Creativity for Resilience and Sustainability through COVID (Compassionate, Organic, Visionary, Imaginative Design)
Start Date: October 26, 2020
Duration: 8 weeks
Zoom Dates: This course includes participation through our online learning platform, as well as weekly online meetings. Please make notes of the Zoom dates, as follows:
Wednesdays every week for eight weeks - October 28, November 4, November 11, November 18, November 25, December 2, December 9, 2020 and December 16 - 7am PT
Individual Cost: $60 US
Student Cost: $30 US
Group Cost: $50 per person for groups of 5 or more*
*Please email your group participants' names to namrata.arora.singh@gmail.com and then have each participant register using the blue registration button on this page. You do not need to hear back from Nnaumarata before each of the participants register under the group rate as long as she has your list of names ahead of time.
Course Overview
In the midst of the coronavirus this pandemic, our humanity is being called to take a pause and take a fresh look at everything, all over again, as if nudging us to start over. This is not an easy journey, nor is it time-bound or certain in any way. We are being deluded with the idea of returning to normalcy while presented with heaps of confusing information which we now need to collectively process. It can be overwhelming to maintain our status quo in the midst of all this and even a more daunting task for us to start making fundamental changes to our lives.
Many of us are faced with the questions - what now? Will we ever get back to normal? What will the new normal be? It is with the intention to provide all of us with a safe space to embrace this unknowing, that we have conceptualised this course.
During the period of this course, we will bear witness to the present and explore the past to re-imagine the future. Through this exploration, we will individually and collaboratively, in Co-Build-Groups (which we create as multi-disciplinary, diverse groups that work together to define a collective vision of the future, imagine what the world will look like in the year 2100. We will think about the functioning of the systems that shape our lives (i.e. education, economy, communities, technology, food systems, etc.), and come up with ways that these systems can be developed to enable a greater level of compassion in order for humanity and our natural environment to flourish. Creativity will be at the heart of this kaleidoscopic journey, giving explorers a chance to express their vision for the future, via a creative medium (i.e. creative writing, drawing, film,poetry etc.) of their choice to, in the process, allowing for all of us to breathe in our collective pain and breathe out our harmonious visions.
We offer the course in three broad phases
- Ingestion, or absorbing information - we make the time to take in what is available to us, individually and collectively
- Ideation, or visualising a new reality, without the constraints of the present - working creatively with our talents, we bring to bear our ideas for a more beautiful world
- Fruition, or practical action planning for what has collectively emerged and for continued dialogue post the course - we bridge the gap between dreams and reality
The course is designed to be flexible and to address the emergent needs of the participants, as they arise.
Collaborative group work is at the heart of this course and we encourage all participants to prepare for active engagement. Should you, however, prefer to take the course at your own pace, you are welcome to do so.
Type of Activities
- Self-Directed Learning (exploring modules, videos, reflections on the course online forum)
- Live 90-minute Zoom Calls (once per week), Guided Meditations/Visualizations (during Zoom Calls),
- Collaborative Learning (virtually working with a small group to develop your project)
Course Description
We are currently living in the most fabricated world in history. What many of us call food is made in factories. Our faces and hair have lost their originality. What many of us see in front of us has been carefully placed there by meticulous computer programming. Content we see on various media is unreliable and often misleading. Our children study in schools that are mechanistically designed. All of these factors are pulling us further and further away from our true nature, sense of togetherness, and relationship with nature.
While many of these things have happened gradually, however many of us have grown up to accept these as our unquestioned realities, or rather have stopped thinking about what is 'real' or 'natural'. Soryu Forall, describes these as 'shared fictions' that humanity perpetuates.
Accepting this 'fake' reality as real has led to many societal issues, all of which are inherently interconnected. The spread of COVID-19 has emphasized these interconnections and has shown the fragility of our current system.
This pandemic, which many are referring to as a ‘spiritual teacher’, has forced all of us to slow down. This has led to an increase in our collective reflection about the state of the world and has resulted in many people realizing and/or accepting the fact that we, as inhabitants of this Earth, need to urgently change our habits and behaviors. That we need to develop systems that encourage compassion and conservation as opposed to extraction and competition, is now more accepted .
In this course we guide participants on a thoughtful journey of intellectual stimulation, guided reflection and creativity. Individually, and collectively, we will re-imagine (through creative writing, poetry, short films etc.) the kind of world we want to see in the future. This practice will enable us to step out of the overwhelm and grief and constructively visualise the world we want to live in as we destress. We are, hence, planning backwards, envisioning the future we want to see and then individually reflecting on what we need to do now to realize this vision.
To support us in guiding our re-design, we will explore current, practical examples of people/movements that are ACTING to realize this change. We will also explore a range of perspectives put forth by future-thinkers, ranging from ancient wisdom to futuristic technologies.
Most popular portrayals of the future (Science Fiction) present dystopian futures. Our aim will be to envision a better, more compassionate, humane future, that we, as a collective humanity, have the inherent ability to realize. Through this re-imagining of our current systems (i.e. education, economy, communities, technology, food systems, etc.), we hope that participants will gain a more positive, proactive, outlook for the future of humanity and a sense of agency to spread the newly gathered awareness and positive energy in their communities and enact meaningful change.
