Welcome to Conversations that Matter
Welcome to Voices of the New Republic of the Heart, a community blog sparked by the vision of a worldwide community that cares for its people, planet and resources, both inner and outer, in a deep and sustainable way. We invite you into this conversation.
Everyone who posts here will do so from a personal point of view, however the general orientation will continually circle around this calling and how we can collectively foster it’s evolution going forward. All voices matter. All contributions are an integral part of the future we will weave together, though none of us know going into it exactly what form that may take.
While this conversation may seem wide beyond comprehension, and any potential conclusions seemingly far from reach, we know only to start where we are, with those that are here, bringing to the table what thoughts, inspirations, ideas, and threads of possibility that arise among us, and see what viable actions may rise out of that.
And it’s heartening to know that we are not just a lone group with a very daunting mission. We are unique in our focus and style, but we are not without contemporaries who are separated from us amidst varying degrees of ignorance, malevolence and confusion in the world. As our network evolves and expands, it is in our DNA to reach out, and to join and collaborate with them in this mission. Within this crucible, we cannot help but weave a future worthy of all our efforts.
This forum was inspired by the principles and ideas outlined in the book A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries – A Guide to Inner Work for Holistic Change by Terry Patten. Terry’s book spawned our budding venture to help evolve a truly and literal New Republic of the Heart. While Terry’s work provides an extensive foundation and a roadmap for this journey, it is merely the beginning of a vast and unknown trek that we all will be taking together. Join our conversation in a way that is authentic for you, seeing it is a piece to a mysterious puzzle we are all presently driven to solve.
Join the Conversation
NRTH Citizens are thoughtful, complex people interested in deeper conversations addressing different aspects of personal, social, civic, and complex systems and how they interact. They are holistic in their approaches to living and they care about the future of the humanity and life on earth.
Add your voice as an Author, or by authoring ideas in post comments.
Start a conversation
There are many ways to co-create New Republics of the Heart.
Do you have an idea, perspective, curiosity or story – sparked by individuals or groups you know, or that you have yourself been incubating?
What have you, or people who inspire you, been engaged with?
Who do you know that has been working effectively within or outside of the system to initiate change – within a family, a group, a whole city or beyond?
What and who moves you to want to speak up now?
This is a NRTH community blog. We seek well-written articles from anyone who is or feels like they are part of this community and has something to say.
Start a dialog with a post, sharing your ideas and engage the community to grow the idea, yourself, and our culture. Engage with authors and other readers in the comments.
Read the Author Guidelines or Commenting Guidelines below.
Submit an article in the form below for consideration.
How to Submit
- fill in the Author Contact Info
- upload your post content in the “Upload Your Content” fields
- or, submit your ideas or questions in the “Author Comments” field, if you want to talk with the Editor ahead of submission.
What to submit
A document file containing your Post Content to include:
- Content Title
- Subtitle – if desired
- 270 word or less summary – used as the “Post Excerpt”, can be the first paragraph if carefully constructed
- the document body
An Author Biography document including a:
- Short Bio – 270 words or less
- optionally, a longer biography with whatever you want your audience to know about you. For example, you can include links to your websites, your social media handles/urls, and any inspirational quotes that have guided your life.
Supporting Files – as needed to construct the post.
Author Photo – to include on the post. This is optional but highly encouraged. Ideally 300px by 300px square. But if you have a good one you want to use, we can make it fit in some way.
Supporting image files, ideally high resolution.
Extra files you need to submit to construct your post based on your desired article goals.
Submit Post Content Here
Form used to collect post submission details for editorial review.
Commenting Guidelines
This blog space is for those attempting to understand and acclimate to our rapidly changing global circumstances, and who are interested in cultivating a more caring and sustainable future for all life going forward. It is a space where we can safely explore together as we grapple with who and how we need to be to meet this challenge with heart, intelligence, wisdom and creativity.
We encourage you to post your comments and original thoughts as a way of deepening the conversation with respectful, exploratory, and intelligent intent. We particularly welcome reading viewpoints which are “outside the box,” thereby stretching us all into new territory of understanding and possibility. Responses which expand upon, question or refute our posts or guest comments are also encouraged.
Rest assured that this site will remain a cordial venue for our discussions. We will not accept comments that are disrespectful, launch ad hominem attacks, contain gratuitous profanity, or display a persistent unwillingness to acknowledge that opinions other than their own are possible.
Also, please keep in mind that the primary focus of this blog is the quest of restoring health to Earth and all its creations. Accordingly, drilling down microscopically into issues such as race, ethnicity, gender, economics, and international relations will not be supported. Many forums exist to delve into these important topics.
Be kind
Basically be honoring and respectful of everyone in this venue in your communications, whether they are writing, commenting, or just reading. Engender warmth and compassion whenever you can. We’re all in this together.
Assume we are all intelligent and intuitive
Speak from both your credible knowledge and grounded intuition, backing up your statements with references, links and personal experience. And in responding to others, please do so with respect and kindness. That means that even if it seems to you that another is lacking a little between the ears, give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that underneath appearances, their natural intelligence is present and can be called forth into the conversation.
Assume we all care
Let your communication speak to the deep care that all people everywhere feel for what they love. Help your audience expand their circle of care beyond its current edges. Invite them by way of your sharing to come to know, understand, and empathize with a facet of life that may have til now been excluded from their heartful attention. The wider our circle of care, the greater our opportunity to effect powerful positive influence in our evolution.
Help expand our collective view
This requires us to take on more of a posture of introducing others into, and acquainting them with our particular viewpoints, rather than daring them to challenge them. As we all get a clearer window into another’s world, we can begin to explore what role your contributions can play in the solutions we together formulate.
Help enhance our way forward
Once you help expand our view by sharing your perspective, we call on you, in any further communications, to step into a place of open willingness to relate and participate cooperatively as we together bring forth the best in ourselves in our navigation of this new and very unknown territory.
Moderation and Editing guidelines
All posts and comments will be reviewed to ensure that they are in keeping with the above guidelines. Those that do not seem to be aligned will be returned with suggestions on how they can be reframed and resubmitted. Once the submissions fully honor the above criteria, they will be enthusiastically posted.