Thematic Strands

How do you hold complexity together as a collective, without it fragmenting into silos, or blending into some sort of chunky soup? In this episode of our introductory series, we explore the seven thematic strands that structure the World Ethic Forum’s inquiry: where they came from, and how they weave together. These are not separate topics, but different ways into the same core question: how to cultivate a culture of care and kinship rooted in radically shared aliveness. This is the sixth episode in this series with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser.

Show Notes

• Thematic Strands
• Blog: A gathering of the kinship group

Transcript

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Speaker 0:02

How do you hold complexity together as a collective without it fragmenting into silos or blending into some sort of chunky soup? Today, in the sixth episode of this series, introducing the World Ethic Forum, Luea, Anais, and I explore the thematic strands of our inquiry, the recurring questions and areas of focus that structure our work, where they came from, and how they weave together. An added note on this episode. For listeners who don't have them at hand, these are the seven thematic strands we're talking about today. The threads are elements that we believe are essential to consider if we're looking to develop a culture of care and kinship rooted in radically shared aliveness. So they are ethical groundwork, decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion, healing, restoration and reconciliation, kinship, responsible economy, or what we're coming to call householding, bioregional stewardship, and intergenerational learning and dialogue.

Speaker 1:21

Hello! You're listening to the World Ethic Forum podcast. I'm Julien and I'm your host today. This podcast is exploring what we call a culture of care and kinship. It's a way of being in the world where humans feel and act as part of the web of life. We're not offering chewed-up and pre-digested wisdom. Instead, we're sharing with you what a live inquiry into radically shared aliveness might feel like. Fair warning, some of what you will hear might feel strange or inconclusive. That's all by design. We're here to loosen something in ourselves and maybe between us. Because then maybe something else can emerge. New types of relationships, new questions, and new directions. Hi Luea, hi Anais. I guess in this episode we'll be diving into something that is more, I might call it, concrete in terms of what the World Ethic Forum is about, which is the thematic strands that we're exploring. And before getting into what they are, I'm I actually was curious to ask you how it even began that the World Ethic Forum had things that we call thematic strands.

Speaker 1 2:49

Yeah, thank you, Julien. It's good to be here again, the three of us. The thematic strands actually emerged from after the first year gathering, we had this very clear topic around culture of care and kinship. And there was a lot of question of what does that look like? What are then the strands that really give expression to a culture of care and kinship? And what are the threads or strands and themes and areas that keep perpetuating that we are not there, that we are have hard times to find ways to really not only see each other from a place of care but also act and embody a place of care and kinship in our day-to-day work, in our outer work, on small and bigger scales in different disciplines, sectors, and spaces. And these thematic strands kind of floated up as themes that anyway showed up already in our first Firekeeper gathering, as ouches and oopses places, as places where we felt like, oops, this we know so well, or here's something perpetuating again, or also, oh, here is something so precious that we actually know we want to take care of more of. So it was really of um in a way areas of focus that surfaced through the conversation, but also through our first gathering being together, that we kept seeing coming up as tension lines, as potentials, as areas that we in a way unintentionally um gravitated towards.

Speaker 2 4:45

Yes, I think to add to what Luea said, it is really this um relational soil, this this patterning, this weaving, which is uh nurtured by, you know, maybe you could also call this the thematic strands um important roots to tend to or important nutrients for us to um collectively be able to grow or to to nourish one another. So the thematic strands to me at least are an interweaving of important aspects that only if all of them kind of are being brought together and being thought of together, um then kind of the soul, soil and the root work in a way is ready for um the tree to flourish.

Speaker 5:51

So we've got the the ouches and oopsies and preciouses uh as as separate elements or items that uh manifested through the um the various gatherings. And then Anais, you also spoke of how they were interwoven. So I'd like to go back or follow up on my question on their genesis. How did you manage to both separate them as distinct units and also uh what while they are so interwoven? Like how do you manage to find different threads in something that is an interwoven fabric? And then how do you build a fabric out of those interwoven threads in the way that you go about exploring them? I guess it's a question around you know, the unity and the connection of those threads, essentially.

