It seems clear to me that the search for solutions to the challenges faced in common by
all people will not be successful if limited to an outward quest for answers in the
domains of science and technology – that is to say, without including the human factor
as the essential ingredient in every consideration. The moral and ethical responsibility
of the leader of integral development for long-range systemic sustainability is, in the
first place, a commitment to the well-being of all living things in our planet as well as
to their descendants. No longer can we afford the luxury of ignoring the secondary
impacts of our technologies and the undesirable consequences of our paradigms. To
be sustainable, I seek to incorporate perspectives that are systemic, humanistic and
ethical at the heart of all that I do to advance the human cause

Seek to move from walking the talk (a demonstration activity) to living the walk (a
formal and often dogmatic activity) to dancing the path of sustainability (a ludic
activity). It must be serious fun. If it is not, it won’t have heart. If it doesn’t, it won’t
be sustainable.

To do this truly and authentically, it means going beyond acting the change, or even
enacting it. It means embodying it; expressing it; singing and dancing it; breathing it.
It’s not about trying to be sustainable in what one does or how one does it. It is about
being sustainability

Growth is a measure of size or quantity. It has to do with higher standards of living.
Development is a qualitative expression of amelioration of conditions or potential. It
has to do with increased quality of life. Evolution is the way the universe explores,
learns and complexifies. It has to do with increasing opportunities to express life.
Growth is necessary but not sufficient for life affirming, future creating, opportunity
increasing processes to inhere. Development allows us to create and populate a
values-based world of human affairs. Evolution gives rise to a normative
directionality that is neither imposed nor random, but rather emerges through the play
of time, matter, space, energy and consciousness. In other words, evolution is neither
directed nor directionless but rather is direction generating.

Nature is the grand designer. The living architect. The mother teacher. Look. Listen.
Learn. If nature over time is evolution, then we have to learn how to transcend our
self-satisfied perception as Human Beings and to live into our dynamic nature as
Human Becomings. It is not so much about emulating nature as it is about syntonizing
with her. Syntony can be understood as conscious, intentional, purposeful aligning
and tuning with the powerful resonant flows of nature that offer fertile pathways for
ongoing emergence

¤ Passion — vibrant, intense, and compelling enthusiasm
¤ Integrity — dignity and congruency with your values; worthiness, honor and respect
¤ Balance — spin control and flow control in (not of) all situations
¤ Grace — simple elegance, presence, kindness and a composed way of being
¤ Flow — tuning actions and attitudes to harmonize with surroundings

1 level – syntony with oneself; internal or intra-personal syntony – the
practices involve centering, quieting the monkey-mind, listening with every cell of our
being. These practices cultivate intuition, compassion, insight that matches outsight,
and a willingness to explore and follow our deepest calling.

2 level – syntony with others; community or inter-personal syntony –
the practice involves deep dialogue and collaboration. Coming together to learn with
and from each other and to engage in collective action with empathy, considerateness,
openness, and joy.

3 level – syntony with nature; ecosystemic or trans-species syntony – the
practices involve communing; listening to the messages of all beings (whether they be
waterfalls, animals, mountains or galaxies) and acknowledging our interdependence
and ultimate unity.

4 level – syntony with the flows of being and becoming; evolutionary or
trans-generational syntony – the practices involve learning to read the patterns of
change of which we are a part; learning to hear the rhythms of life and becoming
familiar with the improvisational jam session that nature has been playing since time
immemorial. These practices cultivate our ability to play our own piece; to sing and
dance our own path into existence in harmony with the grand patterns of cosmic
creation

Sustainability stewardship is the responsible caretaking and creative cultivation of
resources — social, cultural, financial, and natural — to generate stakeholder value
while contributing to the well-being of current and future generations of all beings. A
process of development (individual, societal, or global) can be said to be socially and
ecologically sustainable if it involves an adaptive strategy that ensures the
evolutionary maintenance of an increasingly robust and supportive environment

Bottom line reasoning, no matter how enlightened, is always about the end of the
pipeline; the expected return on investment. Top line reasoning is about the value
proposition; the area of the world or the planet that our activities will enrich. Once
we figure out what we intend to contribute to, then we can align that with what harvest
we hope to reap from it. Top line thinking involves design; bottom line thinking
involves planning. In either case, it involves an integrated quadruple systemic focus
on the social, cultural, financial, and ecological dimensions of change

Ethics is based upon reason, and such higher cognitive function is entirely dependent
on the underlying capacity of individuals and groups to grasp something they deem
worthy of reasoning about. We do not waste time with thoughts, things and dynamics
that appear irrelevant, uninteresting or unworthy of our attention. It is our aesthetic
sense ability that helps us determine where to direct our attention and what to consider
worthy of reason. As such, sensing with the heart precedes reasoning with the mind

Thinking of sustainability as a journey leads to engagement with a process; a way of
life and a way of being/becoming. Thinking of it as a destination objectifies it and
externalizes it, making it about something to achieve beyond oneself – in the world
“out there”. Engaging with the process, learning the different states of flow
(sometimes as water, sometimes as vapor, sometimes as ice) while always being true
to the aqueous nature of life, is the essence of learning the art of syntony