Pete Lawrence

Campfire's World Harmony initiative launched in 2020 during lockdown around community connection and universal wisdom with a beautiful visual representation of Beacons, both traditional and futuristic, using drone programming and XF. 

We may not all be able to light a Beacon but we can appreciate the symbolism. This is technology for good. 

Solstices and Equinoxes as key parts of nature's cycles are great opportunities for personal and social change. 

The track features a remix of 'Love Is The Anwer' by the Campfire Circle Singers including Mozez, Neil Cowley, Matt Coldrick and three choirs plus a reading from 'Desiderata' by Pip The Poet. 

The remix and original versions of the track were produced by myself for Campfire Convention 

The video was produced by John Hopkins @ Celestial 

#worldharmony #loveistheanswer

It's been a week or two of of 'lightbulb moments'. Amongst other things, Charles Eisenstein's take on whether or not it's time for an Amnesty in relation to what happened around Covid, parliament finally getting nudged into debating Covid effects relating to vaccines (even if it takes a 'scoundrel' like Sir Christopher Chope to be a somewhat unlikely cheerleader ringing the alarm bells) and for me, the outstanding moment, listening to Simon Elmer reframing what's going on in the world, in relation to the new 'battles' we have on our hands in a fascinating interview on James Deligpole's podcast, as posted on this network by Ebi Diete-Spiff this week. 

"Our politics is so compromised now. Nobody believes in it as a forum or a medium for change. But our resistance to digital ID and everything that is going to come from that comes from a different source of resistance.

If we can resist in that dimension, that is our greatest chance for change. Parliamentary politics has been too compromised. We need a complete change.  We can still fight at this level of culture, education, propaganda, ideology, of ideas."

What he's confirming for me is that party politics is rendered obsolete (which is the starting point for our Trailblazers movement)  We are now moving into vital ideological fights against corporatism, globalism, the march of technocracies to control us, WHO, CBDC, WEF, law makers who are rapidly amassing the power to override governmental policy etc etc. All the dark stuff Elmer brings into focus.

It feels like a waste of time to play party politics as currently we've moved into what feels like a one party state anyway (Labour are just a different shade of conservatism). A definition as black and white as 'good vs evil' would certainly come down to individual value judgement but it's clear that those who are wise to what is going on at a higher level would argue that a different 'battle' has come into sharp focus.

This 'battle' is outlined by Elmer and can defined as follows (taken from one commentator's review of Elmer's new book 'The Road To Fascism'):

"The book takes us to the shift in crisis from Covid-19 to Ukraine, and now a new prime minister has been selected by the globalists. As boasted by its leader Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum is infiltrating governments to ensure the Great Reset. Our parliament has become WEFminster, inflicting the global biosecurity state on citizens who naively believed – and many continue to believe – it is serving the nation.  

We are in a battle of biblical poignancy against a dystopian technocracy that will dehumanise us and determine whether we live or die. If you think that far-fetched, you should read Elmer to understand the predicament for humanity. Awareness is the precursor to resistance.”

I've just ordered Elmer's book and I'd recommend it based on what I hear on the podcast.

Simon's introduction to the book:

Keeping and nurturing self-love for our visions

The Campfire story is very relevant to what I have been talking about in the previous blog (here, I have edited a single blog down to two separately). 

I have felt a strong sense of personal calling for the last decade or more towards a combination of building an independent social network online and in parallel putting on events (part from the lockdown months). This calling presented itself out of a vision for possibilities that my previous project The Big Chill opened up, described by some as ‘a glimpse into a utopian world’. How people acted towards each other was revelatory, like they’d been offered a long weekend get-out from what some described to me as their commercial, often humdrum, consumerist, advertising, media-led, living-for-the weekend merry go round and plonked into a totally different environment, in rural idyll for sure, but also one where people behaved differently to others. There was awareness rather than blindness / fear, there was openness, there was a sense that the world could different and much better. The fact that we know of at least 40 marriages that came out of Big Chill connections (we also had a thriving social network engagement) still makes my spine tingle. Changing lives (for the better) is a powerful incentive towards enable people to meet in a sacred space.

