deepening rather than end-goaling, it is inevitable that as a result of this partnership, linear, sequential solutions will evolve to the knowing that comes from seeing things in whole constellations rather than as discrete facts. The consciousness engendered by this comprehensive vision is well adapted to orchestrating the multiple variables involved in living comfortable within the multicultural realities of the modern world. It raises hope for forgiveness and healing between and among nations and ethnic groups. Essential to this matured consciousness is moral and ethical growth toward empathy between individuals and nations that honors the golden rule of human interchange. The regenesis of social forms also asks that governments at every level begin to shift the emphasis on social engineering designed to fix specific problems and instead embrace the understanding of the world as an ecology, a complex adaptive system in which global awareness is applied to local concerns. Here again, we need models of a new order of relationships and their place in a possible society, one in which male and female, science and spirituality, economics and ecology, civic participation and personal growth come together in an integral and interdependent matrix for the benefit of all. The Breakdown of the Membrane. In the places where our world truly operates interdependently, old barriers are slowly dissolving, along with the ancient fears that sustained them. Technologies of instant communication and exchange of information can enable people to join minds and hearts in mutual discovery and creation. In such a world, more and more people are invited to accept the benefits of cultural diversity and to adopt a more inclusive worldview, inspiring human nature with renewed hope and caring. What began in migrations and global economics is fast becoming a worldwide network of individuals and institutions quickened by the desire to create a new social paradigm, in which humanity and the Earth are each enhanced within the context of a collective destiny. As the membrane of old forms breaks down, a more complex and inclusive global organism comes into being. As living cells within this new organism, we are rescaled to earth-wide proportions in our responsiveness--and our responsibilities. The state of knowledge, which can bring these working forces into realization, is very high, while the state of application still leaves much to be desired. The governing intention of this paper is to introduce these concepts of Social Artistry as a means of bringing knowledge, training and application together in effective new ways. The goal is to assist, through leadership training models, in the fulfillment of plans for decentralized governance to achieve human development. 2 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com II. Goals of Social Artistry in Alignment with UNDP Goals The aim of Social Artistry is to implement the current transition towards creative change and growth in many arenas and in ways that will encourage and prepare stakeholders to more effectively accomplish the goals of decentralization. Its goal is to provide significant shifts through a variety of trainings: cross-cultural, human and cultural development, education in human and cultural capacities and potentials, and other activating factors aimed at directing both individuals and social capital toward the creation of better societies and peoples. Social Artistry also aims at providing strategies that can work in an interconnected world, training effective leaders who can productively address interconnected public problems, given present-day conditions of reduced fiscal resources, lack of consensus on options, and the necessary involvement of diverse, independent-minded stakeholders. Social Artistry can prove to be an effective tool in realizing the Millennium Development Goals. These offer objectives aimed at providing critical and sustainable solutions to be achieved by 2015 from their 1990 level. They set out, among other things, a series of clear commitments, goals and targets for the achievement of Human Development. As is well known, the Goals include eight major achievements, 18 targets and 48 indicators. These include reducing poverty and hunger by half, under-five mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and halving the proportion of people without access to safe water. Critical to these goals is the aim of achieving universal education and gender equality.[i] In order to achieve such worthy goals, a new paradigm of sustainable human development is required. It should be one that supports human development in its most primary form: the development of capacities, skills and potentials that activate both individuals and groups in ways that enhance their societal choices and commitments, liberate their inventiveness and raise levels of esteem and cooperation essential to carrying out the goals. The United Nations Development Programme itself describes sustainable human development as “expanding the choices for all people in society. This means that men and women particularly the poor and vulnerable are at the center of the development process. It also means the protection of life opportunities for future generations and the natural systems on which life depends. This makes the central purpose of development the creation of an enabling environment in which all can enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. (UNDP 1997)”[ii] III. Creating the Enabling Environment The key term here, the “central purpose of development” is “the enabling environment” which requires effective partnerships between the civil society, the government (both central and decentralized), and the private sector. Such an environment implies the need to enable individuals at all levels of society to gather the will, courage, initiative and energy, through training and skill development, to accomplish these goals. For too long and for too many, governance has been seen as residing in central authority with the result that many have become unavailable and/or uninterested in the governance of forms outside of their immediate control. Too many have lost or never developed the capacities for decentralized governance, itself a necessary part of achieving development initiatives. This sense of apathy and indifference, along 3 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com with the loss of aptitude, has resulted in the continuance of top-down governance and its consequent