21 invitations to support the new world

Everyday, I feel the energy and power of what’s coming.

The intent of this post is to share some of these ‘streams’ that I’m a part of and invite you to join in as well….

(The illusion of doership is alive and kicking…as a leaf flying in the winds of change, I remind myself that all this is also a happening, a collective unfolding rather than ‘my’ doing)

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The Bharat Manthan — Rediscovery of India project was for me to go deeper into my roots. That has now transitioned to the possibility of building a centrist movement with three pieces

#1 — A spiritual-ideological core for the India of our dreams

Several different thinkers are in dialogue to co-create a pragmatic vision grounded in our cultural values and constitutional dreams

#2 — An emerging collective of organisations and networks around the ecosystems who are building the capacity to act together

We’re trying to put together a second-wave response of circles, peace walks etc around different cities…If you’d like to host in your city, please message :)

#3 — A platform for decentralized, diverse groups to act jointly

I have great hope from deep democracy processes like Sarvanumati, and we’re deep diving with friends from One World In Dialogue. elders who have worked for decades in rural India and tech-enable some of this as a platform

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At Blue Ribbon Movement we have several different threads open too

#4 — The “Friends of Blue Ribbon” network is a community of donors, that participates in our work and supports it in diverse ways.

This is based on a firm conviction that citizens will need to lead the systemic change that we want to see.

#5 — The The Gender Lab continues into its next year with applications for the fellowship and the program being recognized globally

If gender is a cause you feel strongly about, this program is a no-brainer in its capacity to transform perspectives of young boys and girls to a gender-sensitive lens.

Apart from this, men’s circles as well as sacred feminine work is unfolding all around….

#6 — The Community Connect Fellowship — CCF is going through a redesign and promises to come back with much more fun, reach out to more people as well as go deeper

Civic action from a space of celebration and joy is being born, welcome to bring in your locality or college onboard

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Meanwhile, globally as well, there is a wave of fresh thinking that’s underway….

#7 — The South Asian Youth Conference work continues with dialogues around Kashmir and plans for the coming year….possibly a sangha of those who deeply care about South Asia….

If your heart beats for South Asia, come!

#8 — Also been reconnecting to friends from around the world who were together in their 20s doing activism….figuring where to, next :)

These conversations are also inter-generational in nature, some of these with Seren Dalkiran…at some stage this work will take up pace, welcome to ping if this is your game / space

#9 — Thinkers globally are starting to converge around the idea of Gameb — a new operating system for our species. This builds on the ideas of several different thinkers and shows a lot of promise

The invitation is to explore the work of Awakening from the Meaning Crisis (John Vervaeke), Rebel Wisdom, Future Thinkers and more, and then hop into the conversation…

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Locally in the Mumbai activist-artivist community, the conversation is on the spiritual dimensions of activism

#10 If you believe that the coming together of activism, art and spirituality is essential, we’re trying to do that in very real ways …. Amrita Bhattacharjee and Rohit Parakh are co-conspirators….addas are on, so spiritual activists please join!

#11 For mental health, had an intimate session with students of TISS. We need lots of hugs, lots of play, lots of art, lots of listening to re-enrich the depleted soil of our relationships…..

This work is taking place in several different ways, most recently with Bipolarindia….Personally, I encourage those who reach out, to get support with therapy (irrespecive of whether you’re ill or not)

#12 Meanwhile the dream of creating a village in the city continues as we host several ‘social artivists’ in the city — talks from those who have spent decades in social change….

just did one with Manish Jain and another one coming up….(details soon)…Fools Forum will be out soon and there are events and events happening all around…follow the BRM page for that one….

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Nationally again, we are going to have some fun

#13 The Learning Societies unConference 2020 is here — and a must visit for all those who have considered responding to the current times in creative ways….

The tribe meets here and will be great to see you, especially if you’re on your way to responding to these times…

#14 Meanwhile at 2069?: The Youth Fest, young people from across ecosystems are self-organizing a festival, a learning journey and lab for experiments that birth the new world

If you’re in your 20s and considering the marathon of social change, this is a place where you HAVE TO BE…so reach out to your nearest organisation or ecosystem

#15 In response to the CAA-NRC situation we’re doing a series of online webinars exploring the pro and anti voices (with speakers from both sides sharing their views), exploring the need to dialogue and reflecting after we’ve heard multiple sides…supported by Raghu Ananthanarayanan in this…

Given their ‘explosive’ nature, these are closed door — a few people can still sneak in to listen, especially the ‘other’ side

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While the crisis is on outside, how are we individually responding? Here are a few things I’ve been trying

#16 To cross a border and speak to a person on another side of the belief system (that’s much harder than I thought)…

#17 Prayer, rituals and connecting to the positive intent of life, trusting that force

#18 Actively reading the ‘other side’ of views (any views you may have, there will always be another side to understand) (kind of similar to #16, but safer…)

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Finally, some reflections that each of us need to be doing…

#19 The future — what is the future you’re seeing? For yourself? For your world? Reading across various disciplines and domains creates some pictures…and tallying them with others makes it colourful…

So, what are you thinking? Maybe a Facebook post? Or a blog?

#20 Our relationship space and cultivating non violence there….if we look at the society as a sum total of our relationships, the place to begin non-violence is there…

So maybe one step towards a less violent relationship

#21 The invitation to make and accept invitations

Will you make an invitation to others? That’s the ripple, that is each of us responding to each other….

Which of these is an invitation you’ll accept? What’s your invitation to me?