Now Then! Building networks of citizen power with James Lock of Opus in Sheffield

Accidental Gods

5:58

In 1966, two Brazilian men were found dead on Vintém Hill under bizarre circumstances that continue to perplex investigators and conspiracy theorists alike. Lying side by side, their bodies were discovered wearing matching lead masks—shields with no eyeholes—alongside cryptic notes. Were they victims of a cult ritual, a failed experiment, or something even more otherworldly? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

9 days ago 1:14:32

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James Lock is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Opus Independents Ltd, a not-for-profit social enterprise, working in culture, politics and the arts. Opus works to encourage and support participation, systemic activism and creativity with project strands that include Now Then Magazine & App, Festival of Debate. Opus Distribution, the River Dôn Project and Wordlife.

I met James and other members of Opus in Sheffield last summer when we were all part of the Sheffield Social Enterprise Network summer conference and I was really blown away by their understanding of systemic thinking, by their absolute commitment to total systemic change and by the flexibility of their thinking. Here were people who were taking the concepts that we talk about and making them real, amongst real people in a real place. So we agreed that we'd talk first to James for an overview of what Opus is and does, how the thinking comes together and how we can each take ideas from here and scale them up and out in the places we live. Clearly each city, town, village, street is unique, but some principles are universal and I think we can all learn from the ways James thinks about things as he strives to create the bridges towards a new system.

Links

Opus https://www.weareopus.org/
Festival of Debate https://festivalofdebate.com/
Opus 2024 Report https://www.weareopus.org/opus-annual-report-2024
Opus on LInkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/opusindependents/
Fairness on the 83 https://fairnessonthe83.nowthenmagazine.com/
Citizen Network https://citizen-network.org/
Dark Matter Labs Cornerstone Indicators https://darkmatterlabs.org/initiatives/cornerstone-indicators
Plum Village podcast w Kate Raworth https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mindful-economics-in-conversation-with-kate-raworth/id1579910767?i=1000669364849

James is Co Founder & Director at Opus

Co Founder of Now Then Magazine

Co Founder of the UBI Lab Network

Co Founder of Festival of Debate

Co Founder of Foundations Earth

Co Founder of The River Don Project

Voluntary Roles:

Social Entrepreneur In Residence at Sheffield Hallam University

Advisory Board Member on SYMCA Local Nature Recovery Strategy

General Secretary of the Independent Media Association

South Yorkshire Social Enterprise Place Steering Group Member

Advisory Board Yorkshire & Humber Office for Data Analytics

If you want to share the journey with us, we're here:
Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/
Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/

310 episodes

Now Then! Building networks of citizen power with James Lock of Opus in Sheffield

Accidental Gods

45 subscribers

published 9 days ago

MP3•Episode home

Links

James is Co Founder & Director at Opus

Co Founder of Now Then Magazine

Co Founder of the UBI Lab Network

Co Founder of Festival of Debate

Co Founder of Foundations Earth

Co Founder of The River Don Project

Voluntary Roles:

Social Entrepreneur In Residence at Sheffield Hallam University

Advisory Board Member on SYMCA Local Nature Recovery Strategy

General Secretary of the Independent Media Association

South Yorkshire Social Enterprise Place Steering Group Member

Advisory Board Yorkshire & Humber Office for Data Analytics

If you want to share the journey with us, we're here:
Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/
Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/

