Presencing with Soul: Transpersonal Perspectives on Awareness-Based Social Change Practice

Abstract

In the spring of 2020, I joined the GAIA initiative, an “impromptu global infrastructure for sense-making, for leaning into our current moment of disruption and letting this moment move us toward civilizational renewal” (Presencing Institute, 2020). Facilitated by the Presencing Institute, GAIA intended to galvanise global intention and action, by initiating a collective presencing process that aimed to shift participants from ego-system to eco-system awareness. Some 10,000 people joined a series of online sessions with the help of video conferencing technology, jointly engaging in mindfulness and contemplative practices, reflective and expressive writing, Social Presencing Theater, and visual art practice. The journey was informed by Theory U (Scharmer, 2018), an awareness-based social change methodology consisting of the seven stages of presencing, which invite the suspension of habitual perception, thought, and action to foster deeper levels of awareness and knowing. The term presencing combines sensing (feeling into possibilities) and presence (being in the present moment). The aim of Theory U is to enable practitioners to come into conscious relationship with the “deeper source level” (Scharmer & Käufer, 2013, p. 18) from which they act, helping them to notice the invisible roots of dysfunctional social patterns and systems, to acknowledge and relinquish them, and to co-create new pathways and structures that may aid profound societal transformation. In this paper, I relate to Theory U through the lenses of transpersonal psychology and consciousness studies to illuminate the deeper dynamics at work. Doing so, I address such questions as: What happens in consciousness when we practice presencing, working in person or online? What might it mean to ‘connect to the source level’? What may be cornerstones of safe and effective practice? And how can presencing practitioners cultivate their capacities to facilitate this work? In the first part of the paper, I map the seven stages of Theory U onto three core streams of consciousness that inform the human experience, reflecting on the features and qualities of each stream, and considering what psychosomatic dynamics may be at play as we enact the trajectory of the U. In depicting the three streams of consciousness, I highlight some of the challenges presencing presents, suggesting that it is, in essence, a depth-psychological and spiritual approach. In the second part of the paper, I explore the practical and ethical implications of presencing, considering what capacities and attitudes may need to be nurtured in practitioners to support skillful facilitation and enactment of the U process. I also consider what frameworks could be deployed to facilitate safe and effective practice.