7/21 — World Unity Week Celebrates Capacities for a World of Peace

Marilyn Hamilton, Integral City Meshworks

Integral City continues its contributions to the 11 way stations of Peace and Unity we recognized in World Unity Week 2020. Now we are proud to join World Unity Week 2021, as Ambassadors who celebrate 8 qualities of Peace and Unity that grow up our cities as Gaia’s Reflective Organs of Care.

WUW 2021 potentiates a Planet of Integral Cities as Gaia’s Reflective Organ system. WUW 2021 calls forth eight capacities in service for Gaia’s peace and wellbeing for all our cities and eco-regions. Despite the challenges we face in a VUCA world, any and all cities can generate and regenerate positive qualities for Unity and Peace with these eight capacities.

Belonging (4 Voices)

In every city there 4 Archetypal Voices to which everyone can relate. We are all Citizens who belong to families, neighbourhoods, and communities. Belonging arises when we work together as Innovators in our Business settings. Belonging naturally arises when we share our relationships, foods, clothing, energy and Culture in not-for-profit settings like our Faith Communities and 3^rd Sector organizations. And Belonging underlies the calling of Civic Managers to enable city operations, education and health care institutions to serve our safety, convenience, learning and wellbeing.

Gratitude (Map 2)

The practise of Gratitude can be shared like a “supply chain” across the holarchy of human systems in the city and its eco-region. Citizens can benefit from the simple act of saying Grace – giving Thanks – before every meal. We can visualize the whole span of human systems that brought food from farm gate to our food plate – from the cooks in the family, to the distributors, packagers, neighborhood retailers, health inspectors, transporters and farmers. And within that supply chain each member can be grateful that the others play their part in a unified whole (or holarchy) that literally feeds us.

Compassion (Master Code of Care)

In the city when we look around us and see those who don’t belong or those who have so few resources that they have narrow options, we can be moved to Compassion. We may be moved as we practice the Master Code of Care – to reach out from Caring for our Self to Care for Others – by sharing resources across all generations, accepting people for who and what they are, for being Grateful that Life supports us in whatever we have to share. As we Care for our Selves and one Another, then we can Care for our Places. That might be as simple as cleaning trash from the street or planting vegetables in our front garden or watering a tree in the park. When we Care for Self, Others and Places then we are effectively Caring for our Planet – and thereby completing the cycle of the Master Code of Care.

Love (Map 5)

When we build on the capacities of Belonging, Gratitude and Compassion, it is natural for us to notice the emergence of Love as an expression of the Divine through us as individuals and collectives. Love can be as fundamental as the bonds between mother and child, or between marriage partners, or honouring our ancestors, or creating a legacy for future generations. Love is the trans-cultural expression of spirituality that all faiths share and all human societies long for.

Joy (Gaia’s Reflective Organ)

Joy is our natural condition when we have the comfort of Belonging, the blessing of Gratitude, the balm of Compassion and the mirror of Love. Joy emerges when we discover how the Purpose of our individual lives intersects with the greatest Need of the World. Within Integral City, we honour the Purpose that Gaia calls cities to serve – to be Gaia’s Reflective Organs. When cities discover their Purpose in service to Gaia’s needs and all the 4 Voices of the City align to live it, then Joy is the natural outcome for all human systems at all scales.

Hope (Map 3)

When we are energized by Love and Joy, then Integral Cities will emanate Hope for all Voices, generations and futures. Hope can build on the qualities of fractalness – where the capacities of high-performance individuals and teams can become patterns that mirror possibilities at community and whole city scales. Hope is contagious (like Love) and can create the conditions for Islands of Calm – where each of us can find an Island of Calm in ourselves, and thereby “infect” others with Calm and the conditions for Hope.

Unity (Map 5)

Unity arises in the Integral City because consciousness and culture align with behaviours and systems, across all scales. When we can agree that our purposes align around a superordinate goal, we create Unity for individuals, collectives, places and planet. From our centres of calm and hope we can reconnect to our essential Oneness, recognizing that we are not apart from Gaia – but are unified as Earth – the very planet who has evolved us as Gaia’s Reflective Organs.

Peace (Map 1)

Peace is the natural condition of an Integral City. No matter how complex or chaotic our world might be, we can each find Hope on our Island of Calm. Through deep inner listening, working as love in action, coherent with the intelligences of Nature, we can invite as Allies all the qualities of Belonging, Gratitude, Compassion, Love, Joy, Hope and Unity to co-create from our Islands of Calm, a whole World of Peace.