310 episodes

All episodes

1
A Longing for Belonging: Shifting the Cultural Paradigm with Looby Macnamara and Leona Johnson 1:23:58

2 days ago1:23:58

1:23:58

If we are in the midst of the Great Derangement (thank you Amitav Ghosh), what tools do we have to help us shape a system that is actually fit for purpose? Who are our elders and what can they teach us? How do we learn to listen to our heart's (and hearts') desire and shape the communities of place, passion and purpose that will allow us to emerge into a different culture? Our two guests this week live and work at the heart of a global movement for cultural change. Looby Macnamara is the co-founder of the Cultural Emergence movement. She is an author, designer, gardener, song leader, mother, and artist. She has written four influential books including People & Permaculture and Cultural Emergence - and she has a new one coming out in September: Design Adventures: Discover a Creative Framework for Effective Change . She is also creator of the CEED card deck - Cultural Emergence Empowerment & Design . With her partner, Chris, Looby runs Applewood Permaculture Centre in Herefordshire, UK, where they facilitate courses and demonstrate permaculture of both land and people . Leona Johnson, host of Connection Matters Podcast, is a transformational life coach, connection facilitator, and guide dedicated to personal growth, cultural emergence, and regenerative ways of being. She has spent decades exploring how we heal the crisis of disconnection, within ourselves, in our relationships, and in the world around us. Through her work in nature connection, rites of passage, life coaching, and cultural emergence, she supports people to step into Connected Self-Leadership and what she calls ‘Everyday Spirituality’ practical, embodied ways of living with depth, purpose, and alignment. Leona co-hosts the PEACE course with Looby and online with Jon Young, runs the Connection Matters Leadership Programme, Nature Quests around the world, and Children, Nature & Spirituality courses. At the heart of her work is a simple but powerful message: When we remember our interconnectedness, with ourselves, each other, and the other than human world, we step into our fullest potential and create the conditions for a thriving world. These two transformational women are part of a growing movement to shift the entire foundation of our culture. What happens if we stop being the hamsters in the wheel of modernity and become the lively, inspiring, inspired - and connected - individuals we could be? In this episode we explore the nature of cultural emergence, the values that could underpin our new culture and the real, grounded, practical ways we can begin the journeys of shift in ourselves and our communities. Cultural Emergence www.cultural-emrgence.com Cultural Emergence Courses https://cultural-emergence.com/courses-overview/ PEACE Course (24th - 29th June 2025) https://applewoodcourses.com/uk_courses/peace-empowerment-and-cultural-emergence/ Applewood Courses https://applewoodcourses.com/courses/ Looby's Books https://applewoodcourses.com/sales/books/ Leona's website: https://www.leonajohnson.life/ Leona's podcast Connection Matters https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/connection-matters-podcast/id1515564368 Leona's FREE mini course on Elemental Connection https://pages.leonajohnson.life/elemental-connections-hello and If you want to share the journey with Accidental Gods, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Now Then! Building networks of citizen power with James Lock of Opus in Sheffield 1:14:32

9 days ago1:14:32

1:14:32

We all know the current system of predatory capitalism is not fit for purpose. We don't (yet) all agree on how to fix it, but for sure, no problem is solved from the mindset that created it. So how do we begin to compost the debris of the failing system to grow something constructive, generative, connected communities that can act as a bridge from where we are towards that future we'd be proud to leave behind? James Lock is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Opus Independents Ltd , a not-for-profit social enterprise, working in culture, politics and the arts. Opus works to encourage and support participation, systemic activism and creativity with project strands that include Now Then Magazine & App, Festival of Debate. Opus Distribution, the River Dôn Project and Wordlife. I met James and other members of Opus in Sheffield last summer when we were all part of the Sheffield Social Enterprise Network summer conference and I was really blown away by their understanding of systemic thinking, by their absolute commitment to total systemic change and by the flexibility of their thinking. Here were people who were taking the concepts that we talk about and making them real, amongst real people in a real place. So we agreed that we'd talk first to James for an overview of what Opus is and does, how the thinking comes together and how we can each take ideas from here and scale them up and out in the places we live. Clearly each city, town, village, street is unique, but some principles are universal and I think we can all learn from the ways James thinks about things as he strives to create the bridges towards a new system. Links Opus https://www.weareopus.org/ Festival of Debate https://festivalofdebate.com/ Opus 2024 Report https://www.weareopus.org/opus-annual-report-2024 Opus on LInkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/opusindependents/ Fairness on the 83 https://fairnessonthe83.nowthenmagazine.com/ Citizen Network https://citizen-network.org/ Dark Matter Labs Cornerstone Indicators https://darkmatterlabs.org/initiatives/cornerstone-indicators Plum Village podcast w Kate Raworth https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mindful-economics-in-conversation-with-kate-raworth/id1579910767?i=1000669364849 James is Co Founder & Director at Opus Co Founder of Now Then Magazine Co Founder of the UBI Lab Network Co Founder of Festival of Debate Co Founder of Foundations Earth Co Founder of The River Don Project Voluntary Roles: Social Entrepreneur In Residence at Sheffield Hallam University Advisory Board Member on SYMCA Local Nature Recovery Strategy General Secretary of the Independent Media Association South Yorkshire Social Enterprise Place Steering Group Member Advisory Board Yorkshire & Humber Office for Data Analytics If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Be More Hawk! Being the courage to follow what's right with Rachel Musson of ThoughtBox Education 1:13:58

