The Sophia Course

Sophia Hubs are proud to offer you the Sophia Course, if you want to be part of the economic and social regeneration of Seven Kings & Newbury Park.

This free, practical and transformative course will support and nurture new social enterprises and entrepreneurs from the local community using: Existing skills of participants; Local assets and expertise; Specialists; and Resources and wisdom of local faith traditions.

Venue: St John the Evangelist, St Johns Road, Seven Kings, Essex IG2 7BB

Dates: September 10th, 12th, 17th and 24th at 2.00pm

OR

September 12th, October 3rd, 10th and 17th at 7.30pm

For more information and to book your place, contact the Sophia Hubs team on 020 8598 1536 or sophiahubs@yahoo.com. We look forward to welcoming you!

Sophia Hubs are a network of local incubators for new businesses and social enterprises, using the wisdom and resources of the faith traditions, leading to sustainable social and economic development and change.

The Commons Matrix

The following comes from Peter Challen:

The Commons Matrix

Attend to
a common theory of value,

integrally rooted

in both spirit and matter,

found in

philosophy, anthropology,

linguistics, communication, organisational behaviour;

in technology, history, culture,

environmentalism, economics,

law and political theory:

to explore and expose

many of the leading myopic

extant presuppositions

in our present systems,

heading for decline.

Recovering our mutuality,

note ahead the...

QUILLIGAN SEMINARS

Away with straight-edged rulers

to save a fractal universe.

In nature's persistent emergence

treat money and land as social commons,

like air and oceans,

the bio-sphere and deep deposits

of past storing centuries,

to serve all generations ahead.

Join our proto-type of

systemic recovery and renewal

at the Quilligan Seminars

in twelve days of May,

2012.

The Quilligan Seminars are an intensive social innovation project of 12 interrelated seminars in 12 days involving leading NGOs and thinks tanks. This series will foster an educational and research collaboration for facilitating transition to a more equitable world. It will demonstrate how differing starting points can lead to a commons ground. You can participate in one or more of the seminars.

James Quilligan is a globally renowned commons theorist/activist, policy analyst, and founder of the Global Commons Trust. He writes: "Modern economics has turned labour into a utility of the market and government. But the principles of the commons (people's negotiation of their own norms and rules for the management of social and natural resources) show us how to transcend utilitarian economics by transforming the traditional division of labour. New forms of value are already being created by these commons, whether they are traditional (irrigation ditches, pastures, indigenous cultures) or emerging (intellectual property, social networks, collaborative innovation)." To learn more about Mr. Quilligan’s work, click here.

What is the role of the commons in the economy?

Rev. Canon Peter Challen of the Christian Council for Monetary Justice is one of the organisers for an intensive social innovation project of 12 interrelated seminars in 12 days involving leading NGOs and thinks tanks. What is the role of the commons in the economy? will foster an educational and research collaboration for facilitating transition to a more equitable world. It will demonstrate how differing starting points can lead to a commons ground. You can participate in one or more of the seminars.

James Quilligan is a globally renowned commons theorist/activist, policy analyst, and founder of the Global Commons Trust. He writes: "Modern economics has turned labour into a utility of the market and government. But the principles of the commons (people's negotiation of their own norms and rules for the management of social and natural resources) show us how to transcend utilitarian economics by transforming the traditional division of labour. New forms of value are already being created by these commons, whether they are traditional (irrigation ditches, pastures, indigenous cultures) or emerging (intellectual property, social networks, collaborative innovation)." To learn more about Mr. Quilligan’s work, click here.

James Quilligan's work on managing local and global commons is developing understanding of how in a commons-based economy:

• consumers become the producers of their own resources
• trusts set a cap on the extraction and use of a resource to preserve it for future generations
• businesses flourish by renting a proportion of the resources outside the cap for extraction and production
• governments tax a percentage of these rents, funding a basic income for citizens and the restoration of depleted resources
• the power of decision-making returns to the people, enabling them to participate in the decisions that affect them directly
• the traditional property ownership model is eclipsed by a trusteeship model of sustainability, quality of life and well-being
• the lessons of community based resource management have major implications for post-liberal forms of multilateralism and global governance.

