“The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.”
Bill O’Brien
The transformative potential of awareness-based arts becomes increasingly evident as we face more and more societal challenges.
Social Arts are an essential part of the Theory U experience by making visible and bringing to awareness the less tangible patterns and dynamics of social systems. Through drawing and movement exercises, we explore the space of “Presencing”—the space between perceiving and creating, between letting go and letting come—where we connect with the source and the essence. These exercises help attune the body and mind to perceive what is emerging, providing a foundation for scribing that is authentic, precise, and deeply connected to the social field.
The Social Art of generative scribing cultivates a deeper understanding of situations and conversationts by listening intentionally—not only to the words and sentences but also to what is present and what wants to emerge. It requires the scribe to suspend judgment or concepts, and to act authentically from what arises in the moment, from a place of service for the whole. This practice aligns with what Arawana Hayashi describes as the “True Move” in her book of the same name.
This program focuses on visual practice for Presencing as the primary practice, with the support of SPT and nature to deepen the participants' capacity to see, sense, and express the emerging future.
Drawing skills and prior knowledge of Theory U or SPT are helpful but not required; all that is needed is an openness to explore and act from this place of collective presence. Our aspiration is to create a space where new possibilities can emerge. As Otto Scharmer emphasizes, there is no limit to what we can collectively create once we align our attention, intention and agency on the scale of the whole.