Speaker 1 6:44

That's a funny question. Um, because in a way, I think what we are experiencing currently is that we really have to ensure that we are actually staying in the interrelationality between them. For example, healing and reconciliation, of course, is directly intertwined with diversity, equity, inclusion, and decolonization. But it's also distinct in itself. Um you could say they depend each other or reinforce each other. Um, the more we go into reconciliation work and healing work, the more there is also a grappling with decolonization or actually grappling with colonization that calls upon our decolonizing approaches. But they're still very distinct, or stewarding bioregions, or being able to really explore kinship with the more than human. And I think what they're distinct, and actually what what is more important is they are not more important, but what we are really having to actively nurture is that we don't lose each other out of sight, that the people who work on one strand are a pool are more gravitating to tend to one strand, are always in connection with the other strands of how does that inform each other. And I find it quite fascinating to see we're so used to in silos, like you know, one sector or the other industry or the other discipline, and the cross weave or transversal weave is not so much the habitual way of doing, we're more used to going to depth of one thing or another thing or another, you know, area of focus, etc. But then to ask intentionally the question what would one strand require from the other strand, and how do one focus work or practices around one strand inform the practices of another strand, without that it becomes a big soup at the end of the day again, nor that we kind of get so specific that we then uh again lose the the fractal nature of that. And actually, I think it was more um especially in year two and three, to really intentionally go to each other's thematic strands and and see what questions do you want to give from one strand to the other, or what would be important from you for you for to hear and receive from the other strands to inform your work and ensure that we can not only cognitively understand but also in the practices stay in that interrelationality with each other.

Speaker 9:56

So, in terms of the way that they're uh they manifest in the the working, I would also almost say the operations of the World Ethic Forum. Could you share how does it work? Is it the case that uh different firekeepers are um focused on one specific strand or on two? Or are there some uh people who are across all of them or across a few of them? Like how does it work in the in the details of how the strands connect to the people who are involved?

Speaker 2 10:28

Yes, so mostly our firekeepers are connecting to at least one of the thematic strands. We also have some who connect to more than one or who say, you know, um, usually I attend the sessions of the healing group, but I'm curious when the kinship uh strand has an online gathering to also uh come to that one and bring in my perspective from healing, for example, or from uh DEI and decolonization. So there is some kind of interviewing continuously taking place, while um I would still say that every fire keeper kind of has a has a more or less home base where they maybe have um expertise, also, experience where they're really in deep practice, and um where they also have a certain interest, passion, calling to really explore within that thematic strand um the collective practices and collective capacities.

Speaker 11:47

So, in those moments of curiosity that you describe, when uh one of the firekeepers attended uh another online gathering or during one of the in-person gatherings when people were asking questions of others, is there a moment when something interesting or unexpected happened? When suddenly somebody from, I don't know, decolonization came to the kinship gathering, and what they brought uh as a question or an insight got everyone to say, ooh, that's an interesting way to look at it. Yeah, is there anything like this that happened?

Speaker 2 12:24

Well, I have personally attended all of the kinship gatherings, so I can think maybe speak a little bit from that thematic strand, which has had many people from other strands also participating and visiting. But it's not that um, you know, then someone suddenly comes and brings in a completely uh different perspective, but uh each one, you know, also brings different perspectives, and then it's more that then an attempt attention is called to, for example, what does decolonization mean in the context of kinship? And then there are several people speaking into that, and those might be the ones who are usually in the kinship circle, or it might be the someone also who came from the decolonization uh strand now to attend, or maybe it was someone from uh the healing or the bioregional stewardship who happens to be there and to also speak into that. Because again, these um thematic strands, you know, they they don't have these very sharp um distinctions, but it's more kind of what you focus on in a particular moment. But of course, I think our our aim and hope is that each fire keeper to a certain degree also embodies all of these trends uh simultaneously.

Speaker 14:04

So as I heard you uh speak, I have this different image of the thematic strands, not as separate lines, but almost as different points of entry into the world of the World Ethic Forum. And as if you can you can look at this world, this work of uh building a culture of care and kinship from seven different lenses. And then from each lens, you have all of the other ones that are there that are rippling, but they're like if you're looking from the perspective of kinship, ethical groundwork is there, but it's somewhere like in the background, but it's there. And then you can be centered on ethical groundwork, and then kinship will be there, but it will be slightly in the background, and it's like this round being or this multidimensional being that you can see from all of these various perspectives. And I wonder if that image that came to me corresponds to how you actually uh see that the the thematic strands um manifest and help um shape and connect with the the being that is the the World Ethic Forum.

Speaker 2 15:13

As I was listening to you now, it was another image that came up for me, but I'm also very interested to hear afterwards the image that uh maybe Luea got. And the image that came to me was more the one of the kaleidoscope, where you have all the different colors, but depending then on how you turn it, you know, it's always a new kind of pattern of mixing all of these colors together that emerges. So this is uh maybe an image that speaks also to me in the case of the different thematic strands.

