Our Principles
Seeing the System
In 1854, seeing the shackles of Western reductionism bounding humanity to an untimely fate, Chief Seattle warned:
Ironically, as we’ve bridged between cultures, economies, and ecologies, we’ve simultaneously dug the hegemonic trope of reductionism deeper and deeper. Reductionism teaches that in order to assess problems, build knowledge, and develop solutions, we merely need to reduce the observed phenomena or object into its component parts and understand those. And it has been overwhelmingly successful, responsible for the great leaps in our knowledge systems across the hard-to-soft science spectrum, and the wealth of innovation from technology to health.
Yet, acting as the sole strategist in our pursuit of knowledge, it has become problematic. Rather inevitably. We’ve been too quick to forget that age-old adage. The sum of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Put simply by Sufism: “You think that because you understand one you understand two, because one and one makes two, but you must also understand and.”
We are now waking up to the importance of relationships. In a time of converging crises, reductionist problem-solving is liable to exacerbate the situation, unintentionally creating problems of greater magnitude whilst blinding us to the vast potential for appropriate, cascading solutions.
At The Regenescape, we want to help the nesting of reductionist-thinking within systems-thinking. The regenerative lens helps encourage this procedure, asking us to design for systemic-flourishing, not systemic failing. As we start Seeing the System once more, as we move toward a healthy balance between systems-thinking and reductionist thinking, might we see Chief Seattle’s message shift from existential warning to wonder-full empowerment?
Man did not weave the web of life,
He is merely a strand in it,
Whatever he does to the web,
He does to himself.
Shifting the Present
“It is not enough to stare up the steps.
We must step up the stairs.”
Vaclav Havel
Humanity has a tendency to dream; the mind is often the birthplace of new worlds. The Regenescape was born to harness this tendency, to encourage regenerative worlds into our thinking and regenerative thinking into our world. Doing so requires an openness to change and the curiosity to explore. Experienced innocence and wise naivety may be important tools in this venture, there is resilience and creativity in youthful spirit.
The depth of change needed at times feels daunting. Too many shifts, too little time. It is a time of urgency, and we are trying to slow down. Remembering that unanswered questions are far less dangerous than unquestioned answers, we are returning to questioning. In this approach, we are stepping backward to step forward on a different trajectory.
The work of the collective will continue to look forwards and backward simultaneously. By actively exploring the future and revisiting the past, we believe we can shift the present. The degenerative paradigms of today must be understood, and their ancestors of yesterday mapped if we are to build the regenerative paradigms of tomorrow.
Beyond Opposites
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.” - Rumi, A Great Wagon
Problem-solving within all our lives often feels like a continuous process of distinguishing the singular correct solution. Often such a choice arises in the form of opposites in which one is only often seen as a viable solution. There is no doubt an attractive simplicity in only having to make a binary choice when searching for a solution to a problem. This residual thinking from the previous century still permeates through much of contemporary discourse; whether it be the increasing political partisanship emerging between the left and the right; the necessary moral distinction between what is good, or bad; the necessary choice between a pragmatic or idealistic approaches; or just the blind allegiance towards rationality over intuition.
Though problems require solutions, we often incorrectly diagnose a polarity as a problem. Polarities exist at every level within systems, and by understanding how the pairs relate, we can then better resolve systemic complex failures.
As we deal with the complex issues shaping our current meta-crisis, it seems increasingly the case that any attempted discourse instinctively involves having to make a distinct choice, usually between a predetermined set of binaries. There is, of course, great attraction within the simplicity of a dichotomy, but it is this type of simplification, choosing between either/or, that has led us to misdiagnose and misunderstand the nature of a lot of these problems. Seemingly opposing concepts no longer need to be in constant competition; whether it be the realist vs idealist, or responsibility vs freedom; instead, these are interrelated concepts that will both be required over time to deal with complex issues. We must learn to manage between them, rather than fall prey to the temptation to side with one over the other.
This is the question we must constantly ask ourselves when solving a complex issue: is there a right answer to the problem, or is it instead a polarity in which both sides contain a truth in their own right?
Re-Commoning the Landscape
“When the forms of an old culture are dying, the new culture is created by a few people who are not afraid to be insecure.” - Rudoplh Bahro
During the enclosure movement in feudal Britain, land once commonly owned and freely accessible to every townsperson was transferred to private ownership; and with it, the basic liberty of free access to a commons was lost. In a similar vein to this diminishment of liberty, our ability to access a commons for new paradigms of thought is causing a similar fate. Increased centralisation of our systems, and their increasing accompanied influence, has meant many of us have been excluded from helping create a new future that is designed by us and for us.
As we redesign and create new landscapes for this coming century and beyond, we must look towards communal principles as a driving force for new models of existing. Whether it be food systems, governance models, education, or urban design; we must move away from centralised decision-making.
As the Regenescape is a platform for the exploration of the ideas, people, and projects that are leading us towards a regenerative future, we understand that such a platform must give the community a voice and understand how the Regenescape may look through another’s lens. Lenses will become a collection of experiences at the root of this coming renaissance; as well as helping others catch a glimpse of a new way of seeing the world. We hope it will serve to empower the community around us as we all start to feel that our future is not in the hands of the few, but our very own.