Course Outline
Week 1 - Exploring us, here, now - In View of our Interconnections
We will compassionately reflect on our reality to better understand our place in today’s world and how
we are impacted by the local communities and the global systems that we are a part of.
Week 2 - A New Earth in the making - Some Movements from around the World
There are many individuals and organizations that are tirelessly working to create a more compassionate
and regenerative world. We will explore some of this work, and reflect upon what would happen if this work were to spread and scale at a global level.
Week 3 - Traveling through time: Ancient Wisdom to Futuristic Perspectives
There are many views of what the future ‘should’ look like - we will explore a wide range of them through
the lens of both current and classic future thinkers to expand our individual perspectives on ‘what our compassionate future could look like’.
Week 4/5 - The New Earth Design - Our Collective Visions
Participants will work individually and / or in groups, with a focus area of their choice and subsequently
come up with a cohesive group vision for year 2100. At the end of week 5, each group submits their ‘Narrative for Year 2100’.
Week 6/7 - Connecting the Dots - Reviewing our Collective Works
Groups may use this time to connect with other groups and discuss their ‘Vision for Year 2100’. Each group
will then present their vision to the larger group and we hope to compile all visions into one grand vision.
Week 8 - Next Destination - From Imagination to Reality
After this intense journey into the future, we will come back to our reality and explore the answers to
some deep questions like - How did it feel to imagine a better future? What can we do now? How can we apply what we learned in this course to positively impact our lives and communities?
Course Outcomes
- Add to their current worldview through exploring the interconnectedness of individual actions and/or movements.
- Collaboratively re-imagine, and creatively scale, alternatives to the areas in their lives that are not aligned with ecological/human flourishing.
- Produce a creative piece (i.e. writing, poetry, painting, short film etc.), individually or in groups, that depicts an alternative to the areas in their lives that are not aligned with ecological/human flourishing.
About the Facilitators: Daniel Rudolph and Nnaumrata Arora Singh
Daniel Rudolph
Daniel considers himself a professional explorer. Born and raised in Upstate New York. he had a very diverse upbringing owing to a big refugee center in close proximity to his home, In this way he was exposed to different cultures, their ways of doing things and connecting with their lived environment.
After growing up in Upstate New York, Dan has spent the past 10+ years living in different countries, including; 4 years in rural Thailand, 2 years in Beijing and 2 years in rural India. His higher studies were in the field of education with his most recent certificate in International and Comparative Education.
From a young age, Daniel has had a deep connection with nature, spending most of his childhood in the forest areas and ravines behind his house. This carried on into adolescence and into adulthood, leading into his current hobbies like trekking, gardening, meditating outdoors, forest and nature healing walks. These lived experiences coupled with study through courses have led to Daniel developing a deeper curiosity for nature.
Daniel speaks Chinese, Thai, Laotian, Spanish, Hindi, with English as his native tongue. Living in countries with deep cultural and spiritual roots, Daniel has had deep experiences that include ~ being ordained and living as a monk, practicing Tai Chi with an experienced master and taking part in extended group chanting.
Professionally, education has been Daniel's vehicle for the past 13 years, with his most recent experience as Head of Curriculum Development and Teacher Training at Barefoot College, in rural India. From these experiences exploring formal education in different contexts, Daniel is curious to explore non-formal education, specifically through community learning hubs, and as a result, is in the process of shifting to a rural circus community in Brazil that predominantly caters to children that are not involved in formal school.
Nnaumrata Arora Singh
A spiritual eco-feminism writer, speaker, conscious living coach, social change catalyst, circle convenor and workshop facilitator, Nnaumrata holds the vision to awaken and galvanise the feminine spirit for a planetary transformation of consciousness.
Founder of the not-for-profit organisation, Zemyna Foundation (Zemyna means Earth Goddess in Lithuanian) and the coaching organisation Life Beyond Motherhood, Nnaumrata is a certified professional coach from the International Coach Academy, Australia. With a work experience of over two decades, of which 14 years has been in Talent Development leadership positions with leading MNCs like Accenture, Sapient Corporation, GE and Vodafone, Nnaumrata catapulted her second career in 2012 with the aim of making a difference to women and the environment.
In 2015, Nnaumrata published her book 'The Possibility of Balance' and since then, has been writing blogs, magazine articles, newspaper columns and book chapters on the subject of compassion.
Post completion of the Change.Org’s ‘She Creates Change’ 1-year program for women changemakers in 2018, Nnaumrata has facilitated sessions at various national events and premier institutes like IIM Bengaluru. She has been presenting workshops at key international forums such as the Parliament of World Religions at Toronto in 2018, the Climate Change and Consciousness Conference at Findhorn, Scotland in 2019 and the Mind and Life's Summer Research Institute at New York in 2019.
Nnaumrata is based in Mumbai, India with her husband and her 11 year old daughter.
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