My sense is that, in Toronto, we are transitioning away from
meaning and becoming more in touch with our core values.
First I want to explore the effects and conditions of this transition
to soulfulness as individuals. Then I
want to look at how to adjust socially to a new mood that’s rising up in the
city.
We can identify our unique values by what we do on a
Saturday afternoon - family, community, or hobbies. Though we may have a sense of what our values
are, we don’t necessarily give them the importance they deserve as indicating
what we have to contribute to society.
However, fewer of us are willing to live based on meaning
alone – like getting a salary, getting ahead of coworkers, or waiting for our
boss’ job. Meaning was an important motivator
from the ‘60’s – ‘90’s. Now we want work
activity that fulfills our deeply held values and longings.
People in the arts and self-expression are in touch with,
and must express their values each and every day. We express our values when we decide what is
important, gracious, lovely and essential to a course of action.
We attempt to glimpse the wholeness in situations. Our values are what indicate the way forward
after taking any number of factors into account.
Decisions made based on values, wholeness and inclusion are
not logical or about taste. They are
decisions made based on love and a higher pragmatism. Pragmatism beats what’s achieved with logic and
thinking about a limited number of things we’re able to measure. Pragmatic action is based on a realistic big
picture.
Our values are our means to the things that we live for. Our values are like gas in the tank, and a
map. We need a course of action or some
idea of a destination that will fulfill an inner longing. But values and a course of action without engaging in community
limit what we can achieve to express love.
We know there is strength in numbers. Working in
organizations goes further. It is
powerful. In fact corporations and the
military are incredibly powerful. They’ve
become the most powerful things on the planet.
However we leave many of your values at the door or in the
office lobby before starting work each day.
We limit the number of factors we consider. We think in polarizing, competitive and
disheartening ways. We can be working to
pull the social fabric apart. We must adopt
policies and an agenda set by someone else.
My second point is about society and our complete
empowerment as individuals. Complete
empowerment comes when we combine our values and our direction on a map with
the resources for moving forward. We
readily find help and resources to use in an organization.
However, once you are in touch with your core values the
last thing that you want is someone else telling you what to do or setting a
course for you. That is why so many of
us who have gone inwards and found our souls stayed away from corporations and
group activities. We want to be
proactive in response to inner promptings and be free to do our own thing.
What’s been missing is a form of organizing that allows us
to respond to whatever values we have registered in our souls. That is partly why the Markham Street MuSE is very significant to you at this time. It’s a form of organizing able to support the
new mood in the city.
A muse is defined as ‘the function of deciding among
ourselves through ongoing distributed decision-making across a network of developing
or emerging connections’.
Compared to what’s produced when people get together and
assume power after politicking among themselves, a muse leads soulful people to
full empowerment with shared roles that make things more fluid and practical.
The function of a muse in organizing does not consider only one
location. It is meant as a source of
inspiration for organizing across neighbourhoods and organizing in any local
area, no matter how small. I recommend that
you check it out and look at the degree to which we are free to do what we want
once we’re connected with our values.
It allows for all our multiple, diverse visions. These are the courses we chose individually on
a map of a creative era.
If you are in touch with your core values and aim for full
empowerment, then you don’t have to wait for society to change completely. Find out more about how to use a muse to get from where society is now to
where you want to be.