16 days ago1:13:58

1:13:58

The old systems are no longer fit for purpose. What does an education system look like that's fit for the twenty-first century - where we put self care, people care, earth care at the heart of what we do? This week's guest, Rachel Musson, has made it her life's work to fashion ways of learning for all ages that put this Triple Wellbeing principle into action. In everything she does, from leading ThoughtBox Eduction, to creating the Transforming Leadership Course, to writing her glorious, inspiring children's books, to her podcast, Two Inconvenient Women, with her fellow Thoughtboxer Holly Everett, she is being the change we need in the world. At this time where the old is breaking apart and the worst are full of passionate intensity, Rachel is a living example of the fact that the best of us can also be full of passionate intensity and that this can sow seeds of change that ripen into something close to miraculous transformation. Rachel is a beacon of inspiration and optimism, of how we can connect to the web of life and build networks of mycelial change in our personal and collective lives. ThoughtBox Education : https://thoughtboxeducation.com/ Transforming Leadership Course : https://thoughtboxeducation.com/leadership The next online course after recording starts 4th June 2025 Order Story Books https://thoughtboxeducation.com/storykit Rachel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-musson/ Rachel and Holly's podcast Two Inconvenient Women https://thoughtboxeducation.com/tiw-podcast Episode 52 of Accidental Gods https://accidentalgods.life/living-to-learn/ Triple Wellbeing Practitioner Course in London on April 1st 2025 https://thoughtboxeducation.msnd24.com/tracking/lc/a318407c-86a0-4fd3-990e-3614925cc90a/392b9a45-f2f3-44aa-bf90-0afdc15fb732/dfaf176f-fc9c-4809-5698-0c04d852d104/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Miraculous Carbon: Celebrating the Book of Life, Death and Potential with author Paul Hawken 1:22:37

23 days ago1:22:37

1:22:37

How do we step past the magical thinking of the elites that says we can either use AI to 'Solve for Climate' - or just ignore the entire climate and ecological emergency completely? This week's guest, Paul Hawken, has been at the forefront of intelligent responses to the entire meta-crisis for decades. He has been profiled or written in hundreds of articles in the biggest newspapers across the world and has written nine books, six of which have become bestsellers, including Blessed Unrest , Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation and Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming . He’s the founder of both Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration, which is the world’s largest, most complete listing and network of solutions to the climate crisis, describing by agency, what each level of society can do, starting from the individual. If you're in the UK and waiting for Paul's new book to come out in August, then I'd thoroughly recommend you explore Regeneration as a good place to start. For those of you in the US, Paul's new book comes out on the 18th of March so you can get your pre-orders in now. This book is 'Carbon: The Book of Life' and truly, it's one of those books you'll read in a single sitting and then pass round to your family and friends so they can know the things you now know. I learned so much in this book: how supernovas are formed, how some really brilliant people worked out the formation of carbon - and one of them was knocked off the Nobel Prize because he began to believe there must be some kind of organising principle behind the formation of life. I learned the horrors of how we are destroying the ecosphere, but I also learned some of the wonders of humanity - how the Mi'kmaq tribe in Canada name large pine trees by the sound of the wind moving through the branches one hour before sunset in October - and then can return decades later and will know if trees have been damaged by comparing their names to the sound they hear. How other tribes in Alaska can predict the weather two years in advance by listening to the patterns in the web of life around them… Truly, this is a beautiful book, beautifully written and it contains within it, the seeds of hope that we speak of often on this podcast - that human creativity and compassion endure and are our gifts to the world. “Endlessly endlessly fascinating! Human beings, over the millennia, have come up with a thousand ways to carefully observe the world around us, and Paul Hawken has managed to collect and synthesize these observations—from the sweat lodge to the satellite—in a way that helps us see what now must be done. There’s information, and then there’s wisdom—and this book is a compendium of the latter.” BILL MCKIBBEN Paul's Website https://paulhawken.com/ Paul's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hawken-0792b The link to purchase the book is here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316928/carbon-by-paul-hawken/ Project Regeneration https://regeneration.org/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Authentically human: celebrating the magic of life with Mark McCartney of the 'What is a Good Life' podcast 1:19:37

