What: An introduction to the background and aims of the Wise Living Real Estate Fund.

When: 29th October, 6-7pm CET 

Where: The event will take place via Zoom.

Further information: https://lifeitself.us/real-estate-fund/

Register: Sign up to the event using this form: https://forms.gle/Tz48M7WmRSwuQQCu8

What is the Real Estate Fund?

The Real Estate Fund is a fund offering an investment opportunity in land and property with a social purpose. The Fund exists to provide capital to develop mindful, wiser and weller co-living and co-housing communities, whilst providing investors with an opportunity for social impact, security of capital and a fair return. 

Why do we need this now?

Individuals and groups have an increasing desire to live wisely and well, and to do so in community. Investors are increasingly seeking ethical, social, and well governed investments, that secure their capital and provide above-inflation returns. We exist to bridge the gap between these parties.

The Fund’s Philosophy

We operate the fund as we would a not-for-profit entity, and do not create short-term financial incentives for management. We prioritise the mindful, long-term management of our assets, and are invested in the flourishing of the communities they support.  

With Carmen Zurl and Liam Kavanagh Sunday 11th October 6pm (UK)

When: Sunday 11th October 6pm – 8pm UK time

Where: Zoom online

Price: By donation

Join us for the unique salon in collaboration with Contemplative Activism this Sunday evening!

The idea that we are each individuals living ‘our own life’ is a useful but flawed intellectual fiction woven into (us) Westerners. We largely live as though it were true, even though we notice and remark on many ways that it is false. We can embody individualism and deny it simultaneously, as contradictions are the reasoning ape’s great talent.

We might not be personally responsible for being individualists, given that each of our minds is a collective creation, but we also have the ability to respond to this dogma, especially in groups.

“Embodied deconstruction” might be a way of referring to the practice of acquiring a feeling for what it is like for our souls to “have an individual constructed inside them” and move towards freedom.

Carmen Zurl and Liam Kavanagh provoke the exploration.

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.”

Marianne Williamson

Unphased by a health pandemic, our community was unreasonable and responded to our request to connect with new members with the fervency expected of Life Itself members. It was important to gather around the new concentrated essence of Life Itself after the transition from Art Earth Tech and our old base at La Cheraille. This was a holding space to meet in the whole, our new community – from which we could launch proper: Life Itself. 

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”

George Bernard Shaw

We gathered in our new premises, a grand townhouse on the edge of a square facing the river Dordogne befitting of enquiry into culture and our being. We checked-in regularly how the grandiose of our surroundings was affecting our psyche: I for one wanted to host ‘ambassador receptions’ immediately with gold trays and piles of Ferrero Roche. The picking up and packing up from our more feral, rubble farmhouse to the ballrooms of Bergerac was quite a transition, and we enjoyed it. Regular swims in the river, games of tag and hide and seek, late night dance parties around the fire. Opulent meals cooked by members who matched the food to the surroundings with their attention to feeding us well. Helped by our guest Valerie Duvauchelle, a ZaZen monk and chef, we practiced the preparation of food with our meditation practice. 

“It was great to meet new members of the community who became involved via the Berlin hub and the building festival in Thenac. A lot of optimism and possibility was generated as our newcomers became more acquainted with the vision and history of Life Itself. Valerie Duvauchelle, a member of the Aontemplative Activism group added a special and centering day of Zen cooking in the middle of the week.  I got a very high level of interest and engagement from the newcomers during my talk on the equality complex, and we turned to a grounded discussion of how to build the community in the next year.”  

Liam Kavanagh, co-founder.

Rufus led the participants through the Tao: a playbook for Life Itself. The background context for why Life Itself exists, and what we exist for…

“A world that is wise, well and awake”

…was felt all the more with embodiment practices led by Sylvie. Often, we are talking about our primacy of being – and the quality of our being, whilst being in our heads and intellect. This time, we regularly tapped out of that intelligence and into emotional and physical intelligence.

What was in the air and noticeably different in this cohort was the commitment to action. We have held open Gatherings in the past, and this one, because of Covid-19 restrictions, was limited to our new team members and community members. It helped us really distill what Life Itself could be and to focus our energy on our being; rather than diluting it away. We had some ‘crunchy’ sessions addressing fears around intentional community; power relations: decision making and governance; values, and membership. It was a heart opening session and mid way through our week, the community sank into a tenderness, a compassion and love I had rarely seen come so soon. 

Liam shared a presentation and discussion on Questioning Equality:  the Institute’s enquiry on the Equality Complex from his new book on Collective Wisdom. 

The cycle of divergence – convergence – divergence opened up again to create and design our community and activity going forward. The relationships with our Hubs and their autonomy; our Gatherings for the year to come. I include here what Valerie wrote after a session on cultivating our practices.  

“The vision for Life Itself: A manifestation of full beingness coming from collective wisdom practices leading to right actions in the world.

