Counterintuitive ideas

I am collecting ideas that are creative, unique and go against the grain of the typical, culturally acceptable thinking

to quote adrienne maree brown, the author of Emergent Strategy, who contrasts ‘mile wide, inch deep movements with inch wide, mile deep movements that schism the existing paradigm.’

Jon Alexander • Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us

Look at a fern. Look at the delta around New Orleans, and then look at how these veins and artery systems move through your system and your heart and your lungs. Look at the spiral shapes on your fingertips, and then look at the shape of galaxies. And in that way, we can begin to see there are no isolated patterns. The universe has some favorites, ... See more

adrienne maree brown • adrienne maree brown — On Radical Imagination and Moving Towards Life | The On Being Project

An Anishinaabe elder here where I live once told me that sage produces a lot of smoke when it’s burned because it teaches us that there is often much for us to clear and let go of. But sweetgrass only burns a little, produces just a thin curl of smoke and scent, because we only need just a little bit of sweetness to find our way back. This wisdom f

And that’s never felt like enough room, because I’m a spirit, [ laughs ] you know? I’m this massive energy like all humans are. So, so much of the work for me, of radical imagination is: what does it look like to imagine beyond the constructs? What does it look like to imagine a future where we all get to be there, not causing harm to each other, a... See more

adrienne maree brown • adrienne maree brown — On Radical Imagination and Moving Towards Life | The On Being Project

Pop told me how our county has a huge problem with people using leaf blowers and collecting leaves. This common practice causes 3 issues:

Dry leaves and cuttings comprise 20% or so of the municipal solid waste in our county. That means that 20or so % trucks are dedicated to hauling this organic material to the landfills.
In landfills, these organic

Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of the Ogilvy advertising agency, famously told a storyabout an office building where people complained that an elevator took too long to arrive. Instead of spending $1 million to make the elevators 5 percent faster, they solved the problem by spending around $100 to add mirrors so people could look at themselves whil

Everything is falling apart, but also, new things are possible. And Octavia said that “[t]here’s nothing new / under the sun, / but there are new suns.” We are in a time of new suns. We’re in a time of new suns. We have no idea what we could be, but everything that we have been is falling apart. So it’s time to change. And we can be mindful about t... See more

adrienne maree brown • adrienne maree brown — On Radical Imagination and Moving Towards Life | The On Being Project

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