ENTER
CREATIVE CONSULTANCY X EXPERIENCE DESIGN
EXPLORING HUMAN AND MORE-THAN-HUMAN IMAGINATION AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND TECHNOLOGY
By Justine Huxley
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Justine Afra Huxley is a writer, visionary, facilitator, and spiritual ecologist whose core passion is awakening humanity to a deeper experience of kinship with all life. She co-founded Kincentric Leadership and leads workshops, retreats and programmes on Earth-centric decision-making. Kincentric Leadership has recently published a 400 page handbook on how to cocreate with a living intelligent Earth. You can download it for free here. Rooted in a Sufi tradition, Justine has led meditation and dreamwork groups for more than two decades, continually orienting spiritual practice towards our relationship with a sacred, living Earth. She has a PhD in psychology and is also Development Consultant for the Bushman Heritage Museum in South Africa. For many years she led St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, steering its strategy towards the intersection of peace-making, ecology and spirituality. She has a particular passion for the intelligence of rivers, and is plotting a new leaders programme seeding kincentric approaches within the River Lea basin. You can follow her progress here.
By Justine Huxley
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Justine Afra Huxley is a writer, visionary, facilitator, and spiritual ecologist whose core passion is awakening humanity to a deeper experience of kinship with all life. She co-founded Kincentric Leadership and leads workshops, retreats and programmes on Earth-centric decision-making. Kincentric Leadership has recently published a 400 page handbook on how to cocreate with a living intelligent Earth. You can download it for free here. Rooted in a Sufi tradition, Justine has led meditation and dreamwork groups for more than two decades, continually orienting spiritual practice towards our relationship with a sacred, living Earth. She has a PhD in psychology and is also Development Consultant for the Bushman Heritage Museum in South Africa. For many years she led St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, steering its strategy towards the intersection of peace-making, ecology and spirituality. She has a particular passion for the intelligence of rivers, and is plotting a new leaders programme seeding kincentric approaches within the River Lea basin. You can follow her progress here.
By Justine Huxley
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Justine Afra Huxley is a writer, visionary, facilitator, and spiritual ecologist whose core passion is awakening humanity to a deeper experience of kinship with all life. She co-founded Kincentric Leadership and leads workshops, retreats and programmes on Earth-centric decision-making. Kincentric Leadership has recently published a 400 page handbook on how to cocreate with a living intelligent Earth. You can download it for free here. Rooted in a Sufi tradition, Justine has led meditation and dreamwork groups for more than two decades, continually orienting spiritual practice towards our relationship with a sacred, living Earth. She has a PhD in psychology and is also Development Consultant for the Bushman Heritage Museum in South Africa. For many years she led St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, steering its strategy towards the intersection of peace-making, ecology and spirituality. She has a particular passion for the intelligence of rivers, and is plotting a new leaders programme seeding kincentric approaches within the River Lea basin. You can follow her progress here.
By Justine Huxley
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Co-creation with a living, intelligent Earth
About seven years ago, something happened that rocked my world. It involved a Lakota elder, an Irish conservationist, a South African wildlife communicator, two venerable Oak trees, an injured city pigeon, a proudly creative spider and a young, slightly demanding colt. Oh, and an inquisitive house plant. What happened was that through these various people, human and more than human, I discovered that everything in creation talks, and that human beings can tap into that great conversation and learn from the very many diverse intelligences that belong to this incredible, ancient being we call Earth.
This profound shift in my understanding of the world led to a very particular moment in my life. It was several years later, and I was lying on the overgrown lawn of a hired cottage somewhere near the coast of Kent. Beside me, also stretched out on the warm grass, was my beloved companion, a beautiful but traumatised Romanian rescue dog called Zara. We were both staring up into the crystal blue sky in a contemplative mood. With a rush of emotion it suddenly came to me, that the only thing I care about doing for the years I have left, is to go deeper into that experience, enable others to share in it, and to explore what it might mean for us as human beings to know that we are not better or cleverer than all Earth’s other creatures, but rather part of an intricate reciprocal web, which we can listen to, learn from and work with. How might our shared existence unfold if we were to step down from our pedestal of anthropocentrism and open to the possibility of co-creating with the rest of nature?
