[Video] A Post-Liberal World Order

The limits of modernity and what comes after.

tl;dr A video of our sense making conversation on what’s after liberalism. Including a list of references and a set of opportunities to get more involved with this work.

Here is a video of the conversation on Post-Liberalism that I invited you into last week. It was my very first attempt to share the way some of us are making sense of this moment. It is part of an ongoing exploration on “Where do we go from here?”

I was moved by your participation. And by your response. Your feedback was better than anything I could have imagined. Which tells me we are on to something.

The energy moving through me was intense. As was the vulnerability of stepping out right at the edge of my sense making. It was so powerful that I actually had to pause in the middle of the presentation. This is not something I have ever experienced.

I felt a strange palpitation, an onset of dizziness and an uncomfortable sweat. Participants were graceful, encouraging me to pause and breathe. And I was lucky enough that my wife, Tuesday, was home and tuned in. She came into the office to help ground my energy.

Ok… it’s quite possible that I’m in the middle of some undiagnosed health situation. But right now, I’m into the idea that my body was thrown because strong energy was moving. And that if I am going to ask us to take risks, and to walk to the edge of our comfort zone, it must also become obvious that I am doing the same. That this in fact is not easy. I tried to edit out most of that awkward bleep. But you will notice a skip or two in the video.

Your ongoing feedback helps sharpen my thinking. You help me make complex ideas as clear as I possibly can. My aim is to share something useful in these times of great challenge and change. These times of uncertainty and volatility.

If you have experienced my work, you know that my goal is for us to learn to embody new ways of being-with. That although I’m sharing ideas, I know that thoughts don't matter unless they lead us into practice. We are looking for practices that impact our way of doing and being together upon this sacred earth.

Here is the video. Stick around for the question and answer section. Things always get more lively when there is human interaction. Please remember that it is my first time putting these ideas together in a public forum. Let me know what resonates and what doesn’t. Help me to make it more clear.

I invited you into these conversations because I find it very challenging to stand in front of a camera and teach when there is no one there to listen. I need connection. Interaction.

I’ve recently invited you into two conversations. The first was two weeks ago. It focused on Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. I shared the central frameworks that inform my leadership consulting. The work that I do. From strategy to facilitation to coaching and healing.

It was an awesome conversation! But unfortunately, we are not pleased with the recording. Which is why I have not shared it yet. I am going to invite us to do it again. So if you registered, but missed it, you are in luck! Stay tuned.

Sources of Inspiration & Influence

When I teach, I make an effort to piece together ideas from disparate sources. I do my best to name authors, books and articles during the talk. But I am sure I missed a few. While I name him later in the Q&A section, I do want to lift up Alexander Beiner and his new project Kainos. The idea that liberalism fails to contend with the “Strong Gods,” the very gods that stir the human passions and bring societies together, is directly taken from Beiner’s own piecing ideas together. Beiner is a heterodox thinker, and he dares to have ideas that fall outside of the progressive dogma. I am trying to do the same. Don’t engage if you are a fundamentalist.

You can scroll to the end for links to some of the other books I reference.

Support this Work

I have been hesitant to add a membership subscription to my Substack newsletter. And everything I write accessible to everybody. Whether you are a paid subscriber or not.

But many of you have asked for ways to support my work. Because I do all of this out of the side of my desk.

Here are two ways you can participate:

1. Become a paid subscriber*

This will get you three things:

• Live participation in future calls. This includes live participation in recordings of my podcast relaunch. Soon coming to you as the “Future Ancestors Podcast”

• Participation in a regularly scheduled “Integration Circle.” We will provide ongoing opportunities for community and engagement. This is meant to support those of you involved in coaching, healing work or other facilitated transformational spaces. Whether you are working with me directly or with other trusted guides.

• A 10% discount for any of my paid programs, from workshops, to coaching, to healing work. This offer excepts contractual services offered to institutions.

*If you are passionate about this work but cannot afford a $5/month commitment, simply write us an email. We will make sure you have access to everything that we are up to.

2. Donate Directly to the Evolutionary Leadership Scholarship Fund

Your tax deductible contribution allows us to make workshops, coaching, and healing work available to individuals who would not be otherwise able to afford it.

Consider supporting this work. But know that nothing is more valuable than the gift of your attention. And that we are already grateful to you for staying with us this far.

References

The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution

by Micah White

Who Do We Choose to Be? Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity

by Margaret Wheatley

Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society

by Nicholas Christakis

What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

by Thomas Frank

The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous

by Joseph Henrich