Valley of Grace

The Abundance Project

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The Big WHY: A Meta-Perspective

Rebirthing a Values-Based Society

At its heart, The Abundance Project represents a consciousness renaissance, rebirthing an integral, values-based societal model as a living laboratory for others globally seeking workable post-capitalist realities.

Background

There have been 26 previous well-researched

civilization collapses⁠

All of these collapses have been

class-based⁠

, defined as any society with socioeconomic stratification and an elite class.

No single class-based society has lasted longer than 400 years, with the average length being 275 years. All class-based societies have collapsed.

The current global class-based

neoliberal civilization⁠

has lasted 376 years since the

Peace of Westphalia⁠

in 1648, which marked Phase 1 of a well-established

seven phases⁠

every civilization progresses through.

All indications are that this civilization is well into

Phase 6: Totalitarianism & Decay⁠

, to be followed closely by Phase 7/0, which represents the simultaneous Collapse of the Old and Emergence of the New.

The alternative to class-based is a

values-based⁠

civilization, which means societies organized around shared ethical principles or cultural values like justice, freedom, respect, dignity, community, and responsibility. These common societal values are considered to be more important than one's individual class in society.

The longest surviving example of a values-based society is the original

Khoe and San tribes⁠

of southern Africa.

The first mission station in South Africa—established in Genadendal—can (safely) be viewed as an attempt to impose a (colonialist) class-based ideology on the indigenous tribes. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the first Teachers Training College—established 186 years ago—perpetuated a culture that concentrates power and resource control within the hands of a small elite caste. Stated differently, the education system embraced by neoliberal nations sows the seeds of inevitable societal unraveling.

It is for this reason that we celebrate the full-circle we have come—back to this very location of the first Teachers Training College—to establish and reimagine and live into existence a

post-capitalist society⁠

, guided by traditional

Indigenous Knowledge Systems⁠

and enhanced with wisely selected

technological, economic, and social tools⁠

Catalyzing A New Human Narrative

Critically,

The Abundance Project⁠

The Valley of Grace⁠

isn't just another utopian eco-village or insular retreat, the likes of which have been attempted in numerous places around the planet, albeit on a smaller scale. The bold mission is to create an open-source replicable model inspiring broader global transformation. The approach weaves together multiple strands across the realms of localized governance, regenerative economics, collective sovereignty, and social identity formation. The closest we have seen, and the model which inspires us the most is

SEKEM⁠

in Egypt, built on what they refer to as an

Economy of Love⁠

On the governance front, the Valley sees a future operating via a hybrid of direct participatory democracy through citizen assemblies and constitutionally-enshrined rights, delegating decision-making to technically-skilled guilds of resource stewards and civic facilitators. Wise urban planning integrates residential housing amidst re-naturalized food forests, recreating Indigenous patterns of inhabiting in balance with the land.

Economically, we anticipate refining the pioneering work done in Kenya on a

Community Inclusion Currency⁠

(CIC) using

mutual credit⁠

blockchain technologies to transcend the entrenched

debt-and-interest⁠

paradigms of global reserve banking. The CIC incentivizes entrepreneurship, monetizes the undervalued caring economy (like childcare and community culture), and anchors

Genuine Progress Indicators⁠

into its issuance criteria. Cooperatives focused on artisanal crafts, remediation of local environments, and community-owned food and alternative energy infrastructures will seed an abundant, generative economy.

The mission of

The Abundance Project⁠

extends far beyond just meeting material needs through more equitable models. The project is fundamentally about emancipating our denizens’ identities from the unconscious cultural narratives of separation, domination, and 'rational' self-interest that birthed these extractive societal codes to begin with.

Integral Metamodernism Anchors a Transcendent Values-based Civilization

The elusive X-factor enabling the Valley's holistic metamodern synthesis is an integral values ethos anchored in timeless indigenous practices, unfolding in parallel with the evolution of the human species. Stated differently, it is only now that humankind has sufficiently matured to begin fostering a sense of planetary citizenship and

interbecoming⁠

with the web of life.

In his book,

Emerging World⁠

, Roger Briggs shows how the human species has experienced several

momentous leaps⁠

in human evolution, similar to the phase shifts experienced as a human develops. He suggests four major psychocultural stages of development over the past 3.5 million years, leading up to today’s MATERIAL mindset:

the MIMETIC (beginning around 3.5 MYA);

the MAGICAL (beginning around 1 MYA);

the MYTHIC (beginning around 60,000 YA);

the MATERIAL (beginning around 5,000 YA, which includes all of the 26 civilization collapses referenced earlier).

⁠

Graph adapted from Emerging World by Roger Briggs to add developmental stages in a human life.

Graph adapted from Emerging World by Roger Briggs to add developmental stages in a human life.

⁠

Stated more succinctly, as our neoliberal civilization reaches the end of the natural cycle of civilization (roughly 275 years), we are ALSO reaching the end of a 5,000 year period where Material consciousness has dominated. Rather than simply repeating the Cycle of Civilization, the ending of this cycle paves the way for the next momentous leap to a Planetary consciousness. We are literally living through, witnessing, and playing a role in a once-in-five-millennia event. And

The Valley of Grace⁠

will play a leading role on the planetary scale in demonstrating how the human species can successfully navigate what will no doubt be a bumpy ride.

Ultimately, the Valley of Grace aims to be a catalytic seed activating the next state of collective human transcendence. This bold step will require a reunification of the material and spiritual, the rational and embodied. When we get this right, it will result in an existence where our techno-economic capacities harmonize with the deeper cosmic orderings; where the miracles of democratic self-governance, universal human rights, and an abundance shared by all living beings are no longer radical ideas—they are simply the normative baseline.

Grounded in Reality

We suffer no delusions of grandeur. The road which lies ahead will be littered with roadblocks, many of which we cannot yet identify. The most challenging will no doubt be ingrained ways of thinking about what it means to be human and to exist on this

Pale Blue Dot⁠

. But when we start with the Big Why that drives

The Abundance Project⁠

, we can continually refer back to the guiding star that shapes the multi-generational endeavour we have undertaken.

Only once we have learned to “deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot—the only home we've ever known” (Carl Sagan) will we have evolved into a Planetary species. The denizens in The Valley of Grace intend showing the one way.

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The Big WHY: A Meta-Perspective

Rebirthing a Values-Based Society

At its heart, The Abundance Project represents a consciousness renaissance, rebirthing an integral, values-based societal model as a living laboratory for others globally seeking workable post-capitalist realities.

Background

Catalyzing A New Human Narrative

Integral Metamodernism Anchors a Transcendent Values-based Civilization

Grounded in Reality

Next