Why Care?

Why Care?

Feb 22, 2025 | Love

In this fractured world, why care? What is the point of caring in a world where humans cannot accept themselves, much less anything–or anyone–else?

We live in a world in crisis, and this crisis does not just refer to climate woes or social inequity. Rather, we live in a crisis of home, a crisis of the soul where people are encouraged to define their lives by the extent to which they achieve their individual dreams. The earth is merely a backdrop to a larger story in which humans are somehow architects of a brand-new future. Whose future and for whom?

It is often said that the children are the future. How is that possible? Is not the future contingent on today? As a species, all humans can do is live in the here and now because that is all that has ever existed.

The future is a mirage, a carrot dangling before us, and it is always just out of…………reach. Why care………….about now? Now is the only quantifiable experiential space that exists, and yet the space of now is invisible. Where does it begin? When does it end? How was it created?

Why Care Infographic

While they appear abstract, these questions serve as the ethic upon which EcoDialogues rests. How can existential questions add practical value? Because the internal and external spaces of our lives have been co-created by a constellation of cosmic and everyday forces that stretch across billions of years.

Why care…………about now? Because now is all that has ever existed. It is always now, and yet there is no clear demarcation between past and future, which highlights the importance of accountability. We are all responsible for now, which is a shared space divided by perspective and experience.

Why care…………at all? Because everyone, every animal, every tree, every leaf, every molecule, everything everywhere in every place in every space has value, even if now presents us with challenges that threaten to break us individually and collectively.

Why care…………about everything? It is not clear where you or I begin or end, nor is it clear how the past affects our present. In a world intent on encouraging us to judge, critique, and dissect our differences (of perspective and experience), perhaps the most radical action to which we can commit ourselves rests in our ability to embrace our shared internal and external spaces.

These are complicated spaces that stretch back into a past that is full of bloodshed, colonization, and brutality. These are spaces not bound by time or circumstance. Rather, we carry our collective history on our backs and in our very bones. For some, this history is not a theoretical construct but a lived reality that can only be explored in dialogue.

How can we explore difficult spaces? Well, I do not think binary thinking gets us anywhere. Where are we going as a society when we are presented with ‘this’ or ‘that’ solutions to complex inequities that invite exploration instead of clenched fists and closed hearts?

Why care…………about other perspectives that diverge from our own? Because caring and compassion are not feelings that must be experienced (or shared) in a particular direction, nor are they necessarily bound by the cultural constraints of time. Rather, if we can conceptualize care and compassion as spaces, it invites open-ended explorations of our (and others’) perspectives and gentle humility.

What do we explore? If care and compassion can be reimagined as space rather than a skill or resource, we might discover it is endless. I have never seen space of any kind, but I have experienced it. Does space not exist?

While it may seem that none of us have the time to care or extend compassion to anyone, especially those we perceive as ‘wrong,’ perhaps we can find the space. I believe that if we can find the space (within ourselves) to care, then we can make the time.

Why care? Because spaces of care are as beautiful as they are difficult to find, especially as we age and discover that we are vulnerable in every possible way. Our vulnerabilities are what we share as humans–and regardless of color or creed, care is crucial because life’s meaning is not singular, nor can it be defined through theory.

Why care? Because life’s meaning is derived through experience, and every experience and every ‘thing’ matters…

Gratitude for the Unknown

Gratitude for the Unknown

Feb 10, 2025 | Spoken Poetry

Gratitude for the Unknown

by Robert Levey

There is beauty in the unknown,
unknown in the beauty
of the unknown
is the beauty
of the unknown,
which is beautiful
on an unknown sphere,
so dear,
here
in the unknown
beauty
of the unknown
is the beauty
that rests,
waxes
and wanes
and seeks not to interpret
nor explain
the beauty
of the unknown
beauty
within the unknown
that hurtles
through internal and external space
in the tears
and the lines on the face
that grows old
within the beauty of the unknown
is the beauty
and the softness
that yields
and flows past childhood
and the memories
we lose
so we may gain
the wisdom
of what we cannot know,
or explain,
because
beauty is not an experience
that resides in the brain,
but in the spaces
within which we move
in bodies,
on bodies
spinning through outer spaces
and nebulae and black holes
and foundations
floating through time
and rhymes
about the beauty in the unknown,
the unknown in the beauty,
and how two is three
because space
has presence,
character
and grace
within every fold
and untold beauty
and a secret
tucked inside the unknown
times
of space,
elegance and pace,
the dance inside the space
of the unknown beauty
is a place
plus one
and two
is space
in the dance
of happenstance
and chance
is the beauty
of the unknown
in the spaces
of space,
past the beauty
beneath the place
inside the heart
of every body
is shared space.

