HOW?

So how do we awaken humanity to mobilize our collective resources and realign ourselves with Nature’s life-sustaining intelligence?

By building and nurturing loving communities, of every size and kind.

HOW?

So how do we awaken humanity to mobilize our collective resources and realign ourselves with Nature’s life-sustaining intelligence?

By building and nurturing loving communities, of every size and kind.

We must begin by designing immersive social environments that simultaneously target the entangled neuro-psycho-social systems that perpetuate the status quo.

These emerging environments shall promote crafting and rewarding life affirming values that support individual sovereignty; provide tools and guidance to build trust within the community by healing our individual and collective core pain. Consistent and ongoing reinforcement is necessary to embed these new values and ways of being and relating.

 

The mandate here is to evolve a new human mind, governed by our hearts, and a resilient society capable of deep adaptation to the radically changing conditions that threaten us.

Leap Forward emerged in response to this mandate.
Leap Forward emerged in response to this mandate.

Our experiment started with curiosity and a challenge:

Can a diverse group create an environment and support systems that condition people to be resilient, inner-directed and relational by building trust, cooperation, and interdependence?

These questions have beckoned us to dance with constant emergence, lightheartedly and with abandon.

What follows is an account of our four-year experiment as it organically emerged.

Every initiative, tool and process was strategically designed to simultaneously intercept and intervene with the neurological, psychological and social systems to shift us toward deepening our relationships with each other.

Grounded in spirituality, playfulness, and with an emphasis on bringing our full presence into the NOW, we slowly and with great humility, ventured into our vision to connect – defining our shared purpose, embodying our wholeness, and practicing cooperation and interdependence.

We have arrived at a place where we believe this new human curriculum is ready to be shared with communities who are striving on the path of coevolution. We hope the trail we are blazing can support people everywhere.

We began by attracting individuals who felt something was missing in their lives and were motivated to pursue self awareness with curiosity and rigor.

After Ronit, our founder, works with each person for six months to a year – educating them about the three systems, guiding them through their emotional terrain and building confidence and trust – she invites them to come work together in a group.

 

These One-on-One groups meet on Zoom video chats for two hours every week. Ronit works with each person while the rest listen and watch. As their process achieves some resolution or understanding, the rest of the members then share what was activated for them personally, and what they observed in the participating member.

We began by attracting individuals who felt something was missing in their lives and were motivated to pursue self awareness with curiosity and rigor.

After Ronit, our founder, works with each person for six months to a year – educating them about the three systems, guiding them through their emotional terrain and building confidence and trust – she invites them to come work together in a group.

 

These One-on-One groups meet on Zoom video chats for two hours every week. Ronit works with each person while the rest listen and watch. As their process achieves some resolution or understanding, the rest of the members then share what was activated for them personally, and what they observed in the participating member.

We began by attracting individuals who felt something was missing in their lives and were motivated to pursue self awareness with curiosity and rigor.

After Ronit, our founder, works with each person for six months to a year – educating them about the three systems, guiding them through their emotional terrain and building confidence and trust – she invites them to come work together in a group.

 

These One-on-One groups meet on Zoom video chats for two hours every week. Ronit works with each person while the rest listen and watch. As their process achieves some resolution or understanding, the rest of the members then share what was activated for them personally, and what they observed in the participating member.

These sessions can be extremely raw and challenging since every cell in our being is wired to avoid feeling our pain and seeing our deficits.

It’s here that we begin to grasp that we all have the same stories of inadequacy behind our motivations and behaviors. This is where we begin to break down our rigid personas and siloed boundaries – to see things from more than one perspective at once. As we choose to alchemize our psyche, we become more prophetic and tender with each other.

Through the One-on-Ones, we actively repattern our listening skills. We learn how our feelings can distort reality and cause separation and divisiveness not only from strangers, but from people we care about. We discover how often we are disconnected from who we really are and what we really want.

