A Case for Re.human.essen.ce. In this text I’ll defend a case for…
By: Paulo Carvalho
Tags: Systems Thinking, Movement, Rehumanism, Critical Thinking, Creativity

In this text I’ll defend a case for Re.human.essen.ce and why is it relevant.

The world today is a VUCA world (Volatile Uncertain Complex and Ambiguous). Humanity seems at a cross road, brilliantly captured by Yuval Harari in is 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

Globalisation of comerce and economies expose, amplified and globalised some problems: ie. economic crises are global, climate change weather catastrophes, while affecting specific countries are also global, refugees are a global drama, no single country is immune.

Technology can bring a good contribution to our many problems, but brings its dosage of the same old problems, and creates new ones, with a new globalscale and dimension. Take the example of fake news (it was call propaganda, now is a democracy threat).

The number of challenges could continue to be listed for several pages.

Planetary consciousness: What is refreshingly true for an optimist such as my self is, like in no other period of our history we are conscious of our common problems. It is the first time in history that we have a society capable of being aware of it self in its global context.

Renaissance was the most similar period in history, there was a significant step up in our consciousness. What can we learn from renaissance?

Renaissance was, undoubtedly, one of our greatest shifts in our human history. Man like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci combined art, culture, technology and science as a strong vehicle for evolution and beauthy creation.

At the center of the Renaissance creations where key ingredients:

Deconstructionism: of ideological constraints (ie. religion and relation with God).

of ideological constraints (ie. religion and relation with God). Joy of live: impulsed but a post “black plague” “Carpe diem”mentality, giving raise to an Humanistic and human centric approach.

impulsed but a post “black plague” “Carpe diem”mentality, giving raise to an Humanistic and human centric approach. Openness: to explore previous knowledge regardless of source and nature (e.g. nudity and study of anatomy visible in religious art produced in renaissance).

to explore previous knowledge regardless of source and nature (e.g. nudity and study of anatomy visible in religious art produced in renaissance). Abundance: on the finance of merchant families like the Medici.

on the finance of merchant families like the Medici. Bottegas : were schools, workshops, libraries, laboratories, innovation and entrepreneurship centres.

: were schools, workshops, libraries, laboratories, innovation and entrepreneurship centres. Information spread: printing press stimulated information sharing.

printing press stimulated information sharing. Beauty, Art and Science: were combined in all endeavor. Architecture was the expression such connection, Leonardo considered architecture as the most noble activity.

This combination of ingredients could fuel todays societal fabric. It is the base inspiration for the Rehumanism movement.

Re.human.essen.ce is proposing a new flourishing era. Our challenges at hands demand for unprecedented collective efforts.

So, what is Re.human.essen.ce? is is a call for a movement, a proposal, an action, a manifest.

A space for the unknown: Admit, we don’t know. How will we deal with Facebook like political interference? How can we invert the extractive economy from destroing the planet? What will our children expect as a future and how can we prepare them? Not knowing is the fuel of fear the populists trojan so:

We need new Bottegas, safe spaces to help us navigating from fear to heartfelt compassionate action.

Deconstructionism: permanently let go and let come of old narratives and new hypotheses, without prejudice, bios, without labelling (“oh but that’s whateverism”). Contributing towards a permanent “learners mind-state”, a liquide mind not fixated in one world view but in constant reframing.

Joy: “Carpe diem” mentality and a search for humanity plenitude in harmony with Nature and Animals. Developing creativity and curiosity.

Openness: Sense of Openness, curiosity and critical thinking. Rediscovering how can we care for what is common, what is a gift and how can we keep the gift chaine.

Participatory and Inclusive: build with all and for all, the sense of belonging is gained from open mind, heart and will participation and no other criterial.

Beauty, Art and Science: unite Science, Social and Art, build a world with an artist mind and heart.

“The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of” Leonardo Da Vinci

Responsibility: a sense of individual responsibility, assuming we are also responsible for the unwanted results we are producing.

Systemic: understanding global and local dynamics of unwanted results, allowing movement even in face of complex global issues, addressing them at a local (proximity) scale, while being connected and a global scale.

Caring doers: this is not a debate is an action call. The action is not a protest is a caring action, we need to take care of ourselves, our society, our planet.

Incompleteness and impermanence are fundamental properties present in this text. So is a call for your participation and contribution. Are you a Rehumanist?