by Flemming Funch
I believe one of the key roles in the building of better societies is that of what we could call a Weaver. We could say it is somebody who helps self-organization to happen, even if that sounds a little paradoxical. Somebody who notices things that are possible and assists them in emerging, by making connections where there were none.
In order to release our collective intelligence I think it is a firm requirement that creative diversity is allowed and nurtured. That people are inherently free to come up with different approaches to things, and they're free to move about and pursue them in the ways they find appropriate. In other words, a free market of ideas and activities.
But, as that will often seem rather chaotic at first glance, there's a great need for people who will assist in making what is going on clear and meaningful, and who will help new meaningful things in becoming manifest. There are probably several different distinct roles there. But let me talk a bit about the Weaver role.
Who has inspired me the most to focus on that is probably my good friend Leif Smith of Pattern Research in Colorado. We were having a stimulating meeting yesterday. One of the things he wrote is this brilliant piece:
Weavers of Freeorder
"Weavers of freeorder are pattern seers, connection makers, thinkers, artists,
entrepreneurs who work for all who discover that their home is Open Network.
Open Network names a freeorder comprised of and arising from
all aspects of the world
in which an explorer of sovereign spirit may rejoice.
It is very old.
No one invented it.
Freeorder is a balance among designed and spontaneous orders conducive to quest.
Quest is an aesthetics governed pattern of explorations
in course of which resonance grows.
Resonance is the expectation of magic.
Magic is emergent,
an awareness arising from a fusing through present action
of intensity, sensitivity, integrity, and wonder.
Such capabilities of human beings are the reason why
Open Network came into being,
why it continues to exist,
and why it is inextinguishable."
That piece says a whole lot if you pay close attention to the words.
A Weaver could maybe be called a Networker just as well. But networker and networking has probably gotten many other connotations along the way, some of which are a little off. Many people will call it "networking" when they're out selling their own projects or trying to sign people up in an MLM. A "weaver" is something a bit more light and poetic, and somebody who's more looking outward, at what is possible and available, rather than just at what they themselves want to do.
A Weaver might notice that people in two different fields could learn something from each other and maybe work together in some synergetic way that none of them had thought about. And the Weaver might help that happening, by introducing those people to each other at the proper time.
The ideas and people to connect must of course be open to it. Not everybody is open to a new and unexpected connection, and those who are, are not necessarily open to it all the time. If one already has a steady job, and one's spare time is all spoken for, and one is happy with the rigidity of it, one might not be open to what a weaver might be about. One probably has to have a certain respect for the processes of self-organization that happen between free people, and one probably has to be flexible enough to appreciate new, expanded possibilities when they come along.
A Weaver is not just somebody who forwards everybody's e-mails to everybody else. It isn't either just somebody who's inspiring and good at motivating others. It is a more specific action. Noticing some specific potentials and acting to bring them out. Seeing a resource over here that might make sense to use over there.
That requires a certain level of intelligence and discernment and experience to do well, most likely. Although it might possibly also be done from a completely intuitive place. One way or another the Weaver needs to be able to respect the integrity of what people are about, and not waste their time. And, most likely, there's a deepening process. It takes a little while before you get to know somebody well enough to know what you can do for them, or what they can do for somebody else. What it says on their business card or on their website might not really be it. You might connect with something more once you know them better. Something possibly more compelling and specific.
I'm interested in what tools will best serve Weavers. I'm also interested in hearing their stories. Because I think we very much need what they do, and we need more of them.
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