He will present a series of 12 seminars, workshops and other educational events during his 12 day visit to London in the Spring. (Look up details here.) Those events will be convened by a variety of organisations. Confirmed conveners include:Finance Innovation Lab, School of Economic Science, St. James Piccadilly, IPPR, NEF, Civil Society Forum, and School of Commoning. The kick-off seminar will be hosted in the House of Commons.

Starting from many different points of engaged intellectual and scholarly concern, research and practice, the various seminars will explore the understanding of the Commons as perceived from each seminar’s perspective, guided by James Quilligan. Together, they represent an emergent curriculum of theoretically grounded and action-oriented studies in the key economic, political, and social issues of the Commons.

During his visit, these seminars will examine together such questions as:

• Economically, what steps are needed to adjust the rules of the present interest-driven, debt-based economy to the sustainable targets of our natural, social and cultural commons?
• Politically, how can the philosophy of individual wealth (ownership, division of labor, reciprocity) be reconciled with the interests of collective wealth (trusteeship, the unity of producers and consumers, complementarity)?
• Socially, would it be possible for people's trusts to create sustainable limits to protect our commons for future generations, then rent the remaining resources to business for production and distribution, and provide these revenues to government for the funding of social dividends and the restoration of the depleted commons?

The vital and complex questions introduced in these seminars do not have easy answers. The investigation into how the “commons” may connect and synergise the economic, social, philosophical, spiritual, and political spheres, and facilitate the great transition to an equitable and sustainable world, is an ongoing challenge.

"All I have is yours, and all you have is mine ..."

"All I have is yours, and all you have is mine ..." Within the Godhead, Jesus says, all things are held in common. There is no ownership as everything is shared or continually and mutually exchanged. This is, at least, part of what it means for the Father and the Son to be one."

That is how the latest Gospel Reflection by Jonathan Evens for the Mission in London's Economy website begins. To read the remainder, which suggests some contemporary economic applications that derive from this understanding of the Trinity, click here.

More, more, more

The Friday Essay from The Independent by John Lanchester and entitled 'More, more, more' is well worth a read, partly because it critiques our overconsumption in the light of the world's dwindling resources and also because it highlights the value of relationships in providing real richness for our lives. Here are some highlights from Lanchester's essay:

"... "Richness is a relationship between two people." This observation, by the Italian economist Ferdinando Galiani, was first brought to my attention by James Buchan, and it seems to me that it is one of the truest things ever said about money ...

much of the discourse about money is in some sense abstract, i.e. it is self-referential and circular – people talking about money in terms of its effects within the world of money. When we think about it in the non-abstract, i.e. the effects of money in the wider world, the one idea we need to hold in our minds is that richness is a relationship. Richness, the idea of having plenty of money, is not an inherent state, nor is it an absolute state. Richness is about the amount of money you have compared with the people you see around you. It's about where you are in relation to others, and where they are in relation to you, and whether you can have the things you want and other people have ...

We are a desiring species. We want. It goes very deep in us. Perhaps we should just accept that we want, and we particularly want what we can see that other people have but we don't.

Unfortunately, we can't do that, for two reasons. First, the incitement of envy is built into the mechanics of capitalism and advertising. We are made to want more and more, not just as an accidental feature of modern life but as a fundamental principle of the modern economy ...

At the moment, we are stuck on what is called the "hedonic treadmill": as you have more and more, your idea of what it would be to be happy keeps receding just out of reach. It's always the next pay rise, the next purchase, the next place you move to or where you go on holiday, which will make you happy. We in the West can do something that no people in history have done: we can show the world that we know when we have enough. As the planet runs out of resources, due mainly to the fact that everyone on it wants to live an equivalent lifestyle to those of us in the West, this lesson would have the potential to offer a new model for how we should live. If the people who have everything are content to live with less, maybe the whole world will consider the virtues of knowing when to stop. We have no choice other than to learn this at some point, because the planet is not an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's going to run out.

We are either going to be saved from the problem of over-consumption by some magic technological fix, or we are going to face planetary crisis, or we are going to learn to consume less. We have to start thinking about when we have sufficient – sufficient money, sufficient stuff – and whether we really need the things we think we do, beyond what we already have. "La ricchezza è una ragione." We are richer and more fortunate than most of the people who have ever lived. We should look less at what our next-door neighbours have, and more at what the rest of the planet dreams of having. Then, we should try to learn to be content where we are. In a world running out of resources, the most important ethical and political and ecological idea can be summed up in one simple word: "enough"."