failures. Encouraging a culture of participatory democracy requires that the said participants be capable of complex and coherent decision-making. This requires greater use of their inherent potential in consonance with greater dedication to improving the social conditions of their communities. If this is true of citizens, how much truer still of leaders and other facilitators of social change. IV. The Leadership Dilemma Thirty years of work throughout the world with leaders in the fields of industry and government, education and health has convinced me that too many of the problems in societies today stem from leadership that is ill prepared to deal with present complexity. This is not just a matter of inadequate training in the realities of global change, but even more tragically, a lack of human resourcefulness, leaders living out of a field of awareness that limits their abilities to deal with their world. Too many leaders have been educated for a different time, a different world. Few are prepared for the task of dealing with the complexity and chaos of today when the usual formulas and stopgap solutions of an earlier era will not help. What is worse is the frequency with which leaders avoid working co-creatively with their constituents, thus continuing models of dependency and social apathy. Worldwide, societies are crying for assistance in the transformation of their citizens, organizations, and institutions. The UNDP’s present emphasis on the need to create a sense of shared governance through decentralization provides a major step in addressing the deficient and rapidly devolving old leadership models. New ways of looking at leadership are required, as well as new methods of developing human beings eager to serve the concept of decentralized governance and fulfill the vitally important millennium goals. V. The Need for Social Artists We must begin to help people, citizens and leaders alike, to bring new mind to bear upon social change. In this way it is hoped that we can rise to the challenge of our times and ferry ourselves across the dangerous abyss that separates a dying era from a 'borning' one. The work of Social Artistry is evolving and open-ended, striving to provide a dynamic balance between inner understanding and outward expression. It addresses individual and group training in human capacities on four levels – physical/sensory, psychological/historic, symbolic/mythic and integral/unitive. Each issue, problem or goal is similarly addressed through all four levels. ___________________________________________________ Four Levels of the Social Artist’s Awareness *Physical/Sensory: The Social Artist takes note of information available through the senses, and through the physical body, for him/herself and for others, asking such questions as: What are our 4 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com physical surroundings like and what do they tell me? How are people gathered and in what configurations? What is needed that can enhance physical/sensory well being? Training begins with awakening and assessing sensory/physical data, and extends to include honing the imagination and visionary capacities. Outcomes include vigorous increases in energy, commitment, focus and enjoyment. *Psychological/Historic: It is vital for Social Artists to understand their own psychological histories, to be aware of the ways their lives, responses, and emotions have been formed through cultural and familial environments, and to be capable of empathizing with other humans, also shaped by historic and psychological pressures. In training the Social Artist, psychological deepening is provided through exploration of one’s personal and cultural history, explication of current brain and mind research, introduction to various patterns of psychological behavior, as well as recent theories of human origins and DNA studies. *Mythic/Symbolic: An adequately trained Social Artist possesses profound knowledge of the world’s cultural stories, myths, religions and symbolic structures. He/She has traveled extensively in the realms described by Carl Gustav Jung as the collective unconscious, and is fascinated by, and deeply respectful of, other people’s relation to their belief systems as well as their ability to transcend these cultural structures when they have become restrictive or damaging. The Social Artist is thus consistently seeking aspects of the new story, or a new understanding of old stories, that will encourage greater freedom, equality, health and flexibility for everyone. *Integral/Unitive: The Social Artist is trained to discern ways and means to integrate disparate elements of human life and society into meaningful wholeness, providing a sense of the reality of interconnectedness and renewed dedication to creative expression and sustenance of this web of connections. ___________________________________________________ Social Artistry’s goal is to reveal people capable of working adroitly with the demands of shared governance, at personal, community, city, state, national and international levels. The Social Artist is one who brings the focus, perspective, skill training, tireless dedication and fresh vision of the artist to the social arena. Thus the Social Artist’s medium is the human community. She or he seeks innovative solutions to troubling conditions, is a lifelong learner ever hungry for insights, skills, imaginative ideas and deeper understanding of present-day issues. 5 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com VI. Other Qualities and Characteristics of the Social Artist What follows are other qualities and capacities that characterize the Social Artist and inform his or her training. A planetary citizen; comfortable in many cultures. The Social Artist is trained to move comfortably between cultures, capable of understanding and honoring another’s belief systems, cultural styles, tribal and national stories and rituals. Social Artists learn to be informed on world issues in the context of different cultures, and not just from the point of view of a particular nation or policy. In terms of human development this requires development of high sensory acuity and a polyphrenic nature, plus a willingness to keep plunging deeper in order to tease out the elements of the emerging story. She learns to see trends and the emergence of new patterns from apparent chaos. He learns to suspend particular and narrow-focused points of view. For example, Jan Sanders, a UNDP consultant spent many of her formative years in