Why Learning Together is the Essential Work of our Time

By Mary Casey

“We all know how loving ends. But I want to fall in love with the world anyway, to let it crack me open.” – John Green

One of the beautiful things about the world is that it is constantly evolving and changing. A key lesson she teaches us is not to be attached to any specific moment, but instead be open to the richness of witnessing its unfolding and participating in it by discerning our contribution and manifesting that to the best of our ability.

As someone deeply in love with the world, I’ve chosen a career in sustainability, where I have been working in various roles in the “built” environment for about 30 years. For the last several years, I’ve been working based on a theory that if we want to see change in the world, we must:

1. Look inward and examine our own perspective with deep curiosity, and consciously question what we hold as ‘true’

2. Prototype an approach based on the new perspective of inquiry in order to be of service, rather than assumption in order to control

3. Observe the experience and the outcomes enabled from that perspective

4. Reflect on that lived experience, consider how that could evolve our perspective

5. Prototype a new approach based on the lived experience

6. Repeat (forever).

As part of this theory, I believe we learn better and faster when we learn together, and that this is the essential Work of our time. Sharing stories of our experience is an important way we can support and resource each other in making distinctions and growing our capability in regenerative practice.

This collection of writing — “Resonances” — is indeed about all three of those definitions:

1. Tuning myself into harmony with conscious energy, and finding the places where how I show up seems to be in sympathy with larger cycles of Life

2. A practice of regular disruption of my thinking so that I continue to grow

3. Sending out a “whale song” to the others of you in this water and listening for what comes back.

I will mainly be holding the question: what does it mean to be in a team, doing the Work of becoming fully realized instances of Human Being by placing ourselves in the service of a thriving world through the instrument of our practice in the “built” environment?

Over time, I will share stories of my practice as I proceed on this journey with my colleagues, clients, and the communities our projects serve. It is likely that along the way we will touch on the following:

• “Machine” paradigm v “living systems” paradigm

• The role of Human Being in the larger living system of Earth

• The resonances between First Nations' ways of being in relationship to place and regenerative practice

• Quantum theory and regenerative practice

• Working from Essence and Potential

• Building capability in self-awareness and self-management

• Methodologies for application of regenerative practice on projects in the “built” environment and with organisations in this space.

I hope you’ll choose to come along with me in this inquiry.

Further reading

Resonances: The Potential of Regenerative Practice and Indigenous Ways of Being in Relationship to Place

Mary Casey is a Principal, Sustainability, in Australia. This is an edited version of her monthly LinkedIn newsletter, Resonances.

Contact Mary via email or connect with her on LinkedIn and sign up for the newsletter.