Better Governance For Nonprofits: Leadership That Works

Better Governance For Nonprofits: Leadership That Works

Dec 1, 2024 | Leadership, Transformation

In the nonprofit world, governance often clings to outdated, top-down leadership models, emphasizing hierarchy, control, and directive authority. These approaches may have served organizations in the past, but they are increasingly inadequate in addressing today’s complex challenges. Nonprofits operate in a world of interconnected systems, shifting cultural values, and growing demands for equity, collaboration, and innovation. Many boards and leaders, however, remain entrenched in traditional leadership concepts, failing to adapt to the participatory and relational approaches that modern times demand.

The Need for Transformative Leadership
At the heart of this issue lies a fundamental misunderstanding of leadership. Too often, leadership is viewed as a static quality embodied by a select few rather than a dynamic, relational process that involves all system members.

Scholars like Peter Senge (1990), however, argue that leadership is about building systems and fostering organizational learning to respond effectively to complexity. This approach contrasts with traditional, top-down models of leadership that emphasize individual authority. Transformative leadership offers a much-needed alternative to outdated models because it shifts the focus from individual authority to collective participation, creating a context where all voices are valued, relationships are nurtured, and creativity thrives.

Transformative leaders understand that effective governance is not about exerting control but fostering collaboration. They embrace the idea that leadership is not a one-way street but a mutual process where leaders and followers engage in a shared journey. James MacGregor Burns (1978) introduced the idea of transformational leadership as a mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders. Building on this notion, transformative leadership emphasizes mutual growth and the creation of generative contexts where all members of an organization contribute meaningfully.

This shift is essential for nonprofits. While hierarchical structures might offer a sense of order, they often stifle creativity, marginalize diverse perspectives, and fail to address systemic issues. Research by scholars such as Margaret Wheatley (1992) highlights the limitations of control-based systems and the power of collaborative, adaptive approaches.

However, resistance to change persists. Boards and executive teams often cling to hierarchical models out of habit or fear of losing control. This mindset is counterproductive, as traditional governance frameworks may provide a veneer of stability, but they are ill-suited to the interconnected and unpredictable challenges nonprofits face today.

Reimagining Nonprofit Governance
To overcome these limitations, nonprofits can reimagine governance through the lens of transformative leadership. Leaders must engage in self-inquiry—a practice emphasized by thinkers like Parker Palmer in The Courage to Lead (1998)—to reflect on their assumptions about power, identity, and relationships. Boards, too, must evolve, shifting from oversight and gatekeeping to active partnerships with staff and stakeholders.

Transformative leadership is not just a theoretical ideal but a practical necessity. As Otto Scharmer argues (2007), effective leadership requires letting go of old patterns and embracing the co-creative potential of the present moment. Nonprofits that adopt this approach can move beyond the inadequacies of top-down governance and become true agents of systemic change.

The question is not whether transformative leadership is needed in nonprofit governance—rather, it is why we still cling to outdated models. By embracing participatory and relational leadership, nonprofits can align with the complexities of the world they seek to change, fostering equitable, sustainable, and impactful futures.

The time for transformative leadership is now. Are we ready to answer the call?

References

Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.

Palmer, P. J. (1998). The Courage to Lead: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Leader’s Life. Jossey-Bass.

Scharmer, O. (2007). Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline : the art and practice of the learning organization. New York :Doubleday/Currency,

Wheatley, M. (1992). Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Unstorying the Self: Exploring Personal Narratives and Collective Responsibility

Unstorying the Self: Exploring Personal Narratives and Collective Responsibility

Oct 13, 2024 | Transformation

As I reflect on my responsibilities as a human being to others, which include people, the more-than-human world, and the planet, I cannot help but question my story. Whose story is this?

Unstorying My Self
Recently, I embarked on Unstorying™ Practitioner Training. Developed by Nicole Miller, PhD, this training teaches a process and practice of self-actualization shadow work grounded in depth psychology, which focuses on exploring the unconscious and subconscious aspects of the mind.

According to proponents of depth psychology, which would include Carl Jung if he were alive, these unconscious and subconscious aspects of the mind drive much of human behavior. To understand human behavior, then, I must look not just within myself, but rather at the narrative arc of how I make meaning out of my own experiences.