Speaker 1 15:50

I love how we can be playful and creative and um approach these thematic strands from the very different angles. As I heard you speak, for me the image of a soil structure of a biome came up with multiple different root systems that inform each other, that are in communication with each other, are very distinct and at the same time give rise to to a healthy soil through that diversity, or healthy soil, or a soil that that um is held together and and communicates with each other, and we could look at it as different lenses or different colors or different tonalities that and and some thematic strands, for example, they really call upon depths of healing, um, while for example, another strand really looks at how does it look in the actual world. So it's more at the surface of the soil, you could say the the bioregional stewardship is something very applied. Um, the ethical groundwork is very deep down in the soil. So it also speaks to me um of different layers or altitudes, or but they make up the soil together, and then there's the question in which communicate which quality of relationship are there with each other that then determines if the health is uh the soil is healthy and if the soil is well nourished, because if only we would give, you know, by way of speaking, nourishment to one strand, the soil wouldn't be healthy either. So it's it's that combination again speaking to that ecosystem awareness, that biodiversity awareness of all of these strands when nourished well on their own but also in right relationship with each other. A culture of care and kinship can actually arise not from a conceptual but from an um a practiced, applied, and embodied place.

Speaker 18:13

There's something that I seem to be hearing as I was listening to you, Luea, which is around um an extended culture of care and kinship. It's as if my my initial understanding would be okay, we're we're bringing humans together, and then we've got humans who kind of care about each other and feel a kinship for each other, and you know, maybe we integrate like a couple of trees, and maybe there's a grasshopper in the middle. And that's and that's beautiful, and there's an element of that. But as you were describing it, it's almost like it's a those um deeper forces in the world caring about each other. And as if the it's as if ethics was caring about kinship, who is caring about healing, caring about decolonization. And it's not just the the individuals, uh, the individual being presence, whether they're human or more than human, but also those, almost those collective forces that look at the world from different angles, who learn to hear each other in order to be healthy together. Uh, that's kind of what I what I was uh sensing behind the the image that you uh that you put forward. So I'd like I'd like for us to test that that indeed corresponds to uh what you've seen come out of the the those years of work on the thematic strands, and maybe if it is indeed what's coming up, uh whether there's moments when you felt that that began to land, that strands were coming together and how what that was like.

Speaker 1 19:50

Thank you. I think we're not there that we can see it as a collective yet, how they come together. Um I think it's more acknowledging that that we even you know, by way of speaking, have the world that you form that we live whatever some people call it a metacrisis or polycrisis, or is actually that we in the in our relational fabric, in our relational soil, there's a lot of imbalance and dissonance and disturbances. And these threads are almost like going to this level where the disturbance is deeper further down almost like sonar wave come from, and to what would happen if instead of further separation, further fragmentation, we would actually start to find practices of reconciliation um or when instead of further perpetuating colonially rooted uh patterns and behaviors and habitual uh processes, we would start practices that are informed by decolonial um not only thoughts but also uh dedication and almost devotion, you would say. And I think we are at that precipice of So what are then these practices that can help us sounds maybe a bit radical, but shift the tide. Um because we know what deeply down is fractured, hurt, uh wired in a strange way and um confused in a way. And what are then the practices that help us almost bring more relaxation back into the relational fabric? But that's in a way, these practices especially as groups. And then seeing not only within one strand, but also across I think that that age we are right now currently at. And I'm very curious what our gathering this year helps us further lean into and explore, um, both in the depths of each strand, but also in the the connection across the strands.

Speaker 2 22:26

Maybe building a little bit on that, um, and now looking back to the last year, what touched me very much with um last year was the work of the ethical groundwork. They had, uh I think two years ago or three years ago, they had presented um intermediate state with uh an approach to ethics which was very process-oriented, and they got a lot of feedback also in terms of the perspectives uh that they maybe represent. And so last year they took a completely different approach and intervened the whole group, so everyone participated independent of um what thematic strands uh they're otherwise rooted, and we formed a couple of small circles where we had fire keepers and in a very narrative and very storytelling way, sharing from their practices and their traditions and um what is important for them, the approach to you know a concept ethic, which of course emerged um in its in it throughout its its development and history more from a Western perspective. By that I mean what what is called or referred to as ethics is of course there with all um or all human beings have referred to something which we could call ethics, but in very different ways. And the way uh it was shared and interwoven, I think was enormously precious, and is certainly also something which uh rippled on within the group for a long time, or still rippling, and we're also looking on what that means again for when we come together.