the Institute of Cultural Affairs. (She has also been my student in human development and Social Artistry.) Jan’s particular focus has been the story and conditions of the aboriginal people of Eastern Canada whom she has empowered through many forms and sessions of local and provincial governance. During Jan’s recent assignments, working to control the spread of HIV/AIDS in war torn areas of Nepal, she uses her planetary understanding and her training in many cultural and mythic structures to guide discussion into areas that might prove extremely challenging to most Western women. Yet so fully has she immersed herself into that world that participants no longer see her as a representative of the West, but as one whom they can trust with their deepest pain and truths. Provider of new patterns The Social Artist acquires the tools to assist people to work in collaborative networks, moving beyond hierarchies and old power structures. She is committed to guiding others away from dominance by one economic group to the sense of everyone’s equal investedness, sharing and partnership. The Social Artist presents a model for a constantly learning society. Yet he is devoted to the preservation of vital elements in a people’s culture, their shared genius, while consistently open to new ideas that can sustain and enrich an emerging planetary culture. Seeker of the New Cultural Story The Social Artist thus learns to help members of the culture or organization to preserve the genius of their culture even as they help move it into the new story. In countries with huge immigrations coming in to upset the given cultural styles, the new story has to do with appreciating the diversity and complexity of the 'new brew.' This means deep appreciation and cross cultural understanding of the stories of the representative cultures. Together they make for a whole new story. Often the larger picture or story will help the movement out of a static or embattled reality. This is where the consideration of an overarching story or new myth is of great 6 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com importance. The Social Artist has the ability to hear all the stories and divine all the elements of the old story that will be needed to help create the new. The Social Artist understands the fact that the membrane is breaking down between cultures, between worlds, between old and new ways of being. In the past, migrations and diffusions allowed for gradual changes and exchanges between cultures and identities. Now nothing is gradual; in certain regions of the world we are watching a rapidly unfolding scene of strange multicultural mitosis and its even stranger spawn. Cultures and people living thousands of miles apart, gestating in the womb of preparatory time for thousands of years, are suddenly cheek by jowl, attending the same schools, working in the same businesses, sharing the same space and, inevitably, bleeding into each other, sometimes in fury, sometimes in friendship. In the force of the meeting, a new genesis is occurring, occasionally a melding of genes, but more often, a mingling of previously divided worlds which, thrown together, undergo a sea change into something rich and strange. What results is not merely a hyphenated amalgam, Afro-Asian rock music or Chicano-cyberpunk art, but rather hybrid sounds for hybrid selves, a malleable, syncretic fusion that is generating its own cultural matrix. For human beings, the complexity of this not-yet-definable culture is providing sufficient stimulus to call forth latencies in the human brain-mind system that were never needed before, like ancient bacteria learned to cope with the culture of deadly oxygen by finding a new way to breathe or, closer to home, the ways in which children absorb the mysteries of computer wizardry with ease while their parents struggle to master the basics. This ‘breakdown of the membrane’ being described is not merely cultural fusion; it is the joining together of geographies of the mind and body that have never touched before, weaving synapses and sensibilities to create people who are fused into the world mind with its unlimited treasures, its empowering capacities. The Social Artist is able to relate to this quickening charge of cultural mitosis and stays abreast of the ways in which it is occurring in food, in music, in literature and theater—in the very lineaments of culture where consciousness is remaking itself. Several years ago, while working in New Zealand to help empower a more cohesive and coherent national sense within the society in the wake of the government’s abdication as the godfather of all social programs (more about this visit later is in this paper) I found the country’s situation both static and chaotic. One evening a group of Maori social activists recreated the story of the creation itself, as Maoris knew it, and also the awakening from dormant flesh of the human female. Most of the Pakehas, the Anglos, had never heard it, and had certainly never seen it. It stirred something vivid and deep within each person present. An essence of Maori legend reveals the power of desire, focus, and the potent precise intense laser-like expenditure of energy required in order to bring something worthwhile to life. It was an immense teaching and ignited a pilot light within the participants yearning to create their new society. It wasn’t the details of the myth that mattered; it was the emotional energy of creation that the Maoris were willing to tap into and reveal that both taught and inspired us. Suddenly we Anglos got a glimpse of the Mana, the Spiritual Power that is available to the Maoris in the rocks, soil, sea and air of their country, especially, in this case, as it informs the need for the feminine as an expression of its energy. Witnessing that story immediately enhanced the feeling of profound respect for the Maori and set up fervent commitments to help in preserving their culture. A new story became possible, with the potential for enhancing gender understanding: even the non-Maori women felt themselves changed because they saw a different origin story than the one most Westerners are 7 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com accustomed to hearing. It also facilitated the creation of partnership programs between culturally diverse individuals and groups, and ensured greater mutual cooperation. A Paradigm Pioneer As a paradigm pioneer, the Social Artist is able to see trends and the emergence of new patterns out of apparent chaos. He