The question, ‘Whose story is this?,’ is neither rhetorical nor easily answered by merely pointing the finger at myself (or someone else). Rather, this question invites me to explore myself in relation to the stories I craft when trying to make sense of phenomena.

Unearthing The Self
Dr. Miller uses the term ‘unearthing’ to describe her process of self-inquiry, whereas I might prefer the term, excavate.’ However, our respective characterizations are similar in that we focus on our selves – not the constructed self  we often imagine through our stories, but the inside self that remains outside the stories that seemingly captivate us.

Who am I outside of my stories – and are these really ‘my’ stories? These questions are pregnant with assumptions, none of which are truth in the way Western society might present.

Unearthing the self is not so much an effort to re-narrate an individual life’s meaning to reveal a truth. Rather, it is an opportunity to reimagine the self outside the bounds of linearity and cognition. To inquire into the self is therefore not (and not not) anything other than exploration through the catacombs of our respective consciousnesses, which are portals to what exists within (and outside) ourselves.

Widening The Self
These ruminations lead me back to my initial reflection, which is to what extent am I responsible to others? Indeed, if my focus is exclusively on my self, how can anything I do have value for others?

From an ecopsychological point of view, the answer may be to widen (and deepen) my concept of self to include identification not just with other humans and society but also with nature and the world itself (Naess, 1987).

When we identify with something larger than ourselves, whether that be our family, a circle of friends, a team, or a community, that becomes part of who we are. There is so much more to us than just a separate self; our connected self is based on recognizing that we are part of many larger circles. (Macy & Johnstone, 2012, p. 90)

If our stories and metaphors (and our responses to them) represent ancient forms of innate human knowledge that exist within the collective unconscious (Jung, 2010), unstorying myself has ethical implications. For whom? Precisely.

In the words of Heinz von Foerster, the Ethical Imperative is to “act always so as to increase the number of choices” (2018, p. 13). And stories.

References

Jung, C. G. (2010). Four archetypes. In G. Adler (Ed.) & R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), Collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 9, Part 1, pp. 7–44). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1969)

Macy, J., & Johnstone, C. (2012). Active hope: How to face the mess we’re in without going crazy. New World Library.

Naess, A. (2005). Self-realization: An ecological approach to being in the world. In A. Drengson (Ed.), The selected works of Arne Naess (Vols. 1–10, pp. 2781–2797). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4519-6

von Foerster, H. (2003). Understanding understanding: Essays on cybernetics and cognition. Springer.

Marketing’s Role in Shaping Self-Perception

Marketing’s Role in Shaping Self-Perception

Sep 15, 2024 | Marketing

Marketing is deeply intertwined with our worldview because it shapes and reflects how we perceive ourselves, others, and the world around us.

Identity and Self-Perception
Marketing shapes how people see themselves by promoting lifestyles, behaviors, and choices that reflect desirable or attainable identities. Marketing can also be aspirational in its appeal to various consumers’ desires, equating success and happiness with acquiring certain products or experiences.

These desires to which marketers appeal mirror a culture’s values, beliefs, and social norms. Therefore, advertisements, branding, and messaging are designed to resonate with the target audience’s prevailing worldview.

For example, marketing campaigns in different countries often emphasize values like individualism in the U.S. or community in Japan. Brands also use symbols, language, and imagery, all of which hold significance within a specific culture, reinforcing or challenging existing worldviews.

Inclusivity and Representation
Effective marketing can broaden worldviews by representing diverse cultures, identities, and experiences. By understanding and addressing different groups’ unique needs and experiences, marketers have the unique opportunity to develop (and demonstrate) empathy, which is crucial in a world in active ecological crisis.

Can marketers help address the ecological crisis and the issues that face us as a planet? Yes, especially if marketers can embrace the notion that they are storytellers and that the stories they craft have the potential to not just foster brand-consumer connections but also bridge gaps between different perspectives and tap into shared human emotions and experiences.

Thoughts to Consider
Ultimately, marketing and our worldviews have a profound and reciprocal relationship. Marketing not only reflects the values and beliefs of our culture but also shapes our perceptions and identities. Stated simply, our worldview represents these values and beliefs.

As consumers, the next time we are presented with a marketing message while scrolling through Facebook or YouTube, for example, perhaps we can self-reflect and collectively ask ourselves what is actually being sold (and what we think we are buying).

For marketers, the opportunity lies in exploring how our messaging can genuinely promote (and champion) the diverse ways in which people think, feel, and express their needs and desires.