The HEART Collaborative (THC)
Vision
Mission
What Is HEART
HEART to us is much more than the organ in our chest. It is its many synonyms of spirit, intention, intuition, conscience, understanding, and love. Expanding on those meanings, 'HEART' is also an acronym to represent the ethos of The Collaborative.
(H) olism
" Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else." - Leonardo Da Vinci
We understand holism as a practice to strive to recognize the intimate relationship of all life. Or brains separate and categorize parts of the whole to help us to better understand. However, it is beneficial to realize that what we know are merely parts of a whole. When the term 'holistic' is used it is defining an action of taking more parts into account in order to create a more-complete picture. (We believe that there will always be parts we do not understand or recognize.)
We're learning that it is a near-impossible task to truly see the whole, but it is the act of seeking to understand the whole that we have found the greatest benefits. Striving to manage holistically defines every aspect of the collaborative. We incorporate systems that include as many aspects of the whole that we know in order to create the greatest benefit. The acronym 'HEART' itself is a product of holistic design, as the relationship between the aspects of HEART is what gives it life. Holistic-context decision-making is at the core of HEART systems and governance.
(E) cocentrism
"To be ecocentric is to hold the ecosystem in which one lives as the primary value" - Bill Plotkin
Ecocentrism is our perspective that places intrinsic value on all living organisms and their/our natural environment, regardless of their/our perceived usefulness or importance to human beings (anthropocentric perspective.) In relation to holism, ecocentrism dictates our relationship with our land base as stewards of the land (here to take care of it, not misuse it for narrow-minded economic gain.) We will seek to regenerate what is lent to us, to use and place the utmost respect in returning it more lively than when it was gifted to us. We recognize there is no separation from our ecology and ourselves with the understanding that what we project outwards (towards our environment) we project inwards towards ourselves, not as two separate exchanges, but as one. By regenerating and energizing a land base we simultaneously do so to ourselves, healing internal conflict with external peace.
With this understanding, we seek to create an abundance of life for all beings. We recognize the divine role that all life plays and we strive to support that role by taking up our position within the cycles and patterns of nature. Always thriving with, not against, our nature.
(A) ltruism
"Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.' Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky." -Hāfiz
Altruism is often defined as selflessness. However, our rendition of altruism is better defined as 'selfishness', with our perspective that there is no discrete or separate self, and what you do unto others you do unto yourself. In relation to holism and ecocentrism our conception of self-expands to our ecology, our communities, our organization, and our culture.
We see the self-other distinction to be a false dichotomy.
Many in our dominant culture would find it absurd if a man walked into a doctors office and proclaimed:
"Doctor, please help! I'm healthy but my lungs are sick."
Our culture recognizes the interconnection between 'our lungs' and 'our selves'.
We believe our altruistic tendencies are grounded in our inherent understanding that we are all connected. With altruism we wouldn't be able to say:
"I'm healthy but my ecology is sick." Or, "I'm healthy but my family is sick."
We recognize the oneness in our individual organs to create us, just as our community/ecology/culture/others define and create our more-whole selves.
We act in accordance of giving to ourselves(and others) in a manner that reflects the altruistic nature of spirit; conceptualized by our earth, and our sun, which gives everything to us with no expectations!
By living in the spirit of the gift (recognizing that all of life is a gift, where the most important things in life are often free/gifts) we give ourselves the freedom to give and to receive with no supposition, knowing that as we share our gifts and talents with the world, the world shares with us its gifts and the ability to flourish.
This altruistic perspective and understanding of the world have helped rid us of anxiety created by our previous culture (an anxiety driven by a false narrative that if you give, you will not have enough for yourself).
As we created systems to more easily meet our needs, we opened up space within us to give and share more readily and by doing so helped us move closer to our source, our heart (HEART.) The more we give, the more we have to give!
(R) egeneration
"The essence of a tragedy, or even of a serious play, is the spiritual awakening, or regeneration, of the hero." -Maxwell Anderson
With regeneration as our core, we aim to move beyond sustainability. We don't wish to sustain ourselves, we wish to make ourselves better than we were before. We don't wish to sustain our society we wish to improve upon it and find better and more efficient methods for meeting our needs! We do not seek to merely maintain ourselves but seek to increase the availability of life, within and without, ourselves. Regeneration creates balance and diversity. A holistic approach to regeneration increases and restores diversity in:
- food (eat the rainbow)
- ecology (food forests)
- thought (Knowledge, open-mindedness)
- action (creating a balance between the 10+ forms of capital generation)
- movement (fitness, yoga, dancing, hiking...)
- passions (creative expression)
- love (community, relationships, family)
- life (plant, animal, human, fungi, etc)
Our focus for the land we touch is to regenerate these landscapes to increase biodiversity and energy for the benefit of human and non-human life. We strive to regenerate our internal landscapes through a focus on regenerative fitness through intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and physical practices. (We list these aspects separately only to convey a whole, knowing that they are interconnected.)
Through the process of regeneration, we heal ourselves and our world from past dis-ease.
(T) ransformation
"Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one." -Marianne Williamson
We see transformation as a process or transition, often gradual, occasionally sporadic. Without a relationship to the other aspects of HEART, a transformation has no direction or intention.
Our world is rapidly transforming, by aligning ourselves to the energy of transformation that is currently permeating our culture, geopolitics, economics, and environment; we gain a tremendous opportunity to intentionally redirect this transformational energy towards the other core values of HEART. Our world is demanding a change, demanding a transformation we need to give that energy direction. (Otherwise without a direction, the dominant culture abuses this power and harnesses it for their personal gain. I.e politicians).