Against that backdrop, I felt very inspired to build on that sense of community, but to bring a sense of purpose centre stage which to me ten years ago, seemed more resonant now as many people started to look beyond hedonism into something a little deeper. This first required a leap of faith for me as it was a major commitment of my time and limited financial resources - and then great fortitude and resilience as and when I encountered obstacles. Building the architecture to underpin a social network isn’t easy and despite attempts to find funding in the early stages, it didn’t happen so, having already embarked on a commitment in my own heart, I resolved to put in my limited life savings, amounting to many thousands of pounds. 

So has it been worth it? Time will tell, but I have no doubt that without taking the sort of leap of faith Paula Moss talks about (above), I’d probably be doing something much more unsatisfying and I would feel unfulfilled. Just seeing the way people respond and bonded at our most recent events has given me inspiration way beyond any financial considerations. That investment has paid back in dividends in terms of human emotion and human connection.

That’s not to say that we don’t need a funding solution immediately. Campfire is still a tiny business as it has virtually no income. Nearly everyone on our new Mighty Network site has opted for free membership and only yesterday, as I was giving a new member a private Zoom walk-through I heard those words again “I will not pay for social media”. I could get into a long rant about this and have done in the past. It’s all part of changing the ‘what’s in it for me?’ mindset to ‘Imagine what we might build together that’s fantastic”.  

To make that leap people just need to realise this isn’t about the old model of profit and exploitation. I have never taken a penny out of Campfire personally (and I know i’m lucky and privileged to have what is left of the savings I acquired when I had to exit The Big Chill). I know how many thousands I have put in, and I also know that I’ve learned a lot - and furthered my understanding of the vital importance of community and the role it plays at the central hub of this life. 

The idea mooted by many is to return to the micro payments of our Mk1 site. We didn’t have many thousands joining but there was a steady flow at £1.66 a month (£20 a year). Those who had chosen to join felt more commitment as it was more than another free service. I had a strong feeling now that if those who had joined Campfire in the first six months of our Mighty Network era had put in a couple of pounds a month, they’d have been much more inclined to be active and to be part of building community discussions and interaction. 

Where is Campfire now? 

In the interests of transparency, I am happy to share Campfire’s latest accounts for 2021, a year in which we were building and trialing our own site (pre Mighty Networks) so had little revenue from either membership gifts or events (Covid meant cancellations of all events the previous year too).  In short, our turnover was £3,317, costs came in at £12, 067, showing a loss of £8, 873, which was underwritten by myself. Total assets less current liabilities (my directors loan) comes in at a negative figure of £79, 736. 

If anyone reading this feels moved towards donating via our ’Support Us’ red button on the Campfire site or this Donorbox link,  (Mighty Networks make it mighty difficult to transfer a membership from ‘free’ to ‘paid’) we’d love to hear from you. 

Since our launch earlier this year, our appeals have led to five people contributing £275 so far. If we could get just 100 people donating £50 a year, we’d get pretty close to covering our server, network and radio expenses. Events are something totally separate. This year’s Campout made a small surplus, FYI (not quite as much as the first step donation target would make. 

Let’s see what we can build together. If anyone would like to volunteer, please get in touch. We need an accountant, an events manager and at least a couple of people to help as ‘guiding lights’ would be wonderful, so decisions can be made by finding consensus in a small group. And, without putting too fine a point pin it, we need around 1000 people either taking a paid membership level or donating. 

At the moment there is strong sense of reckoning. Something is building and many can feel it. Campfire feels like it needs to be part of this shift as a community. It’s partly awakening, born of more self development, meditation, partly a visceral reaction to the way we’ve been ‘governed’ in the last few years, though the seeds were sown long ago. Initiatives such as Julene Siddique’s ’Systemic Social Change’ (due to launch Campfire’s Courses & Learning early next year) are vital to this as her diligence and guidance is offering a platform for us to all come together not only to recognise and call out the ‘pressure points’ in the existing systems, but to work together to find hands-on practical solutions, new ways, new frameworks, entities and language that we use as markers as we start to work towards a new system of distributed leadership. 

Utopian dreaming is a delicate balancing act. How can we hang on to a dream and how do we lead by example while staying balanced ? 