We connect to the pain arising from our deep feelings of inadequacy and the loneliness we feel within us.

We discover all the ways we numb ourselves in life through food, shopping, work, drugs, etc.  When we touch the depth of our pain, the beautiful gifts and light that live within are revealed to us. We experience the universality of our concerns, fears, needs and dreams. We learn to play, show up for each other, and gain a new level of maturity and lightheartedness that help us respond to each other and life situations as they REALLY are and not as we think they should be. 

 

Our One-on-One sessions serve as a profound developmental transition for us to become more aware, embodied, humble, able to listen to and appreciate different perspectives and become more mature and rooted in our bodies and hearts. These sessions are repatterning our psychological, social and nervous systems.

We connect to the pain arising from our deep feelings of inadequacy and the loneliness we feel within us.

We discover all the ways we numb ourselves in life through food, shopping, work, drugs, etc.  When we touch the depth of our pain, the beautiful gifts and light that live within are revealed to us. We experience the universality of our concerns, fears, needs and dreams. We learn to play, show up for each other, and gain a new level of maturity and lightheartedness that help us respond to each other and life situations as they REALLY are and not as we think they should be. 

 

Our One-on-One sessions serve as a profound developmental transition for us to become more aware, embodied, humble, able to listen to and appreciate different perspectives and become more mature and rooted in our bodies and hearts. These sessions are repatterning our psychological, social and nervous systems.

We connect to the pain arising from our deep feelings of inadequacy and the loneliness we feel within us.

We discover all the ways we numb ourselves in life through food, shopping, work, drugs, etc.  When we touch the depth of our pain, the beautiful gifts and light that live within are revealed to us. We experience the universality of our concerns, fears, needs and dreams. We learn to play, show up for each other, and gain a new level of maturity and lightheartedness that help us respond to each other and life situations as they REALLY are and not as we think they should be. 

 

Our One-on-One sessions serve as a profound developmental transition for us to become more aware, embodied, humble, able to listen to and appreciate different perspectives and become more mature and rooted in our bodies and hearts. These sessions are repatterning our psychological, social and nervous systems.

To support and reinforce the insights and experiences garnered in our One-on-One sessions, we created a Buddy System.

The buddies meet on a weekly basis to reflect on, explore, and discuss the issues and intentions that arise in our daily lives. We hold each other accountable to showing up with our values and design fear challenges to confront our respective stories and fears. These may consist of having a heart to heart conversation with our parents, asking for a raise, taking an improv class, etc. 

Our Caring Economy showed up rather abruptly as we were discussing the disproportionate and toxic role money plays in our global community,

including both the divisiveness it causes between us and how the insatiable pursuit of money is depleting our ecosystem. We came up with the idea to create a complementary economic system, in which we reveal our personal needs and capacities in a way that would allow us to fulfill each other’s needs however we can. We set up the Caring Economy so that it would not be a tit-for-tat transactional process, rather it mimics nature’s overflowing exchange of energy and nutrients. It has grown and evolved beyond what we imagined, further fortifying our trust and interdependence.

Our Caring Economy showed up rather abruptly as we were discussing the disproportionate and toxic role money plays in our global community,

including both the divisiveness it causes between us and how the insatiable pursuit of money is depleting our ecosystem. We came up with the idea to create a complementary economic system, in which we reveal our personal needs and capacities in a way that would allow us to fulfill each other’s needs however we can. We set up the Caring Economy so that it would not be a tit-for-tat transactional process, rather it mimics nature’s overflowing exchange of energy and nutrients. It has grown and evolved beyond what we imagined, further fortifying our trust and interdependence.

A little over a year into our experiment, we organized a gathering, a TREAT, to experience us face-to-face.

Our intention was to grow and embody our work through activating and engaging more of our senses, strengthening our emotional connections with ourselves and each other.  