30 days ago1:19:37

1:19:37

In these turbulent times, what values most strongly underpin our humanity and how can we nurture our relationships with all parts of ourselves, with ourselves and other people and with ourselves and the web of life? This week's guest is another podcaster. Mark McCartney is host of the 'What is a Good Life' podcast, which is now into well over 100 episodes. Mark is a coach and writer based in Berlin, via Dublin, Ireland. He started his 'What is a Good Life' project in 2021, it became a podcast soon and now, in it's fourth year, he's interviewed over 250 people with humanity and sensitivity - and a glorious, marrow-melting Irish voice - that brings out the best in a suite of truly remarkable people. So this was my chance to turn the microphones the other way around and ask Mark what values underpin his life, that have brought him from Ireland to Peru and back to Germany? How has he navigated the turbulence that is common to our lives, how has he approached those moments that push us to ask the most important questions of who we are, and what we're here for. How has he found that sense of being, belonging, becoming that we all seek? Authenticity and the capacity for honest self reflection feel really critical now and in this conversation, Mark models both of these with deep humility and humanity as he and I explore integrity, vulnerability, humour courage, the capacity to listen to our body minds and act on instinct when it's right to do so - and how to let go of lifelong terrors and learn to love the objects of our fears. Nothing is certain any more - it never was, but we were able to seduce ourselves into thinking we could predict the paths our lives would take. Now that we know we can't do this, learning from people who are able and willing to walk in uncertainty seems to me one of the most valuable lessons we can embrace. So this is what we're doing. Enjoy. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/what-is-a-good-life/id1663668603 https://www.whatisagood.life/p/the-silent-conversations If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Seeing the Bigger Picture: psychedelics and sense-making with Alexander Beiner of Kainos 58:41

5 weeks ago58:41

58:41

How do we shed the shackles of modernity and step into a new set of stories that could help us grow into the fullness of our potential? Alexander Beiner is one of a small band of people in our culture who is shaping the cutting edge of possibility, crafting new ideas of who we are, at the deepest levels of our Self and out into the widest view of our place as conscious nodes in the web of life. Ali is an author, journalist and facilitator focused on bringing new ways of seeing and being from the margins of culture into the mainstream, through writing, and by creating transformative experiences that invite us to find ways to evolve and thrive in the chaotic times we live in. He's the author of The Bigger Picture: How psychedelics can help us make sense of the world that details his part in a psychedelic clinical trial that took him deep into what it is to be human and he has recently launched Kainos, an alternative media platform and studio on both Substack and YouTube. He says of it, 'in an age of upheaval, we tell stories that help people make sense of the world and imagine new futures. Our films, articles and experiences combine cultural sensemaking with hope, imagination and impact.' He's an executive director of Breaking Convention , Europe's longest-running conference on psychedelic medicine and culture and was also one of the founders of Rebel Wisdom, which ran from 2017-2022 and explored the cutting-edge of systems change and cultural sensemaking. This is where we need to be: the edge place where spirituality meets psychology and mythology, where culture meets politics meets our desperate yearning to grow up and become the good enough ancestors we know we can be. We need path-finders, people who have the courage to stretch out beyond the edges of our being and Alexander is so clearly one of these - his explorations of what makes us human in the psychedelic realm merge with his documentary making and Kainos takes up where Rebel Wisdom left off, delving deeply into the nature of the moment and how we might become more than we are. This was a genuinely inspiring conversation in a series that I hope is helping you to make sense of these times, to accept that the old system is gone and that something truly generative could arise - if we all take part in its making. Alexander Beiner website https://www.alexanderbeiner.com/ Kainos on Substack https://beiner.substack.com/ Alexander on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-beiner-b9aa8b19/ Kainos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@StudioKainos Books mentioned Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Some The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker…

