Mission
Wisdom doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker, meme, or soundbite. So, let’s pause, take a deep breath, and think about who we’re here for.
Wise City Life exists for many purposes, here are some important reasons:
Leading the transition to wise ways in our urbanizing the planet.
Cultivating mindful and compassionate communities of practice, deeply rooted in humanity’s multicultural essence, engaged wisdom practices, and emerging practices that honor our mind-body interconnectedness.
Reestablishing kinship between individuals and their places.
Leading responsible and harmonious use of technology in our rapidly urbanizing world.
Transitioning away from oppressive systems and reviving a variety of wisdom practices to create communities that fully embody their place and people.
Grounding wise transitions through place-led strategies that balance social, economic, and environmental values.
Applying wise media ecology approaches that seamlessly blend online and offline experiences, centered on people and place, not tech.
Empowering time-tested communities of practice who share aligned missions, visions, and values, to collaboratively navigate and overcome existential challenges posed by technocratic systems. Our focus lies in fostering ethical forms of Placemaking and promoting our world’s Indigenous wisdom practices, as we believe in their potential to help humanity renew wisdom.
Vision
We envision a world of neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions, where wisdom, deeply rooted in the interconnectedness of all life, forms the core of our global communities of practice.
This wisdom, transcending the confines of technocratic modernism, fosters a profound understanding of our mind-bodies, and our intimate connection with the land.
Our multicultural communities, having moved outside of whiteness, lead the way in fostering harmony across cultures, genders, and sexes, transitioning away from antiquated patriarchal norms.
Education and governance, no longer bound by imbalanced narrow disciplines and over-specialization, now prioritize people-centered and place-led well-being, integrating engaged wisdom practices with the latest mind-body science.
We use technology judiciously, always mindful of its impact on people and planet, and continuously strive to dismantle oppressive systems, practicing rich intersectionality and preserving renewed wisdom traditions for future generations.
Values
Egoless Engagement:
We value setting aside personal pride and self-importance in favor of open, honest, and humble participation. We prioritize collective responsibilities over individual pursuits. We recognize the limits of our knowledge, making room for wisdom that transcends mere intellect. We listen attentively, respond mindfully, and foster a culture of mutual understanding. This supports agile adaptation to changing circumstances, taking responsibility for our actions, and always striving to serve the greater good.
Diversity and Inclusion:
We value and embrace the diversity of identity, experience, and perspective. We commit to equitable treatment, access, and opportunity for people regardless of racial or ethnic background. We foster a culture of belonging where individuals of all backgrounds feel welcomed, accepted, and heard.
Equity and Justice:
We seek input from people with a variety of racial identities when making decisions that impact them. We work to counter unconscious bias and eliminate systemic barriers facing groups based on race or ethnicity. We promote allyship and understanding between groups.
Collaboration and Learning:
We support people with a broad and diverse range, fostered by diverse social practices, holistic interdisciplinarity, and cross-cultural collaborations. We dismantle silo mentalities by nurturing holistic place-grounded visions and promoting communication and cooperation across different cultures of all kinds. We prioritize continuous learning and adaptation, recognizing that intersectionality is a complex and evolving concept.
Community and Sustainability:
We center communities and those most impacted in the co-creation of solutions. We challenge injustice while upholding nonviolence. We embrace alternative economic models that are sustainable, cooperative, and just.
Compassion and Interconnection:
We value relationships, compassion, care, and interconnection with all life. We foster continuous learning and reflection to drive change. We collaborate across differences to spark innovation.
Ethical Medium Creation and Use:
We create and use all media and mediums ethically to amplify diverse narratives. We approach challenges with creativity, optimism, courage, and moral imagination.
Wisdom and Innovation:
We put the needs of people and planet, their complex contexts, and aspirations first in all technosocial endeavors. We practice critical political choice, radical representation, and consent in the creation and use of all technology. We support participatory, open, decentralized technology and reformed democratic governance. We fortify the Commons; resist enclosure and privatization of public domains. We promote inclusive community processes; decentering narrow experts and technocrats. We apply a wisdom lens always: question underlying assumptions, imagine holistic outcomes. We ensure accessibility, sustainability, regeneration in technology application.
Practices Over Theories:
Democracy is a community practice, it's hands-on collaboration. We value shared care and multi-generational practices. We maintain a learning community of practice at the core for the ongoing, endless development of wisdom practices.