The Great Turning

We develop the ability to be an evolutionary instrument in an evolving world when we dedicate our will to serve the potential of the larger wholes that seek to express themselves through us. This is what it means to be a living expression of life on the planet. It is an ancient spiritual insight that a person becomes truly themself, and therefore

“The system that is you sets the tone for every system you touch. Lead yourself like a living system — with rhythm, with rest, and with reverence.”

I’ve taken a different tack. After years of experimenting, I discovered that the more I tried to exert power directly, the less powerful I became. I learned to dial back my ego and distribute power as widely as possible without surrendering final authority. Paradoxically, this approach strengthened my effectiveness because it freed me to focus on

As Yanomami leader, Davi Kopenawa, memorably puts it: There is only one sky and we must take care of it, for if it becomes sick, everything will come to an end.

In regenerative systems, relationships are the system. And your ability to tend to them — with honesty, skill, and care — is what allows real change to take root.

It is the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell, and of us two-leggeds sharing in it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green things; for these are children of one mother and their father is one Spirit.