I’ve often been called a dreamer. Campfire has a history of dreaming. In 2017, Convention 002 (Union Chapel, London) was entitled ‘Reimagining the Future’ We all have visions. it’s one of humankind’s greatest gifts is to imagine how the world might be and then act upon it to change something for the better. But never before has the balance seemed so fragile. 

Now, more than ever, new ethos, new values, new patterns, new language, new entities, new ways of governance are needed - and given the vacuum in the outmoded top-down society, those ideas have to come from us. That involves letting the imagination flow freely, inviting in a new way of looking at the world. The shifts have to be about *radical* change not just tinkering around the edges. The more a system turns rotten and starts to crumble, the more likely we are be able to usher in wholesale systemic change. 

So now feels like the time. Simple?

Not entirely. One of the key paradoxes for evolving humanity is how we live in a new earth-based modality whilst still operating in an old, outmoded system.

This throws up any number of questions so I’m going to put a few of the obvious ones out there to consider…

How do we navigate the bridge, which often feels narrow and unsteady, without an end in sight?  How do we maintain positivity, hope, resilience, balance, mental health and energy when people are falling around us in different ways (Dr John Campbell’s recent video looked at huge rise (16%) in non Covid-related deaths in Europe in summer months)

What processes are involved in getting to our true calling? Any amount of meditation and nature connection can help us separate from the hurly-burly of our day-to-day lives but how do we best do the work to discover what can make a difference?  How we can transcend fear-based living traps, how we can make that switch from a ‘what’s in it for me?’ society to one where we recognise that we’re all inter-linked and that working for the good of all is the missing formula at the heart of world leadership?

How do we do the dance of the personal and professional? How much can the two be intertwined? Can we make a living doing something we love? How can we cut back on our debts and costs? How can we live more lightly, more frugally and with less possessions and clutter? 

How much energy do we give theories that a new world order is being planned by world leaders using governments and their citizens as conduits? 

What do we put our own love and energy into? New frameworks? More than ever, I sense that we need new concepts and ideas that are easy to grasp, new ways of doing democracy, new spaces where our individual voices can be heard and validated. 

What do we do when we hit a wall? What support mechanisms are around us? When there is an obvious disconnect between our utopian dreaming and the harsh reality of what is unfolding under the death-throws of capitalism, how do we find a space of balance that doesn’t exhaust us, drain and diminish us?  

How do we step up and make a difference? How do we invite people into their own power when often that power is seen as being limited by circumstance, by family commitments, by health considerations? How do we break free of lives ruled by fear, by debt, by a plethora of regulation? 

How do we find the space to give others the process, create the space where they can fulfill their potential, master new skills, challenge them to push themselves beyond their comfort zone?  

How do we move out of busyness, distractions, addictions, sops, the old models and clichés (‘retail therapy’ anyone?)

How do we keep a check on what we soak up, what stories, vested-interest reporting and media bias we expose ourselves to?  News, propaganda, advertising, social media algorithmic feeds that use our creativity as data and the raw material for vast profits, peer group pressure, even community-think can all have an effect of brainwashing. One only need to look at many of our friends’ posts around the Queen’s death to realise how people can be swept away.

If you’re not familiar with the works of Mattias Desmet and ‘The Psychology of Totalitarianism, check him out. (https://mattiasdesmet.substack.com/p/the-psychology-of-totalitarianism)

There are many questions and I’m sure we each have our own suggestions as to what the answer might be.

That’s why connection and discussion is so important. Doing the dance and being open. Open to change, open to a completely different take to our own, not automatically jumping to fence and taking sides, agreeing to disagree, looking beyond the bubble, remaining conscious of the polarity and where it might occur, looking for common denominators, joining the dots. 

Some further food for thought:

It is worth remembering that every conversation has the potential to make a difference, to change lives. 

It is also worth keeping our eyes and ears open to where the seeds of change might come from. Awareness through other peoples’ ideas will stimulate our own imaginations and help us to hone our own visions, to inspire us. 

This new system essentially offers a model for a post-Capitalist world but it goes much further, tapping into new experiences around shared leadership, horizontally organised rather than top-down government / organisation, and as Frederic Lalou put forward in his landmark book ‘Reinventing Organizations’’ - a guide to creating organisations Inspired by the next stage of Human Consciousness "The shift to Evolutionary-Teal happens when we learn to disidentify from our own ego. By looking at our ego from a distance, we can suddenly see how its fears, ambitions, and desires often run our life.”