The process seems to be related to a collective frame, which allows for the emergence of a subtle resonant space where individualities can feel a dissolution of separated self for an interconnected one. 

From this feeling of being complete, at peace, arises a deep joy of living and also a deep capacity to embrace the pain. 

Being able to bear witness to pain within joy is the road for collective compassion and right (adjusted action). This emergence of our true human compassionate nature comes from a frame, a « space » which can only exist in the mirror of a trustful community.  Being seen and seeing others with no judgement nourishes our joy of living and reactivates our natural compassion towards other members and outside.  Then, from that, we deeply generate an intuition of acting wisely in the world.”

Watch this space for the development of our collective frame and accompanying practices. 

What a safe harbour to find out of lockdown with extraordinary people to share it with and plot the future for Life Itself. Thank you.

“The Gathering provided me with ways of interacting and bonding with others that I’d never encountered before. More than this, it challenged me to engage with the world around me not just from a new perspective, but in a radically different fashion. I have left with some wonderful relationships I hope to long carry forward, and a curiosity to see what this new way of thinking means for the commitments that shape my life.”

Theo Cox, aspirant.

July 16th – August 12th

The renovation of the Bergerac Hub began in earnest last month and we were delighted to welcome many new as well as familiar faces to the Building Festival.

Heavy building work was balanced with contemplation and interesting discussions. We began stripping the cement off the farmhouse’s walls to reveal the beautiful stone walls underneath, did yoga together every morning in the shade of the trees, and relaxed by the Dordogne river. We held a Quaker meeting and a Plum Village Sharing Circle in which we shared joys and difficulties encountered in our meditation practices.

We were also delighted to welcome Simran and Elisa to the team.

Simran jumped straight into the role of the festival producer and helped make the building festival a huge success, in addition to teaching us yoga every morning.

Elisa is currently leading a research project on the emerging field of ‘culture-making’ in order to learn more about the individuals and organisations focused on improving the world through shaping culture. If you work in this space and would like to contribute to our understanding, please take a look at Elisa’s blog post for more information and to get in touch.

We’re looking forward to publishing some other exciting work. We’ll soon be releasing Collective Wisdom, a book written by Liam Kavanagh, Director of our Research Institute, on the blindspots in Western culture that we urgently need to address if we are to avoid ecological and political crises. Sign up to be notified when the book is released.

We’re also making progress on Wiser, a newsletter that will provide curated information on how to live a wiser life.

You can now read about more of our work and projects on our website. If you’re an investor interested in getting involved, check out the information about our Real Estate Fund, a fund to support the creation of more Life Itself co-living communities.

‘I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect at the building festival, planning to leave the UK during a pandemic felt worrying, however after months of isolation I felt like human connection was truly needed. I can genuinely say that I discovered in the South of France one of the most welcoming and caring communities I could have encountered. People from all over the world coming together to share great food, amazing conversations and to contribute towards an exciting project. I felt overjoyed to share my time with such wonderful people and felt truly inspired by the fire-side chats about wisdom, creating a better world and supporting one another.’

I came to the building festival seeking an experience, little did I know, I would also find a home 🙂 

Charley Lee

For the whole of August, Life Itself opened the doors to our new rural hub near Plum Village Buddhist monastery, south west of Bergerac in southern France. The invitation was to our Build Festival, where people came from Germany, France, Spain and all across England to renovate and restore an old farmhouse. Accents were a hot topic at our evening meals!

Building together – whether it be as small and delightful as a pizza oven, or structural and hefty as a barn – is a simple communal act of bonding, creating together and celebration. It is fulfilling to sweat, toil and problem solve together, and to create something unique from the people there. People expand on what they thought they were capable of – it is a joy to witness young people using a drill for the first time, for example. 

Set up by our friends Mark and Poppy, they had listed areas and tasks that were low-ish risk for inexperienced, enthusiastic volunteers. We donned masks for more than health reasons (“antique dust” it was referred to); fulfilled childhood dreams of power tools and tidy workshops, and got to it. Every day after our morning practice (for a community that meditates together, gets a lot done well together); we assembled in circle for our Stand Up. We would share what we had done yesterday and what we were going to do that day – and where we needed help / what was blocking us. 

We learnt about the different soil types on the land, and what we can use for different types of natural building. As it was so dry and hard, we had to make mud baths to loosen it. Yes, mud fights were had, as well as mud face masks. We added some straw and created a good material for our pizza oven, but could also be used for stronger structures – see the bricks in form below. 

We made different compost and it got smelly. 

As Health and Safety Officer, I can happily report that I was the only one in need of our first aid kit repeatedly and everyone left unscathed, indeed most left much calmer and weller than when they arrived.

