Unlearning for Change Agents with Charles Eisenstein
Our perceptions shape our stories, our solutions, and our world. When our narratives and assumptions are unquestioned, we end up weaving threads of the problem into the changes we want to make. To exit the well-worn ruts of the usual solution-templates, we must somehow see and question assumptions that we may not even be aware of.
his self-paced short course is a four-session series of “unlearnings” and assignments asking you to observe and “fast” from current habits in four areas:
How you form ideas about the world (e.g. the news)
How you form ideas about others (e.g. judgements)
How you form ideas about yourself (construction of identity)
Interpretations of the above that lead to despair, burnout, or self-importance
The results of these "fasts" are surprisingly powerful. As with dietary fasting, these mental and spiritual resets bring clarity and free up energy to power a further process of transformation.
Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, public speaker, and author who examines the unspoken narratives that direct our society and our lives. His work covers a wide range of topics, including the history of human civilization, consciousness, economics, spirituality, interdependence, ecology, and how myth and story influence culture. He is the author of The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible, Sacred Economics, and The Ascent of Humanity.
For more info visit:
https://charleseisenstein.org/about/
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 1.1
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Session One: Unlearning the Issues
Beginning with this first session, and throughout the course, I’ll be asking you to notice subtle aspects of your being, your assumptions, and your way of interacting with the world and others. We start by... -
Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 1.2
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 1.3
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 1 Invitation
Invitation: News Fast
The invitation this session is to consider doing a complete news fast for at least one week, to clear the field and observe the reactivity and polarization that our society’s normalized narratives may create. You can explore the effects through writing and meditation, with a... -
Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 2.1
Session Two: Unlearning Judgement of Others
Think of a person in your life or in public life that you disagree with. What’s it like to be them? What is their history, their background? What made them become the person they are today? Why do they act the way they do? What are the conditions that m... -
Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 2.2
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 2.3
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 2 Invitation
Invitation: Unlearning Judgement of Others
The habit of judgement is deeply rooted in the modern mind; perhaps it is nearly universal among humanity. The essence of judgement is, “If I were you, I wouldn’t have done this, I would have done that… I am different… I am better. In this week, we go on... -
Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 3.1
Session Three: Unlearning Self-Judgement
When it comes to personal change, modern people often resort to subtle forms of force. The bribes of conditional self-approval, and the threats of self-rejection, leverage a deep insecurity. They might goad us into action for a while, but eventually the sp... -
Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 3.2
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 3.3
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 3 Invitation
Invitation: Unlearning Self-Judgement
This week, we turn last session’s judgement fast inward. We notice habits of self-evaluation, justification, self-condemnation, and conditional self-praise, and consciously choose to interrupt those habits for a week. This is not about replacing negative self... -
Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 4.1
Session Four: Unlearning Saving the World
In a story of interbeing, every act done in service and with love — no matter how small — has an effect on the world. In this session we explore a “theory of change” based not on force but on morphic resonance. We see how despair over the dim prospects fo... -
Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 4.2
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 4.3
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Unlearning for Change Agents - Session 4 Invitation
Invitation: Unlearning Despair
Are you doing your part to create a more beautiful world? This session casts doubt onto the usefulness of that question. We do not and cannot know what the ultimate effect of our actions will be. Nor can we, as social beings, as interbeings, really call our actions ...
