Social Artistry

I just wanted to pass on a few ideas from a Jean Houston seminar on "Social Artistry" I attended a few weeks ago. I didn't take all that good notes, but here are some of the gems I picked up.

"Social Artistry is the ability to create something more out of the sum of the parts around you. It is the manifestation of a larger whole that calls each person to a deeper meaning and truth."

"Social Artists are those who are far-seeing, who can see years into the future and know what is useful to be done. They are able to see trends and the emergence of new patterns out of the apparent chaos."

These are some of the skills of a Social Artist:

• Perceives trends
• Notices the perspectives in things
• Imagination
• Works with imagery
• Perceives old and new myths
• Being comfortable and fluid in multiple cultures
• Notices patterns in the outer world, in part based on one's own inner work.
• Awareness of new forms of intelligence
• Working with many different kinds of time
• Orchestrates one's energy.
• Knows when to relax and when to shift into other systems of energy.
• Control of nostalgia
• Knowledge of new leadership, new visions.
• Notices when the story changes.
• Recognizes when the story is getting old.
• Looks for what is trying to happen.
• Doesn't look to politics for answers.
• Rather looks at popular culture to know what is going on.
• Both high-tech and high-touch.
• High internal skills.
• Develops new perspectives and translates them into social forms.
• Works on whole-system change.
• In touch with one's own body.
• Recognizes that a lot of change requires neurological change.
• Starts with changed perspectives, rather than with just concepts.
• Sees oneself not just as one thing, but as many aspects working in concert.
• Embraces the open moment
• Looks for the essence in other people, organizations and situations.
• Is willing to stand ridicule
• Sees oneself as an active presence of a much higher presence.
• Speaks from the heart, one's true message.
• Orchestrates change.

There is a Jean Houston home page at: http://waking.com/waking/

- Flemming