Entangled World
Regenerating Civic Engagement | Indy Rishi Singh
Episode guests
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Embrace sacrifice for transformative change by learning from ancestral practices and fostering courage.
- Prioritize community well-being by engaging with marginalized voices, promoting bioregional practices, and advocating for inclusive decision-making.
- Infuse civic spaces with joy and collaboration, connecting civic engagement with ecology and social justice for deeper communal involvement.
- Foster creativity and well-being through playfulness, silliness, and embracing interconnectedness and the inner child.
- Reshape education, food systems, and economics towards sustainability by encouraging community-driven initiatives and stewardship of local resources.
- Explore innovative economic models and diverse healing practices to bridge human and ecological well-being in healthcare systems.
Deep dives
Recognizing Indigenous Systems of Abundance and Mutual Support
In many indigenous cultures, the speaker highlights the essence of abundance and mutual support within communities. Reflecting on personal experiences in ancestral villages, the speaker emphasizes the culture of sharing without counting possessions. The importance of embodying and experiencing this abundance before bringing it into new systems is underscored.
Journey of Healing and Reconnection with Ancestry
The podcast delves into the speaker's personal journey of healing and reconnection with their ancestry. After facing challenges and a pivotal moment in medical school, the speaker embarked on a path to rediscover their roots and heritage. Through experiences in India, connecting with elders, and immersing in ancestral practices like farming and Ayurveda, a profound transformation and educational shift occurred, emphasizing the value of learning from masters.
Importance of Sacrifice for Change and Innovation
Discussing the theme of sacrifice, the podcast highlights the significance of being willing to sacrifice in order to facilitate change. The speaker emphasizes the historical context of sacrifices made by ancestors and the need for individuals to embrace sacrifice for transformative progress. Oppression and tyranny capitalize on the fear of sacrifice, underscoring the necessity for courage to drive meaningful change.
Challenges of Navigating Privilege and Engaging with Communities in Need
Exploring the dynamics of privilege and engagement with marginalized communities, the podcast stresses the importance of being of service and supporting those in need. The speaker advocates for stepping out of comfort zones and prioritizing the well-being of others over personal gains. Emphasizing the significance of humility, active listening, and centering the needs of marginalized voices, the narrative encourages bridging divides and fostering community connections.
Reviving Indigenous Resilience and Bioregional Cooperation for Sustainable Communities
Drawing insights from the historical resilience of the Sikh indigenous community, the podcast delves into the bioregional practices that fostered independence and mutual protection. The significance of bioregional agriculture, sharing resources, and uniting for defense against external threats is highlighted. Lessons from the past underscore the value of ecological connection and community support for sustainable living.
Facilitating Civic Engagement and Systems Thinking for Collective Transformation
Encouraging civic engagement and systems thinking for societal transformation, the podcast advocates for prioritizing community needs and transcending individual projects. The speaker underlines the importance of engaging with marginalized voices, promoting sacrificial acts for societal progress, and advocating for inclusive decision-making processes. Emphasizing the power of privilege used in service of community well-being, the narrative inspires collective action and systems innovation.
Reimagining Bioregional Independence for Resilience
Exploring the concept of bioregional centralization for community resiliency, the podcast delves into historical examples of community strength derived from localized economics. The discussion prompts a reflection on applying similar resilience models in modern society by reimagining bioregional independence. The focus shifts towards reducing dependence on external entities like international organizations in favor of community autonomy.
Fostering Bridge-Building Warriors for Positive Change
The conversation extends to the role of individuals as bridge-building warriors rather than warriors of violence. Emphasizing the importance of celebrating diverse cultures and perspectives, the episode highlights the power of communication and understanding in creating positive societal shifts. By cultivating empathy, humility, and the ability to engage with differing viewpoints, the narrative advocates for transformative change through connection and reconciliation.
Cultivating Regenerative Civic Engagement and Civic Justice
Under the umbrella of regenerative civic engagement, the episode proposes a transformative approach to communal involvement in local governance. The focus lies on infusing civic spaces with joy, collaboration, and collective decision-making, shifting away from traditional bureaucratic norms. Emphasizing the necessity of connecting civic engagement with ecology, social justice, and ultimately civic justice, the discussion advocates for fostering a deeper, more inclusive engagement between policymakers and communities.
