We come together to cultivate a living perception of the social organism in order to help bring health to society. This is the red thread running through Think OutWord's activities, whatever and, especially at the moment, wherever they might be.  

 

 

A month ago we held our first session of the year. 65 youthful souls gathered in Harlemville, NY, for a conference entitled "I Give you my Word  - an exploration into the nature of agreements." We were planning to work with Orland Bishop (who does amazing work in LA with at-risk youth) but at the last moment, he had to cancel. What might have been a crisis was no problem at all. The organizers had planned a brimming event so only made one or two minor adjustments. Robert Karp, from the Biodynamic Association, was in town anyways so we brought him in to work with us on a social practice from Otto Scharmer's Theory U called "Case Clinic." The rest of the time was made up of presentations by participants (we heard about the nature of the Logos, Money as a social compact, and the "Republican" principle in governance) and discussion (sometimes facilitated through processes such as Open Space Technology). Lots of good stuff. (We also have a written version of one of the talks! Nathaniel Williams gave a presentation on The Source of Social Renewal, which was an exploration into the social ideas of the philosopher Immanuel Levinas, who independently came to the same conclusion as Rudolf Steiner concerning the need for an independent Cultural Realm as the only place from which morality can spring.)