Cooking, eating, sleeping, playing, dancing, and doing our deep personal work, under the same roof for 3-4 days, exponentially expanded our feelings of safety, trust and community. This is where the walls between us completely broke down. It was here that we first heard, saw and felt our differences evaporate, and within that void our Oneness began to emerge.

 

The TREAT brought to light how essential and nourishing it is for our individual and collective hearts and souls to be with and experience each other. How hungry we are to be part of, and in the presence of a conscious, physical community!

This new found connection organically birthed a new need: to design novel environments, called PODs, that invite us to work together on various community projects.

We knew this would give us potent fodder to raise the stakes on our egos’ need to be “in the know,” and our tendency to go it alone. We had no clue how daunting this would be. We tenaciously stay in the fire, stretching ourselves to whole new levels of relating – authentically, cooperatively, patiently, lovingly – strengthening our capacity to receive fiercely honest reflections from one another. 

This new found connection organically birthed a new need: to design novel environments, called PODs, that invite us to work together on various community projects.

We knew this would give us potent fodder to raise the stakes on our egos’ need to be “in the know,” and our tendency to go it alone. We had no clue how daunting this would be. We tenaciously stay in the fire, stretching ourselves to whole new levels of relating – authentically, cooperatively, patiently, lovingly – strengthening our capacity to receive fiercely honest reflections from one another. 

Several of our PODs are supportive, including Spiritual Cultivators, Women’s, and Mens’ PODs. These serve to provide more targeted care and guidance to each other in our day to day lives.

 

Pollinate, Mapping and Alchemy arose out of our desire to learn how to work together, build trust between us and share our work with values-aligned communities.

Since their inception, the PODs have played a major role in developing our capacity for Integrated Cooperation.

Until this work becomes personal, it cannot be trans-personal. Everybody has to go through a process of healing the ME as we emerge into WE.

We enter through our own pain, discover our light, and emerge into a global perspective. Working in PODs showed us our ego-centric tendencies to be concerned primarily with our own needs. We felt the pain of feeling alone and disconnected and discovered the joy of connecting, relating and co-creating. Learning, working and creating together is evolving our perspective from ego-centric to ethno-centric, to global-centric concerns.   

Until this work becomes personal, it cannot be trans-personal. Everybody has to go through a process of healing the ME as we emerge into WE.

We enter through our own pain, discover our light, and emerge into a global perspective. Working in PODs showed us our ego-centric tendencies to be concerned primarily with our own needs. We felt the pain of feeling alone and disconnected and discovered the joy of connecting, relating and co-creating. Learning, working and creating together is evolving our perspective from ego-centric to ethno-centric, to global-centric concerns.   

Until this work becomes personal, it cannot be trans-personal. Everybody has to go through a process of healing the ME as we emerge into WE.

We enter through our own pain, discover our light, and emerge into a global perspective. Working in PODs showed us our ego-centric tendencies to be concerned primarily with our own needs. We felt the pain of feeling alone and disconnected and discovered the joy of connecting, relating and co-creating. Learning, working and creating together is evolving our perspective from ego-centric to ethno-centric, to global-centric concerns.   

Widening our lens of perception in this way enables us to see our global challenges more dynamically, giving us greater understanding of their complexity and interdependence.

This wider view also elucidates the magnificence of our planetary ecosystem, which expands and deepens our trust and connections with each other, and allows us to touch with wonder the mystery and joy of creation, while facing the darkness together. 

The projects we are taking on require impeccable coordination and communication between us, so we developed a platform where we can all communicate on a regular basis, one that captures our values, essence and intentions. 

We formed a technology team to evolve The Garden of WE mobile app, which provided the connective tissue we needed.

The Garden of WE dramatically increased our interactions and communication, bringing us into each others’ lives on a daily basis.  It not only facilitates cooperation on our projects, it also fosters greater intimacy between us as we share more of our personal lives.  In many ways the Garden collapses our physical distance by giving us access to each other any time we want.

The projects we are taking on require impeccable coordination and communication between us, so we developed a platform where we can all communicate on a regular basis, one that captures our values, essence and intentions. 

