We live in a moment of
civilizational crisis and potential rebirth
A Second Renaissance
There are many terms associated with it: great turning, metamodern, metacrisis, integral, teal, liminal web, gameB, regenerative and more.
This site provides an introduction to this vision — and a home for a growing community of people who are working to make it happen.
Our world shows signs of serious illness
We are witnessing an escalating series of interconnected crises
– ecological, political, and social.
Our illness is serious; it might even be terminal. The systems
of global civilization risk collapse, resulting in large-scale
destruction of life.
Accurate diagnosis is vital
Treating the superficial symptoms won't be enough. We must address the underlying cause.
Foundational to civilization are shared views and values.
Like water to a fish, the views and values we live by are often invisible to us. Yet they shape our way of thinking and being, what we believe possible, what we prioritize and dismiss, what we consider "normal".
This breakdown originates in our cultural foundations
The symptoms that we are witnessing have roots in views and values shared at a cultural level: the paradigm of modernity.
Modern views and values are at the root of our crises
Modern views and values like individualism, progress,
rationality, freedom and equality brought extraordinary material
progress and advances in individual liberty.
However, these ideas now cast long shadows. Endless growth,
materialism, techno-solutionism and addiction to certainty and
control are driving global exploitation and destruction of
nature, nihilism and loneliness, and an ever-widening wisdom
gap.
Any solution must likewise go to the roots
We cannot address current crises through the logic and value
systems that created and continue to drive them.
Any solution must be radical in the true sense of the word: they
must go to the roots.
We need profound shifts in our ways of being, thinking, feeling,
and acting: the emergence of a major new cultural paradigm that
transcends modernity.
Darkness before dawn
However, this is also a time of crisis. There may be darkness
before dawn.
Global crises indicate that modern civilization is in decline.
Some level of societal collapse may even be likely.
Crisis can inspire transformation
Breakdown can be a precursor for deep cultural transformation. Modernity was itself born out of civilizational collapse in Europe at the end of the mediaeval period, leading to the first Renaissance - a period of great cultural rebirth.
A new, regenerative paradigm is needed
Modern materialism has reduced complex life to a sum of parts and deprioritised the human inner world, leading to breakdown. A liveable future will demand a new paradigm rooted in understanding of the whole.
Something is emerging
Much is yet to emerge. But what kind of views and values might underpin a wiser, weller, world?
New ways of being, thinking and acting
- » Inner growth
- inner growth prioritized over material growth with a recognition of our potential to consciously evolve personally and collectively in multiple dimensions: to wake up, grow up, clean up, and show up.
- » Wisdom
- A renewed cultivation of wisdom based in a recognition of the limits (and value) of reason, of the importance of the whole, and the value of a long term that includes all of the living.
- » Interbeing
- Seeing clearly our profoundly interdependent relationship to each other and the planet in way that is regenerative, ecological and connecting.
- » Spirituality
- Going beyond secularity to reintegrate spirituality and religion into collective life.
- » Beyond capitalism
- A new economic system beyond capitalism and socialism, grounded in new ways to assess value.
- Explore the ecosystem
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Discover the players and communities seeding the second renaissance.
- Join the Forum
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Join the forum to engage with the community, exchange ideas and get support.
- Download the Whitepapers
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Download our whitepapers to learn more about key concepts and the theory of change.