Things are falling apart. We're exploring why and what we can do, together, starting Wednesday 15th of April.

With everything unfolding in the world right now, many of us are sensing that something deeper is at play — not just a difficult news cycle, but a civilisational shift. The course Introduction to the Metacrisis and a Second Renaissance offers to meet that honestly — blending teachings with space for conversation and shared reflection — because none of us are meant to face this alone.

Through four online sessions, and material for you to explore in your own time, Rufus and Sylvie will guide the group through the roots of the converging crises — and what’s quietly beginning to emerge in response.

Join us — we start this Wednesday!

April 15, 22, 29, & May 6. 5-6:30pm CEST.

Recordings available.

Recommended contribution: €39 Sliding scale €10- €39. Scholarships available.

Register now

Mythos: issue #2 of the Second Renaissance Magazine available for pre-order

Myths are never neutral. They shape what we keep, what we remember, what we call sacred — and they carry us forward through culture, image, and memory.

In the second issue of the Second Renaissance Magazine, contributors from across our community explore mythos from many angles, through essays, visual art, and poetry : the creation of new stories, the revisiting of old ones, and the search for meaning in a time that often feels turbulent and uncertain. From ancient gods to the emerging mythologies of AI, the issue asks what stories we tell about what is real, what matters, and what endures.

Single issue available for pre-order: 40€

Yearly subscription to the Second Renaissance magazine: 35€

Find out more

Pre-order or subscribe now

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

This month’s Seeds of a Second Renaissance explores Sri Aurobindo’s vision of India’s independence struggle as part of a global spiritual regeneration — plus upcoming events and job opportunities.

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 13 (Mar 2026) - Sri Aurobindo on the evolution of human consciousness

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance – a monthly newsletter for explorers of inner-led change towards radically wiser societies. For both seasoned travellers and those new to these shores, each edition offers a bite-sized exploration of keystone ideas, and thinkers whose work you may wish to know more deeply…

Read more

2 months ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Catherine Tran and Rosie Bell

🏔️ Over The Mountains 🏔️

An intimate discussion about personal relationships as a source of real transformation. Through the lens of their ten-year relationship, Sylvie and Rufus reflect on conventional relationship dynamics, freedom versus ownership, and how the transformation of our personal relationships is an integral part of building a more authentic and wise society.

Over the Mountains by Life Itself

Finding a path to a Second Renaissance

By Rufus Pollock

💡Life Itself Research💡

Four talks from the Life Itself Research Collective this month — on complexity science, conscious communities, spatial cognition, and technological metamodernism, with Jonah Wilberg, Simon Grant, Momcilo Mijovic, and Stephen Reid.

Life Itself Research

Jonah Wilberg on Complexity Science and Societal Transformation

In this talk, Jonah Wilberg argues that complexity science offers a set of tools that - having been designed to understand systems that are dynamic, nonlinear, and prone to radical change - are especially suitable for making sense of our current period of global societal transformation and crisis …

Listen now

a month ago · 3 likes · Jonah Wilberg

Life Itself Research

Simon Grant on Structural Challenges of Conscious Communities

Under the heading of ‘Redeveloping Relationship’, Simon Grant develops a distinction between belongingness - the basic human need to be accepted, cared for, and feel safe within a group - and creative work - the purposeful, co-creative activity that groups undertake to make something in the world…

Listen now

a month ago · 3 likes · Jonah Wilberg

Life Itself Research

Momcilo Mijovic on Spatial Cognition and Human Connection

Momcilo explores how we understand and navigate physical space - and how those same principles might be applied to building richer connections between people…

Listen now

2 months ago · 1 like · Jonah Wilberg

Life Itself Research

Stephen Reid on Technological Metamodernism

Stephen Reid presents his ongoing work on Technological Metamodernism, a book he’s developing with an unusual co-author: Hilma Church Turing, an AI-assisted fictional persona who emerged during a meditation retreat…

Listen now

2 months ago · 3 likes · Jonah Wilberg

Life Itself UK Midsummer 2026 Gathering

Join us on the 17-21 June at Kelston Roundhill Barn, a quintessential English spot in Somerset England located between Bath and Bristol! This gathering is a chance for the Life Itself community to come together in a remarkable landscape: to meet each other, deepen connections, and enjoy being together on the land.

Live music on Saturday night.

Open to all.

Rates : £295 - £415

Limited capacity of 20 people. Bookings are first come first served.

Book now

🐌In case you missed it🐌

In Tech We Trust webinar discussion

At the launch of our In Tech We Trust whitepaper, we were joined by expert panellists Michael Garfield (Humans in the Loop podcast), Jenny Stefanotti (Denizen), and Xavier Snelgrove (Orbital Magazine) who discussed the importance of humility and wisdom in governance, and how we might de-centre technology in discussions about the future. Watch it here:

🌱 Help us create a weller, wiser world together. To support the movement, you can:

💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

💸 Become a paid subscriber

Subscribe now

In Tech We Trust paper & webinar 18th March

A new white paper is out: In Tech We Trust. It examines the god-like authority of technology in the modern age – and what it means to set a wiser course.

Join us on Wednesday 18th March, 5:30pm Europe / 12 noon eastern for a live roundtable for the launch of the paper with the authors and invited panellists including Michael Garfield (Humans in the Loop podcast) and Jenny Stefanotti (Denizen).

Register for the webinar

​This roundtable will open a timely conversation on topics like: ​Has technology become a kind of modern “god”? How do modern assumptions — individualism, rationalism, materialism, and the myth of progress — shape our relationship with AI? ​What might it mean to shift from out-of-control technological acceleration towards collective restraint? Rather than focusing only on governance, the discussion will examine the cultural paradigm shaping our technological era — and the inner capacities needed to navigate it well.

Upcoming course: Exploring a Second Renaissance Together

A guided journey to deepen your understanding of this moment of crisis and renewal.

Join our short online course to explore together this time between worlds and the growing civilisational crisis and renewal – a Metacrisis and Second Renaissance.

Led by Life Itself co-founders and Second Renaissance project curators Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier, this series is an invitation to those already curious about the cracks in the modern worldview — and those feeling the pull towards a more connected, meaningful, and regenerative future.

• 📆 When: 18th and 25th March, 1st April, 8th April 2026

• 🕰️ Format: 4 sessions of 1h30min over 4 weeks (recordings available)

• 🌐 Where: Online, interactive sessions

• 💶 Price: €39 / $39 (scholarships available on request)

• 🙌 Register: directly on Luma

• ℹ️ More information: visit the course landing page for further information about the programme and how to register.

❤️ Thank You, Lauren ❤️

Lauren Wigmore, our beloved Community Manager, is transitioning into a full-time role at Liminal Learning. We’d like to thank Lauren for the incredible dedication she has brought to the Life Itself team. She has been a cornerstone of our community and is a true exemplar of the values we wish to see in the world. While she’ll be dearly missed in her capacity as a team member, we’re excited to see what’s in store for her over at Liminal Learning.

Below are some reflections from Lauren about her time working at Life Itself.

🏔️ Over The Mountains 🏔️

How Authoritarian Regimes like Iran Can Fall

Last week we released Episode 10 of Over The Mountains: “You say you want a revolution”: How Authoritarian Regimes like Iran Can Fall. This episode, which was recorded prior to the recent US-Israel military intervention, explores what history can tell us about how regime change, the mass protest movement in Iran, and the possibility of systemic change in today’s world.

The Divine Whore & The Holy Mother: Reclaiming Eros as Sacred Power

Sylvie Barbier also released a new blog post entitled ‘The Divine Whore & The Holy Mother: Reclaiming Eros as Sacred Power’ which explores how the cultural shaming of sex fuels exploitation and abuse:

With the revelations of the Epstein files and the Pelicot case, we owe it to ourselves to ask: how is it that we, as a society, have arrived here? Because this is not only the moral failure of individuals — it asks a deeper question: what cultural and legal conditions have made this possible?

💡Life Itself Research💡

Complexity Science Retreat

On Friday 13th February, ten intellectual explorers arrived in Steinlands, Norway, for five days of complexity themed discussion and inquiry.

Led by Jonah Wilberg and Max Ramsahoye from Life Itself Research, the week included participant-led presentations on topics from complexity science and society, AI interpretability and network theory, as well as meditation, yoga and walks in the surrounding snow-filled landscape.

Ongoing Programme

The Life Itself Research collective also continued its active online programme in February, including a presentation by Eric Heinis on Ethical AI architectures, and from Momcilo Mijovic on ‘Rapid Bonding’.

In addition, Jonah Wilberg released the third and final part of his extended sequence on the concept of Moloch.

Life Itself Research

Eric Heinis on Ethical AI Architectures

Drawing on his work in AI alignment, Eric Heinis - design engineer and founder of Ethic LLC - argues that encoding values at the semantic level is fundamentally unstable: any intelligence capable enough to construct a narrative justifying a rule-break will eventually do so. The architecture has to do the work, not the words…

Listen now

2 months ago · 3 likes · Jonah Wilberg

Life Itself Research

Momcilo Mijovic on 'Rapid Bonding'

Momcilo explores the institutional and structural conditions of cooperation and social capital and applies this to problems faced by informal, values-aligned communities like Life Itself…

Listen now

3 months ago · 3 likes · Jonah Wilberg

Life itself Riverside Hub

Here is an article from our inner house tenzo, related to her last book Shojin, where she explores an active way of being with the complexity and suffering of our food. Inspired by the Zen tradition, it resonates with a metamodern posture.