1
Becoming Spiritual Warriors: exploring a politics of radical Compassion with Jamie Bristow 1:38:01

6 weeks ago1:38:01

1:38:01

In a world of turmoil where the only certainty is uncertainty, what happens if we who yearn for a future we'd be proud to leave behind began really to speak the quiet part out loud? What happens if we acknowledge the meaning crisis of our culture and state clearly that we need a world based on Love: on the raw, wild, wonder of life itself? And what happens if we shape our politics around this, instead of defensive attempts to make the death cult of predatory capitalism feel less... deathly? This week's guest, Jamie Bristow is someone who lives in the worlds where policies are made and, for the past sixteen years, he has been consciously committed to being a Spiritual Warrior with all this implies. Like Jon Alexander, Jamie started off life as an advertising executive before realising he needed to align his inner and outer worlds. Now, he's a writer and policy advisor working at the intersection of inner and outer transformation and sustainability. For eight years, he was clerk to the UK's All Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness and director of the associated policy institute, the Mindfulness Initiative, (where he helped to introduce mindfulness to a number of other parliaments). During this time he worked with legislators around the world to make mindfulness and compassion training serious matters of public policy and catalysts for a healthier political process. In 2023, he joined the Inner Development Goals team to lead on public narrative and policy development, emphasising the inner skills and qualities needed for a sustainable transition. His work includes influential reports such as Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out and The System Within: Addressing the inner dimension of sustainability and systems transformation . He is an associate of Life Itself, The Climate Majority Project , Mind & Life Institute and Bangor University. Jamie's website https://www.jamiebristow.com/ Jamie's substack https://jamiebristow.substack.com/ Jamie on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiebristow/ Mindfulness Initiative Mindfulness initiative UN IDG Inner Development Goals Life Guild lifeguild.earth Transformative Skills Guide Transformative Skills Guide: Expanding the Definition of Climate Literacy (co-authored with US gov climate literacy experts) Jamie's Wiki psycho-social dimensions of societal resilience Desmog https://www.desmog.com/2024/08/06/between-optimism-and-despair-the-messy-middle-paths-through-climate-breakdown/ Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out https://www.themindfulnessinitiative.org/reconnection The System Within: addressing the inner dimensions of sustainability and systems transformation https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/earth4all-bristow-bell/ The Mindfulness Initiative Report on the result of 10 years of mindfulness in Westminster https://www.themindfulnessinitiative.org/mindfulness-in-westminster-reflections-from-uk-politicians Soulmaking Dharma with Catherine McGee https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/courses/immersive-online-programs/soulmaking-dharma/ SoulMaking Dharma teachings https://hermesamara.org/teachings/soulmaking-dharma SoulMaking Dharma Course https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/classes/2025-introduction-to-a-soulmaking-dharma/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Kin-centric Rewilding 2 - Bonus - continuation of the conversation with Daniel Firth Griffith 54:04

7 weeks ago54:04

54:04

Daniel remains one of the few people I know who is originally of the Trauma Culture but is living absolutely integral to his land - and we couldn't keep our conversation confined to 60 minutes. So we broke at an appropriate point and came back. This is the second part - please do listen to the first if you've only just found us - we literally paused the recording, took a breath and continued… As ever, if you're interested in Daniel's work visit his website . And if you have the means, do buy his books, they are genuinely beautiful. Stagtine, Wild Like Flowers and Dark Country are all out now and Plain of Pillars will be released in May of 2025. If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Kin-centric Rewilding - restoring relationship to the land and ourselves with Daniel Firth Griffith, author of StagTine 1:42:15