We believe that the only hurdle to realizing the world that HEART is striving to create is through the hearts and minds of us, the people. People who say they would love to live in this world while simultaneously believing that it can't happen. It is this belief paired with inaction that is preventing this world from existing on a global scale.
We wish to see a world where every person is able to intentionally and holistically dictate the direction of their creative energy, passions, and love unencumbered by the dominant society. We believe this is possible through a transformation in thought, action, and being. Functionally, HEART will (through applying principles, experimentation and continued effort) grow to steward an environment that will facilitate this transformational process and aid people as we become the beings we intend to be.
Process of Transformation
"Transformation literally means going beyond your form."-Wayne Dyer
HEART Transformation is realized through truly meeting our needs. Once our needs begin to be met we give ourselves the time to go deeper within ourselves to find what our true passions, desires, and purposes are. THC facilitates this transformation by providing tools, demonstrating processes, teaching techniques and creating an environment that will better meet our needs. THC will also oversee and facilitate coming-to-age processes and techniques that are designed to create a space within ourselves to find out who we are.
We do not seek to control ourselves in order to implement the desired HEART-centric transformation, as control was a tool of the old paradigm. We seek to listen to our Heart, create environments and situations to have the Heart speak louder, and allow ourselves the freedom to pursue those passions once realized.
The process of realizing HEART-potential is inherent within all of us, it is not something THC creates. It is through methods of misplaced control that we find ourselves out of alignment with our true purposes. Through 'discipline' we often find failure. This is why control based methods of self-growth/discipline are so ineffective, (new workouts, new diets, quitting smoking, sleep routines, etc). The principle strategy employed is controlling the 'bad' urge (laziness, cravings, enjoyment, etc), opposed to emphasizing our passions (you can't do a don't). When aligned with our HEART-potential, the necessity to control ineffective behavior becomes obsolete; as we focus our energy towards our passions we no longer desire to fill the void with false substitutes (addictions, destructive behavior etc). THC's process of transformation is to simply fill our lives with the traits we desire to embody, by creating an environment dedicated to this vision. An environment that provides the needs above will be the catalyst towards HEART-centered transformation.
We only have anecdotal evidence to support our claim. But we believe that once we find our path that we are destined to be on, the path that fills us with the most joy and passion; the universe starts to conspire for us. The role of THC is to merely create a place that allows people to come into contact with their path and help nourish the initial stages of its development.
HEART-Potential
"The first step in creating change, then, is to receive a vision that feels true. The second step is to heal the wounds and doubts that that vision illuminates." - Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible
The "HEART-potential" is not just an idea; it is a vision, and what's more- a living entity. To align to our HEART-potential is to be in service to this entity, this vision. When in service to this vision we begin to realize the vision has a life of its own and aids to propel us forward. We begin to experience 'miracles' regularly, coincidences and chance encounters that substantially aid us in realizing this vision. The first step to aligning to our HEART-potential is to receive a vision. We say 'receive' as there is no better word for it. This vision comes not from an accumulation of past knowledge, it may even contradict many of our past beliefs and thoughts about who or what we wanted to become.
We don't create the vision for our future, we receive it through interaction with our heart/HEART. This is accomplished through a variety of intentional methods of mind calming and heart opening exercises, (plant medicines, intentional crucibles, fasting, breath-work etc.) Often, if we don't intentionally create circumstances for receiving this vision; life will create circumstances for us to receive them (through near-death experiences, tragedy, birth, loss, etc). Once we receive a vision we enter into the service of birthing it. When we align with our HEART-potential our actions are our own, but the guidance comes from the idea whose time has come! This is how we give ourselves to something greater than ourselves and put ourselves in service to the whole!
This was intended to introduce you to THC as an organization. If you're interested in this process, THC is an open-source organization and love to collaborate. We will be sharing in-depth the techniques, tools, systems, and processes mentioned above.
THC's Transition Facilitation Center
Will be a place:
- To obtain knowledge unavailable at conventional universities
- To acquire skills that will be useful and valued in a transformed world
- To acquire skills to help that transformation happen
- To deprogram from conventional education and have a sanctuary in which to develop a calling
- To bond with a cohort who share a common vision of what the world can be.
For researchers, It is a place:
- To develop knowledge in an environment where you aren't thought to be crazy
- To collaborate with other cutting edge workers in unorthodox fields
- To clarify knowledge by teaching it
- To pass knowledge to the next generation and mentor its development
- To test, incubate, and develop technologies to prepare them for wider application
Together we can refine and build on these tools to help us create a more beautiful world!
“The more beautiful world my heart knows is possible is a world with a lot more pleasure: a lot more touch, a lot more lovemaking, a lot more hugging, a lot more deep gazing into each other’s eyes, a lot more fresh-ground tortillas and just-harvested tomatoes still warm from the sun, a lot more singing, a lot more dancing, a lot more timelessness, a lot more beauty in the built environment, a lot more pristine views, a lot more water fresh from the spring. Have you ever tasted real water, springing from the earth after a twenty-year journey through the mountain? None of these pleasures is very far away. None requires any new inventions, nor the subservience of the many to the few. Yet our society is destitute of them all. Our wealth, so-called, is a veil for our poverty, a substitute for what is missing. Because it cannot meet most of our true needs, it is an addictive substitute. No amount can ever be enough. Many of us already see through the superficial substitute pleasures we are offered. They are boring to us, or even revolting. We needn’t sacrifice pleasure to reject them. We need only sacrifice the habit, deeply ingrained, of choosing a lesser pleasure over a greater. Where does this habit come from? It is an essential strand of the world of separation, because most of the tasks that we must do to keep the world-devouring machine operating do not feel very good at all. To keep doing them, we must be trained to deny pleasure.” ― Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible
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