Back then, it seemed that the vast majority of our efforts towards climate mitigation and ecosystem regeneration were entirely human endeavours. That rendered them flat, two-dimensional and limited. Surely there was a better way? Surely there were other voices, other wisdoms, we could be drawing on? Should Earth herself not be at the centre of these conversations?
So with some pilot project funding from the V Kann Rasmussen Foundation, myself and Anna Kovasna set up a new organisation called Kincentric Leadership to take forward a very simple vision - the hope for a future in which everyone knows we are part of a living, animate planet, and where humanity learns (or rather re-learns) how to live from within the web of life, guided by that web and collaborating with it.
Drawing on many strands of knowing - indigenous wisdom; the science of plant and animal communication; systems thinking; somatic and embodied knowledge; and the practice of land vigils or land listening - we began a journey of crafting and holding immersive retreats in different countries that would shift participants lived experience towards being an equal participant in a dynamic more-than-human world. We worked with a community of practice which stretched from Hawaii to Japan, learning from innovators in the fields of nature governance, indigenous land management, more-than-human design, biomimicry, plant alchemy, multispecies justice and many, many other exciting fields.
This summer we published the Kincentric Leadership handbook - which is the fruit of that work. Rooted in eight kincentric principles, 38 leadership capacities, and over a hundred practices, it aims to support those leading organisations or communities to embed co-creation with a living Earth into all we do. It is our 360 degree map of how to put life at the centre of all our decision-making, strategy, culture and language.
When we started out, our idea seemed somewhat niche - but in the last two years, the pace at which animist-based approaches have proliferated is astonishing, and almost hard to keep up with - often informed by Indigenous peoples, who have long held this note for humanity. Many more of us now, brought up to see through the lens of separation, are entering into a renaissance in how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. We are beginning to peek behind the thousands of years of hubris and experience the vast, exciting domain of non-human perspectives and knowing, to experiment, to reorient ourselves within that expanded space and identity. We are edging towards asking how we might uphold our responsibility as the keystone species that humanity is capable of becoming, remembering how to cause all life to thrive. We are beginning to sense a future far, far more beautiful, multidimensional, magical, real and logical than the illusion of superiority, isolation and dominance that modernity imposed. Of course simultaneously, we are immersed in a deepening requiem of mourning for all that is being lost, and all the tragedies we know are yet to come. Like others, it is a daily practice to hold those two experiences together in my heart - to be at the point of paradox - the unspeakable pain of witnessing this Great Dying and the parallel joy and celebration of coming back into relationship with Her, with this vast planetary being to whom we belong.
Toolkits and resources have their limitations. They perhaps even arise from a consciousness that seeks to define and separate, so may not fully walk their talk, but they are also necessary. In this emerging plethora of kincentric, more-than-human experimentation, there is a need for roadmaps that help us translate ideas and inner shifts into practical, grounded change, that give us structures and protocols to help us move beyond our conditioned patterns and enable something new to happen. And we need to know others are doing it too - that we can take those steps, talk that language without risking our careers or being branded a fantasist. It is part of our work to give leaders that validation and courage.
More than anything, this is a story about what happens when humans choose to interrupt the habits of millenia, to listen, to witness, and to act as part of a greater whole - where the sum of all Earth’s intelligences might meet to reshape the future.
Justine Afra Huxley is a writer, visionary, facilitator, and spiritual ecologist whose core passion is awakening humanity to a deeper experience of kinship with all life. She co-founded Kincentric Leadership and leads workshops, retreats and programmes on Earth-centric decision-making. Kincentric Leadership has recently published a 400 page handbook on how to cocreate with a living intelligent Earth. You can download it for free here. Rooted in a Sufi tradition, Justine has led meditation and dreamwork groups for more than two decades, continually orienting spiritual practice towards our relationship with a sacred, living Earth. She has a PhD in psychology and is also Development Consultant for the Bushman Heritage Museum in South Africa. For many years she led St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, steering its strategy towards the intersection of peace-making, ecology and spirituality. She has a particular passion for the intelligence of rivers, and is plotting a new leaders programme seeding kincentric approaches within the River Lea basin. You can follow her progress here.