Speaker 24:47

So, Anais, earlier you said that you attended all of the kinship strand gatherings, and I was wondering what what drew you to that strand, and what is it that has drawn certain firekeepers to certain strands? Are you observing a pattern, a drive, or something that means hmm, that person goes here, that person goes here?

Speaker 2 25:08

It's a good question. So, kinship or uh relating to all beings, that is of course uh something which I'm also very much connected with the work that I do, with my own practices, with the practices I invite other people to join me. That's also connected to some of my more academic uh writing, the connection also with the modern human. So it is basically a field in a way where I have some grounding and some you could say some so-called um expertise and experience. So, with that, of course, also very deep interest, and I think for for many of the ones who join a thematic strand, you know, there is maybe a similar kind of motivation or background. The other thing is also that we observe that sometimes someone goes to a thematic strand because it is not yet maybe their expertise and they're curious about it. But over time, um, what we find very helpful is actually when people have their home base in a strand where they feel you know firmly grounded and where they can really contribute also to this deep dive of surfacing, you know, the collective practices and capacities, and of course, then for curiosity, maybe go into the other thematic strands while going into those or stepping into those with a firm grounding in another one. So I think that really helps um in the interweaving and of all the strands and over time over you know these years uh that we're journeying together, really cultivating um let's say a fertile soil where something uh can grow from. So I think that is very important to be grounded somewhere and then to maybe interview from that place uh where we or ripple out from that place into the other ones.

Speaker 27:39

Thank you. Thank you. So people in the among the fire keepers have found their place in in one of the layers or one of the lenses. If we now zoom out and look at the seven thematic strands, the seven, the various ouches and oopses and preciouses uh that the World Ethic Forum is is working with, do you observe that some of those layers are maybe richer or are more ouches or more preciouses or attract more people or seem to be drier? Is there something that you're observing either at this point in time or uh in terms of the evolution over time of these different uh layers and what their distinct qualities might be in terms of how uh people relate to them and what comes up uh through them?

Speaker 1 28:32

Maybe what is important to mention that especially the bioregional stewardship and the intergenerational dialogue and learning, they did not really yet activate. Uh, and in a one hand, you could say that the intergenerational learning and dialogue is in a way happening in the fire keeper circle itself because we have different ages represented, but it's not the working group itself that has formed very actively. So the same with the bioregional stewardship. However, we're now going to Kenya for two years and further on to probably another continent, and each time hosted by people really off the land who are directly connected with the region, the bioregion especially, this is coming more forefront. So it's also interesting to see which strands have kicked off right away, and that's especially kinship, ethical groundwork, diversity, equity, inclusion, and decolonization, and what has been called so far economical, economic new forms or other forms of responsible economy, or what is turning now these days actually into householding as a practice. Um not so much focusing only on the financial factors or capitalistic layers, but really like how are we managing our shared household? Um and householding as a practice, as a way of being, both tending to the small and really the private household until our planetary householding. Um I was surprised that there was not like you know one receiving all the attention and the other one nothing, or um there was actually between these five um very much an equilibrium in terms of presence of people, more or less. Some have organized themselves in different ways, some met regularly, in person or online. Um for some it was more difficult, some activated especially around the moments of the gatherings in person and before and after. Um and I think the the quality of dedication to them was held in a in a similar way, however, then also acknowledging the day-to-day work of everyone and what it actually takes to really be present to such a topic and um practice it together. And what of that is a practice in the small group, and what of that needs to be also brought to the whole circle. I think that's still something that we navigate of how much is it small group work, and what of that actually needs to be almost not only shared but brought forward and um worked through as a whole circle so that it really can land in the full circle rather than just you know almost like becoming expert in one, and then when you are expert in one, the likelihood that you isolate yourself or that you get isolated or that um things um diverge it's is very likely. So I think for me at the moment there is a question of balancing depths in each precision, quality, but then also what of that needs to be a shared practice and it needs to be in a way dedicated, receiving dedicated attention by everyone.

Speaker 2 32:29

Thank you. I think this is a good place to close. Uh dedicated attention uh from everyone. Thank you so much, Luea, thank you so much, Anais, for joining me on this first series. It's been a real joy to uh talk to you about the talk with you about the World Ethic Forum. Thank you for joining us today. We're making this podcast to track the ripples of our inquiry and harvest some of the learnings we make along the way. It's our attempt to name and articulate things that are often left unspoken, too subtle to capturing words. If something resonated with you, we hope that it can inform your practice and benefit the collective spaces around you. Everything we mentioned in this episode is in the show notes. You can also find more at Worldethicforum.com.