Politik der Anziehung


Approaches to Holistic Politics:
an exploration of new paths for civil society



Open Space principles for political action

Open Space principles may help us to embody the change we wish to see; while we're organising conferences, and perhaps even in political work or life in general. Trusting the process of self-organisation, moving towards collective intelligence, and creating structures trough following inner promptings may be interesting ideas for a new paradigm...

Open Space principles
         (pdf 120KB)


Los Principios del Espacio Abierto
         (pdf 120KB)






Moving into the Visionary Mode


Some people see things as they are

and they ask: "why?"

Some people dream things that never were

and they ask: "why not?"

G.B. Shaw


How may we find our visions?

How to spark the creativity within us that will let us see beyond what is into what might be?


Moving into the Visionary Mode
         (pdf 206 KB)





Filling Vision with Power:
The Law of Attraction, Positive Thinking and Political Change


A vision is more than a word. Words can be a good point of entry, if we use them the right way. They can lead us into ever more detail and force of imagination, making us feel and breathe the vision, making it come alive and helping us to bring a desired future into the present. Well-known methods such as utopian novels can be expanded into role-playing and daydreaming, bringing a dimension of deliberate structural change into areas where one may not have suspected it. One such area may also be New Thought, suggesting to use our personal power of definition and dreaming much more consciously. Can this also be done in a broader, more systemic perspective, perhaps by moving
- from individual action to collective action
- from individual happiness to the happiness of all
- from success within a framework to changing the framework ?


Filling Vision with Power
         (pdf 124KB)






Loving the present while working for political transformation

What stories might help us love the world we live in, right here and now, and still contribute actively to its development? Is it possible, and is it all right to feel good while there is still so much suffering in the world? If we do not need to be desperate to be committed, what may the other paths look like, and how can we walk them? Examples of stories and metaphors that might help, general considerations and practical suggestions.

   Loving the Present
while working for political transformation

pdf (139 KB)





Spirit and Politics, Love and the System:
 
        Looking for bridges between one and the same
         (pdf 74 KB)







Stories and Images: Constructing the World


What if reality were not something that we find "as it is" in the outside, but something that we create through our thoughts, our perceptions, our ways of looking at things? Wouldn't a new understanding of reality also have implications for how we think we can shape and influence reality - and therefore for our political action?


Stories and Images: Constructing the World
        (pdf 490 KB)







Academic Writing: Constructivist and Holistic? A personal account


How will academic practice change if I try to implement insights coming from a constructivist perspective, and wish to make myself visible as a human being, including emotions and personal experiences? How can I speak subjectively, for myself, and how can I also reflect the belief that all being and all human knowing is interrelated? What processes help - or hinder - a questioning of paradigms? Here's a personal account of how I intend to go about writing academic texts and why.


epistemology pdf Academic Writing: Constructivist and Holistic?
         (pdf 655KB)






A Master Frame of Co-Intelligence an Appreciation?
Framing Political Change and Social Movement Activity


Do social movements have to be antagonistic? What if they were acting in a conceptual frame of co-intelligence and appreciation? Are there any examples? What might that look like, and what might be implications for social movement theory and practice?


epistemology pdf Co-Intelligence, Appreciation and Social Movements
         (thesis 200p; pdf 2,4MB)