Defining “Regenerative”
Prairie burn, photo by Nils Gore
In the news these days we occasionally hear about regenerative agriculture, regenerative medicine and biology, regenerative community, regenerative studies, regenerative design, regenerative development, regenerative braking, and even regenerative hearts. As it is with our bodies, so it is even with our universe. The emerging pattern of regenerativity in community and society is more pervasive with each passing day. Could there be a more fitting analogy for leadership renewal that regenerative braking, where each time we apply the brakes we become recharged?
To “regenerate” means to spiritually renew; biologically reconnect; ecologically restore, and socially revitalize. It involves reconnecting ourselves to all that sustains us physically and spiritually, which in turn helps inspire respect, reverence, and restoration efforts. Integrating regenerative practices in public and private life – as individuals, and as local and extended communities – is imperative if we are to renew ourselves, our institutions, and our spoiled physical and moral environments.
Regeneration also provides a rich framework for addressing widespread problems and fostering integrated solutions. It has the advantage of creating a big tent under which many people and disparate groups can find a place at the table, can comprehend the purpose of their life and work in large and constructive terms, and know that each is working towards common ends that no one possesses alone but everyone shares.
Pasque flowers after prairie burn, photo by Brad Smith
Yet as Wes Jackson has said, “The deterioration of our environment, of our planet, is an outward mirror of an inner condition. Like inside, like outside.” Aware of how much needs mending in our world, we think this points to a regenerative society, mindful that a regenerative society cannot be sustained around us unless it is also being cultivated within us. This, too, is part of the Great Work.
The Center for Regenerative Society believes its programs fill an important niche in the growing movement for spiritual, environmental and community health and renewal in the Driftless Area and in American society. We are fostering new energy and synergy among people from all walks of life who are leading social and institutional change in our country, change that is consistent with the vision of a more just and sustainable society, change that is itself sustained from the inside out.
Visit our FAQs page for some of our thoughts on “regenerative society” and “regenerative leadership.”
“Whenever I talk or write about genuine sources of hope, I point to the regenerative power in nature, in communities, and in us. The outer and inner, communal and personal, social and spiritual must change in tandem, or neither dimension will flourish.”
“Up until now, we have been shifting the burden to nature to handle the side effects of our fragmented, short-term take-make-waste solutions. Either we continue on this path…or we invest seriously and immediately in building a regenerative economy and society that mimics nature as fully as possible. A core principle of a regenerative society is that life creates conditions for life….A regenerative society is a flourishing society….It is about reconnecting with ourselves, one another, and our fellow non-human inhabitants on earth.”
“You are the ‘re-generation.’…Your country needs you to bring the values you learned here, the imagination you sharpened here, the activism you nurtured here, to be the re-generation, to add values and create products and social movements of value… It’s a flat world and there’s nothing stopping you now. If it’s not happening, it’s because you’re not doing it….Go forth and be the re-generation.”
“When we look for evidence of regeneration in the universe, what we discover is so stunning as to be virtually incomprehensible, even to the modern mind accustomed to great marvels. Simply stated, it appears that the entire universe is being continuously regenerated at an incredibly high rate of speed…Our universe is permeated and sustained by an unimaginably immense amount of flowing energy…This underlying ocean of energy is the primary reality…Because the totality of the universe is being continuously created anew, we ourselves are being regenerated along with everything else.”
“There is a life pouring into the world, and it pours from an inexhaustible source.”
“The soul is generous: it takes in the needs of the world. The soul is wise: it suffers without shutting down. The soul is hopeful: it engages the world in ways that keep opening our hearts. The soul is creative: it finds its way between realities that might defeat us and fantasies that are mere escapes. All we need to do is bring down the wall that separates us from our own souls and deprives the world of the soul’s regenerative powers”