3 world tetrad
How can you deepen the grounding of your gaian gameworld ?
How can you deepen the grounding of your gaian gameworld ?
In the 3 part article ‘Can you be Regenerating the World, Serving a Community and Developing Yourself, simultaneously?’ we consider 4 hypotheses of research. This article is exploring a possibility in hypothesis 2 ‘Combining the maps, distinctions and frameworks of both practices create more awareness and will for people to develop and places to expand to their potential’.
The 3 worlds tetrad is a framework* for Gaian Gameworlds.
Please notice that we are talking about experiential reality in both PM and RD, meaning that is not enough to understand (intellectual body) this distinctions and frameworks. You need to live them, to embody them, a 5 bodies embodiment.
(*) We distinguish ‘Distinctions’ (PM) from ‘Frameworks’ (RD). Both practices have both and they are different. Distinctions are energetic declarations that change who you are and experience the world in 5 bodies. Frameworks use ‘distinctions’ and propose a way for using them in action, usually through questions (one of the 3 powers in PM and a critical element in RD approaches). The role of the framework is to shift the space to an alive space, igniting our Being and exploring uncharted territories. ‘Tetrad’ and ‘codex’ are ‘frameworks’. ‘3 worlds’ and ‘place’ are distinctions. We will deepen this theme in another article.
From PM
In Possibility Management (PM) we distinguish 3 worlds: upperworld, middleworld and underworld. If you don’t have this distinction, you don’t understand why, in each new year, you put wishes that a few days or weeks later have already been forgotten (e.g. quitting smoking, losing weight) — your gremlin make it happen — gremlin is the king/queen of your underworld, is that part in you that, when uninitiated, wants that everything stay the same, that defends your box. In a project, if you don’t have this distinction the project can end suddenly and you don’t know why, like Gil describes in the article “How the underworld can undermine a regenerative endeavor ?” (to be published in a ‘medium near you’).
The Middleworld is the material world where there is money, time and other people. The Upperworld is the world of Bright Principles, such as clarity, love happening and learning. The Underworld is ruled by the gremlin and has shadow principles, such as lying, manipulation, control, seduction, revenge and resentment. If you’re not initiated into this distinction, you don’t know what part of you is ruling your life, your project, your gameworld.
This distinction applies to individuals and gameworlds, that is, it is relevant for the 3 lines of work:
How can this distinction, this thoughtmap could inform us and our gameworlds ?
How can it support us in deepening the context and have more possibilities for action?
How can this distinction be nurtured to keep connected and not reactive to a client, to a project, to a region?
How does this distinction support my self-observation and self-reflection about what is activating and restraining each situation?
From RD
Regenerative Development (RD) uses the tetrad framework that considers 4 perspectives into the development of a project, a gaian gameworld:
Ground — Place/Essence sourced Potential
What is the essence and place-based potential of a person or project?
What makes new potential possible each time?
Goal — Realizing potential — Regenerative Capability
What are the Regenerative Objectives, the role of the gameworld?
What is intended to be created along the way?
What capabilities and capacities are required to be obtained along the path?
Direction — Vocation of Place
What is our Direction?
What is the vocation of the territory in which the gameworld is located?
What sources the Spirit and Meaning?
What can bring everyone around the table and have will to be implicated and committed to the place and its evolution?
Instruments — Co-evolving mutualism
What are the ways we build the necessary structure to hold the group together, vital and developing?
What governance, technology, periodicity, agreements and other elements we are consciously deciding to use so we navigate the path to unfold and develop a responsible and regenerative culture?
On particular element of the tetrad is the relations between perspectives:
Ground and Direction
Ground and Goal — Motivation
Ground and Instrument
Instrument and Direction — Means
Instrument and Goal
Direction and Goal
We notice that applying the tetrad usually has so many elements of upperworld (e.g. transformation, community) and middleworld (e.g. compost toilets, vegan and bio food) and none or few of underworld (e.g. escape for taking responsibility in real world, identifying clearly the sabotaging process used by each member of the group)
3 world tetrad
Our hypothesis is to combine the 3 worlds distinction (PM) with the tetrad framework (RD) and create the 3 worlds Tetrad.
