Holy fire: CHE in transition
In April 2005, Peter Merry and Arjan Kindermans founded the Center for Human Emergence NL with holy fervor. The world is burning and a breakthrough to globalization as one humanity living together in all our diversity, they saw, can only come from a wider consciousness. With Spiral Dynamics integral, Dr Don Beck provided the theoretical model, the map on which we could see where we were (in a country where corporate strategic focus on revenue and profit takes on a life of its own alongside consensus-oriented politics) and what our foreland was: a society in which all in constant contact beyond self-interest situationally and functionally co-create the conditions that promote all life.
With holy fire we organized the event 'Ready to Turn?!' where 900 people recognized each other as carriers of the new society based on unity.
With holy fire we developed meshworking as a method to arrive at projects in multi-stakeholder processes that really ensure a breakthrough. We established the The Hague Center for Global Governance, Innovation and Emergence, in response to a long-cherished dream of Don Beck, to facilitate such processes abroad.
With holy fervor we went to Copenhagen six years ago for the COP15. We had a large booth where we invited people to make their contribution to the great challenge of living not as masters but as part of nature.
With holy fire, we as a foundation set up the company Synnervate that guides people and organizations in finding and taking their next natural step. They put our joint experience with SDi, Holacracy and the methods from The Art of Hosting into practice.
For ten years now, we have been organizing a salon with holy fire every two weeks where speakers and visitors engage in an unfolding conversation and are thus touched themselves.
As people who fulfill roles at the CHE, we look with holy fervor every six months at what we have to do internally so that we can do our work in the outside world.
To function within the CHE you need holy fire. Three years ago, Peter Merry noticed that his fire was mainly focused on developing a curriculum for a globally affordable online university called Ubiquity. Now three other porters of the first hour notice that their fire is moving. Anne-Marie Voorhoeve, Lisette Schuitemaker and Marinet Ritz return their roles. At the same time, the sacred fire still burns high among the others who shape the biweekly salons, the Synnervate company, the constellations and the ongoing process of learning together what it is like to be alive in a consecrated partnership for the benefit of integral social renewal.
The CHE is in transition. Just like after the departure of Peter Merry in 2012, there is not immediately a new Lead. This gives the organization space to calmly observe how the new group of carriers is forming, what is currently going on and where the energy is being spent. The activities continue, the field remains strong, the sacred fire is burning.
Lisette Schuitemaker
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