We formed a technology team to evolve The Garden of WE mobile app, which provided the connective tissue we needed.

The Garden of WE dramatically increased our interactions and communication, bringing us into each others’ lives on a daily basis.  It not only facilitates cooperation on our projects, it also fosters greater intimacy between us as we share more of our personal lives.  In many ways the Garden collapses our physical distance by giving us access to each other any time we want.

The projects we are taking on require impeccable coordination and communication between us, so we developed a platform where we can all communicate on a regular basis, one that captures our values, essence and intentions. 

We formed a technology team to evolve The Garden of WE mobile app, which provided the connective tissue we needed.

The Garden of WE dramatically increased our interactions and communication, bringing us into each others’ lives on a daily basis.  It not only facilitates cooperation on our projects, it also fosters greater intimacy between us as we share more of our personal lives.  In many ways the Garden collapses our physical distance by giving us access to each other any time we want.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Our community celebrates how, regardless of our age, race, religion, socio-economic status or location in the world, if we are willing to make the effort, we human beings can not only learn to get along and work together, we can truly fall in love with each other. 

Our daily experiences of intercepting our fears, debunking the illusions and stories that divide us, and reconditioning of our deeply ingrained patterns are freeing us to perceive, experience and respond to reality with greater impact.  Every day we learn something about ourselves and each other that connects us to our authentic selves, increasing our relatedness.  We touch our core truth – beyond our isolation, fears, habits and insecurities resides our heroic dream to fully self express and be a contribution to the greater whole.  We dream of living in honest, trusting and caring relationships; to experience our differences as vital and brilliant ingredients for us to work and create with; to embrace life fully – the darkness and the light – with equanimity, joy and gratitude. 

Together we have demonstrated that with devotion, rigorous work and play, we can bridge our differences and connect to our common goals of leading a peaceful, creative and interconnected life in community.

We have demonstrated that when we go after the core systems that maintain status quo with courage and tenacity, we are able to break down the barriers to interdependence and work together in Integrated Cooperation.

Together we have demonstrated that with devotion, rigorous work and play, we can bridge our differences and connect to our common goals of leading a peaceful, creative and interconnected life in community.

We have demonstrated that when we go after the core systems that maintain status quo with courage and tenacity, we are able to break down the barriers to interdependence and work together in Integrated Cooperation.

Our consistent support, caring and integrity will continue to bring us solace and healing when feelings of fear, confusion, hurt, betrayal arise (as they inevitably do).

We are imperfect, messy, and we don’t have all the answers. But our experience of personal and collective joy from living in this new way together compels our hearts to make our work visible, and wish to inspire our kin to LEAP with us into this new vision for humanity and our planet.

OUR GREATEST CHALLENGE

Our greatest challenge has been to balance this work with our daily lives, which are still very much steeped in our current society.

Our members have a kind of dual citizenship – a foot in the daily concerns of making a living and caring for family, and a foot in our world where everyone is devoted to living by new values and taking care of each other and our planet. We have had to make tough choices, including: engaging in excruciatingly difficult conversations with our families, leaving lucrative jobs, and divesting from businesses that did not align with our values.  These changes have strained both our finances and our family relationships and it is only through each other’s support that we have found a new equilibrium. Any effort to cultivate similar work in other communities must take these realities into account.

OUR GREATEST CHALLENGE

Our greatest challenge has been to balance this work with our daily lives, which are still very much steeped in our current society.

Our members have a kind of dual citizenship – a foot in the daily concerns of making a living and caring for family, and a foot in our world where everyone is devoted to living by new values and taking care of each other and our planet. We have had to make tough choices, including: engaging in excruciatingly difficult conversations with our families, leaving lucrative jobs, and divesting from businesses that did not align with our values.  These changes have strained both our finances and our family relationships and it is only through each other’s support that we have found a new equilibrium. Any effort to cultivate similar work in other communities must take these realities into account.