7 weeks ago1:42:15

1:42:15

By now we know that we need to connect to the More than Human world. We know we need to grow into adulthood and elder hood. We know we need to move from a Trauma Culture to an Initiation Culture. But knowing these things is not the same as living them as a reality. To get here , we need waymakers, people of huge heart and raw courage to walk away from the limited, goal-based directions of our culture and step into the ways of being where we meet in open-hearted, full-hearted, strong-hearted relationship with the land and all that lives there. Daniel Firth Griffith is one of these people. With his wife, Morgan, and their three children, Daniel lives on 400 acres on the eastern side of the Appalachian mountains where he is steadily building relationship with the land. He lives amongst cattle, sheep, goats and horses - the latter used for logging, on land that was scheduled to be clear-cut when Daniel and Morgan first moved there. With a growing understanding that even the forms of agriculture we term 'regenerative' are still part of what I would call the Trauma Culture, Daniel and Morgan have been on a steady journey of transition through to something that feels to me entirely different. This is what we need to be. It's not clear cut. There isn't a hard and fast recipe because every bit of land is different and each of us is different and the routes to connection are unique... up to a point. But there are baselines we can learn: be human. Find what that means for you when 'human' is not simply being a wheel in an extractive system. We had a really long conversation and we stopped at about 90 minutes in and restarted so you can listen to it in two parts. We go down rabbit holes. We tell stories, or at least, Daniel does, big, deep, tear-flowing, heart-searing stories that made both of us weep...because stories are how we learn. This conversation, or these conversations, felt like sitting at the feet of an indigenous elder and the fact that this can happen in 2025, talking to someone of white ancestry who lives on lands stolen by colonialists... this is what gives me hope. We can't undo our past, but we can grow into what the future needs of us, and Daniel, Morgan and those who visit them are doing this. Daniel's an astonishing author as well as everything else, so please do visit his website and buy his books: as with everything else he does, they are filled with layers upon layers of meaning. Daniel's website https://danielfirthgriffith.com/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Find the Others! Beyond the Death of Democracy lies Citizen Power - with Jon Alexander of the Citizen Collective 1:17:01

8 weeks ago1:17:01

1:17:01

Democracy is breaking around us in real time and a small percentage of those in power would like us to become - at best - obedient subjects in a world dedicated to the destruction of ecosystems and the annihilation of compassion, empathy and all that makes us thrive. Clearly, we are better than this. So how can we harness the astonishing wonder of human co-creation in service to life and a world where humanity thrives as part of a flourishing web of life? This week's guest, Jon Alexander started off his professional life as a highly successful advertising executive - until the inherent contradictions in the Consumer narrative led him on a new path, to seeing people as Citizens in his words, 'people who actively shape the world around us, who cultivate meaningful connections to our community and institutions, who can imagine a different and better life, and who create opportunities for others to do the same.' This quotation comes from his book, Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us. It's is a genuinely Thrutopian view of possibility from one of the sharpest minds, and biggest hearts in this space of all potential and I wholeheartedly encourage you to read it - knowing that it came out three years ago - and the world has changed since then. When we first mooted this conversation over six months ago, we still thought Harris was going to win the US election, that democracy was stable and that - in Jon's words - we could affect change by creating acupuncture points in the system. And now we are where we are and none of these is possible. And yet, the cracks are where the light gets in and this is a time when we can abandon any belief that the old system is functioning any more. So what doors does this open? What new light is there at the end of the tunnel and how do we find the agency, motivation and connections to the people and places we love, to make the changes that need to happen if we're to create that future we'd be proud to leave behind? Jon is one of the people best placed to answer this. He's co-founder of the New Citizen Project which works to help organisations and businesses find ways to enhance Citizenship in all they do. And more recently, he helped found the Citizen Collective which we can all join and which holds regular online meetings to connect people who aspire to citizenship all around the world. This was a raw, honest conversation and neither of us is pretending we have all the answers. But we're exploring the ideas - and Jon brings such a wealth of experience to the table to open doors for all of us. I came away from this feeling that the routes forward are opening up. I hope you do, too. Jon's website https://www.jonalexander.net/ Jon on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-alexander-11b66345/ Jon on NEXT TV in Hamburg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dvLFWTzXeU Citizen Collective https://medium.com/citizen-collective-updates/citizen-collective-is-here-and-id-love-you-to-be-part-of-it-525f113fd8de Join here: https://airtable.com/appIlFU7nEF8NgiMf/pagsPy8sTEAMKaZpu/form Polis AI-based connection https://compdemocracy.org/ Our House https://ourhouseuk.org/ Stephen Green on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbgreene/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Of Schoolishness, Space and Emergence into vibrant systems: a joint podcast with Tim Logan of Future Learning Design 1:23:53