Most of our work was indeed clearing rather than building at this stage. We got hammer drills and removed the plaster from inside the bedrooms and on the external wall to show more clearly the story of the buildings, alongside Life Itself’s design principles. We became experts in pointing; in insulation; in the difference in french and english terms; the aisles of Bricomarche; and most of all cooking feasts for the hungry crew. We worked until 2pm after lunch, when the heat became a barrier and we either rested or went on excursions to find the internet as many of us had work still to fulfil on. 

People slept on mattresses in old kitchens and dining rooms, mid renovation. We had large bell tents too dotted around the site under the clear, star filled night sky. 

 Thank you all. It was a real pleasure to meet you and come to know you better. …The place is enchanting…. I especially enjoyed our fireside discussions; building the clay oven; the community housing workshop; swimming in the Dordogne; playing with Ateyan and observing his appetite for exploring life; sharing the cooking, laughing and singing with Catalina; sharing beers with the boys.

David Parkes

Our days were rich and deeply fulfilling combining physical, satisfying (most of the time) work with cooking, silliness, philosophical chat and laptop time. Thankfully, we have an ambitious project here so there will be plenty more opportunities for community builds. We look forward to welcoming you next year for the next phase.

What is it that allows groups of people to carry out intelligent collective actions? You can find our white paper on collective intelligence (by Life Itself Institute director Liam Kavanagh), and a number of issues in this area that relate to our work for a wiser society, re-published at this link.

We know there are individuals, organisations and initiatives around the world who share the values, principles and vision of Life Itself. We know that many of them are trying to create change, often by attempting to change the culture — a form of culture-making.

But that is more or less all we know about this newly emergent space, and, as such, it calls for exploration.What are its defining characteristics? How do organisations differ, and how are they similar? How do people work together? What is this space?

These are some of the things we are hoping to find out. We will start by talking to as many people as possible so if you’d like to talk to us or know someone or an organisation we should talk to please let us know by dropping a line to [email protected]. Finally, we’ll be sharing everything we learn back with the community.

What we know

The ecosystem of change-makers which Life Itself is part of has come to life primarily in the last 10-15 years, thanks to three key developments.

1. Recognising the shortcomings of Western societies

Although the last 100 years have seen incredible technological, scientific, social and economic progress, there is a sense that Western societies have failed to generate corresponding advances in human flourishing. Rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues are rising; complex collective action problems and global catastrophic risks (such as climate change, nuclear war, the weakening of democratic institutions, global inequality, etc.) appear unlikely to be solved by technological or scientific innovations alone. As a result, more people are recognising the need for better ways of being and acting, individually and collectively. 

2. Popularisation of wisdom traditions, especially Buddhism

The dissemination of Buddhist ideas and practices in the West over the last 60 years has led to a renewed appreciation of wisdom traditions. A growing number of people, including Life Itself, wish for these ideas and practices to be more widely accepted and embodied in our society and culture. As a result, many organisations have been created in the last decade whose aim is to push these ideas into the mainstream, in one form or another. Not everyone focuses on popularising Buddhist ideas, of course, and many appear to be doing completely unrelated things. However, ideas of wisdom and awakening often constitute core philosophical foundations, or at the very least have inspired the activities of actors in this space.

3. Acknowledging the connection between inner and outer transformation

Implicit in the activities of organisations in this space is also a belief in the connection between inner and outer transformation. At the individual level, this is relatively intuitive – in order to make lasting changes in your life, your mental state must change. External circumstances matter as well, of course, but if your intentions, values, beliefs and mental models are incompatible with your goal, you are much less likely to achieve it. The same holds at the collective level. A whole systems transformation requires some form of structural change (outer transformation), as well as some form of cultural change (inner transformation). The key point here is that the former does not guarantee the latter. Changing the external components of a system can indeed affect individual behaviour and is important, but it is much less likely to achieve the desired outcome unless people’s inner lives are appropriately aligned, especially when the system is complex and unintended consequences are difficult to predict. This is why culture is important: it regulates behaviour and makes it more predictable. It may sound obvious, but it is only in recent years that changemakers have started to take seriously the importance of inner transformation. 

What we want to find out

Through our exploration, we are hoping to answer the following questions:

• Who are the individuals, organisations, communities, etc. that make up this space?
• How can the space be mapped? What are the key groupings and directions? 
• What are the major differences and similarities between actors in this space?
• What, if any, are the areas of overlap and what, if any, are the gaps?

Answers to the questions above will help Life Itself and other similar organisations to better understand:

• Who they could work and partner with
• How they complement and differ from other organisations
• Potential opportunities and future directions
• Where to share and find ideas
• Where to find like-minded people

In addition, exploring the space can help to establish credibility for the people and organisations involved. By better understanding it and finding appropriate terminology to describe it, public awareness can grow more easily. 

Get in touch!

If you are an individual or an organisation active in this space, and you think you could provide insight into our research questions, get in touch! Send us an email at [email protected] with ‘Ecosystem research’ in the subject line. We would love to hear from you.