or she demonstrates that different times require a revolution in management styles. He or she is one who helps cultures and organizations move from patriarchy to partnership. The Social Artist shows even the most hierarchical and bureaucratically based organization that the inevitable movement in a world as complex as ours is to circular, truly democratic organizations. The successful new or renewed organizations will resemble a series of healthy, interconnected villages with shared leadership and all participants engaged in accomplishing goals that fulfill their lives as individuals and as members of a fully functioning community. Often the most potent training for this partnership pattern comes from indigenous societies wherein members work together in a webbed network to find creative solutions. The understanding is that while each person is trained to know how to work a problem, he or she nevertheless seeks wiser answers with others through many means. This results in solutions that are not only consensual but also rich and playful. Sharing the Joys of Lifelong Learning The Social Artist presents a model for a constantly learning society, consistently open to new ideas that can sustain and enrich an emerging planetary culture. He or she helps to create, wherever possible, new models of education. In offering this work around the world my associates and I have found it effective to work both intraculturally as well as transculturally. In our transcultural work we try to speak to that which is potential in every human being, regardless of local and cultural conditioning. We speak to the yearning that we find in everyone, whether the one who yearns is peddling a rickshaw in Delhi or running an oil company in Dallas. Thus we try to offer liberating thought ways that launch understanding, motivation, and problem solving beyond constricting cultural or even instinctual preconditioning. In the Platonic dialogue, “The Meno,” Socrates demonstrates how an uneducated slave understands implicitly the nature of geometry and mathematics. Social Artists work from a similar point of view. Using story, art, metaphor to frame a complex array of processes and techniques designed to bring forth potentials latent in most people, the Social Artist proves that most humans have a natural access to such capacities as being able to think with many different frames of mind--visual, verbal, kinesthetic, interpersonal, subjective, intuitive, logical-mathematical. Other inherent capacities evoked by the Social Artist include improved physical use of the body, enhanced memory skills, easier writing, greater creative expression, wiser problem solving. Given education and opportunity, most people are able to make remarkable improvements in their functioning and learn new ways of being in a relatively short period of time. If anything, this seems truer in developing countries where people are closer to their innate potentials because 8 Join Dr. Houston at the 2016 Social Artistry Leadership Institute – July 30 – August 7 – Ashland, OR: JHF2016.com they have not been shuttered by constrictive educational methods and social objectives that inhibit and coerce their natural capacities into "approved" tracks and templates. The Social Artist recognizes that the possible human, fully developed and fully alive, is just beneath the surface crust of local culture, and with that awareness it is easy to envision the “possible society” as not far behind. Bangladesh offers an example of this approach. Early in 1993, we responded to an invitation from UNICEF to work with over a thousand leaders in Bangladesh. In the world's eyes, this is considered to be one of the most tragic of countries, a nation relentlessly afflicted by flooding, poverty, illness, and a sense of futility. But Bangladesh is also a world of metaphor, of high and low theater, of great poetry and music, and of a people deeply engaged by each of these activities. Talk to a rice farmer, and you find a poet. Get to know a sweeper of streets, and you discover a remarkable singer. In the various meetings and seminars given in Bangladesh, we found that participants were remarkably responsive to these methods of learning new ways of being. Indeed, many seemed to have this knowledge as a kind of second nature and spoke of being affirmed in what they had long sensed that they already knew. It was as if the "imported" culture from the West (mainly England) had dropped a curtain over their more natural artistic thought process and modes of expression. One man said he often felt in his studies that he had been made to operate as if his hands were tied and his lips taped shut. Now he felt free for the first time, and his capacity for thought and ideas was blooming. Certainly the participants were filled with plans for how they could apply this kind of work in human capacities to their various endeavors in health, education, and social welfare and, with the regular help of a team of Social Artists, began setting up new curricula and training in methods calculated to celebrate both the human potential and their culture rather than further calcify it. To date, these innovations have affected tens of thousands of schools in Bangladesh, with special emphasis on educating and raising the status of women. I think of the Hindu women singing to us at the sweeper colony and especially of one young woman there with shining eyes. When asked what she wanted most in the world, she replied, "I want an education! I want to learn so many things and I want my children to learn. I want to spend my life learning." In many other cultures this young woman would be highly educated and able to pursue a career in life-long learning. Why not in Bangladesh as well? Explorer of the Cultural Story In multi-cultural and educational work we search to discover the main stories, myths, legends, and teaching tales that underlie the culture in which we are working. Then we utilize these myths and stories as the backdrop upon which to weave our work in human development. We find that people go farther, as well as faster and deeper, if their learning is keyed to an important story, especially if that story involves a key myth or mythic figure of their culture. Thus in India we have worked with “The Ramayana,” as well as the life of Gandhi; in Australia, Aboriginal creation myths (even with Anglo participants, because the stories are in the landscape of Australia and have been so for countless generations); in England with stories of Percival, 9