9 weeks ago1:23:53

1:23:53

If what our culture most urgently needs is for a critical mass of us to grow into adults and then elders, how can we help our young people to step beyond the artificial boundaries of our old, rigid system into a world where they are fully connected to all parts of themselves, each other and the web of life. How, in effect, can we create an educational system that is fit for purpose in the emerging century? In this podcast, I joined with Tim Logan, host of the Future Learning Design podcast, educator, part of the team at Good Impact Labs and co-leader of the International Baccalaureate's 'Festival of Hope'. Tim is a highly experienced school leader, management consultant, coach, educator and researcher, has held previous pedagogical and well-being senior leadership positions in a variety of international settings and is proud to have consistently helped to build innovative, outstanding schools, supportive relationships and powerful educational visions. He says, 'The important question for now is, can we intentionally create more spaces in our schools that provide a qualitatively different kind of 'educational' experience? Transformational shifts are happening in educational and organisational cultures around the world right now. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to play a role in this.' I was on the Future Learning Design podcast just before the dark nights of winter with Ginie Servant-Miklos, Raïsa Mirza and Will Richardson and his podcast has become one of my essential listens of the week and had been planning to invite Tim here to talk about the transformational shifts happening in education and how they can help us lay the foundations for a world we'd be proud to leave behind. We were planning something for later in the year but we had a cancellation and he had a tech misfire and we both needed something fast to get the schedules back on track, so here we are with a joint conversation—one of those that ranges wide over the landscape of culture and learning and the 'citadel mind' and our history of optimising for everything and how we could, instead, begin to expand into a more porous mindset and look for resonance and help young people to become part of the emerging transformation of the entire web of life. Tim on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/teblogan/ Tim's podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/future-learning-design-podcast/id1536832802 Good Impact Labs https://www.goodimpactlabs.com/about Nick Mulvey Live from COP26 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-GBl6DeA50&t=1273s Concerned Bird Substack https://theconcernedbird.substack.com/p/elon-musks-and-xs-role-in-2024-election Festival of Hope https://ibo.org/festival-of-hope/ Systems Transformation Pathway at UWC Atlantic College: https://www.uwcatlantic.org/learning/academic/systems-transformation-pathway Green School: https://www.greenschool.org/ School of Humanity: https://sofhumanity.com/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Living through the Death of Democracy: Manda's thoughts on love, liberty and the continued existence of complex life on earth 40:23

10 weeks ago40:23

40:23

We are living through the death of democracy and the onset of Techno-Feudalism. But this is not a time when linear systems can hold and feudalism was nothing if not linear. So how can we be part of a transformative process that will let us lay the foundations for a future we'd be proud to leave behind? Usually, on Accidental Gods, we talk to guests who seem to exemplify some aspect of the generative edge of interbecoming change that will take us towards the emergent future we need if we're not only to survive, but thrive. But once in a while it's just Manda, reflecting on the moment and offering pointers to things that might be useful to read or watch or listen to or think about. This is one of those, and it feels timely, in part because the Oxford Real Farming Conference too place recently and was immensely heartening - and partly because of the times we're in. This was recorded on Sunday 19th of January 2025 and if you're in the English speaking world listening to this podcast, then you'll be aware that basically democracy dies tomorrow. Though, as you'll also be aware, we never had true democracy of the people by and for the people, and certainly nothing that might have created a generative enhancement of the web of life. We had a kleptocracy at best, a kakiocracy at worst and all of it was working against the kind of future we want to leave as our legacy. So this is a podcast of ideas, most of which boil down to: It's time each of us committed ourselves in service to life. What does that feel like? How does it work and where will it take us? Let's find out. Oxford Real Farming Trust https://realfarming.org/programmes/land-based-wisdom/ CFOSA https://consciousfoodsystems.org/ Animate Earth Collective https://animate-earth.org The Wild with Indy Johar - the why https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/wild-with-sarah-wilson/id1548626341?i=1000677521024 Changing our Civilisational Model - Michel Bauens on Substack https://substack.com/inbox/post/155005488 And then at the macro level, Dark Matter Labs on Governance https://media.licdn.com/dms/document/media/v2/D4E1FAQFRu6lmVVqBvw/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/B4EZQsP1m3HAAc-/0/1735909140676?e=1738195200&v=beta&t=8kAX6cLW_kf4Lsvw8dYn2_9FG644-bWKa6SZy1QTXKk If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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HeartFood - Healing our communities with Food grown on Regenerative Farms with Erin Martin of FreshRxOK 1:12:03