Life Itself Riverside Bergerac Hub

Shojin, the zen temple food

I am the tenzo of the Riverside Hub of Life Itself…

Read more

2 months ago · Valerie Duvauchelle

🌱 Help us create a weller, wiser world together. To support the movement, you can:

💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

💸 Become a paid subscriber

London Meet-Up

On Friday, 23 January, Jonah Wilberg hosted the fifth Second Renaissance London meet-up at Newspeak House. This was our largest meet-up yet, with over 100 sign-ups. The event was themed around the Game B community, founded by Jim Rutt. We also had an unexpected drop-in from Rufus Pollock, who gave a captivating, impromptu talk on the prospect of civilisational collapse. As always, the evening ended in the local pub, with more conversation and connection sparked by the event.

On February 28th, Jonah will be hosting the next meet-up. The event will be run in collaboration with InnerOn, an online platform and community being created by Alina Croitoru, designed to "help people remember how to be themselves and together in real life". See more details on Luma.

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

This month’s Seeds of a Second Renaissance newsletter focused on Max Scheler’s concept of ‘Valueception’:

‘Amid growing awareness that our socio-ecological crises share metaphysical roots, a renewed discourse of value is gathering momentum. Might there be any intrinsic meaning to human existence — or beyond it? Is value more than mere opinion? If so, how can we orient collectively towards more goodness in our lives and societies?’.

See the full newsletter below:

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 11 (Jan 2026) - Max Scheler on Valueception

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance – a monthly newsletter for explorers of inner-led change towards radically wiser societies. For both seasoned travellers and those new to these shores, each edition offers a bite-sized exploration of keystone ideas, and thinkers whose work you may wish to know more deeply…

Read more

4 months ago · 4 likes · Catherine Tran and Rosie Bell

🚀 Upcoming Explorations 🚀

Life Itself UK Gathering

We’re excited to announce that a UK Life Itself gathering will be taking place between 17–21 June. The gathering will be held at Kelston Roundhill Barn, an iconic spot in Somerset, England, between Bath and Bristol. More details coming soon.

🏔️ Over The Mountains 🏔️

January saw the release of three new episodes of Over The Mountains. In Episode 7, Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barber discuss collective dreaming and the pursuit of wisdom. This was followed by a conversation between Sylvie and Uriel (Freak Daddy) exploring identity and the shared experiences of trans and cis bodies. Finally, Sylvie sat down with Liam Kavanagh to discuss the role of religion and spiritual creativity in the modern age.

Over the Mountains by Life Itself

Finding a path to a Second Renaissance

By Rufus Pollock

💡Life Itself Research💡

The Life Itself Research collective ran an active programme in January, including::

• A presentation by Tom Murray on the Wisdom Skills Framework, which distinguishes between "ascending" processes (building complex cognitive structures) and "descending" processes (releasing ego and trauma).

• A talk by Pavel Chvykov on how complexity science offers a conceptual bridge to core ideas in Eastern philosophy.

  Life Itself Research

  Pavel Chvykov on Complexity Science and Eastern Philosophy

  Pavel outlines how complexity science provides conceptual tools that closely parallel core ideas in Eastern philosophy…

  Listen now

  3 months ago · 3 likes · Jonah Wilberg

Life Itself Research

Tom Murray on Wisdom Skills and Developmental Models

Tom Murray shares his work on the Wisdom Skills Framework. He suggests that most developmental models focus on what he calls ascending processes: the building of increasingly complex cognitive, emotional, and social structures. These processes, he suggests, lead to greater differentiation, perspective-taking, and uniqueness—but not necessarily to unity …

Listen now

4 months ago · 8 likes · 1 comment · Jonah Wilberg

🌱 Help us create a weller, wiser world together. To support the movement, you can:

💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

💸 Become a paid subscriber

Subscribe now

Art of the Second Renaissance: Manifesto and Magazine

On Tuesday 28th January, we launched the Art of the Second Renaissance Manifesto and Magazine. Art of the Second Renaissance is a new movement aiming to redefine how art is made and to contribute to the emergence of a Second Renaissance. Its core activities include developing a manifesto, forming a collective, producing an annual magazine, hosting exhibitions, and creating projects that embody the movement’s principles. You can read more about the launch here.

In February, we launched ‘Seeds of a Second Renaissance’ - a curated, digestible, and accessible newsletter for anyone seeking to learn, participate, or collaborate in the movement. You can read all editions to date here.

🌿 Spring’s Seedlings 🌿

Human Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis (Harvard, May)

On May 2nd and 3rd, the Human Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis event took place, bringing together a global community of educators, practitioners, thinkers, and changemakers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The event focused on how education and inner development can address the Metacrisis, the interconnected challenges of our era - social polarization, ecological breakdown, and a crisis of meaning - signalling a world in transition.

Keynote speakers included Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School Professor and author of Reimagining Capitalism; Tyler VanderWeele, Director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program; and Futurist and Developmental Theorist Zak Stein. The conference also featured panels, workshops and unconference sessions led by Bonnitta Roy, Daniel Thorson, Isabela Granic, Peter Limberg, Kam Bellamy, and Brendan Graham Dempsey, exploring themes such as metamodern spirituality, youth flourishing, and collective healing. A youth-led collective session, EmpowerEd Through Arts, from students at the Boston Arts Academy also took place.

☀️ Summer Gatherings ☀️

Events

This summer also saw the first proto-edition of the Second Renaissance Festival - a small gathering of dance, music, art and ritual. It was a joyous and intimate occasion, and we’re very excited to see this project evolve in the years to come.

A few weeks later, we hosted the Sensemaking Summer School at the Riverside Hub - a week-long intensive, exploring the intersection of global catastrophic risk and cultural evolution, through the frameworks of Integral Theory, Metacrisis and Second Renaissance.

In July the ‘Inner River’ residency was hosted at the Riverside Hub, a month-long exploration of art and creative way-finding. See here for a beautiful recap written by Alexia Netcu, one of the members of the hosting team.

From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey – Live Sessions in July

Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier hosted the From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey course in July. Bringing together 24 participants for online interactive learning, dialogue, and deeper exploration of the Second Renaissance framework.

Life Itself Research

The summer was a prolific period of activity for the Life Itself Research community, which continued its weekly programme of calls, with recordings available at the new research substack.

• Anna Riedl gave a fascinating talk on her recent work on Autopoiethics, connecting it to her previous work with John Vervaeke on Relevance Realisation, rationality and wisdom.

• Valerie Duvauchelle shared her experience of using insights from Zen monastic practice in developing a co-living framework at Life Itself’s Bergerac Hub.

• Well-known scholar of metamodernism and spirituality Brendan Graham Dempsey gave an exciting presentation entitled “Measuring Worldviews: Putting Integral Altitudes to the Test”.

• Jonah Wilberg gave a presentation on the intellectual history of the Metacrisis: discussing both the history of that specific term, and the broader history of related ideas within 19th and 20th century philosophy.

Alongside the research group, we released several podcasts over the summer featuring thinkers such as Zak Stein, Theo Dawson and Manda Scott.

🍁 Autumn Insights 🍁

Autumn Praxis Residency (Bergerac, October - December)

October 6th marked the beginning of this year’s Autumn Praxis Residency, a two and a half month-long experiment of living in deep connection, including participants from the Life Itself Practicum. Over this period, twenty-four residents, from nine different countries, practiced the art of co-living in our beautiful Riverside Hub in Bergerac. It was a beautiful and enriching experience, see here for a series of memories and reflections from the residency.

Developmental Spaces: Cultural incubators for a time of transformation (October)

On October 2nd, we released our second white paper of the year. The paper set out a policy case for Developmental Spaces: collective settings for integrated inner development. You can watch the webinar here.

This early step aims to help build an evidence-based movement for Developmental Spaces, provided widely enough to serve large segments of populations. The ultimate ambition is a replicable, scalable model with potential to influence the deepest orientation of societies towards a regenerative future - a ‘Second Renaissance’. Learn more about the white paper here.

Over the Mountains Podcast Series (November)

On the 13th of November, Rufus and Sylvie released the first edition of Over The Mountains - a podcast and a blog exploring the understandings and system shifts needed to bring forth a Second Renaissance, and to live within a metamodern reality that works for everyone. It focuses on the societal, political, economic, and ontological transformations required for such a world to emerge.

Through conversations with sensemakers and the builders of tomorrow - such as Rufus Pollock, Liam Kavanagh, Sylvie Barbier, and Jonah Wilberg - this series shares deep knowledge from sociology, economics, political philosophy, history, neuroscience, and ideological science, making these insights accessible to a wider audience.