OUR GREATEST CHALLENGE

Our greatest challenge has been to balance this work with our daily lives, which are still very much steeped in our current society.

Our members have a kind of dual citizenship – a foot in the daily concerns of making a living and caring for family, and a foot in our world where everyone is devoted to living by new values and taking care of each other and our planet. We have had to make tough choices, including: engaging in excruciatingly difficult conversations with our families, leaving lucrative jobs, and divesting from businesses that did not align with our values.  These changes have strained both our finances and our family relationships and it is only through each other’s support that we have found a new equilibrium. Any effort to cultivate similar work in other communities must take these realities into account.

CALL TO ACTION

We are at an evolutionary moment where we are called upon to consciously conjure up a way of being and relating that will bring us into alignment with each other and our ecosystem.

We will need to change our thinking and actions in ways that are intensely inconvenient, brutally uncomfortable, and relentless. We all have our own survival to think of; our families to feed and our futures to prepare for. The pressures that keep us operating in our “I need to fend for myself” mode are still real, and they are not going away just because we can also see the looming larger picture. 

We must rise to this evolutionary challenge and design a new environment – a bridge to accommodate the concerns of today while we work to evolve solutions for tomorrow – to be prepared to face the reality of the continuing global collapses coming our way.

CALL TO ACTION

We are at an evolutionary moment where we are called upon to consciously conjure up a way of being and relating that will bring us into alignment with each other and our ecosystem.

We will need to change our thinking and actions in ways that are intensely inconvenient, brutally uncomfortable, and relentless. We all have our own survival to think of; our families to feed and our futures to prepare for. The pressures that keep us operating in our “I need to fend for myself” mode are still real, and they are not going away just because we can also see the looming larger picture. 

We must rise to this evolutionary challenge and design a new environment – a bridge to accommodate the concerns of today while we work to evolve solutions for tomorrow – to be prepared to face the reality of the continuing global collapses coming our way.

Pollinate and Alchemy PODs were created to address this outrageous imperative. We don’t have the answers, yet we are determined to continue to convene in this space of inquiry, knowing that we have no alternative. We are clear that our main purpose right now is to collectively divine a new response to our environmental and global situation with objectivity and determination. 

It comes down to having a commitment to align with natural laws, creating a safe environment for people to show themselves to each other, without fear of rejection or abandonment, and forming a society that rewards values of moral character, humility, wholeness, generosity and interdependence.
Our future depends on us!

Pollinate and Alchemy PODs were created to address this outrageous imperative. We don’t have the answers, yet we are determined to continue to convene in this space of inquiry, knowing that we have no alternative. We are clear that our main purpose right now is to collectively divine a new response to our environmental and global situation with objectivity and determination. 

It comes down to having a commitment to align with natural laws, creating a safe environment for people to show themselves to each other, without fear of rejection or abandonment, and forming a society that rewards values of moral character, humility, wholeness, generosity and interdependence.
Our future depends on us!

WE CAN’T DO THIS BY OURSELVES.

We need everyone’s backing and creativity to build a bridge to meeting our collective survival needs (taking care of children, food, medical, education, etc.) while continually freeing up our emotional, intellectual and spiritual capacities to align ourselves with the creative evolutionary force.

Maslow’s Hierarchy teaches that we need to fulfill our lower survival needs before we can move into our needs for belonging and self actualization.  This moment is asking us to fulfill all levels of needs simultaneously. 

WE CAN’T DO THIS BY OURSELVES.

We need everyone’s backing and creativity to build a bridge to meeting our collective survival needs (taking care of children, food, medical, education, etc.) while continually freeing up our emotional, intellectual and spiritual capacities to align ourselves with the creative evolutionary force.

Maslow’s Hierarchy teaches that we need to fulfill our lower survival needs before we can move into our needs for belonging and self actualization.  This moment is asking us to fulfill all levels of needs simultaneously.