The experiment is to create 3 tetrads, one for each world and distinguishing what is from each world, bringing clarity to what we are emphasizing and what we are not considering:
Upperworld Tetrad
Middleworld Tetrad
Underworld Tetrad
Below we listed some of the questions that we used in our experiments. Please send us your questions.
Upperworld Tetrad
Ground
Why do we want to create something?
Where are we moving towards?
What is our Essence?
Who are we?
What is the potential we want to manifest?
Goals
What do we want to create?
What capabilities and capacities we envision to create?
What project endstates we see happening from now on?
Direction
What is our guiding star?
What is the real purpose of this project?
What is the vocation of this wider system we are part of?
How does this project nurture the region and world?
What is our promise beyond ableness?
What activates everybody to join the process?
Instruments
What guidelines/ principles of design ?
What structure will we create?
How will we gain the necessary capabilities?
How will we implement the project and align in our direction?
Middleworld Tetrad
Ground
What calls us to this territory and culture?
What is our potential role in this community?
Goals
What’s the project manifestation?
What do we see built after the first steps?
What do we image when seeing the place alive within us?
Direction
What is the value-added process that this project wants to become in order to serve and benefit the surrounding community?
Instruments
What frameworks, methods and tools and other technology we want to use? What’s the legal structure we are going to have (or not)?
What governance method will we use so communication and decisions are done in a way that all are served?
Underworld Tetrad
Ground
Why don’t we want to create this community?
What are we not creating in the places where we are already?
What Shadow Potential do we want to manifest?
What dark principles do we want to unconsciously express?
What are you running from ?
Goals
What do you really want to create unconsciously? (e.g. Security, financial income, and wish of belonging)
What you say you don’t want to do — that is where your energy is ?
What do you manipulate to make it happen ? or wanted to control ?
What are you avoiding to face ?
Direction
What is the real purpose of our shadow world?
How has each person and the collective has been sabotaging the vocation of place ?
What patterns do you manifest unconsciously (e.g. please dad, consumption, follow beliefs, good life of capitalism) ?
Instruments
What are the models and tools that most disconnect us from each other, from the project itself and from its direction?
What are the clear ways that shadows are used to manifest?
How is the project interacting and exchanging (e.g, money) with modern culture?
What is the unconscious use of sexual energy in the form of unconscious flirting?
Case study: Pinha do Agora
Pinha do Agora was an ecovillage project (a pocket neighborhood) for up to 12 families in the Lisbon area, in the municipality of Mafra. The projects ended and you can find a report about the project in this article. The team was formed by Gil Penha-Lopes, Joana Cruz, Matteo Tangi, Marco de Abreu and Patrícia Bastos.
Applying the 3 tetrads to the pinecone showed that we were considering mostly in the Upper World, something in the Middle World and practically nothing in the Underworld. Distinction allowed us to balance the Worlds and bring much more clarity and integrity to the project, as well as greater resolution in the Middle World, for example what we want to apply/experience and what we don’t want (e.g. we want to experiment with Possibility Management and we don’t want to breed animals for human food).
3 worlds tetrad
What is the Essence-based Potential that lives within us?
Upperworld
(To be an integral member of a) radically responsible, regenerating and guardian of Life.
Middleworld
(Living in a) Community of people and families who want to take root in a territory with ecologically high potential and with a geographical location that is resilient to climate change, close to Lisbon, capital recognized as a multicultural and entrepreneurial center, creating fields of expression and empowerment for its own children and youth as well as experimenting, sharing and empowering individuals and organizations for community and local ways of life.
Underworld
(Creation of a) Elitist and individualistic intentional arrogant ghetto that traps and isolates human beings so that they are not simultaneously transforming other places (e.g. where they live now), diluting individual responsibility and staying in the ‘capital/Lisbon’ stimuli.
What is our Goal?