Over the Mountains by Life Itself

Over The Mountains #1 | The Devil’s Trick: Invisible Ideology Behind Techno Oligarchy

This is episode #1 of a new sub-series Over the Mountains: Finding a Path to the Second Renaissance…

Listen now

6 months ago · 2 likes · Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier

Looking back, 2025 was an exciting and prolific year for our community. We’re looking forward to continuing this work and seeing what we can accomplish together in 2026 and beyond. As a team, we’d like to extend a sincere thank you to the community for your continued support.

Subscribe now

🌱 Help us to create a weller, wiser world together, to support the movement, you can:

💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

💸 Become a paid subscriber

We’re in the final stretch of our crowdfunding journey for the Second Renaissance Magazine. We’ve reached 85% of our £17,500 goal, and with just 3 days left, your support can help bring this vision fully to life. Our dream is not simply to publish a magazine, but to offer an experience — a doorway into another world.

Reaching our target means we can begin fairly compensating artists and writers, building a sustainable foundation, and sharing the transformative power of art with a wider audience.

Become a founding subscriber

• With £25 receive our first issue on Impermanence (available now as a physical copy), a beautiful gift of reflection and transformation.

• With £50 receive the first issue and our second issue on Mythos.

• With £100 receive an advance order of the second and third issues, helping place the magazine on a clear path toward sustainability.

We want you to feel the pulse of a living renaissance when you open the pages, and to sense art once again as a sacred, renewing force.

If this speaks to you, we would be honoured to have you join us as a founding subscriber and carry this cultural beacon into a new era of art.

Join the crowdfunding and get your copy now.

Get your copy now

🚀 Upcoming Explorations 🚀

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

In November we presented the Developmental Spaces white paper. ​

The event included a presentation by the paper co-authors with a plenary discussion and Q&A, and community breakouts. Speakers at the event included Kam Bellamy (Springboard Foundation for Whole Person Learning); Marc Santolini (Learning Planet Institute); and Tomas Björkman (Ekskäret Foundation).

You can watch the webinar here:

Over the Mountains

November also saw the launch of our new podcast hosted by Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier - Over the Mountains. You can listen to the first episode here.

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Oasis Special Edition: Second Renaissance Fair

On 25th November we welcomed the community to the Second Renaissance Fair. With over 100 sign ups and 18 booths — organisations and projects showcasing their offerings to the community — the event proved to be extremely successful and we hope to curate more Fairs at the Oasis in 2026.

If you want to join us throughout December at the Oasis, we have our next call on Tuesday 16th Dec 6pm CET, you can register here.

Metamodern Mission

Rufus Pollock spoke with Brendan Graham Dempsey on a his recent podcast. Together, they discussed a new orientation to value and meaning in this time between worlds. Watch the episode here:

💡Life Itself Research💡

The Life Itself Research collective had an active programme in November, exploring topics from Moloch and Evolutionary Game theory, new research methodologies and the Freudian and Marxist traditions. You can watch the calls below.

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

We have entered the final week of our 2025 Autumn Praxis Residency. Keep an eye out for reflections on our time together this season in our post-residency write-up, which will be released later this month on the Bergerac Hub Substack.

As we look towards 2026, we are in the exciting process of planning our events and residencies programme for the new year, and we’re looking for people to come and share the space.

Join us: If you’d like to come and stay with us next year, we invite you to fill out this expression of interest form

Buy tickets here

Oasis Special Edition: Second Renaissance Fair

Step into the Second Renaissance Fair, a one-of-a-kind virtual showcase where changemakers and visionary organizations share their projects in a lively, interactive format. Explore “faire market” meets “science project” style booths, connect with new and familiar organizations, ask questions directly, and discover fresh ideas shaping the Second Renaissance. You can choose to join as a fair-goer or as a presenter in a booth here: https://luma.com/7b1k9412

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

In the Oasis calls this month we explored the dance of leadership and surrender in Lead or Follow, sharpened our awareness through the Noticing Game, and tuned into subtle alignment with Inner Resonance. As Halloween approached, Spooky Time invited us into mystery, laughter, and shared playfulness. Our tents included GiveWiser, Life Guild, Intentional Ventures, Research & Sensemaking, Greenhouse, and the Navigators Guild.

Join us in a call in November.

Some of our top forum posts over the past month have included:

• Metacrisis and AI governance - talk

• Meditations on Moloch

• Is belief in and practice of revealed religion consistent with Second Renaissance thinking?

London based? Join Second Renaissance London and Long Now London, at Shaping Wiser Futures on November 9th. A participant-led gathering bringing together aligned London-based communities — and newcomers alike — to share projects, exchange ideas, and practice together. Learn more and register: https://luma.com/wb8c77i0

💡Life Itself Research💡

The Life Itself Research group explored topics including AI, approaches to knowledge commons, and Gabriel Marcel’s concept of the ‘broken world’ (recording below).

Life Itself Research

Momcilo Mijovic on Gabriel Marcel and the Broken World

Momčilo explores the work of Gabriel Marcel, the French Christian existentialist philosopher, drawing parallels between his conception of the ‘broken world’ and recent ideas in metamodernism, including the concept of ‘metacrisis’ and the ideas of John Vervaeke…

Listen now

6 months ago · 1 like · Jonah Wilberg

The group also undertook some strategic reflection, resulting in a new rota system with regular presentations of work-in-progress, and clarified research approach.

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Residencies

Riverside Hub October Newsletter

A word from our community manager, Finn…

Read more

6 months ago · 1 like · Valerie Duvauchelle and Finn Clancy

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Residencies

Life Itself Spring Praxis Residency 2026 (February to May)

What does it mean to live well, together? How might our ways of being and relating transform our worlds? How can we practise living “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible…

Read more

6 months ago · 6 likes · 1 comment · Life Itself Praxis Hub, Finn Clancy, Catherine Tran, and Valerie Duvauchelle

🌱 Help us to create a weller, wiser world together, to support the movement, you can:

💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

💸 Become a paid subscriber

Second Renaissance Online Conference: 5-7 Dec 2025 - Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis

Just announced - Thomas Hübl to join Prof Rebecca Henderson, as two of the keynote speakers at the Second Renaissance Online Conference: Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis.

Taking place December 5–7, 2025, online, we invite you to join us — along with thinkers and changemakers including Kam Bellamy, Peter Limberg, Rufus Pollock, and Liam Kavanagh — for three days of deep inquiry and dialogue exploring transformation, wisdom, resilience, and renewal in a time of metacrisis, and the role of community within it all.

There are currently discounted Earlybird tickets available to support community accessibility.

👉 Learn more and get your tickets at www.2rcon.org

Read the full announce post here.

Visit the website or buy tickets here

From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey – Live Sessions Starting 12th Nov

Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier will be hosting the next live From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey. The 4-week course starts on Wednesday, 12th November, and runs every Wednesday from 5pm-630pm CEST until 3rd December inclusive. It’s a chance to gather online for interactive learning, dialogue, and deeper exploration of the Second Renaissance framework.

🔗 Register here: https://luma.com/dnlu160o

Here’s what our latest participants said about the course:

I deeply appreciated the course’s embodied approach to navigating pathways toward a paradigm shift.

A wonderful connection space which inspires to keep seeking and building towards the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

Join us for the new Developmental Spaces White Paper Webinar - Wednesday 5th Nov, 6pm

Sign up for the webinar here - https://luma.com/rj11xedf

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Second Renaissance Magazine

Today marks the official launch of our crowdfunding campaign for the Second Renaissance Magazine.

This is more than a magazine — it’s a cultural movement. Each issue gathers artists, writers, and performers who embody the spirit of the Second Renaissance: art as oracle, as ritual, as a guide toward new meaning.

We are raising £17,500 to bring the next two issues to life. Your support covers curation, editing, design, and printing — but most importantly, it ensures that the artists who share their vision and labour are fairly compensated.

🌟 Every pledge is doubled (up to £200) thanks to our generous private match funders — meaning your impact goes twice as far.

👉 Join the campaign here

With your support, the Second Renaissance becomes not only visible, but sustainable. Together, we can midwife this cultural shift.

Oasis Special Edition: Second Renaissance Fair

Step into the Second Renaissance Fair, a one-of-a-kind virtual showcase where changemakers and visionary organizations share their projects in a lively, interactive format. Explore “faire market” meets “science project” style booths, connect with new and familiar organizations, ask questions directly, and discover fresh ideas shaping the Second Renaissance. Whether attending to learn or presenting to share your work, this is your chance to engage, connect, and be inspired. Reserve your spot and join the fair here: https://luma.com/7b1k9412

Second Renaissance Forum

Some of our top forum posts over the past month have included:

• The Intellectual Genealogy of Second Renaissance Thought

• Converging Futures: A New Technique for Arriving at a Shared Vision

• Multiplicity and Unity

We also have a new category - Embodied Knowing - a space to explore the ways knowledge lives beyond words. Embodied Knowing is where dreams, art, movement, myth, and symbolic sense-making find a home.

This category invites us to welcome the full spectrum of human expression’, rational and intuitive, personal and collective, so we can co-create a culture that feels alive.

You can read more and contribute here.

Shaping Wiser Futures - London Event - November 9th

Co-hosted by Second Renaissance London and Long Now London, this participant-led gathering will bring together aligned London-based communities — and newcomers alike — to share projects, exchange ideas, and practice together.