Could a team of people with different skillsets come together and work collaboratively, each one taking on the leadership role when their expertise comes into play and then uncoupling and becoming a follower when the next leader takes centre stage?  No single person would be in charge of running the show. In this situation – there are many leaders – each one an expert in a different field. Each task is portion of a task is a signed to someone who is best equipped.

Can we hope for an aligned but autonomous team, all working towards a common goal and stepping up as leader as and when each person’s unique gifts skills and expertise is required?  Or is this still too vague a concept? Are we far enough down the road of emergence as to know when to take on the leaders roll and when to relinquish it? Will we be driven by our desire to achieve the greater good or will we be controlled by our egos to hold onto the throne for as long as possible, like many of our so-called leaders?

So I’d like to propose a few suggestions for those who may have been inspired enough in their recent reflections to want to make changes. These are spontaneous, random and meant as a kind of ‘starter-for-ten’ as the saying goes. I often find that writing things down and making lists is a good way to get inspired and motivated. 

1 Meditate, find quiet space and time, adopt your own rituals

2 Build castles in the air - didn’t neglect time to dream, envision 

3 Notebook, sketch pad - don’t miss the chance to note down that brainwave or heart flutter

4 Work on how best to articulate your vision - how does it land with friends when you explain it? Ask them for feedback.

5 Join a community where you can talk about it, hear others ideas, realise that you’re not alone. Catharsis 

6 Tap into that community as a safe space for transformational therapy. Some of us were lucky enough at Campout to witness the effect that Yael’s breathwork sessions had on us.

7 Look at your ‘World A’ situation - what can be changed, housing, air quality, friends, food, possessions, carbon footprint 

8 Who are your ‘Trailblazers’?  Who influences and inspires you? Make a list.  With many influencers, you might resonate with some if not all of what they say not all. Trust your gut instinct. It’s a good exercise to do.

9 How we do conversation is so important.  Deep listening, making our points land succinctly, space and rhythm, and art of conversation and the joy in can hold when everyone is aware not to dominate the space.

10 Be present. Find enchantment in the everyday. Reject fear about the future, create your own reality. Words are spells and it all emanates from you. 

And one more for luck!

11 Think of community leadership as a murmuration, moving away from straight lines, whether vertical (top-down) or horizontal (networked) 

I’d love to hear from others how we can collectively make that move through the liminal towards the next stage of human consciousness. And how you might come with us on the journey….

Thanks for being on the journey so far... 

Radical change is as likely to come from within as it is from Mick Lynch's strikes, XR's actions or votes of no confidence. Those things can still spark change but the 'parallel polis' is unfolding underneath, starting with each of us.

Today I have been reading about physician Gabor Maté’s new book which examines the profound physical and psychological harms of “normal” capitalist society, which makes a small minority very well-off while sowing illness and despair on a vast scale. As a backdrop, I remarked that it doesn’t help that a fair few of the people running the UK are people who were abused at boarding school. It's ingrained our our outmoded systems, in the patriarchy. It’s no wonder we’ve perpetuated this trauma played in out in competition, bullying, lies, wars, cover ups and exploitation. All these things are inevitably hallmarks of what feels like the dying embers of capitalism. 

After doing two Campfire events over the summer, at a time when confidence in governments is hugely diminished and those dying embers are surely being revealed for what they are, against a backdrop where policies around ‘growth’ and ‘progress’ are being pinpointed as leading to existential threats, it’s always interesting to bring things back to the source, back to love. And this is probably where the true alternatives to capitalism start to take root. I’ve often said that the change we need to make at the most fundamental level is based on the question ‘how do we move from a ‘what’s in it for me?’ culture to one where we place collective and planetary wellbeing firmly centrestage.

People are questioning. This is good. They are asking many questions about how we adapt to climate breakdown, about how we can make the change we wish to see, about the bias of media, about how we react to the globalists who are conspiring to enact their vision of UN Agenda 2030 or asking what we can do about the ongoing transferring the ownership of the global commons to the stakeholder capitalists.

