Systems Alchemy is the aspect of Global Alchemy that is concerned with the systems and structure that shape human interaction with each other and the environment both individually and collectively as communities, businesses, nations and the whole of human civilization on Gaia. This includes but is not limited to business, education, community, social outreach, jurisprudence/law, government, industry, technology, utilities, science, religion, entertainment, parenting, medicine/health care, activism, agriculture, “The Arts”, construction, design, architecture, think tanks, economics, and social culture.
On the Visionary Heart Alchemy Blog I said one of the main ‘objectives’ that it is the goal of alchemy to transform is consciousness. This is true of Systems Alchemy as well as Personal Alchemy. This on some level refers to consciousness of the humans that make up or participate in the system and I will come back to that in a moment. However systems have the equivalent of consciousness in and of themselves. That is the Paradigm that shape their formation and activity. Every system is designed, and built within the context of a paradigm which also guides its activity and the interaction of its parts with each other and the whole with other systems. This paradigm is usually not explicitly known as it so subtle and pervasive, like water is to a fish, yet it dictates every aspect of the system in just the same way an individuals consciousness shapes every aspect of the individuals life.
These Paradigms can be very narrow in scope or very wide in scope with many smaller ones nested in its scope. For example any given medical facility will have its own paradigm it operates from. For the majority of the medical facilities this paradigm will be largely in accord with the allopathic paradigm which is fiercely defended in America by the AMA. While this is changing, most of even the more holistic facilities are still largely defined by the allopathic paradigm. The allopathic paradigm is nested in and informed by an even larger paradigm which has been the dominant paradigm of human civilization for along time now (aspect of it have been with us for centuries) and is a pervasive influence in the form and function of all of the above mentioned systems. It is adherence to this paradigm that has us on the verge of a massive breakdown of both the environment capacity to support us and the systems themselves. The systems that are structured from this paradigm are inherently unsustainable because the tenant or views of reality are on the continuum of relative truth very far from the absolute end of the continuum. Basically they are, for the most part, completely dysfunctional and those that aren’t completely dysfunctional are of limited functionality with that functionality rapidly diminishing in the face of a rapidly changing context. Said another way, even what aspects of the old paradigm had some functionality in the past are rapidly loosing functionality on the global stage. I call this the ‘lead’ paradigm that Systems Alchemy must transform if we are to move to global long term sustainability.
This paradigm has at its core a lack of recognition of our interdependence with each other and the environment as well as a lack of recognition of non physical dimensions of reality and their function in our life. Some of the key words that elaborate on or reflect this ‘lead’ paradigm are: unsustainability, scarcity, greed based capitalism, isolation, Machiavellian, limited resources, dog eat dog, fundamentalism, materialism, (fundamentalist materialism), dogma (as in dogmatic fixation) , fear, selfishness, uncompassionate. domination, ownership, conquest, staunch individualism, cultural homogeny, killingry, military industrial complex
The ‘gold’ paradigm that must become basis for which are systems are formed and operated has the recognition of our interdependence with each other and the environment. and awareness of the deeper ‘spiritual’ dimension of reality Some of the key words that elaborate on or reflect this ‘gold’ paradigm are: sustainability, deep ecology, stewardship, cultural creative, holistic, the great turning, synergy, integral, heart-centered, visionary, value adding, systems thinking, compassion, altruism, activism, co-intelligence, interdependence, interconnectivity , seventh generation, renewable energy, human rights, real wealth, livingly, education, community
Because all of the various human systems are interdependent to create true transformation in any we must transform them all. The only way to transform them all is by transforming the dominant paradigm that is at the basis of all of them. This leads us back to transforming the consciousness of individuals because the paradigms that are in operation on the world stage are egregores held largely in the consciousness of the individuals (though mostly in the unconscious part of the individual consciousness). who live out the paradigm. Paradigms are dependant on individuals to hold them in order continue having influence, however they take on a life on their own and being the subtle back drop of the reality we inhabit they propagate themselves by the enculturation process we go through. Thus we inherit paradigms as we grow up. To transform paradigm dominance requires sufficient numbers individuals to hold the tenants that define the emerging paradigm within their consciousness. This is why Personal Alchemy is the basis of Systems and Global Alchemy.
In addition to being sustained by individuals, the root paradigms are also sustained by the paradigms of individual systems and the systems themselves. That is why it is meaningful to work transforming the paradigms of individual systems and the systems themselves even though these transformations will not be sustained until all of the integrally connected systems are transformed.
Every individual who, through their own developmental process, their own Personal Alchemy, begin to embodying the ‘Gold’ Paradigm, shifts the dominance of the world paradigms towards the ‘Gold’. As they express this ‘gold’ paradigm in their interaction with the Systems they are involved with, those systems begin to shift and thus further the shift as well creating greater potential for more people to shift towards the Gold Paradigm.
According to the research of David Hawkins, describe in his book Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
, The closer to the Absolute Truth end of the continuum of relative truths the tenants of a paradigm are, the more powerful its influence on the dominance of the global paradigms. Meaning it requires a much smaller number of people and systemic expressions aligned with more golden paradigms then those aligned with lead to shift the balance in favor of the ‘gold’
While simply embodying the gold paradigm passively shifts the paradigm, the art and science of Global Alchemy as expressed through Systems Alchemy accelerates this process through active engagement in systems transformation. The gold created through alchemy is not ordinary gold is known as alchemical gold. Alchemical Gold has the same quality of transformation as the Philosophers Stone that created it. Thus the ‘golden’ systems and paradigms created by Global Alchemist application of the Philosopher’s Stone of the Visionary Heart through the application of the Global Alchemy Template are manifestations of Alchemical Gold that transform the systems and individuals they come in contact with. Thus it will take only relatively small number of Trained Global Alchemist to create a very dramatic shift in Paradigm dominance that will cascade through out the individual but integrally connected systems that shape our interactions with each other an the environment.