Learn more and register here: https://luma.com/wb8c77i0

💡Life Itself Research💡

September saw an exciting new strand of activity in the Research group on the topic of how generative AI can be used to enhance wisdom, sense-making and collaboration. This including a dialogue and sharing circle around individual projects with AI, as well as a discussion to the Synergy Engine project, hosted by Bob Bunge, that included members of the World Systems Solutions team behind the project.

There was also a presentation and discussion on the results of the Cohere+ project (link below), and more recently, a presentation on ‘digital vigilantism’ by Momcilo Mijovic.

It is also great to be able to share the recording, in line with launch of his new book, of Brendan Graham Dempsey’s presentation on ‘Measuring Worldviews’, using the Lectica approach. As with other recordings, this is available on the dedicated Life Itself Research Substack.

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

The Bergerac Praxis Hub is kicking off Autumn with a full house for this year’s Autumn Residency, and Life Itself Practicuum. Follow all the latest developments from the residency here:

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Residencies

News from Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub - https://lifeitself.org/hubs/bergerac

By Life Itself Praxis Hub

🌱 Help us to create a weller, wiser world together, to support the movement, you can:

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Applying the Polycrisis & Metacrisis Frames

Our world faces overlapping crises that reinforce one another - a polycrisis. Beneath these symptoms lies the metacrisis: the deeper cultural and systemic conditions that generate them. Understanding both is key to moving from surface problems toward real solutions.

Join Rufus Pollock and Oren Slozberg on September 10th at 530pm CEST for a conversation exploring just this - the polycrisis and metacrisis frameworks - and how they can be applied to three major areas of climate breakdown, runaway AI, populism and democratic retreat.

Register here for free

Oasis Special Edition: Second Renaissance Fair

On Tuesday September 30th we'll be hosting a Second Renaissance Fair at the Oasis. Deviating from the usual being-and-building set up of the Oasis Calls, in this special edition we will be hosting a Second Renaissance Fair to showcase and share projects and initiatives within the community.

If you would like to attend sign up via the luma event page - https://lu.ma/yq9ixlgd

To host a stall also add your details here.

From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey – Live Sessions Starting in October

Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier will be hosting the next live From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey. The 4-week course starts on Wednesday, 5th November, and runs every Wednesday from 5pm-630pm CEST. It’s a chance to gather online for interactive learning, dialogue, and deeper exploration of the Second Renaissance framework.

🔗 Register here: https://luma.com/dnlu160o

Here’s what our latest participants said about the course:

I deeply appreciated the course’s embodied approach to navigating pathways toward a paradigm shift.

A wonderful connection space which inspires to keep seeking and building towards the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

August saw the launch of the Life Itself Australia Connection Calls. In this month’s call they gathered to explore the possibility of a Deliberately Developmental Space (DDS) in Lutruwita, drawing on diverse backgrounds to imagine what transformative practice in a Tassie DDS could look like.

The next Australia Connection Call will take place on September 18th at 7pm AEST - register here to join.

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 7 (Aug 2025) - Vanessa Machado de Oliveira on Hospicing Modernity

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance – a monthly newsletter for explorers of inner-led change towards radically wiser societies. For both seasoned travellers and those new to these shores, each edition offers a bite-sized exploration of keystone ideas, and thinkers whose work you may wish to know more deeply…

Read more

8 months ago · 9 likes · Catherine Tran and Rosie Bell

Zak Stein: Education, AI & Personhood Conferral Problem

Watch Zak Stein’s keynote presentation from the Human Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis conference held at Harvard in May here:

Second Renaissance Forum

Some of our top forum posts over the past month have included:

• Facing the Future

• System Sensing and Aiden: expanding our capacity to sense and steer well in chaotic times

• What does “hospicing modernity” mean?

• Beyond the Great Anomaly (of fossil)

💡Life Itself Research💡

The Research Group had a slightly quieter August than normal in terms of meetings, and will be going back to its weekly schedule from September.

One written output in August was a well-received overview of the Metacrisis by Jonah Wilberg.

And soon to be released is the research talk Measuring Worldviews: Putting Integral Altitudes to the Test from Brendan Graham Dempsey.

You can subscribe and keep up to date with all research talks and news here:

Life Itself Research

Life Itself Research dedicated newsletter.

By Rufus Pollock

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Here is a beautiful recap of the Inner River art residency, which took place in July 2025 at the Life Itself Praxis Hub in Bergerac -- written by Alexia Netcu, one of the members of the hosting team.

Blowing in the Wind

A Whole Month of Art? - A Recap of the Inner River Residency

Earlier in July, eleven core participants and the three of us on the hosting team packed our bags and headed to the small town of Bergerac in South-West France to dedicate a month to art and creative wayfinding - the long-awaited Inner River residency. Some of us were from the US, a few from different places in Europe, and we even got someone to come fr…

Read more

9 months ago · 2 likes · Alexia Netcu

We have a few spaces still available in our Autumn Residency for December. If you are interested read more and apply here:

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Residencies

Autumn Praxis Residency (October to December 2025)

What does it mean to live well, together? How can our ways of being transform the world? Join us for the third Autumn Praxis Residency at the Life Itself Bergerac Hub: a 2.5-month-long container for contemplative, relational, and embodied practice in community. You’ll live together with others who are asking questions like these in their lives and work…

Read more

a year ago · 5 likes · Catherine Tran and Valerie Duvauchelle

🌱 Help us to create a weller, wiser world together, to support the movement, you can:

• 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

• 🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

• 💸 Become a paid subscriber

Come join the party - September 5th-7th!

Autumn Praxis Residency (October to December 2025)

Live together with others who are exploring regenerative ways of being and doing.

You are invited to join us for our Autumn conscious co-living residency to transform how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the wider world.

A 2.5-month-long container, where you can join for 1 week up to the full 2.5months, for contemplative, relational, and embodied practice in community. You’ll live together with others who are actively exploring how to live and work in ways of being that transform the world, and you’ll experience the frame of collective rhythms and practices for conscious community living which have been developed at the Hub over the past 5 years.

Read more and apply here

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

This month we had Sylvie Barbier and Theo Dawson on the Life Itself podcast. Listen to both below.

Listen to Rufus Pollock on:

Humans On The Loop

Culture, Consciousness, and the Second Renaissance with Rufus Pollock

Membership | Donations | Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts…

Listen now

10 months ago · 10 likes · Michael Garfield and Rufus Pollock

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

At the Oasis, and Experiments in Spiritual Spaceholding

This month, we conjured a Magic Budget through collective wishing, mapped our shared experience with Community Self-Sensing, and stepped into playful insight with the Guru Game. Our Community bonding practice, the Weaving Stories Circle, invited deep listening and connection. We also hosted our Experiments in Spiritual Spaceholding - our special edition Oasis call on the 5th Tuesday of the month, opening new ground for shared inquiry and presence into our individual and collective experience of spirituality. Across our vibrant ecosystem, tents sprang up - Red World, Givewiser, Weaving the Cultural Fabric, and the Collab-a-thon, alongside Field Building, Research & Sensemaking, and Intentional Ventures. Spontaneous Pop-up Tents also emerged, fueling the creativity and co-creation.

Join us for a call in August here.

Read a reflective piece on the Experiments in Spiritual Spaceholding from Naeema here.

Seeds Issue 6

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 6 (July 2025) – Thích Nhất Hạnh on Interbeing

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance* – a monthly newsletter for explorers of inner-led change towards radically wiser societies. For both seasoned travellers and those new to these shores, each edition offers a bite-sized exploration of keystone ideas, and thinkers whose work you may wish to know more deeply…

Read more

9 months ago · 8 likes · Catherine Tran and Rosie Bell

Second Renaissance Forum

Some of our top forum posts over the past month have included:

• Work in Progress - Call to Action

• Ethics and AI

• How “Western” is Second Renaissance?

• My Summer with Ken Inside the Integral Jungle

From Metacrisis to a Second Renaissance - Explorer Course

Our July course, From Metacrisis to a Second Renaissance, brought together a diverse group of 24 participants from across the globe to explore the deep patterns of civilizational breakdown and the possibilities for renewal. Through four interactive sessions led by Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier, we uncovered the roots of the metacrisis, glimpsed seeds of a new paradigm, and shared our personal journeys of awareness and hope.

To keep the conversation alive, you are invited to join us and course participants for a weekly pop-up tent at the Oasis throughout August - where we will continue the dialogue, reflect, and explore how to live into a Second Renaissance together. The first one takes place on August 5th - register here.

Second Renaissance London: 'Leviathan' screening

On Thursday 31st July, London Second Renaissancers gathered at Newspeak House for the 4th London meet-up to watch and discuss the recently released Leviathan documentary from Kainos.

The screening was followed by structured discussion of the film and it’s themes, and many insightful perspectives were shared and generated in a warm and intellectually curious atmosphere.

💡Life Itself Research💡

In July, Life Itself Research continued it’s active programme of calls, with recordings available at the new research substack.

• Anna Riedl gave a fascinating talk on her recent work on Autopoiethics, connecting it to her previous work with John Vervaeke on Relevance Realisation, rationality and wisdom.