The Power of Interconnectedness and the Importance of Being Silly
Embracing interconnectedness and the inner child is highlighted as a way to foster creativity and address trauma and stress. The podcast discusses the significance of embodying playfulness, silliness, and engaging in activities like acting as animals or dancing to promote well-being and connection.
From Global Patterns to Local Actions in Shaping a Sustainable Future
The conversation delves into recognizing global patterns of control and insecurity in systems such as education and finance. It emphasizes the need for localized actions to reshape education, food systems, and economics towards sustainability and ecological awareness. Encouraging community-driven initiatives to steward local resources and promote interconnectedness is underscored as fundamental in addressing systemic challenges.
Podcast platform recommendation
The guest suggests featuring Della Duncan, an economist focusing on Buddhist economies, to explore innovative economic models bridging human and ecological well-being. Additionally, the guest proposes Deanna, a nurse integrating cultural and herbal medicine, to discuss healthcare systems that incorporate diverse healing practices and promote cultural inclusivity and holistic wellness.
My guest today is Indy Rishi Singh. Indy is a cultural creative with Cosmic Labyrinth, a collective of edutainers producing biocultural ecorestorations and collective care events in public and at conferences and festivals. Indy is also a co-developer in a technology cooperative designing a bioregional citizen based communication platform that serves as both a tool for effective mutual aid and improving civic literacy. He recently joined the California Doughnut Economic Coalition, focusing on policy change and grassroots cooperation to create an economy that cares for both people and nature. And he’s also a board member with Cultivating Self, a nonprofit transforming and reimagining healthcare by focusing on the education and empowerment of caregivers, and regularly shares Neuroplasticity and resilience techniques with corporations and organizations around the world.
This was a wide-ranging conversation and we explored many topics of a personal nature as well as what responses to our entangled global crises might look like. Indy talked about his experience in medical school where he witnessed many contradictions and found that an integration of different perspectives was lacking, which then led him on a journey to explore ancient practices of healing like Ayurveda, a 5000 year old practice originating in India through which knowledge was embedded within stories as a way of transferring information in case some of it got destroyed.
Indy also talks about how “systems doing” is very different from “system thinking”. He says when you’re engaged in “systems doing”, you have to go to those places, you have to ask questions, you have to humble yourself and be willing to learn and let what you learn change you. You have to allow emergence to happen rather than having a strict agenda for what YOU want to have happen.
We also talk about the importance of sacrifice, that IF we truly want things to change, we have to be willing to sacrifice something. He says oppression and tyranny take advantage of our fear of sacrifice. We also talk about ancient practices for sensemaking and how in Samkhya, in the Sanskrit tradition of philosophical debate, you actually take on your opponent's perspective and then you take on other perspectives beyond just those two polar perspectives. You attempt to look at things from multiple angles and even then you can just grasp a small portion of reality.
I’ve been thinking about questions like, “Where does our knowledge come from?”, “How has it evolved?”, “What can we learn from ancient civilizations that lived sustainably in relative harmony and balance with all of life?”, “How might we incorporate ancient wisdom into new civilizational design?”
Indy and I used some terms in the conversation that I understand because of my South Asian heritage, which may be unfamiliar to you, so I've included them below.
Terms Mentioned:
Desi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi
Bhangra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhangra
Ayurveda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
Rig Veda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda
Dosha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosha
Pranayama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama
Karma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma
Dharma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma
Sikh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhs
Kali Yuga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga
Satya Yuga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya_Yuga
Indy’s Links & Resources:
www.CosmicLabyrinth.world interfaith eco-restorations & care-based collective
www.caldec.org Communications & Outreach for California Doughnut Economic Coalition
www.nola.chat/neuroplasticity organizational & community wellbeing coaching
www.cultivatingself.org nonprofit transforming healthcare
Political Hope podcast: Spotify, Apple
Other Resources Mentioned:
Hermes Trismegistus - The 7 Hermetic Principles
We Deepen founded by Christina Weber
The Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt
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