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  We offer a set of social innovations which can facilitate breakthrough progress on the most urgent impossible-seeming issues of society. 
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At the Center for Wise Democracy we have developed and offer a set of social innovations including choice-creating, Dynamic Facilitation, the Wisdom Council Process and Society's Breakthrough. In particular, Society's Breakthrough is a strategy for how "we" (a few of us) can facilitate "We" (all of us) to face and solve society's "Monster Problems". "Monster Problems" are existential issues that seem impossible to solve like:
  1. National Monsters include partisan gridlock, the growing threat of authoritarianism and the L-shaped distribution of wealth.
  2. Global Monsters include the climate crisis, the growing distribution of weapons of mass destruction, the loss of fisheries, soils, forests, fresh water, etc.
Most people find this claim to be unbelievable and dismiss this possibility.  But some people investigate further and get excited .... "YIPPIE!! Maybe there is a way for me to help society get out of this existential MESS!" ... We hope you will investigate further and experience a reaction like this ... And that you will want to help in bringing forward the social innovations presented here.

Many people recognize that our System no longer works as well as it once did. Monster Problems arise and worsen because our competition-based System no longer fits our Situation, where we are all increasingly inter-dependent. This underlying mismatch of System and Situation is "the Human Predicament." Globally, for instance, our System encourages ever higher levels of consumption and pollution, while our current levels of consumption and pollution have already exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet. ... This realization opens the door to "good news" possibilities. It suggests that we can solve ALL the Monster Problems by transforming our System. At the Center for Wise Democracy we offer a 2nd level solution, a "Holution," by which this can happen.

Our System offers a number of "1st order" solution strategies ... like educating people about the issues, reducing unnecessary consumption, demonstrating for new legislation, raising individual consciousness, living in eco-villages, inventing new technologies, etc. But these "Normal Solutions" are often blocked and do not address the underlying Human Predicament. 

The Wisdom Council Process is a social innovation that is increasingly being applied to organizations, communities and networks of people. It can also be applied globally and/or nationally to generate a new kind of democracy, "Wise Democracy."  Plus, it opens the door to releasing blocked "Normal Solutions," generating breakthrough solutions and resolving the Human Predicament by facilitating whole-system transformation. Basically, the Wisdom Council Process applied in this way facilitates all of us to step back periodically, to face the Monster Issues, to think creatively and collaboratively about them, to co-determine what's really going on, what we want, and a new strategy going forward. Plus, as this new collective thinking process becomes normalized, we will discover that we have "fixed" the problems with our System by adding the missing ingredient: One ongoing whole-system choice-creating conversation or ... the "We the People" conversation. 

Does this sound impossible? It's not. We've been experimenting with the "Wisdom Council Process" for over 30 years. And two states of Austria have adopted it into their state constitutions. We know it works at large scale. And if done correctly, the addition of this new conversation shifts our System away from a basis in competition to an ultimate basis in collaboration. Yes, it promises to transform the System, but it's not changing anything. It just adds the missing conversation, the one we all want to be part of,  to what we already have. (See the article... "A Holution to the Human Predicament")

Illustration ... for the U.S. (3.5 min video)

Currently in the United States bitter political battling obliterates the possibility of collective intelligence. Most people feel excluded from democratic participation as elected leaders represent moneyed interests more than their constituents. How might we (just a few of us) facilitate all the people to come together as a wise and responsible "We the People"?  ... where We face the Monster issues, reach shared conclusions and provide responsible leadership to elected leaders? Below is a short video describing how this might happen using a Reality TV Show. (3.5 min video):

Examples from Austria

This set of social innovations has been taken up in parts of Central Europe like communities and states in Austria and Germany. Especially the Vorarlberg government has incorporated the Wisdom Council Process into their state constitution. See Seven short videos they sponsored IN ENGLISH. (https://www.buergerrat.net/english-version/) Below is one example, a short video illustrating how the state government of Voralberg in Austria used the Wisdom Council Process to help citizens address and solve a contentious issue: the influx of refugees.

The Social Innovations are ...

  1. Choice-creating ... is a form of thinking where groups face impossible-seeming issues and reach clarity on what is the situation and what to do. Choice-creating is "opposite" to decision-making (See chart of comparison)
  2. Dynamic Facilitation (DF) ...  is a way to reliably facilitate groups into the spirit of choice-creating, where they face difficult issues and achieve win/win unity. 
  3. The Wisdom Council Process (WCP)...  is a way to facilitate large systems of people into the spirit of choice-creating. It combines an ongoing series of randomly selected people, Dynamic Facilitation and opportunities for the public to hear and consider the results. Using it a large system of people (e.g. community, corporation or nation) can face and solve big problems together (i.e. "wise democracy")
  4. ​Society's Breakthrough ... is when we apply the Wisdom Council Process to society itself, global or national.  Here's how a society can transform itself toward collective wisdom — i.e. economics, governance and the culture.

2 min video introduction to the social innovations

New possibilities for you

"Solution" Strategies ...

  1. ​Global society...To solve issues like the climate crisis and to adequately manage other global commons like.soils, fresh water, oceans, the gene pool, overfishing, species extinction, etc.) requires an ongoing, creative, collaborative, whole-system thinking process. ... All of us need to working together as a global "We the People", facing the big impossible-seeming problems, discovering what is the "truth", what we want, and determining the best path forward. To see how this can be achieved requires "Essential Wisdom for solving society's biggest problems." We (a few of us) can FACILITATE this global "We the People" conversation into being.  See Transforming Global Society.
  2. National society  (e.g The United States)  ... The founders of the United States designed a system of government aimed at reason but based in competition. But this 18th century design is breaking down as we become less in-dependent and more inter-dependent, needing to cooperate. How do we preserve the benefits of our current system, yet safely transition to a system based in collaboration? ... See Solving National Issues.
  3. States... The Wisdom Council Process has already been adopted into the constitutions of two states of Austria. There it is being used to help resolve issues like the influx of Syrian refugees, land use planning, etc. So we know it works. ...Here's a way to dramatically reduce partisan wrangling and benefit elected officials by establishing a clear wise voice of the "public will". See Solving STATE issues.
  4. Local towns, cities & communities ... A group of community leaders can implement the Wisdom Council Process at the local level to facilitate "the people" to address and solve difficult issues. See Solving COMMUNITY issues
  5. Organizations ... The Wisdom Council Process can also be used in organizations, churches, conferences and other human networks. (See examples:  a food co-op, a conference, corporations)
To understand this new-paradigm approach most people find it valuable to experience it by taking a seminar. See the seminars on  "Dynamic Facilitation."
Check out "Our Story" of how these social innovations and this whole-system strategy came about.
info@wisedemocracy.org
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