We Need to Share Our Lives

THE SOCIAL SPHERE

What is the social sphere? The social sphere bonds a civilization´s hearts together. (Civilizations are made up of people, after all!) And what is the social sphere composed of? Families, extended families, clans, tribes. These kinship groups weave themselves together into local communities – which then combine to form societies, cultures – civilizations.

There are many, many worthy projects laying the foundations of decentralized, heart-led, local-community, ecological and economic infrastructures. And I extend my respects to them all! There are also many, many worthy paths of therapy, healing, self-knowledge and awakening. And again, I extend my respects to everyone who is committed to the beautiful, painful, joyful path of self-education. However – simultaneously - we need to be aware of the social sphere, the living thread that weaves us all together...

The social sphere is the sphere of intimate, affective bonds – the sphere of mutual care and support – the sphere in which we accompany and witness each other´s lives – the sphere in which we see each other become parents, and sometimes suffer and sometimes laugh - and grow old together. It is the sphere of the shared heart – the sphere in which we are mirrored and seen in our humanity. It is the sphere of our shared humanity.

And I believe that unless we include this social sphere in our Revolution of The Heart – then even if we become fully emotionally-educated individuals moving about freely within an excellently-structured, fully-decentralized civilization – due to our lack of long-term commitment to each other, and to each other´s children, and each other´s parents, and the place we have known together, and cared for together – we will be like strangers on a train – each of us travelling independently, autonomously - in “the right” direction, no doubt – but disassociated from the landscapes we are speeding through, and totally lacking the textures of intimacy and connection that grow between us, of their own accord, over time, when we share our lives: our pregnancies and births, festivities and celebrations, pain and illness, projects, creativities and achievements, struggles and conflicts and breakthroughs and joys, and ageing and death – and the one-million-and-one tiniest of exchanges that happen all-day-every-day when we greet each other, embrace, enquire about each other, and lend each other a hand.

THE STATE OF THE SOCIAL SPHERE

So I am saying that for The Revolution of The Heart to succeed we need heart-led decentralization, emotional education - and the social sphere. But what is the current state of the social sphere? Well, it has been brutally dissected, and almost completely dismembered!

This dismemberment began in the nineteenth century, during the Industrial Revolution, when rural communities migrated to the cities to populate factory production lines. In the twentieth century the extended family was then further dissected - into the consumerist ideal “nuclear family”.

However, by the end of the century, the fabricated yet stable nuclear family of husbands and wives and “to death us do part” had been yet-further dissected (with the knife of individualism) into a colourful, hedonistic, romantic, painful chaos of serial-monogamy, single-parent households, step-parents and step-children, geographically dispersed households, instability, discontinuity, fragmentation and isolation.

That´s the situation today. But, in a way, this dismemberment of the social sphere is an advantage – in terms of The Revolution of The Heart. Nothing needs to be broken down. The social sphere as we once new it, in pre-industrial-revolution times, no longer exists. We are free to birth something new.

And just to be clear: I don´t believe we have to revive the traditional Extended Family. I don´t believe we have to nostalgically re-create what we once had. No. I believe we need to “reinvent” the Extended Family. I believe we need to reconfigure it – so that it is no longer based on biology, on our bloodlines – but on our shared values. But we will come to that in a minute. What I am saying is that without the social sphere - our Revolution of The Heart will not cohere. I am saying that even if we decentralize, and even if we emotionally educate ourselves – without the social sphere our local communities will be “fragile and superficial, at best”."

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From THE EMPTY MIDDLE OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS REVOLUTION -Why We Need To, And How We, Reinvent The Extended Family by Mark Josephs (coming soon).

Mark Josephs,

"Mark the Mystic Activist",

Aragon, Spain,

Spring/Summer 2025

Mark guides The Conscious Tribes Project.

His articles, stories and poems attempt to convey not only the concept of Conscious Tribes,

but the feeling behind them.

www.tribusconscientes.com

THE CONSCIOUS TRIBES PROJECT

Reinventing The Extended Family