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Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
The space between stories is an invitation to sit with mystery and the uncertainty it holds.
Niels Devisscher • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
“Our individual psychological doom manifests collectively as a universal ecological calamity. Both are interwoven with one another. Both are symptoms of a fundamental misunderstanding of ourselves and of reality. In a world of ruined aliveness, it is impossible to be alive oneself. Both inner aliveness and the aliveness of the natural world are... See more
Emerge • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
From Matter and Desire, by biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber
We’re waking up to the reality that uncertainty is not a war to be fought or a disease to be eradicated but an inherent quality of a complex world. We need to cultivate our collective capacity to sit with uncertainty and complexity.
Niels Devisscher • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
My intention is not to convince you which stories are good and which are bad. Rather, I want to show that when one story dominates, it risks exterminating others or doesn’t do justice to the reality it presumes to narrate. Storytelling, like ecosystems, needs diversity to thrive. And since stories have a direct impact on reality — to the point that
... See moreNiels Devisscher • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
Love is this deep knowing in my bones that I am because everything else is. Love is taking responsibility to allow all that is to fully unfold and express itself. “To fall in love outwardly”, because we can feel the unconditional love that the land gifts us if we allow our hearts to be open and fully receive.
Niels Devisscher • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
No longer deeply out of tune, but in our natural rhythms. The story of a world in synchronicity.
Niels Devisscher • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
When stories break down, they can leave us in an empty space. We have withdrawn into our cocoons and find ourselves in a world in between worlds. Not fully in one or the other. Simultaneously leaving and arriving. We may lose our sense of meaning or feel disconnected from our work. We don’t want to continue with business as usual. The values we... See more
Emerge • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
The space between stories calls on us to reclaim our freedom. To let go of the need for a coherent story and prefabricated structures in favor of creativity. Collectively, we must break through the walls of habit and socialized ways of knowing and doing that define the old story of western culture.
Niels Devisscher • Belonging and Butterflies in Times of Breakdown
We’re in dire need of a new cultural story to live by. Not to negate the old, as Sophie Strand writes, but to “compost” the stories that no longer serve us so they can become fertile ground from which a new story may emerge. A story that doesn’t tell us we’re separate from but deeply interconnected with all living beings. One that recognizes that... See more