10 weeks ago1:12:03

1:12:03

What happens when people with chronic, unstable diabetes eat food grown in local, regenerative farms? Erin Martin talks to the Accidental Gods podcast about the dramatic and spectacular improvements in health her group FreshRxOK saw in Oklahoma when they instigated a 'Food as Medicine' programme, offering real food with good nutrient density to diabetic patients in some of the poorest communities. An Oklahoman on track to be a lawyer, Erin’s first job in a retirement community inspired her to pursue a degree in gerontology instead. During her Masters program at USC, Erin ran a team of advocates serving over 700 low income older adults in the Southern California area. She was troubled by how little support people get as they age. So Erin founded Conscious Aging Solutions, a company dedicated to helping older adults navigate health and social systems so they can age successfully. As Erin’s work focused on strategies for longevity, she found that food—access to quality food—had an enormous impact on our life spans. As her interest in food grew, she became certified in Regenerative Soil Advocacy. Erin moved back home to Tulsa during the pandemic to find that the supply chain disruptions had only intensified what was already a food system problem in the city. Lack of access to nutritious foods was contributing to poor health outcomes and high mortality rates for Tulsans, especially those with chronic conditions. In 2021, Erin co-founded a prescription produce program called FreshRx Oklahoma . The program’s success has launched her onto the national stage. Now Erin champions food as medicine to promote the longevity of underserved communities, decrease food insecurity, support the environment, revitalize the agricultural economy, and decrease system-wide health care costs. Recorded on the day of the US Presidential Inauguration, we talk about the shift from a sickness service to a health service and how food can help us move towards a more regenerative system. Most particularly, we talk about the truly spectacular health improvement indices in the diabetic patients who benefit from the FreshRxOK programme. Erin's website: https://www.erinwmartin.com/ Erin on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@erinwmartin FreshrxOK https://www.freshrxok.org/ FreshRxOK on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@freshrxok If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

1
Radical Creativity: creating a Global Council of Women with Jenny Grettve of EIT Culture and Creativity 1:16:56

11 weeks ago1:16:56

1:16:56

How can we bring wisdom to those with power and power to those with wisdom? If we were to step into elder hood and bring the best of ourselves to the table, could we create governance structures that would help to heal our cultural divides, create equity and guide is wisely through the coming crisis? Jenny Grettve believes we can and has set up a global council to make this happen. Jenny is a good friend of the podcast. She joined us in episode #228 to talk about designing and building a school along Doughnut economic lines and then again in episode #249 to talk about the evolution of a Mothering Economy based on the values of compassion and care for future generations. Jenny is an author, philosopher, systems thinker and designer, author of several books, most recently the Mothering Economy that we talked about the last time we met. Then, she was leading WhenWhen, a new feminist design agency that creates system demonstrators to test ideas generated by global researchers working with the climate crisis and sustainable life. She was still working there last November when Donald Trump managed to take the US Presidency again. Amidst all the shock and horror of that moment, I saw a post Jenny put up on LinkedIn, proposing the creation of a Global Council of Women as a way to bring forward the values that our world needs at this moment of total transformation. I signed up on the spot and then asked Jenny to come and talk to us about it, so that the idea might spread in the Accidental Gods spheres. And then as I was doing the reading for this episode, I found that Jenny had started the year in a new post - that she is now Head of Transformation at a European Council funded organisation called EIT - that's European Innovation and Technology - Culture and Creativity. Which means Jenny is now taking the wisdom of creativity right into the heart of the bureaucracy that sustains the super organism, at least in the EU. So here we are, considering the nature of wisdom and elder hood, how we might overcome the gender divides that so assail us in service to life - and how to bring creative ideas deep into the heart of machine. Please know that the Council is not only for women - the first meeting is exploring whole, healthy masculinity and how it can be prioritised in this world. Which feels like such an integral part of our thinking now. So please do join - the link is below. Women Council https://www.womencouncil.world/ Jenny Grettve https://www.jennygrettve.com/ EIT Culture and Creativity https://eit-culture-creativity.eu/ Jenny on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennygrettve/ EIT Culture and Creativity on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/eit-culture-creativity/ Jenny in Episode 228 https://accidentalgods.life/evolving-education-building-a-doughnut-school-with-jenny-grettve-of-whenwhen/ Jenny in Episode 249 https://accidentalgods.life/finding-the-courage-to-care-ways-to-build-a-mothering-economy-with-author-jenny-grettve/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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The Phoenix Always Rises: Evolving into the Future Human with Prof Chris Bache, Author of LSD and the Mind of the Universe 1:24:31

12 weeks ago1:24:31