Sometimes the gorgeous fairy tale of my life gets wedged into the gears of consciousness and lets out a mighty yelp. What is this world that we all hold so dear in these twin mountain towns surrounded by the wild inviting forest? What are the principals and the code of conduct who's daily rituals reinforce the structure of this culture that affords us so much of what the entire world seems to want from living? Will it last forever? Is examining it's structure forbidden, is it dangerous? These questions and more tumble from the machine in ground up bits.
To dream and to believe are particular strategies for change that originated in systems in crisis. Conditions became so intolerable that a space was created for innovative solutions that exist outside the scope of conventional knowledge. "You can't get there from here." is the answer of the status quo. Innovation skips steps, ignores conventional wisdom and even breaks the rules to find solutions and solve problems outside normal channels. This approach by itself has obvious drawbacks with regard to efficiency, productivity and reliability but great potential to generate large numbers of creative solutions and new data sets.
Three things can be done with this newly generated body of experience. One, that experience can be shared in it's raw form as a creative generator and source of inspiration with others who are working on problems which require innovative action. Two, this experience can be refined and made more robust and intelligible until it is suitable to reliably solve problems that are well understood, in new ways. Three, new models can serve as a tool for understanding problems in a new way thereby initiating another round of context for innovative thinking.
I've been thinking a lot about what makes this place so special and about how to best share and maintain that specialness as we tackle the very real problems that we face with regards to the sustainability of our little piece of heaven here on earth. The work we do is a pleasure and in line with our principals (whatever they turn out to be). If we understand them better we'll beat the clock on social infrastructure building and be in a position to perpetuate the way of life that is the dream that brings us to task.
