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The Path to Community Wealth
Step 1: Create a Simple Entry Point to Complexity
Humans are complex, with a myriad of thoughts, beliefs, experiences and talents. Our existing system has acculturated us to only bring forward those parts of ourselves for which we get paid, leaving behind the elements that make us feel fully valued.
Even though it may lie dormant, our complexity is right under the surface waiting to come forward.
It happens when we hear a song that evokes a feeling reminding us of who else we are.
Or, when we see a piece of art with that special blue reminding you of that day when you were 7 and the world felt safe.
Or, that book about a magical wardrobe that opened into a land called Narnia…or train platform #9–3/4 for another generation.
Or when we sign on to our smartphones and the unlimited information provided by the internet is there with one click.
Now, take that feeling and think about being in places that opened those doors to bigger worlds, to the places of AWE that move us from Knowledge to Wisdom and the creation of real wealth.
I’ve been envisioning and developing community engagement spaces for years. These are the spaces that serve as cornerstones of community, in which we are able to bring forward ‘who else’ we are beyond our title, house or other material manifestations of value. In other words, they are simple entry points to explore our natural complexity and plant the seeds of future community wealth. Some examples:
Urban Rituals was my first attempt at creating a space that addressed the mind/body/spirit issues in modern society. It was way ahead of its time — everybody was just discovering coffee and nobody had even thought about co-working — but it provided a conceptual framework for the Texas Legacy Arts Incubator earn/learn campus in 2002. Both prepared me for Cafe Caffeine the South Austin coffee…