• Valerie Duvauchelle shared her experience of using insights from Zen monastic practice in developing co-living framework at Life Itself's Bergerac Hub.

• Gen Zendahl led a session of the Glass Bead Game, an intellectual and poetic relational practice she helped pioneer.

• Jonah Wilberg gave a presentation on the intellectual history of the Metacrisis: discussing both the history of that specific term, and the broader history of related ideas within 19th and 20th century philosophy.

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Residencies

Autumn Praxis Residency (October to December 2025)

What does it mean to live well, together? How can our ways of being transform the world? Join us for the third Autumn Praxis Residency at the Life Itself Bergerac Hub: a 2.5-month-long container for contemplative, relational, and embodied practice in community. You’ll live together with others who are asking questions like these in their lives and work…

Read more

a year ago · 4 likes · Catherine Tran and Valerie Duvauchelle

From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey – Live Sessions in July

Starting today, on Wednesday July 2nd, Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier will be hosting the live From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey running every Wednesday from 5pm-630pm CEST. It’s a chance to gather online for interactive learning, dialogue, and deeper exploration of the Second Renaissance framework.

More details and register here

Sensemaking Summer School taking place in September

The final month to apply for the in-person Sensemaking Summer School 2025: Exploring the Metacrisis and a Second Renaissance, September 17th-24th 2025 at the Bergerac Praxis Hub.

This is a week-long gathering for 10-20 researchers, practitioners and changemakers coming together for an intensive exploration of the Metacrisis, the Second Renaissance, Complex Systems, Wicked Problems and Collective Transformation. Apply by June 31st or read more here: https://news.lifeitself.org/p/sensemaking-summer-school-exploring

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

At the Oasis, and Collab-a-thon update

This month we dived into MiniCases inspired by Theory U, practiced deep Noticing of both our inner and outer worlds, and co-created discovery spaces around strengths, passions, and contributions. From talent-mapping circles to playful perspective-taking exercises, June invited us to see both ourselves and our ecosystem more clearly.

Also hosting two extended editions of our Collab-a-thon (June 10th and July 1st), two barn-raising-style mapping sessions focused on reviewing and refreshing the Second Renaissance Changemaking Ecosystem Map. It was a many-hands effort and we’re looking at next steps this coming month.

Our June Oasis Tents Included:
🌀 Field Building
🧠 Research & Sensemaking
🧭 Givewiser
🌍 Mapping & Wiki (Pop-up)
🧨 Red World, Blue World (Pop-up)

To learn more about the tents visit here.

Gratitude to all who showed up with presence, play, and purpose in June, and we hope to welcome more of you in July.

The Second Renaissance Events Calendar and Registration can be found here: https://lu.ma/second-renaissance

Mythos final opportunity to submit

Our once yearly magazine has extended its submission for Issue 2 - Mythos until Monday 7th July.

Issue 2 - Mythos, is a desire to explore how myths can help us bring forward a Second Renaissance. Myths are traditional narratives that explain natural phenomena, cultural beliefs, or divine origins. They typically feature supernatural beings, gods, or heroes, serve to explain fundamental aspects of the world or human nature, and hold cultural or religious significance. They, therefore, hold immense power over us, because as human beings we live by stories; shaping our understanding of human nature and influencing what we believe is possible and what we should pursue. This makes myths an essential tool for societal transformation.

You can read more about the issue and submit works here: https://secondrenaissance.net/art/magazine-submission

Seeds Issue 5

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Donella Meadows & Systems Change - Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 5 (June 2025)

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance – a monthly newsletter for explorers of the Second Renaissance & inner-led change towards radically wiser societies…

Read more

10 months ago · 12 likes · 1 comment · Catherine Tran

Second Renaissance Forum

Some of our top forum posts over the past month have included:

• What should a new university look like and how would we build one?

• New Experimental Research Paper from MIT shows cognitive debt from using AI

• Reweaving Coherence in a Liquid Age

• What does it mean to respond to polycrisis?

London Meet Up

On Monday, 23rd June, the third Second Renaissance London meet up took place at Newspeak House in Shoreditch. Twenty Second Renaissancers came together to connect and explore Joanna Macy’s work through paired and small group dialogue. As is now the tradition, the evening ended in the local pub for more conversation and connection sparked from the event. Join the Second Renaissance luma events calendar to hear about the next meet-up: https://lu.ma/second-renaissance

💡Life Itself Research💡

In a new development designed to streamline and focus its research outputs, the Life Itself Research collective now has its own substack which you can subscribe to separately.

The collective continued with an active programme this month, including a poetry reading, further discussion with Brandon Norgaard on his report on ecosystem mapping tools sponsored by the Institute of Applied Metatheory, and a presentation on Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of Liquid Modernity.

Life Itself Research

Momcilo Mijovic on Zygmunt Bauman's Liquid Modernity

Momcilo’s presentation explores Zygmund Bauman's concept of Liquid Modernity, understanding it as an extension of modernity that helps explain the phenomenology of contemporary life…

Listen now

10 months ago · 1 like · Jonah Wilberg

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Autumn Praxis Residency

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Residencies

Autumn Praxis Residency (October to December 2025)

What does it mean to live well, together? How can our ways of being transform the world? Join us for the third Autumn Praxis Residency at the Life Itself Bergerac Hub: a 2.5-month-long container for contemplative, relational, and embodied practice in community. You’ll live together with others who are asking questions like these in their lives and work…

Read more

a year ago · 3 likes · Catherine Tran and Valerie Duvauchelle

Live Call in July

Join Valerie’s in the Life Itself Research Call on July 11th 2025 5pm CEST as she speaks about Conscious Coliving Praxis Ecology and Food Design. To join visit here: https://research.lifeitself.org/#how-to-join-in

Ahead of the call you can listen to Valerie talk about the Hub’s beginnings and the Praxis Ecology here:

🌱 Help us to create a weller, wiser world together, to support the movement, you can:

• 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

• 🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

• 💸 Become a paid subscriber

From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey – Live Sessions in July

Starting on July 2nd, Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier will be hosting the live From Metacrisis to Second Renaissance: A 4-Week Exploratory Journey. A 4-week course starting on Wednesday, 2nd July, and running every Wednesday from 5pm-630pm CEST. It’s a chance to gather online for interactive learning, dialogue, and deeper exploration of the Second Renaissance framework.

🔗 https://lu.ma/9d22m36w

Oasis Collab-a-thon - Tuesday 10th June

On Tuesday, 10th June, 6pm CEST the Oasis will host an extended 3-hour collab-a-thon. This is a work party, a barn-raising, a many-hands-make-light-work community effort. Our primary work project will be related to ecosystem mapping - revisiting, reviewing, updating our Second Renaissance Changemaking Ecosystem map from 2024, fanning out in groups to notice what has changed and what could be improved or updated.

​You can attend for some or all of the session, pitching in with the time you have available. Register here: https://lu.ma/7fphyhms

Register Interest for the 2026 Second Renaissance Catalyst Program

The Catalyst Program is a short, high-impact training program designed to build the skills, awareness, and confidence needed to catalyze meaningful local and online movements within the emerging Second Renaissance space.

Whether you're simply curious or already feeling the call,we invite you to register your interest - which is not a commitment but a way to stay informed and help shape the program’s design and leadership.

🔗Read more and register interest here: https://lu.ma/63ul4m41

Program Snapshot

📅 Dates: To be confirmed - likely late January/February 2025
📖 Format: 2–3 days of live, interactive sessions - online or in-person - timed for Europe & Americas
💲This would be a paid program with scholarships available

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Podcasts

Listen to Rufus, Sylvie and Layman Pascal on the Liminal Cafe episode below.

At the Oasis

This month we explored Curiosity, sat with Grief, spoke bold truths on the Soapbox, and played Authentic Relating Games like the Google Game.

May’s tents included: Field Building, Research, Intentional Ventures, Ecofo, Crafting for Wiser Action, and the Divine Feminine Circle.

Some inspiration from the Soapbox activity:

You’re doing the best you can. I see you.
Your wants are sacred.
There is another way—join community.
Decolonize the liminal.

You can read more here: https://forum.secondrenaissance.net/t/oasis-calls-activity-log/337/2

Seeds Issue 4

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 4 (May 2025) - Joanna Macy's Work That Reconnects

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance* – a monthly newsletter for explorers of inner-led change towards radically wiser societies…

Read more

a year ago · 9 likes · Catherine Tran and Rosie Bell

Second Renaissance Forum

Some of our top forum posts over the past month have included:

• When was modernity born?

• Counter perspectives on John Vervaeke

• My journey from the Blue World to the Red World

• Proposal for a Presentation - Bauman’s Liquid Fear, Far Right & the Meaning Crisis

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

🎥 Watch the launch event here
🌐 https://studio.lifeitself.org/

London Meet Up

Earlier this month the second London meetup took place at Newspeak House exploring the theme of Authentic Relating and its role in a Second Renaissance.

Like an in-person version of the Oasis Community Calls, the evening blended dialogue, breakout groups, and relational practices - and ended with a trip to the pub. Keep an eye out on our calendar for other events taking place: https://lu.ma/second-renaissance.

