I have also making a shift in thinking about what it means to be an elder. I have decided that I should only work where people respect the knowledge and wisdom I have achieved over my forty years of transformational work. I am deeply aware that this statement can be misunderstood. I am not proposing that people should necessarily accept or adopt all I say. I am asking them to weigh what I have learned before rejecting it.
Some aspects are clear.
While I believe that the making of connections is absolutely critical, I shall be spending more time designing the spaces to make these connections and less time doing the connecting. I shall concentrate on creating the opportunities that will enable large numbers of people to engage in transformational opportunities. Having made these choices, I was able to set out some core patterns and behaviors which define my sense of the challenges over the next few years. I believe that we must replace our current emphasis on the quantity of goods with a commitment to a high quality of life. In order to do this, we shall need to concentrate on ensuring social cohesion, maintaining ecological integrity and developing more effective decision-making.