“It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.”

(John Berger)

Declarations are dangerous.

They label us. They identify us. They hold us accountable.

Yet they signal commitment; a position from which we can work.

I know that any agenda or manifesto worth the effort is only a transitional statement but this is a moment when it feels important to take a stand.

The #SeeingDifferently Manifesto is my best response to the circumstances in which we find ourselves. A compromise between clarity and ambition, it is a distillation of scholarship and experience which will shift and adjust as we immerse ourselves in this work. Over recent years, though, the essential themes of the manifesto endured.

There is more to say; there could be less to say. There could be simpler ways to address these deeply felt issues. Yet they represent a set of questions which, for me anyway, are undimmed with time.

So this is a manifesto for ‘seers’; those who choose to see differently.

Those who declare that we must pay attention, seriously, to our lives, to each other, and to the environment in which we live.

Because our world feels precarious; these are dangerous times.

The #SeeDifferently Manifesto

Our world is facing multiple serious crises: ecological, social, economic and health/well-being. We must pay deep attention to these unfolding events, patterns, dynamics and impressions.
Our habitual ways of seeing the world have led to enormous advances for humankind, which we should acknowledge and value, but we are now we at a threshold and need to change how we inhabit our world.
Paradoxically, our work must be focussed on what is happening now; on the quality of the present rather than what might happen next or anxious concerns for our future.
We must we develop the reflexive capability to ‘see how we see’, because as we reflect on how we see the world, what we see shifts and opens up new perspectives, vistas and opportunities.
Cultivating our felt, sensual participation in the world means we can bring new ‘voice’ to a deeper, more immersive, holistic, ecological sense of knowing and relationship to the world.
These capabilities are built through discipline and practice; regular routines of deliberately paying attention, looking for emerging patterns, processes, concepts and ideas, then expressing them through forms such as drawing, painting, photography, poetry, writing, dialogue and conversation.
This is about wisdom rather than intelligence or cleverness. Nuance, discretion, elegance, consideration and ethics are as important as immediate value or action.
Aesthetics are a helpful guide as we navigate the way, as are simplicity, elegance, economy and grace.
Seers let go of ego, agenda and agency. It’s not about them or specific individuals; their gaze is always towards the whole community.
This work is never done. We need to ‘live the questions’ as we hold a commitment to ongoing engagement, inquiry and learning.

Notes:

The ‘Seers’ are those who people thought could see differently, into the future; the prophets, shamans, visionaries, and crazy ones who lived in the liminal spaces just beyond the edge of the village. We need them now more than ever.

In a 1903 letter to his protégé, Franz Xaver Kappus, Rilke wrote: “I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

A first look at a bibliography (listed numerically against each manifesto item - I’ll do my best to keep the links updated ad checked) might look like this:

Bateson, G., (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind. The University of Chicago Press: London. // Nixon, R., (2013) Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA. // AR5 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2014 [online] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Available at: <https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/> [Accessed 3 August 2020]. // Bohm, D., (1996) On Dialogue. : London.
Tarnas, R., (1991) The Passion of the Western Mind. Pimlico: London. // Bortoft, H., (2012) Taking Appearance Seriously. Floris: Edinburgh. // Berman, M., (1981) The Reenchantment of the World. Cornell: London
Herman, S.M. and Korenich, M., (1977) Authentic Management. Addison-Wesley: London. // Scharmer, C.O., (2009) Theory U. Berrett-Koehler: Oakland, CA. // Stacey, R.D., (2010) Complexity and Organizational Reality. Routledge: Oxon
Berger, J., (1972) Ways of Seeing. The British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin: London. // Heiferman, M., (2012) Photography Changes Everything. Aperture: NY. // Horowitz, A., (2013) On Looking: About Everything There Is To See. Simon & Schuster: London. // Mirzoeff, N., (2015) How to See the World. Pelican: UK.
Abram, D., (1996) The Spell of the Sensuous. Vintage: New York. // Jensen, D., (2000) A Language Older Than Words. Souvenir Press: London. // Harding, S., (2006) Animate Earth. Green Books: Devon, UK.
Cameron, J., (1995) The Artist’s Way. Pan Macmillan: London. // Sennett, R., (2008) The Craftsmen. Penguin: London. // Ganim, B. and Fox, S., (1999) Visual Journaling. Quest: Wheaton, IL.
Palmer, P.J., (2000) Let Your Life Speak. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA. Wheatley, M.J., (2017) Who Do we Choose To Be? Berrett-Koehler: Oakland, CA. // Bateson, M.C., (1989) Composing a Life. Grove Press: New York.
Lane. J., (2003) Timeless Beauty. Green Books: Devon. // Moore, A., (2016) Do Design: Why beauty is the key to everything. Do Books. // Gribbin, J., (2004) Deep Simplicity. Penguin: London.
Block, P., (1993) Stewardship. Berrett-Koehler: San Francisco, CA. // Fromm, E., (1976) To Have or To Be. Abacus: London. // Rogers, C.R., (1961) On Becoming A Person. Constable: London
Berry, T., (1999) The Great Work. Bell Tower: New York. // Tippett, K., (2016) Becoming Wise. Corsair: London. // Macy, J. and Johnstone, C., (2012) Active Hope. New World: Novato, CA.

Happy reading. If there are glaring omissions (I’m sure there are…) in the list or you have other suggestions, please do let me know!