If you are hosting a local Second Renaissance meetup of your own, reach out to us to see if we can support attendance by attending it to our calendar.

💡Life Itself Research💡

In May, Life Itself Research collective had an active schedule, including collaboration with the Institute of Applied Metatheory, further development of the Ontological Commoning practice, and structured reflection on the Education for Flourishing Conference.

New research included a paper by Jonah Wilberg on Wise Altruism, which was also presented at the research forum:

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

🍂Autumn Praxis Residency (October-December 2025)

What does it mean to live well, together? How can our ways of being transform the world?

Join us for the third Autumn Praxis Residency at the Life Itself Bergerac Hub: a 2.5-month-long container for contemplative, relational, and embodied practice in community.

You’ll live alongside others who are asking questions like these in their lives and work, and experience the frame of collective rhythms and practices for conscious community living developed at the Hub over the past five years. These include experiencing the subtle activation of transformation from the inside out through the Awami Food Praxis system, developed by Valérie Duvauchelle from decades of learning in Zen temples.

This residency is your invitation to slow down, listen, practice, and live the questions - together, through cooking, sitting, resting, working and being together, we soften, reconnect, and become more able to meet the challenges we face and to become more conscious in how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the world.

You can read more here or apply here:

Apply for the Autumn Residency here

🌱 Help us to create a weller, wiser world together, to support the movement, you can:

• 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments section

• 🎁 Share this newsletter with a friend

• 💸 Become a paid subscriber

In July, we have two art residencies: our month-long Inner River residency at the Bergerac Praxis Hub and our Art of Ritual weekend offering at the Farmhouse.

Art of Ritual

Join us for a long weekend immersion into the world of performance art and ritual at the Life Itself Farmhouse Hub, grounded in the spirit of the Second Renaissance. From July 24th to 27th, 2025, the workshop will be led by Sylvie Barbier of the Art of the Second Renaissance Collective, who brings over a decade of experience in ritual art.
https://secondrenaissance.net/art/residency

You can register for the Sensemaking Studio: Find Out More – A Welcome Event here - an interactive session on Wednesday, 21st May. It’s a chance to meet the team and explore how sensemaking can support your work.

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

On May 2nd and 3rd the Human Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis event took place, bringing together a global community of educators, practitioners, thinkers, and changemakers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The event focused on how education and inner development can address the metacrisis, the interconnected challenges of our era - social polarization, ecological breakdown, and a crisis of meaning - signaling a world in transition.

Keynote speakers included Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School Professor and author of Reimagining Capitalism; Tyler VanderWeele, Director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program; and Futurist and Developmental Theorist Zak Stein. The conference also featured panels, workshops and unconference sessions led by Bonnitta Roy, Daniel Thorson, Isabela Granic, Peter Limberg, Kam Bellamy, and Brendan Graham Dempsey, exploring themes such as metamodern spirituality, youth flourishing, and collective healing. A youth-led collective session, EmpowerEd Through Arts, from students at the Boston Arts Academy also took place.

A more detailed write-up of the conference will be available in the next newsletter.

In the meantime, if you attended, we invite you to share thoughts and reflections here, or to join our open to all facebook group to stay connected and continue the conversations.

Have you joined the Oasis?

The Oasis is a newly launched weekly online gathering space for those called to act in alignment with the Second Renaissance. Each 90-minute session - held every Tuesday at 6pm CEST - offers space to both be and build. These calls combine deep relational practices with tents, places where community meets project to catalyze energy and align action.
Read more here and sign up to our luma calendar here to join future calls.

Read our latest Seeds newsletter:

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 3 (Apr 2025) - Integral Theory II: Mapping "Levels" of Development

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance* — a monthly newsletter for explorers of inner-led change towards radically wiser societies…

Read more

a year ago · 9 likes · Catherine Tran and Rosie Bell

Second Renaissance Forum

Some of our top forum posts over the past month have included:

• Reclaiming the Wholeness of Mind in a Fragmenting World

• What is the intellectual history of the 4Ps ways of knowing: propositional, procedural, participative and perspectival?

• Improving the design of this forum

Join us today to contribute and share your own reflections and discussion topics.

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

On behalf of our friends at The Village, you are invited to their very first Village Volunteer Rally & Fair on May 12th at 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern / 11pm GMT - a gathering to celebrate the hearts, hands, and minds who have helped shape VillageCo into what it is today, and those who will carry it forward.

If you want to join to celebrate with others or learn more about how to get involved, you can RSVP here.

💡Life Itself Research💡

The Research Community has recently published several of our Research Community Calls. Two of our most recent calls are available for viewing here: Simon Grant on Ontological Commoning, and Momcilo Mijovic on Sensemaking, Blindspots and Systems Contradictions.

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

In next month’s newsletter, we will be sharing the plans for the Autumn 2025 Residency - watch this space.

Human Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis
Harvard University, May 2–3, 2025

Join Zak Stein, Rebecca Henderson, Sylvie Barbier, Daniel Thorson and Bonnitta Roy—key thinkers across the metacrisis, Second Renaissance, integral, and liminal web scenes—for a two-day gathering on education, human development, and systems change.

Register Now

🔥 Just announced 🔥

On Day 2, Zak Stein and colleagues from the Civilization Research Institute will lead a dedicated deep dive during the Unconference—a rare opportunity to engage with their latest thinking in an open, participatory format.

Day 2, the Unconference is a spacious, collaborative format where participants shape the agenda for emergent inquiry, co-creation, and shared practice. Participants will shortly be invited to propose sessions whether it’s a dialogue, a workshop, a ritual, or a session, and contribute to a day dedicated to peer-to-peer exchange, deep listening, and generative experimentation.

Day 1, the formal Conference day, offers keynotes, panels, and workshops from leading-edge thinkers bridging theory, practice, and inner development. You can view the full speaker list here.

This gathering is a one-of its kind designed for educators, practitioners, and thinkers ready to move into lived response to the metacrisis.

Register now → https://www.sfwhgse.com/ tickets include both days.

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Issue 2 (Mar 2025) – Integral Theory: the Four Quadrant Model

Welcome to Seeds of a Second Renaissance* – a monthly newsletter for explorers of inner-led change towards radically wiser societies…

Read more

a year ago · 15 likes · Catherine Tran and Rosie Bell

💡Life Itself Research💡

The Life Itself Research collective has continued to meet weekly, both engaging in practices around collective sense-making and goal-setting, and good progress on the ‘knowledge commons’ project: dedicated sessions including a half-day Collabothon resulted in a major revamp of the Second Renaissance Wiki as well as progress on the Liminal Lexicon.

Written outputs from the Research Group include an article on The Rise of Scientific Grand Narratives.

March also saw the first in-person Second Renaissance Toronto and London meetups. Here is a photo from the Toronto group and their associated Forum post. The London group blended a mix of ‘connection-call’ vibes with research and sense-making.

The London and Toronto groups are two of a number of in-person groups springing up in cities around the world - we’ll share more details of these in future newsletters and invite you to let us and the community know if you are planning one in your area.

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Learn more about the upcoming summer residency here.

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Join us at Limicon 2025

Limicon is a month-long fan convention of the liminal web, attracting practitioners, artists, sense-makers, ritual crafters, philosophers, community weavers, experimenters, builders, and enthusiasts in and around the liminal, integral, metamodern, and related scenes.

Life Itself and Second Renaissance will be presenting during the month long event, which first launched in 2024. Tickets are still available to join Limicon and all participants are welcome to host sessions throughout the month,.

If you're hosting a session make sure to share with others in the community via our whatsapp chat.

View our Forum post to keep updated on the sessions we have scheduled and to share your thoughts and reflections from the event.

💡Life Itself Research💡

The Life Itself Research collective has had an exciting period of weekly seminars covering topics from the nature of paradigm shifts in cultural evolution, to the idea of ‘common sense’ in the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, to the relation between being, knowing and valuing.

Recordings of meetings are made available in the research section of this substack and on the Youtube channel. Here’s the recording of Jonah’s presentation (with others to follow):

Another research output this month was a popular overview and typology of the concept of Metamodernism, also by Jonah.

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Final call for The Gathering - come and join community in-person at the Bergerac Praxis Hub this spring. If you haven’t booked your ticket to join us, it’s not too late!

📆 Our Second Renaissance Connection Calls and Workspace Calls are back throughout February! Register here via our dedicated Second Renaissance Events Calendar: https://lu.ma/second-renaissance

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

💡Life Itself Research💡

Second Renaissance Ecosystem Map is now interactive!

Our updated map now allows you to click on the names of individuals and organisations to learn more about them.

🧐 Explore the map here: https://secondrenaissance.net/map

And let us know: What does the map spark for you? What would you add or change on the map? (add a note to the forum discussion or tweet us @forlifeitself) 😄

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

On Tuesday 28th January, Sylvie Barbier - Life Itself co-founder, along with Peter Limberg from The Stoa and Schuyler Brown - futurist, facilitator, writer and healer, co-hosted the Second Renaissance Manifesto and Magazine launch. You can learn more and watch the launch event, attended by over 70 participants, below.

