Intro

How do the stories we tell ourselves and each other about ourselves, each other and our place in the web of life shape our world?

How can we craft narratives that can shift the way we see and experience the world? Is this even the best leverage point to start off with or is there a deeper/wider/more effective acupuncture point we could explore as we evolve to become…what? 

What are we aiming for? What—who—do we want to be and how might we reach places we can't even express - and do it in the face of a world where narratives are becoming more black-and-white, more constrained by circumstances, more held by those with power?

In a week that's seen our world become both more complex, more ugly and more beautiful, we're talking to story-crafter and narrative-explorer, Paddy Loughman.

Paddy's work explores the role of narrative and communications in navigating beyond our predicament. He is curious about how we might come together to appreciate what science and wisdom traditions reveal about entangled, relational reality, and the potential of more viable, beautiful worlds. He works independently, collaborating with activists, academics, philanthropists, creatives, community organisers and more, orienting towards just, transformational change. He has also co-initiated a number of efforts, including Inter-Narratives with Ella Saltmarshe. Earlier in his career he worked as a strategist in commercial and political communications, before jumping into climate campaigning with a wide range of organisations, from the UNFCCC to grassroots activists, and once upon a time he trained as an actor.

This is my first conversation after a life-changing time away from my desk and it was a genuinely generative, consciousness-expanding conversation. I'm in the space where reality, dream and experience are overlapping seamlessly and Paddy felt like one of those people who can stand on the edge of all our spaces and look into what we might become and how we might get there.  So…with this as your baseline, please do join us in our exploration of possibility.

Links
Stories for Life https://stories.life/
Inter-Narratives https://inter-narratives.org/
Paddy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paddyloughman/

Go Deep or Go Home Medium Post by Paddy Loughman and Ella Saltmarsh https://medium.com/inter-narratives/go-deep-or-no-home-the-essential-power-of-deep-narrative-9124e69ee2aa

'Stop Trying to Change Mindsets. Do This Instead' by Jessica Boehme https://jessicaboehme.substack.com/p/the-greatest-leverage-to-change-a

'Raging against the dying light: a systems view of human futures' by Julian Norris https://wolfwillow.substack.com/p/raging-against-the-dying-light-a

'Who is Organising the Poor White Folks' by Amhara Spence  https://amahraspence.substack.com/p/who-is-organising-poor-white-folks

Antidote Project: https://www.antidotelive.studio/
Imandeep Kaur https://civicsquare.cc/

The Dawn of Everything David Graeber and David Wengrow https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-dawn-of-everything-a-new-history-of-humanity-david-graeber/bb3d95f3af2350df

What we offer: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass

If you'd like to join our next Open Gathering offered by our Accidental Gods Programme it's  'Dreaming Your Death Awake' (you don't have to be a member) it's on 2nd November - details are here.
If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life.
If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here.
If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are here