Our relationship with land is the visible expression of our relationship with nature and all living beings. From a mystical relation with the sacred mysteries of life, to interdependent settled farmers from rational owners to value extractors - we all continue to come back to the land as ashes or bodies or in any other “tradition ritual” form - as WE ARE LAND. What is true for the contemporary man is that these relationships (or bonds/liaisons) need to evolve. Our path cannot continue in the same direction, to the extent that we have got it wrong - if we continue, our children and their children might grow up deprived from a myriad of life’s beautiful mysteries.
This experience is an invitation to navigate between the cracks: of contemporaneity (new word) AND the cracks of ownership while diluting ownership; the cracks of value while unveiling nature’s true value, the cracks of care while learning to be a steward, the cracks of our finite life, the cracks of our mental archetypes while confronted with the unexpected possibilities cracks offer.
This experience is an invitation to imagine a pathway that integrates our complexities into a new relationship with the land that would make our children and their children proud of our legacy.
In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.
— Wangari Maathai 2004
There are multiple ways in which we relate to the land, sometimes we get it right and sometimes not so much.
What might we think when we think of our relationship with the land? That this relationship provides us with sustenance, the food that sustains our bodies and the water that quenches our thirst. The connection that supports our homes, settlements and cities. That it nurtures our cultural and spiritual connections, fostering traditions deeply in its roots. We may imagine that responsible environmental stewardship ensures the lands health for generations, offering recreational havens that invite leisure and reflection.
Did we get it right? Where did we get it wrong? Things on the river lake or beach or the tree, bird or berries or the taste of fruit or veggies.
Land value, as defined by real estate, is wired to privilege human functions(e.g. a land is worth more if it is: close to a road or mall or hospital or harbor).This understanding of land value is limiting the perception of the value of natural functions of the land and value flows that are intricate to it. How can we perceive and make these flows visible to all?
How can we make these flows valuable?
What happens if we don't value these flows?
Our most heartfelt warm relationships don’t come with a money expressed value. Why should land have one? Still, our present structures and actions are money dependent, how to transcend such limitations of the human constructs
Stewardship represents a particular quality of relation with land in a world that objectifies that same relation. Stewardship is not only at the service of nature it is at the service for all humanity. From the 106 M km2 of land, 46% is used for farming and 38% for forest, 1% for Freshwater the remaining has urban usage(14%) A stewards function could be to balance the complexities of feeding, improving water, caring for the land and life supporting functions.
Ownership (as in “this is my land”) is deeper and more complex than its legal equivalent. What does it enable with our relationship with land?
Consider deep time and nature was able to bring us to the present point. Do we need a steward role? And Why?
Present structures create dilemmas of choice that can not be solved at an individual level, yet demand individual responsibility.
Land ownership is a complex concept. For many landowners, the land is a significant investment, made with their sacrifice or their ancestors' sacrifice. It is often seen as a retained earning and reserves for future generations.
In our social complexities we degenerate land, diminish soil, affect water quality, and reduce biodiversity. And we are also able to clean rivers, recover landscapes, and recover the population of endangered species. However, nature, when left alone, is also able to recover and bring back vitality and life. How do we know our actions are the best? How can we be required to learn and act from these learnings?
How would we know we are regenerating?
What economical flows need to be ensured? It is very hard to understand the effort ? How can land regeneration and regenerative economics have credibility so it can become the base of our economy?
If we assume our stewardship and embrace its responsibilities, what are the economic flows necessary to support this responsibility? Assuming the paramount importance of regeneration, how can we support its costs?
Ecology, legacy, and evolution are interconnected through the processes of adaptation, inheritance of traits, and the impact of ecological interactions on species' survival and reproduction. The legacy of ecological practices, both in natural ecosystems and human societies, can influence the evolutionary trajectories of species and shape the long-term dynamics of ecosystems and cultures. Understanding these relationships is crucial for addressing current environmental challenges and ensuring a sustainable legacy for future generations.
What are the most relevant relationships that need to be addressed regarding our evolution?
Is there a future by design?
We humbly consider Legacy Life concepts not as a definitive proposal but a verb, in movement, permanently actualising. The Legacy Life is not a solution to any “idea of problem”, quite the opposite, is an invitation away from “problem thinking” and goal and purpose oriented conditioning. It is rooted in the search for generative questions, a compass, a north star an artistic unfolding:
“The artist may have a conscious purpose to sell his picture, even perhaps a conscious purpose to make it. But in the making he must necessarily relax that arrogance in favour of a creative experience in which his conscious mind plays only a small part”
— Gregory Bateson [14]
Legacy Life awareness base quest is to expand points of view, propose new perspectives and core questions that allow us to see the world differently, holistically not as separate parts but as a living web of interinded, interdependent relations.
As such, Legacy Live invitation to reshape the constructs of modernity, their rigidity and unintended consequences. We propose several vectors of reflection:
This is the base definition of stewardship one can find in wikipedia:
Stewardship is an ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, places, property, information, theology, and cultural resources.
We propose to evolve the concept.
Guardianship can be seen as the role that ensures rights and responsibilities of the guarded elements.
In Human care it gains expression in elderly and child care. In many countries there are institutions that ensure that the state constitution is being observed by the governments.
Guardians hold the responsibility of care for an interest that is not its own. Also, there is a supperseeding nature of service to a greater good.
Thinking about institutions and societal structures, a guardianship function would hold the institution and its stakeholders accountable and truthful to the prime intentions of the organization and the organization's ecology.
There is a sacredness in many of our writings. Besides the words in them, they hold an intention, a will and narrative. These sacred texts are informed by a wisdom that is brought forward by a collective of people, holding a powerful foundational intent. It can be seen in some of our country constitutions or collective manifestos or world changing speeches.
Story of place is a concept developed by Regenisis Group.
A story is a coherent organization of information that illuminates the relationships and connections between discrete facts derived from differing, and even divergent, bodies of knowledge. In other words, stories relate data in a way that reveals a holistic, understandable picture.
more in Story of Place
Ecology (from Ancient Greekοἶκος (oîkos) 'house', and -λογία (-logía) 'study of')[A] is the study of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and it is not synonymous with environmentalism.
The interest of the concept for this experiment is in transmuting ecology out of "biology" into a broader scientific landscape that is transdisciplinary and transversal. The proposals and framing of the experience are within its ecology: the intersections of the relationships between human social constructs such as legal structures of ownership and the biological relationships that constitute life so that the emergent understanding allows evolution of such structures whenever is evident that they negatively interfere with biological relationships needed to key functions.
Life centred is Value Flow proposal to center life in design options. This is not engaging in the duality of a human centred perspective of natural centred perspective. This is a third view than encompasses and transcends both.