John Lanchester will be delivering a sermon for the School of Life on 'Enough' this Sunday - see www.theschooloflife.com.  

The Genius of Savings Banks

Peter Heslam has posted a short piece on The Genius of Savings Banks at the Transforming Business website.

Transforming Business is a multi-disciplinary research and development project at the University of Cambridge. Surrounding it is a growing network of Christian business ethicists, economists, practitioners, consultants, psychologists, educators and opinion formers in research institutions and companies around the world. They are united in their passion to integrate their faith with their knowledge and skills to address the most pressing social, economic, and moral challenge of our time: the elimination of poverty within the constraints of finite natural resources.

Also on the site are details of Heslam's latest book, Transforming Capitalism: Entrepreneurship
and the Renewal of Thrift. This is the project's latest resource on the role of faith and entrepreneurship in creating a better world. The global economic crisis has confirmed the suspicion of many that business is irredeemably selfish and greedy. Against this background, Heslam highlights the potential of transforming capitalism for the good of the planet and its people. Only thirty-two pages long, the book is designed for busy people, taking only around ninety minutes to read. Commendations from eminent business leaders include the following:

'A compelling and timely call to a thrift-based capitalism that is truly transformative.' Dr Kim Tan, international entrepreneur and co-founder of theTransformational Business Network

'Healthy economies require entrepreneurship and investment. This booklet presents a cogent and lively argument that thrift provides both with a powerful stimulus.' Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, former Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and Anglo-American

'Read this booklet to discover how thrift stimulates human flourishing.' Prof Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, CEO, The Roosevelt Group

Structures of economics and change (2)

Here are more process diagrams from Roger Searle, who writes that:

 

"Second economic view is about the universe exploiting us; why society, which is getting too greedy and also fearful, moves away from doing the nasty things which need doing and for which we are agents of compulsion. I don't actually think 'fairness' is an easy agenda."



Making money or making a difference - are they opposed? (3)

Making money or making a difference - are they opposed?

• It’s not so much about how much money you have, but about how you make it and how you use it.
• They are often but not always opposed. We urgently need to harness our economic system to goals of justice, human rights and environmental stewardship.
• We need a resource based economy, not money/profit. Do no work that’s not socially constructive/sustainable. Audit and manage what actual resources we have.
• The love of money is the root of all evil but shared or given money can be a sign of love.

Making money or making a difference - are they opposed? (2)

Making money or making a difference - are they opposed?

• In my opinion it's relationships that make economies work; so you can make a profit and make a difference if you put other people first.
• Money can be made in an ethical or in an unethical manner - and it can also be used ethically or unethically.
• It depends how money is made.  Speculation and separating means from ends in finance and economics is unjust and undermines  spiritual, social and environmental value.
• NO - If you are making money to allow you to make a difference. YES - If you are making money at the expense of people.

Structures of economics and change

Economic governance

Big, our small world's structure

Here are two drawings from Roger Searle, a participant in the 'Profit vs Prophet' seminar, reflecting on economic governance and perceptions of size in relation to change.

Many of Roger's drawing are based on the open structure of leaves and reflect his offering of process as a wave, as in Heraclitus, Whitehead, Bohm. This is in contrast, he believes, to rational dialogue since Plato which has concentrated on structure with the circle as the ideal shape (i.e. atoms, spheres etc.) leading to fragmentation. It may seem strange, he suggests, that geometry could transform an economy but cause and purpose, while at either end of the wave, must both be held in the mind at same time like a Buddhist Koan.

Renegotiating value in association with ...

Renegotiating ‘value’ is a seminar series organised by Faiths in London’s Economy (FiLE) in association with: Ethos HumanCapital; Faith Regen Foundation; The Grubb Institute; Mission in London’s Economy; St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace.


FiLE is a network-based organisation working with faith communities in order to create coordinated faith-community responses to the issues facing London's economy. FiLE's initial seminar, Ethics in a global economy, led to the creation of a Shared faiths response to the credit crunch. This paper was included on the faiths discussion page of the London G20 website. FiLE also provides on its webpage information on faith-based business organisations and resources through an alphabetical listing of organisations and a thematic listing of resources.

