Programs

In this workshop we bring together leading specialists who are considering deeply enough into the future and into the cascades of design choices that the solutions proposed are sufficient for generating novel, life optimizing cultures that are sustainable and who are able to support us to determine a path from our current parigdime to increasingly sacred societies. This is a 10 week process of answering a set of questions to define principles for what ought to be true about new currencies if they are to avoid repeating the same struggles that we find ourselves in now. We will also work together on our perceptive capacities to be able to bring a more embodied understanding of this possible future and why it's so distinct and meaningful.

Therapists and healers hold an essential role in society. They help individuals understand “what the world is” in their own terms and integrate the past into the present. However, this task becomes challenging if the present feels unstable or unknown. Once all of a person's parts are integrated, the authentic, generative self is made whole, and the world of possibilities opens up before them. This workshop and dinner is a preview into Endemic’s Collective of Therapeutic Practitioners.

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For almost all of human history shamans, witches, medicine people, magicians, priests and priestesses, etc. cultivated their communities’ civic spirit, inner development, cultural innovation, and inspired mutuality with the natural world. Today, despite having been largely unrecognized, untrained, and socially persecuted over the last several thousand years, people with shamanistic tendencies still have a vital role to play in reinvigorating their communities’ depth and potency. This workshop and dinner is a preview into Endemic’s Collective of Shamanistic Practitioners.

We come together as friends and community regularly to build strength and care and discover how we can best lift each other up to do what is most ours to do. These gatherings may have themes emerge as the community surfaces different needs and opportunities. We will feast, learn from each other, share our creations and dreams, and recover from the usual marketplace world.

Horses live in herds with complex social dynamics and are effected by very subtle body language and energetic communication. Since they don’t live inside mental narrative, they read and express emotions without confusing interpretation. Because of all of this they hold up a clear mirror to our own emotions, intentions, and patterns of presence or avoidance.
Endemic’s work posits that the complexification, urbanization, industrialization, and now digitization of human civilization over the last several thousand years has consistently lowered our sensitivity to external perception. We have lost touch with subtle signals of long term health and intimacy with ourselves, other people, plants, animals, elements, and forces in our environment, and social structures. After World War II, rising wealth, new age culture, and post-modern philosophy led to Westerners becoming over psychologized, with too much focus on personal narratives and what we need to change “inside us” to become individually happy. To rebalance we need to cultivate sensitivity to our external perceptions. Horses are exceptionally good at helping us do this.

Bonnitta Roy guided us in exploring how our natural intuitions for trust contribute to the development of sacred societies. We identified the people we trust the most and those we trust less. Bonnie then presented twelve sets of character traits to help us recognize what qualities we find trustworthy. This process was uncomfortable, exciting, and surprising! Trust varies among individuals. We may trust some people more or less than we initially thought. It was eye-opening to examine the reasons behind our implicit trust in certain individuals.

Next, Bonnie led us in creating trust maps, visualizations that illustrate why we trust people and the interdependence and autonomy we experience when interacting with them. When we compared our trust maps with those of others in the workshop, we discovered the value of overlapping, complementary, and diverse styles of trust and interaction.

Finally, Bonnie introduced her framework for four different domains of care: disintermediated care (automated systems like Amazon), reciprocal care (including markets and neighborly favor trading), non-reciprocal care (care offered without expecting anything in return), and deep mutuality (where boundaries between self and other blur). We discussed which domains our real relationships should belong to and why current societies overemphasize disintermediated care.

The evening concluded with a delicious meal of smoked fresh sea bass and greens. Many of us enjoyed playing and dancing into the late evening, fostering trust and expressing care.

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Layman Pascal discussed the importance of religion for societies, as it unites cultural activities, provides a sense of purpose, motivation, and meaning. Spirituality has similar effects on individuals, harmonizing internal voices, generating excess numinous energy, and unlocking motivation. Religion has been a force for cultural invention in the past and can be in the future. Embracing ecological stewardship is critical for the relevance and health of future religion. Shaman types play a unique role in guiding societies. The event included artists, mystics, and engineers who explored the value of religion, its relationship to ecology, and how it can be framed technically and scientifically.

Endemic's core educational mission is to empower sacred sensitivity and responsibility in communities. Building quality communities requires a sacred attitude towards life and work. Balancing unity and diversity, leveraging religious innovation and established traditions in religion is a delicate task.

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