Beauty Engine article for Plenum Magazine

this is a piece written for the Japanese publication-PLENUM
to be published and translated soon-it is written for a community of future thinkers and community builders that our friend and colleague has built.
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Beauty Engine: The Evolution of Social Design

In April of 2006 we were honored to host Mayumi Jingu, editor of Plenum Magazine and our Co-creator and friend. We shared practical wisdom and heart-felt visions towards assisting with the emergence of a peaceful and playful culture. We would like to share those visions with the readers of Plenum Magazine.

You have probably heard of the term cocreation. Although it is being discussed extensively, there are few people who can explain clearly what it is. We have found that the only way to really understand the value of cocreation is to experience it. In response to this challenge, we have designed a simple and playful methodology that gives people direct experience of its benefits.

Tapping Into Your Genius

We believe that Co-creation is the most effective way for people to communicate and collaborate.
The methodology we have created represents a body of wisdom we have cultivated from immersing ourselves in communities and seeing how they really succeed. That wisdom has been distilled into a simple social design which can be activated in any community to help them reach their true potential.

We have experienced the value of this wisdom by embracing it ourselves, and we continue to learn and grow through application of its principles.

The Beauty Engine is a pilot project which uses an established social design, or toolkit, to convene community innovators for the purpose of sharing and documenting wisdom. When Mayumi first came in contact with the Beauty Engine seven years ago it was clear that we shared a passion for play, evolution and peace, and we immediately connected as global cocreators. We are grateful for her continued support, inspiration and vision and would like to acknowledge her work as an integral guiding light to the development of the Beauty Engine.

Experiencing Our Social Design

When Mayumi came to visit us in San Francisco, we hosted a gathering in her honor and to introduce her to the core of our social design. We invited some of our favorite people over, and experienced an inspiring evening of poetry, spoken word, artistic visions, short presentations on projects and communities as well as some great food and an especially delicious Key lime pie.

First, we cocreated a mandala of meaningful objects, lotuses and candles. Growing from our experience of making the mandala, we cocreated a two-dimensional artifact representing the world tree. The world tree had roots, a trunk and branches—and upon each natural form we documented key phrases and concepts everyone felt were important to bringing about a peaceful and playful culture. We then distilled the essence of the mandala and the world tree into twelve lessons: ecstasy, respect, vision, spectacle, flow, make, bliss, impermanence, truth, 000, being and space or potential. These twelve lessons which we then inscribed on a sculptural object, a twelve-sided die. What 12 lessons might your community inscribe on your sculpture?

An Invitation to Cocreate

Cocreation is on the rise, and the invitation to come together to share our collective beauty is here. In San Francisco we are currently witnessing many advances in the fields of art, science and spirit. It has become increasingly clear that social transformation is occurring—on both a large scale and on a very personal level. We feel a synchronicity of transformation in San Francisco, and want to reach out to you.

We want to hear: What is beautiful, abundant, vibrant and inspiring in your communities? What are the visions, talents, stories and passions you carry within you? We wish to connect in our desire to experience ourselves as players in the global play and understand our place in the Beauty Engine of Creation. Now is the time for us to come together and to share all the collective, creative genius we have within us!