Be The Change

The only constant is change. We can never predict the future, and yet we have to plan for what’s ahead. Potential relies on present actions. 

How do we decide to move through life? If Context Grounding has discussed anything, it’s that philosophy, science, and religion offer support but perhaps not the full “answer”. In any moment, how do you decide to do what you do next? Similar to the character Chidi Anagonye on The Good Place, does anxiety cause indecision simply from the fact we are trying “too hard” to be a good person? Here too we ask the question Chidi explores in the show, what do we owe each other? 

A philosophical question can usually have a number of answers, and this one is no different. I believe we owe each other the continual exploration of self. It is through knowing ourselves that we can become stewards for community and nature. 

You may greet an inner child as you travel into your “internal landscape” as we call it in yin Yoga. Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way calls it the inner artist. Therapists and spiritual guides alike have spoken about a version of our past, younger, more creative self who lives within us. Guarded by past trauma, they may have a blocked passion for something– a hidden talent, a curiosity worth exploring, or a value led by connection. It doesn’t have to be a skill, and there is no such thing as perfection. Following your inner compass is how you become creative in nature, by nature, flowing through Nature. Only we can know what that experience is, and Cameron facilitates self discovery through her 12-week program. 

Writing was how I discovered an ability to create something from nothing. This business, this Charter, this art, whatever Soularly is, started as an idea. I was inspired by life experiences, research, Nature, and even language. The etymology of English words helped me craft my message so I didn’t start everything from scratch. But these pages only became real once I decided it was necessary to write them and I felt it in my power that I could. And while I am intentional about how I phrase sentences, I had to release my fear of misinterpretation by others.  

Creation is an act of leadership. Artists command their medium into the future that they alone can visualize. The beauty of art isn’t only its aesthetic, but in how the art changes expression when interpreted by viewers across time. Art becomes art through contemplation. Much like how, I believe, reality exists through consciousness’ observation. Life is our collective, performative artistic masterpiece. 

How do artists create? They get in touch with themselves. They become vulnerable and honest, and take risks in service of what they’re called to do. Magic happens when we trust our passion. Doechii is an artist that began her career only a few years ago after completing the 12-week course aforementioned, The Artist’s Way, and she has already gained enough recognition to win a Grammy. She has carved a niche for herself, combining both musical theatre and rap into authentic performances that are relatable and strong in narrative storytelling.

Feeling stuck, overwhelmed, exhausted, or undervalued all stop us from creating. But physical or social circumstances actually don’t universally block creative impulses like we may think. Throughout history, oppressed people innovate into better circumstances. We find ways to escape the cage. If the motivation, or dopamine, is there, people will move mountains to get what they desire. We literally flatten mountains, carve tunnels through them, or kill swaths of species to get what we want.

I often will consider both the evolutionary reason and the monetary benefit for why something is the way it is– in this case, why would we have a system that causes us to feel in such a way that we no longer feel creative? 

Tracing back to feudalism, the governments of medieval Europe, it doesn’t look too far off from how the US and other nationalist-leaning countries are operating today. Nobles are like elected officials, working in large parts for corporate interest. Vassals are like corporations, who ironically are tied to military, energy, and agriculture. The current US administration is running an authoritarian government, with many claiming we are on the road to fascism. Other republics are following suit. 

We cycle through guilt, shame, hopelessness, denial, and acceptance in order to sustain capitalism. Celebrities and billionaires are not bugs of the system, they are features. So too are the perceptions that lead to purchases, votes, and career choices. Gen Z is known as the most conscious consumer generation, but in reality I think my generation more closely represents a revolution of work, education, and access. 

Creativity begins at the edge of rules. The process of breaking free from confines is what births innovation. For me, I am compelled to break free from expectations for work, leisure, and my connection to cruelty. Sustainability is my interpretation of a future reality I feel called to create. 

Kate Raworth is an economist who designed what’s called the Doughnut. A departure from the linear growth, GDP, and the supply/demand system we’ve become accustomed to, Doughnut Economics (DE) has been implemented in over 50 local governments across the world. Its approach is incredibly plain, yet powerfully effective. Shaped like a literal doughnut (donut), the model depicts a social floor that determines the baseline of equitable treatment, and an ecological ceiling which limits impacts to the environment. Local political strategies aim for somewhere in the middle. 

DE inspired much of the model I present later in The Charter, as it’s been extremely successful– Let’s Get Started 2025 is an open-access report of 12 case studies from around the world that details a variety of local strategies and initiatives influenced by DE. 

Kate Raworth is an example of a visionary who created a story for people to follow in real life. She’s the kind of leader who inspires cascading change. She understands psychology, but also has a passion for a better world beyond the confines of our patriarchal, quantitative, exploitative system. She’s not alone in those dreaming about sustainable economic futures. 

B. Lorraine Smith is another transformationalist I admire who developed Matereality. Materiality assessments – spelt with an “i” --  are the standard for measuring how companies perform across environmental, social, and governance metrics (ESG). Lorraine’s clever renaming of Matereality – with an “e” – places reality in the center of assessments. How are Matereality reports different than what most Fortune 500 companies audit sustainability? Unlike the long PowerPoint presentations that proudly display philanthropic efforts and shy away from actual impacts, Lorraine’s version gets to the crux of the matter with three simple questions:

“What does [company] say they do? 

What does [company] actually do?

What does [company] need to do to serve life?” 

Diverse stakeholders answer with in-depth interviews that Matereality consultants thematically analyze to build the final report. In this way, Matereality bypasses the often superfluous ESG analysis in corporate sustainability. The first two questions are used to filter all media on the company like advertisements, PR media, and social media posts to clearly indicate any discrepancies in the company’s public persona and the real-life investment allocations. Matereality reports are always open-source, so the public receives transparent, accessible, accurate information about companies. My hope is for Matereality to expand and become standard practice, especially as every day more trash is sent off to the landfill, more land is developed, more smog fills streets, and more heat becomes trapped in our atmosphere. 

I would be remiss to not mention the foundation of my economic transformation schtick, what launched my career into thinking about multiple alternative futures and our ability to create them. Strategic foresight is a decades-old discipline that is recently gaining significant headway as an applicable method for anyone, or any organization, to more effectively plan for the future. Its theories are straightforward but its approach is the opposite– rather than perceiving the future in a linear sense as we tend to do especially in the United States, strategic foresight provides tools to plan for simultaneous multiple scenarios. 

I learned about strategic foresight from my beautiful mother, who runs a consultancy whose mission is to democratize the future. My mom Yvette, my dear colleague Nicole Baker Rosa, and Co-Founder Frank Spencer make up the team who developed Natural Foresight. Natural Foresight is a framework for participatory foresight that empowers people to feel agency in the futures creation process. In the nearly 15 years they’ve been a team, Natural Foresight has been implemented in over a hundred organizations in more than 40 countries. 

There are many more deeply impactful frameworks, some of which will be leveraged in Soularly Townhalls. The Soularly Framework may be another one in your mental toolkit, detailed in later parts of The Charter. 

Be The Change inspires us to create the story in our hearts. How do you see the world? When we trust and learn to listen to ourselves, we become who we truly are. The future changes through our actions. And if we make mistakes, let’s learn, listen, and be accountable. All of the pathways in Context and Grounding share their multi-scale applicability to make them accessible. 

Be The Change does not have to be international, and none of us ever have to be perfect. Free yourself from what you think society, parents, teachers, peers think you should do. I believe in you. Seriously, I, Ash Bowers believe in you, sweet reader. You are able to create goodness in your own community. Like my doctor once told me, “we don’t need to look past our own palm to be able to create the positive impact we seek.”

Read more in The Charter 1.o