My answer tends to be along these lines. In essence it’s about matters of the heart. 

What would love say? I see an earth which is calling for our stewardship, our attention and our resonance with and embracing of nature. That’s a starting point.

People wonder whether we’re on a spiral or whether there are grounds for optimism?  Many sense that there is a plan behind the manipulation and that a ‘Great Reset’ is facilitating the economic transition demanded by the unelected holders of private capital. 

So if the foundations of Capitalism 2.0 are being being constructed, what can we do about what some see as the encroaching AI-dominated world where Digital IDs, Central Bank Digital Currencies on permissioned blockchain built and managed in-house by central bankers and governments, carbon footprint trackers, a new food ecosystem, smart cities and conditional UBI keep us all tracked in some kind of dystopian nightmare scenario?

My reply might take as a starting point the words of Thomas Schorr-Kon’s Campout session as he framed it earlier this summer. It’s in stark contrast.  

“We will explore how to rest in the heart and what true courage is, looking at the many processes that block us from staying heart connected. We will endeavour to create a map that identifies the blocks so we can recognise what causes us suffering and let go of these processes.”

The letting go is fundamental to the unchaining process. We all have what it takes to step out of the tumble dryer into our own power.

I sense that the world is crying our for a tenderness, an embrace, a different credo to underpin everything. 

People might say ‘you softy’, you’re too tender. But losing that tenderness or blocking it out is what threatens to numb us to the horrors of war, the inhumanity that is inherent in much of the posthuman condition.

If it really is time for action, why don't we make a pledge to open ourselves up? To identify and call out the blocks that are causing us suffering and let go by casting them out. ‘Being open’ was the fundamental theme to this year’s Campout. Taking a chance on vulnerability, bringing that vulnerability into the heart and resting there, staying in our heart-centred love that we’ve been conditioned over the years to resist through fear, through shame. Let’s look after our own hearts and cherish our own soft centre. 

This shift at our core might just become so disarming, so empowering as we tap into our wisdom. We could all become Life Coaches. We could all plant seeds. We could each find that liminal space to come up with and construct an everyday utopia which each one of us could take forward as our unique gifts into the world as we learn to articulate our vision through the blessings of words. A framework and new language for the real changes starts at home, starts with us and how we each feel into the more beautiful world of our dreams. 

We are the change, in these ways, teaching others... deep listening, use of language, being aware of where the power lies, pulling the wool from our own eyes and others, working co-operatively, working with nature's rhythms. The more we use those new tools in our dealings with each other, the more it becomes the norm in our circles, the more it spreads beyond those circles, the more it renders the existing system and its morals, habits and language obsolete. 

Some of today’s radicals may be lying on motorway tarmac or climbing trees, fastening themselves to objects of love. Other radicals may be going off grid, or simply sitting and being rather than constantly doing. What we can learn from being silent and still is immense. Observing, watching, not getting too involved, keeping the bird’s eye view. Radical change is as likely to come from within as it is from Mick Lynch's strikes, XR's actions or votes of no confidence. Those things can still spark change but the 'parallel polis' is unfolding underneath, starting with each of us.

Let’s be conduits of connection, ambassadors for community, stewards for collaboration and for sharing. Let’s get out in nature (it’s part of us all, not separate) and lavish it with abundant care, with attention to detail, with an awareness of its cycles and rhythms. And bring that awareness into other aspects of our everyday lives. 

Let’s be playful and brave, let’s keep dreaming, let’s delight in the rhythm of an open conversation, in our uniqueness and our differences. Let’s really notice what a difference loving ourselves and others can make. And from there, new ways, alternatives to capitalism start to take root. Systemic change starts with us. That’s you and me being human, alive and present in the moment.

Kindness really is the only way forward, love is the answer.  An answer, at least, but a very important one. One to keep uppermost in our hearts. We reap what we sow. Let’s find the true courage that’s resting in our hearts and feel just how much can be changed through this transition. 

Nurudeen Ushawu once said, “Be soft, don’t let the world make you hard. Be gentle, don’t let the people make you difficult. Be kind, don’t let the realities of life steal your sweetness and make you heartless.”

Blog originally posted on 19.10.22 on Campfire's Network https://campfireconvention.network/posts/open-heart-therapy