Our Second Renaissance substack has changed and will now be the sole place for our Seeds of a Second Renaissance Newsletter. To learn more, sign up and understand how it is different from this newsletter, click below ⬇️.

Seeds of a Second Renaissance

Seeds of a Second Renaissance Newsletter

Going forward, this substack will be focused on publishing a monthly newsletter of curated ideas and news from the Second Renaissance ecosystem…

Read more

a year ago · 5 likes · Catherine Tran and Rufus Pollock

Watch and share our short Second Renaissance Introduction video here:

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Last autumn/winter, the Life Itself Bergerac Hub hosted a Praxis Open Residency, where over 30 residents explored conscious community living through shared practices like meditation, movement, and creative gatherings. Highlights included visits to Plum Village, local cultural events, and a special storytelling circle with Ria the Storyteller. Read below for more information and two residents reflections on their time at the Hub.

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

Winter newsletter

Autumn 2024 Praxis Open Residency souvenir…

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a year ago · Life Itself Praxis Hub, Catherine Tran, and Valerie Duvauchelle

The Hub is currently closed for a winter rest period, and updates regarding 2025 residencies will be shared soon. Our next event is the Life Itself Spring Gathering in March.

As the year comes to a close, we want to take a moment to reflect on some of the incredible highlights of 2024. From the launch of our Second Renaissance initiative and sharing our Ecosystem map, to the inspiring residencies hosted at the Hub and our memorable guest speakers and events, it has been quite a year!

Looking ahead, we’re thrilled to share a glimpse of what’s in store for 2025.

On behalf of everyone at Life Itself, thank you for your commitment, support and for being part of this journey. Your contributions and presence make all the difference.

If you’d like to deepen your involvement with Life Itself in 2025, click here to learn how to get involved. Additionally, we’ve set up a donations page, with up to €10,000 match funding, for those who wish to support our work and help us to hit our goal!

Donate here

Finally, we wish you a joyful and festive Christmas season, filled with merriment and delight.

Warm wishes,

The Life Itself Team

🌅Second Renaissance🌅

Join us early in the new year for the Online Launch of the Art of the Second Renaissance Manifesto and Magazine on 28th January 2025 - register here, and read more below 👇.

Second Renaissance

Seeking an artistic tribe for an emerging cultural paradigm

This manifesto essay marks the beginning of the Second Renaissance Art Collective. It lays out our vision and principles, setting the stage for what we hope will be a new artistic tribe and movement. This work comes from a deep place in my heart, and I'm eager to hear how it resonates with others—whether it speaks to them, intrigues them, or even challe…

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2 years ago · 11 likes · 5 comments · Sylvie Barbier

Second Renaissance

The Second Renaissance: a very short introduction

This essay provides a short introduction to the “Second Renaissance” as a framing for…

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2 years ago · 6 likes · Catherine Tran, Rufus Pollock, Sylvie Barbier, and Elisa Paka

Second Renaissance

Map of Second Renaissance Changemaking Ecosystem

This is a first pass on an impressionistic map of the second renaissance "paradigmatic changemakers" ecosystem. It shows some of the different communities, movements and spaces (primarily in the Global North) that aspire to and/or act to foster paradigmatic change with a…

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2 years ago · 7 likes · 10 comments · Rufus Pollock and Catherine Tran

We also published three key pieces:

• Emergent Power: Key Challenges and Capacities for Change Agents of a Second Renaissance - a new report. Read the report here.

• Two Whitepapers: The What and Why of a Second Renaissance and the How of a Second Renaissance. Read them both here.

🌳Bergerac Hub Successes🌳

Here are a few excerpts from the residencies hosted throughout 2024. More articles and reflections can be found at the Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub substack.

The Hub will re-open in Spring 2025, more details will be shared next year.

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

April in the Praxis hub

This month at the hub we enjoy cooking, gardening and circling around “ To we or not to We , that is the question …

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2 years ago · Life Itself Praxis Hub

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

A note from November at the Bergerac Hub

November has been a beautiful month at the Bergerac Hub — there are 9 of us here at the moment and I’m appreciating a sense of lightness and ease in our group field. The spirit of playfulness has been with us a lot, through activities like Improv Games, watching someone’s favourite comedian together, and lots of laughs and jokes over mealtimes. We’ve ap…

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a year ago · 4 likes · Catherine Tran

🔥Featured Guests, Events and Articles🔥

Some of our featured podcast guests, events, articles and releases throughout the year have included:

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to our content on YouTube if you enjoy it, this will help us expand our reach, and meet our Christmas goal of 1,000 subscribers.

🚀Exciting news for 2025🚀

We’re thrilled to share a glimpse of what’s on the horizon for 2025:

• The Life Itself Sensemaking Studio: Launching officially in January 2025, this innovative studio will support foundations, institutions, and conscious enterprises in navigating emerging systems and cultural landscapes. Stay tuned for more updates! Or check out the website here.

• The Second Renaissance Artists Collective: January will see the launch of both the Manifesto and Magazine, setting the tone for a transformative year ahead.

• Starting the week of January 6th, our Second Renaissance Connection Calls, Workspace Calls, and Life Itself Research Collective Calls will resume.

• Spring events: We’re planning two exciting events for spring 2025 - details on these to be announced soon!

Watch this space for further updates as we step into another year of collective growth and collaboration.

Read our past newsletters here

Join Our Second Renaissance Barn Raising!

📅 When: Tuesday, December 3rd
⏰ Time: 5:30 PM–9:30 PM CET / 8:30 AM–12:30 PM PST
💻 Where: Online (Zoom)

Register Here

Be part of a dynamic community effort to co-create resources for the Second Renaissance space. Inspired by the tradition of barn raisings, in this extended work party we’ll collaboratively build “Write Your Own Postcards”—personalized, bite-sized nuggets for capturing and sharing the collective wisdom of our community.

What to Expect:

• Creative Contributions: Use templates to share your insights and ideas.

• Flexible Participation: Join for as much or as little as you can.

• Connection & Collaboration: Work individually or in groups to craft meaningful resources.

Your postcards will become quick-reference guides, helping others navigate and thrive in this space.

Register or learn more here.

🌻Conscious Collectives🌻

ACE Leadership Excellerator

Keeping with the theme of transformative leadership, our friends and collaborators at Institute for Integral Studies Freiburg (IFIS) are co-hosting a new cohort of their ACE Leadership Excellerator: a five-day intensive designed to support women in leadership roles in the not-for-profit world /academia /public institutions to further develop their leadership skills and resilience.

The second cohort of the programme will take place onsite Vienna in January with online modules before and after. The group will be maximum 9-12 women to allow for very personalised work and will address mainly women with at least 7 years leadership experience. It will resonate with those who are eager to grow, improve work-life balance, prevent burn-out and further increase their impact. Find out more here.

💡Life Itself Research💡

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Second Renaissance

Reflections from a Deep Resilience Practice Group

We held three “Deep Resilience for a Dark Renaissance” practice group sessions over the summer and autumn of 2024, focusing on three inquiries that touched on the psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions necessary for navigating this time between worlds—a second renaissance. The sessions were…

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a year ago · Lauren Wigmore

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

A note from November at the Bergerac Hub

November has been a beautiful month at the Bergerac Hub — there are 9 of us here at the moment and I’m appreciating a sense of lightness and ease in our group field. The spirit of playfulness has been with us a lot, through activities like Improv Games, watching someone’s favourite comedian together, and lots of laughs and jokes over mealtimes. We’ve ap…

Read more

a year ago · Catherine Tran

Join us in nourishing yourself and our community with our connection calls and workspace events throughout November. Click on each one for more information and to register.

🛠 Second Renaissance Workspace Call - Tuesday 5th November 6pm CET

😌Deep Resilience for a Dark Renaissance Practice Group - Thursday 7th November 6pm CET

🌅 Second Renaissance Connection Call - Tuesday 12th November 6pm CET

🌻Conscious Collectives Connection Call - Wednesday 13th November 6pm CET

How do they differ?

Our connection calls are a space to connect, network, and understand how you can directly contribute to our two core areas: conscious collectives and the second renaissance. Our workspace calls are the sister to our connection calls, where we get down into the doing, either in a coworking or a collaborative sense. Finally, our Deep Resilience calls offer an opportunity for deeper embodiment and are a place to practice psychological, emotional, and spiritual resilience for a dark renaissance.

We hope to see you at one of our events throughout November.

🔥 Conscious Collectives 🔥

💡Life Itself Research💡

IDG Summit in Stockholm

We co-hosted an event at the Inner Development Goals Summit in Stockholm, alongside Emerge and our Cohere+ project partners: The Hague Center, Institute for Integral Studies and Ekskaret. The event created a space for imaginative exploration of the IDG principles through the lens of coherence (and incoherence), and playful reflection on experiences of the Summit, through embodied expression.

We were inspired by many encounters and conversations throughout the week, and appreciated the opportunity to connect with many others who are doing brilliant work in the realm of inner development and societal change.

