End February, i had the opportunity to attend the “Socratic Design Workshop” in Cadaqués, 1 hour drive north of Barcelona, Spain.
From the Socrates website:
Socratic Design is a new learning method, incubating the generation of the best human future narratives by realising collective wisdom through the art of dialogue.
The exponential technological revolution cannot be incorporated in the old narratives build on coal and steel ideas. Centrality, hierarchy, ownership, secret information and monopolies are no longer guarded in this new tech culture.
The exponential technology era challenges our human creativity in an unseen way. We can only approach this huge potential of power with next level humanity awareness.
We need to reflect profoundly on our values, on our strong and weak points and above all on our implicit and hidden dreams of a human good life; safeguarded in hundreds years of literature, philosophy, human experiences, religions and other narratives.
We can only perform this if we leave behind our old school atomic thinking, using the strength of intense socratic dialogue, using personal experiences, reaching collective intelligence to jump into new frontier of thinking: exponential humanity.
One of the first exercises was to describe your “perfect day” ten years from now. That exercise was more confronting than i thought at first sight. Here is what i came up with. I deleted the detailed daily hour-by-hour agenda of the perfect day, in order not to bother you with too much tactical detail.
In 10 years time…
I will almost be 70
My wife almost 60
My daughter almost 20
Our parents will be gone
I have become a full time artist – creator – sensemaker
I sell my art, creations, sense-makings, and curations
I curate, selectively, choose my clients/guests
I only select/accept commissions that meet my quality standards of intention and intensity and ethics
I am connecting with the experts, the musicians, and artists of all kinds, to bring out the very best in them. I love to work & live with them, to show personal intent and integrity, so that others want to join my projects too.
My work has given room to a Foundation for better work (essence of work and deep change)
My work leads to delight, enjoyment, joy, pleasance, elegance, and maybe epicurism.
Enjoying the silence of the house and the morning
Writing, researching, and sense-making
Creating, scripting, painting, making sound- and word-scapes
Performing, Architecting rythms and connections
Good food and wine
Family time
Reading and sleeping
I am completely disconnected
Only take mails if announced by phone
My mobile can only take calls and sms
I have stopped tweeting, FB-ing,
Enjoying the physical and emotional silence
What I do does not scale
I focus on uniqueness, excellence
The beauty is in the perfection
I live in another house, with plenty of space, and annex atelier, maybe art gallery
On the country side, the humid heavy earth of Flanders,
Or in Spain, Toledo, Sevilla, in the middle of the heat of the plain fields
The crack in me, Dries van Noten, the tones of a Spanish Guitar, the dry hot summer heat and the shadow and olive trees
I have become a hermit
Nothing should or must
There is no time pressure whatsoever
I am in flow
Nothing needs to be proven
I am freed from desire