Ethos HumanCapital is Europe's first ethical holistic human capital solutions provider. Their knowledge, practical experience and deep networks in the Finance, Responsible Business, Media, Green & Charity spaces allow them to provide our clients and candidates with practical solutions to their recruitment needs.

Faith Regen Foundation is a unique national charity which works in the Employment sector to secure sustainable jobs for the most disadvantaged individuals such as BAME, women and those with disabilities. FRF works with the full knowledge that these individuals have many barriers and issues which have to be overcome before they even reach the stage of entering the labour market. However, they care and believe in the clients that walk through their doors; and that everyone’s journey is different and special. FRF simply wish to provide a safe and secure place where an individual is inspired to unleash their potential. They are a Muslim inspired multi faith organisation with a strong track record of achieving targets and outcomes to ensure positive change since their inception in late 2001.

The Grubb Institute is an applied research foundation working globally to enable leaders, managers and others to achieve personal and organisational purpose, using their values, passions, faiths and beliefs as resources to be more effective in their responses to the constantly changing geopolitical context, locally, nationally and internationally, transforming their organisations and institutions. As leaders and managers in a range of organisations we are likely to be filled with a range of conflicting thoughts and feelings, fears and anxieties as well as optimism and hope. The Grubb Institute sees 2010 as presenting enormous opportunities for transformation, development and growth for leaders and their organisations when able to work with the emergent realties in this chaotic context, resisting repetition of previously unsuccessful strategies and through a spirit of inquiry bringing forth creativity, innovation and wellbeing.

Mission in London's Economy which is a London wide ecumenical Christian organisation set up in 2005 which has set itself the following objectives: to co-ordinate the churches' interventions in discussion of London's economy; to respond on behalf of the churches to consultation exercises on London's economy; to recruit, train, support, insure and supervise workplace chaplains; to support Christians working in the institutions of London's economy; to educate churches in the issues facing London's economy so that they might be able to respond appropriately; and to work with other faith communities in order to create coordinated faith-community responses to the issues facing London's economy.

St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace has arisen from the ruins of St Ethelburga's Church, after its destruction by an IRA bomb in 1993. Now 10,000 people a year from all over the world meet there to share stories, skills and insights about how we can build relationships across divisions of conflict, culture and religion. St Ethelburga's welcome people of all faiths and none as partners in the work of helping people come to terms with difference and building peace. The Centre is a Christian-led, independent charity which owns the freehold of the site, managed by a Board of Trustees, chaired by the Bishop of London. It aims "to encourage and enable people to practise reconciliation and peace-making in their communities and lives". The Centre itself is independent of the Church of England.

Renegotiating 'value': what faiths offer 21st century business leadership

Renegotiating 'value': what faiths offer 21st century business leadership is a seminar series which seeks to explore the benefit and challenge of faith traditions in leading sustainable businesses through three seminars:

• Profit vs Prophet exploring whether making money or making a difference are opposed. Speakers: Jay Lakhani (Hindu Council UK), Abigail Morris (ResponseAbility), Mannie Sher (Tavistock Institute). Thursday 7th October, 4.00 – 6.30pm, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG;
• Bonus vs Pro Bono exploring the place of inspirational leadership in renegotiating 'value'. Speakers: Peter Hyson (Change Perspectives), Bruce Irvine (Grubb Institute), Baronness Uddin. Thursday 4th November, 4.00 – 6.30pm, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ; and
• Stakeholder vs shareholder value exploring who it is that businesses are/should be accountable to and the difference this makes to their structure and operation. Speakers: tbc. Date: tbc. Venue: tbc.

Cost: £5.00 per seminar. For seminar 1 registration is online here or by phoning 020 7496 1610. For seminars 2 & 3 phone 020 8599 2170 or email jonathan.evens@btinternet.com. Further publicity will be added once the details of seminar 3 are finalised.

Renegotiating ‘value’: a seminar series organised by Faiths in London’s Economy (FiLE) in association with: Ethos HumanCapital; Faith Regen Foundation; The Grubb Institute; Mission in London’s Economy; St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace.

FiLE works with faith communities in order to create coordinated faith-community responses to the issues facing London's economy.