Embodying Collective Transformation Report

Embodying Collective Transformation (ECT) was a 3-month experiment in creating a ‘conscious community’ or deliberately developmental space: an environment for conscious engagement in inner, interpersonal and systemic development practices. Designed and hosted by the ECT team, it took place in Autumn 2022 at the Life Itself Praxis Hub in Bergerac, France. This report details the design, implementation, learnings and next steps from this innovative program. You can download the report here.

Deliberately Developmental Spaces (DDS) Study Group

The Deliberately Developmental Study group has been underway this past month, diving deep into key theories in developmental psychology. The discussions in these calls are centred around uncovering what exactly matures over developmental time, with a focus on an overview of useful theoretical lenses, what they offer for observing healthy, thriving development, and what they seem to be missing.

This is the second study group we have run this year, coming out of our regular Friday Research Group calls. If you’re interested in joining us on a Friday call, you can read more here.

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Read more about the origin of the name Second Renaissance and the call for an artistic tribe to help birth it, in last month’s posts from Life Itself co-founder Sylvie Barbier.

Second Renaissance

Second Renaissance - the origin - born in the belly of Florence

I started to use the term Second Renaissance when I performed “Prophecy” in the belly of Florence in 2022, an exploration journey to be the bridge between our ancestors and the unborn future. This has been the journey…

Read more

2 years ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · Sylvie Barbier

Second Renaissance

Seeking an artistic tribe for an emerging cultural paradigm

This manifesto essay marks the beginning of the Second Renaissance Art Collective. It lays out our vision and principles, setting the stage for what we hope will be a new artistic tribe and movement. This work comes from a deep place in my heart, and I'm eager to hear how it resonates with others—whether it speaks to them, intrigues them, or even challe…

Read more

2 years ago · 9 likes · 3 comments · Sylvie Barbier

You can also catch up on Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier’s presentation on a metamodern approach to technology.

Second Renaissance

A Second Renaissance, Metamodern Approach to Tech

Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier presented as part of the Technological Metamodernism 4-week Course hosted by Stephen Reid. In this talk, they explore the growing need for our approach to technology to evolve alongside it—shifting towards one that is more mindful, reflective, and centered on human values…

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2 years ago · Lauren Wigmore, Rufus Pollock, and Sylvie Barbier

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

We are currently 14 at the Bergerac Hub for this year’s Autumn conscious co-living residency. Some of the practices we’ve explored together this month include: Kundalini Yoga and Sound Healing; Systemic Constellations; Authentic Relating; Creative Writing Jams; 5Rhythms Dance; and Resiliency Circles. We’ve also been enjoying lunch in the sunshine by the river, cooking and cleaning together, chatting by the fire, live music in Bergerac town centre, and visits to local markets in nearby towns.

There are still a few places available to join us in the second half of November or early December. For more info and to apply, see here:

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

Autumn Praxis Residency (Oct-Dec 2024)

Key Info…

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2 years ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Life Itself Praxis Hub, Valerie Duvauchelle, and Catherine Tran

Join us for our next Conscious Communities Connection Call on Wednesday 16th Oct 6pm - register here.

Second Renaissance

Impermanence Magazine Launch 16th October 2024

On the 16th of October, we are launching the first edition of the Second Renaissance Art magazine on the theme of Impermanence. This is a live online event led by performance artist, curator and Life Itself co-founder Sylvie Barbier. It includes participation from contributors including Peter Limberg of the Stoa, brother Pham Hanh of Plum Village and ot…

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2 years ago · Sylvie Barbier

🌻 Conscious Collectives 🌻

🎥 In September we hosted our first collective film night, watching the film Wall-E before coming back together to discuss and share our reflections on it. We’ll keep you posted on our next one!

🔥 Featured 🔥

Bonnitta Roy, who recently featured on our podcast, has a new course now accepting applicants. The Divinity School focuses on developing visionary leadership rooted in spirituality and deeper human understanding. Through the mastery of key skills, the program empowers leaders to guide their communities toward a more vibrant and harmonious future. You can read more here.

💡Life Itself Research💡

✍️ DDS Research Retreat

From 9th-11th September, we hosted a research retreat on Deliberately Developmental Spaces (DDS) at the Farmhouse Hub in Thénac, with collaborators from Springboard Foundation, Liminal Learning, Erasmus University, and McMaster University. Objectives included developing a manifesto for research in service of the advancement of Deliberately Developmental Spaces and developing strategies to implement this agenda, as well as strengthening collaborative relationships.

📖 DDS Study Group

10 participants joined the first session of the Life Itself Research Community DDS study group hosted by Isabela Granic and Boaz Feldman. Over the course of 6 weeks, this group will read and discuss some key theories in developmental psychology to uncover what exactly matures over developmental time, with an eye towards pragmatic applications of these theories especially in the design of DDSs.

🎨 IDG Summit 2024

We will be co-hosting a research and creativity event with Emerge and the Cohere+ project team on Day 3 of the Inner Development Goals Summit in Stockholm, 16-18 October 2024. Join us there if you will also be at the Summit!

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

To see our up-coming Second Renaissance events across October, including our biweekly Workspace Calls, and monthly Deep Resilience Community Practice Group, visit our dedicated calendar here:

Second Renaissance Calendar

Listen to Rufus Pollock as he reflects on Technology and a Second Renaissance.

Second Renaissance

Technology as God: Technology and a Second Renaissance Part I

You can listen to part II here…

Listen now

2 years ago · 5 likes · 2 comments · Rufus Pollock and Sylvie Barbier

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Read the Bergerac Praxis Hub’s updates for September here:

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

September 2024 Newsletter

SAFER Residency…

Read more

2 years ago · Life Itself Praxis Hub

🚀 Upcoming Explorations 🚀

Our Exploring a Second Renaissance together - short course is taking place on 📆 Thursday Oct 3rd at 🕐 630pm CET. The 3hour course focuses on supporting your own exploration and discovery of this time between worlds using small group discussion and sharing amongst the wider group.

​This format makes it suitable whether you’re a complete newcomer or already have deep knowledge of the area.

It was a wonderful opportunity to hear the unique experiences and perspectives of individuals from different pockets of the world, all brought together by our curiosity or drive to bring about a wiser and better human society.

Register Here for the Explorer Course

Our Second Renaissance Workspace and Connection Calls alternate every week. They take place every Tuesday at 6pm CET. Here’s a brief overview of what each one is about:

Connection Calls

A virtual watercooler where you can connect, network, and understand how you can directly contribute to the Second Renaissance movement. Whether you’re new or simply looking to deepen your engagement and contribution to the space, this call is the perfect opportunity to get involved and join our growing community.

Virtual Workspace Calls

The doing-oriented sibling to the Connection Calls. Whether you have a specific project in mind or simply want to lend your energy and skills to help others work on ideas or projects related to the Second Renaissance, this virtual workspace call is for you.

Our next Deep Resilience for a Dark Renaissance Community Practice Group takes place on September 19th at 6pm CET.

A peer learning and support space where we come together to practise psychological, emotional, and spiritual resilience for a dark renaissance.

To register and read more click here.

🌻 Conscious Collectives 🌻

🎙️New Ordinary People Episodes🎙️

🔥 Featured 🔥

We’re delighted to share about an exciting upcoming course led by good friend of Life Itself Emil Ejner Friis of Metamoderna. Emil is one half of Hanzi Freinacht, the author of the Listening Society and the Nordic Secret. This 4-weekend course, starting in November, is a sneak preview into his upcoming meisterwork 6 Hidden Patterns of History, which has deep connections with the Second Renaissance. For more insights, see our first white paper.

💡Life Itself Research💡

In September, Life Itself will be having a Deliberately Developmental Spaces research retreat to further continue our efforts to build a DDS field. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can read and sign our DDS manifesto which outlines our call for deliberately developmental spaces, or you can read a recent blog post about some of the language we are using and developing to help ground the field. Additionally, you can also read a white paper written by one of our partners, Springboard, which outlines some prototypes that serve as inspiration.

In the coming weeks and months, you can expect more information and opportunities to get involved with our DDS project. Stay tuned! 

🌅 Second Renaissance 🌅

Recent articles from our Second Renaissance Initiative

Second Renaissance

Second Renaissance: what's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose…

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2 years ago · 8 likes · 6 comments · Rufus Pollock and Elisa Paka

Second Renaissance

The Second Renaissance: a very short introduction

This essay provides a short introduction to the “Second Renaissance” as a framing for…

Read more

2 years ago · 3 likes · Catherine Tran, Rufus Pollock, Sylvie Barbier, and Elisa Paka

🌳The Bergerac Praxis Hub🌳

Want to join us in person in October? Read more about the Autumn Praxis Residency.

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

AUTUMN Praxis residency

The time for harvest is approaching, and after gathering the light of summer, we can let it illuminate our inner selves. During the long duration of this residency, we will have the opportunity to gather, observe, and arrange our summer experiences and inspirations, transforming our ideas into material to share. Whether it’s returning to your daily work…

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2 years ago · Life Itself Praxis Hub and Valerie Duvauchelle

Life Itself Bergerac Praxis Hub

September newsletter

August was very calm at the hub, offering the opportunity to cook, eat, write, and rest by the river…

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2 years ago · Life Itself Praxis Hub and Valerie Duvauchelle