Purpose = Catalysing Integral Transformation

Our Process: Releasing Gene-ius with “C+A+R+E”

Embedded in our Integral Worlds approach are powerful processes of transformation that activate and guide the integral development of individuals, organisations, communities and societies. Two of these processes stand out, and are underpinning all our transformative engagements around the world: the GENE-process, geared to release the GENE-ius of a human system, and the CARE-process, assisting to fully embody and sustain the integral innovation that stem from our work.

THE GENE-PROCESS: RELEASING INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE GENE-IUS

Trans4m GENE-IUS Figure
Releasing GENE-ius: The transformative Rhythm of the Integral Worlds Approach

With every human system being in continuous evolution, so does Integral Worlds incorporate an inbuilt transformational rhythm, which makes the entire approach dynamic. It is a rhythm that we could equally trace back to natural and cultural systems and their respective evolution. We call this rhythm the GENE (an acronym for Grounding, Emerging, Navigating, Effecting), representing a fourfold spiralling force, activating the entire Integral Worlds model.

The GENE rhythm is embedded in the diverse reality views and knowledge realms of the Integral Worlds, bringing them all together in transformative interaction. While we see the GENE as a spiralling, iterative, ever-unfolding force, we nevertheless start most of our transformational processes in the South, thereby beginning with a conscious grounding in a given context and issue, before we then engage in its transformation.

 

 

The fourfold GENE rhythm flows as follows:

  • “Southern” Grounding: The issue at hand and the people involved are grounded in a particular nature and community, which need to be fully understood. For any living system, the southern grounds represent its “local identity” and its connection to a common source of life. Southern grounding is about “being” in as well as feeling and “experiencing” a particular life world. It is seeking to activate the relational “feeling” or “heart”-level of a human system as well as participation and engagement. This is the “formative” part of the transformation process.
  • “Eastern” Emergence: Moving to “eastern” emergence “lifts” the issue and the people involved to deeper insights into the unfolding nature of the issue. Here the people and issue engage in dialectic processes with others, thereby co-evolving to new insights. Such a process always includes a “stepping into the unknown” and “letting go” of some of the previous assumptions. It therefore requires us to consciously transcend our prior life world. New insights – often in forms or images and visions – emerge, that provide clues for the transformative process. “Eastern” emergence is hence about “becoming”. It deals with “intuiting” and “imagining” the new form that is emerging. Here the “local” perspective of the southern grounds evolves to “local-global” viewpoints. This is the “reformative” part of the transformation process. Here, we seek to activate “inspiration” or the “spirit”-level of a human system.
  • “Northern” Navigation: The move to “northern” navigation requires that the new insights (images, visions) gained are translated – in a structured and systematic manner – into new concepts, new knowledge. “Northern” navigation is hence about “knowing” and about “making explicit” what hitherto had been rather implicit. Now, the “local global” viewpoint is turned into a more general, abstract “global” viewpoint. New “norms”, related to the issue at hand, are developed. Northern “navigation” is about activating the “mind”-level, the conceptualising prowess of the human system at hand. This is the “normative” part of the transformation process.
  • “Western” Effect: Moving to “western” effect is now requiring us to put all prior three levels into integrated action. It is about pragmatically applying the new knowledge that has been developed, thereby actualising the innovation that it contains. “Western” effect is hence about “doing” and “making it happen”. Now the “global” viewpoint is turned into a “global local” standpoint, whereby what has been globally developed is locally implemented. We call it “global local”, as the local application is taking place with the larger “global” perspective in mind. This is the ultimate “transformative” level of the GENE-process, activating, metaphorically, the “body” or “hand”. However, the process does not stop here. Rather, it continuously moves on. Any transformative, active effect has to be continuously revisited, exploring whether it remains resonant with the “southern” grounds it seeks to serve. Any solution is considered a temporary one. Evolution is infinite.

By continuously engaging in the GENE rhythm, thereby addressing imbalances within the larger system on an ongoing basis, we can consciously contribute to the evolution of ourselves and of the human systems (from organisations to society, from economics to development) that we bring forth. We thereby release the “GENE-i-us” of a system: individual gene-i-us (“i”) and collective gene-i-us (“us”).

 

THE CARE-PROCESS: FULLY EMBODYING INTEGRAL INNOVATION

With the GENE-process as our overarching transformational rhythm, we developed two further parallel trajectories that assist each agent of transformation to successfully undertake the transformation journey and to transcend the individual contribution towards a collective embodiment of an integral innovation. The ultimate objective is to go beyond a singular and individual impulse of renewal, but rather arrive at collective and, ideally, institutionalized action to sustain this impulse on a long-term basis.

The initial trajectory with a focus on a personal contribution follows the “4Cs”:

  • Call: Discover your Call
  • Context: Understand your Self-in-Society Context
  • Co-Creation: Transform your Reality
  • Contribution: Leverage your transformation.

In parallel, the agent of transformation works towards “full CARE” – a process and acronym representing:

  • C = Community Activation
  • A = Awakening of Awareness
  • R = Research-to-Innovation
  • E = Embodied Action (E).

The figure illustrates how both integral rhythms run in parallel, working towards a singular contribution on the one hand, and a full-fledged collective and embodied action on the other hand.

 

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CARE Process aligned with the 4C’s

Both trajectories (4Cs and CARE) mutually reinforce each other. Both follow also the GENE logic – a fact that also demonstrates that the integral fourfold rhythm is continuously, and holographically, present. Thereby each of such processes supports the full activation and healing of a living system.