Upperworld
Creation of an integral community that lives in a relationship with nature, in a regenerative way and in continuous development of individual, collective, surroundings/place and surrounding region.
Middleworld
Community of initiated adults, anchoring an educational center for children, young people and agents of change, which cultivates common goods, expresses itself through sustainable constructions with local materials, where all flows are regenerated and used locally, and where the different areas of the life are integrated (e.g. personal, professional)
Underworld
To create a pretending community, a comfortable and ‘green’ co-house, that makes people addicted and that gives the center to the beliefs and constructs of the community.
Create a pseudo-culture and create resistance and resentment in order to keep the project in the current culture of market, consumerism and scarcity; enter into child responsibility or irresponsibility.
What is our Direction ?
Upperworld
Experiencing the culture that follows, without knowing what it is, including well-being of individual, collective and Life/Planet, including all generations, dialogic governance, evolutionary impulse and welcoming the unknown.
Middleworld
Community that lives as a living organism, in permanent dynamism and evolution and with continuous feedback and learning mechanism.
Underworld
Create a ‘dead’ community, with relationships based on low-drama, without attention to the individual and their needs, without caring for the community, life and in a cycle of destruction.
What are our instruments ?
Upperworld
Weave and boost practice networks, mobilize partnerships for a regenerative society, multi capitals, awareness based and co-created by teams (Society 4.0).
Middleworld
Community context and governance (anchored in Torus Technology and in Regenerative Development), human and team development (anchored with Possibility Management), values-based education models (e.g. Learning Communities) promotion of common ownership (e.g. Fundação Terra Agora) and promoting a local economy (e.g. Seeds), in sacred relationship with Life (e.g. animals and plants).
Underworld
Dependence on materialistic, capitalist values in a disguised way as sabotaging the very pillars on which the community anchors (PM and DR) and being controlled by money; wanting to continue to live in isolation, resentment, not showing ourselves in the collective (in vulnerability and intensity) and cultivating unconscious behaviors such as sexual energy and gossip; despise interdependence and co-creation
Process
The team had 5 elements. The 5 with at least 1 ETB and 1 LAB, on the PM side. On RD side, 2 had TRP.
We started by introducing the tetrad to the 3 elements that did not know it and we proceeded with the work at 5. We produced our first tetrad without the distinction of 3 Worlds.
Then we introduced the distinction of the 3 Worlds and made the 3 tetrads, separating the elements of the previous tetrad and the vision (which had been produced in previous stages) by the 3 tetrads. We verified that the Upperworld was well composed and grounded, The Middleworld had many holes and practically nothing in the Underworld.
Individually we identified our bright principles, what we wanted to manifest and our knowned shadow principles. Also, we started having a monthly session about shadow work so we could go deeply into this world.
We completed the tetrad and brought to awareness the missing elements in all 3 worlds.
In the end, we reinforce the sense of team, of connection to the project, of belonging. Each one saw him/herself in the work done and was more aware of the values and purpose of the project, whether the bright ones or the shadow ones, what we needed to make it happen and how each of us could contribute.
Learnings
It worked to have more resolution and clarity in what belongs to each World; we made more parts of the project aware and developed the collective awareness ‘muscle’ of the whole system.
It forced more clarity on each person who is part of the team and how their 3 worlds are manifested in the project.
There are no guidelines on how to apply the 3 Worlds in the tetrad and what to put in one of the Worlds and not in the others.
This article is written almost 3 months after the project ended and the shadow of the upperworld is manifesting since:
Gil join Enxara, Mafra and is supporting the PM+RD transition there
Patrícia join Enraizar, Mafra and is supporting the development of the project
Matteo join the Aljezur community and ins engaging in local agency
Joana in anchoring the community house project in Cascais (NATIVA)
Marco focussed his attention in Innovation for the Future, a translocal community as a driving force for shifting for a next culture
Also, how the middleword instruments are written manifests a tension in the group that leads to the separation, the acceptance that this gameworld was a PM+RD research gameworld, in the direction of a ‘responsible and regenerative culture’ (to be published soon).