[22/04/13 9:12:30 AM] Dr Alexandra Hart: The reason that the present social order we exist within is so toxic is that this social order fragments our connectedness to each other, the universe and the divine. It is anathema to our dependent origination (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra's_net). If we want to ask people to row the boat away from the slavery of fragmentation we need to show them that they are rowing towards a deeper state of connectedness. They will need to give up an illusory state of connectedness to do so (the present toxic social order masquerades as a state of connectedness). I think the key to progressing humanity away from the masquerade then, is to communicate to people that the initial sense of alienation they experience is an illusion and that what is being offered is the opposite to this illusion, what is being offered is a deeper connectedness, a more genuine connectedness that what is offered by the masquerade. This is an issue that needs to be addressed at different levels of granularity: the level of the individual, emergent group/family/workplace/community, country, society, culture etc. It asks us to fundamentally transform the self at each level of granularity: individually and at the level of the cultural mind. This is a transformation that cannot be done purely through thought, it must also occur in practice. Only through practice (the process of transferring know what into know how through experience and the arrival at wisdom) can we have a mind (individual or cultural) that can create and recreate itself sustainably in the face of that which is new to it. In other words, we have progressively 'more' conscious awareness of our participation in Indra's Net/wholeness/oneness.

[22/04/13 9:29:17 AM] Dr Alexandra Hart: The initial experience of alienation that people are confronted with when they are asked or invited to step away from the status quo is very primal. It is the fear of being excluded from their tribe which, in evolutionary terms, amounts to a death sentence. What follows the fear that arises here is cognitive dissonance or cognitive failure. The person becomes unable to engage with new possibilities. Their though processes are 'highjacked' by the limbic system (that fears death) and they can become more inclined to panic at the presense of the new thought/feeling/experience than when it was first met. What results is a resistance to the new that becomes ingrained and therefore harder to negotiate. When thinking about the "Community of Impact" I wonder whether  we could present a really strong sense of inclusive community for new comers to try and mitigate the potential fears that may arise, that initial primal response. This is just one aspect of how this insight might be applied/included as one of the foundations to and functions of the community's space.