''This is Chapter Two of the [[SolSeed book]].''
=== Growing the movement ===
In order to find people who share our practice and values, we're developing a presence at conferences that attract potential "Starfarers," such as science fiction conventions (particularly in the Pacific Northwest) and space industry events such as the Space Elevator Games. New Starfarers are invited to make a pledge of time and/or other resources. We're hoping to draw people in on their own terms. As an Open Source philososphy/movement, we believe in being shaped by all of the participants and the creative potential they bring. Also, it may be more attractive, to an extent, to let people approach us in their own way rather than laying out a program for them to follow--although there has to be some program to attract them in the first place.
The growth of this movement is modeled on living organisms and ecosystems. There is a general plan, with a "DNA" consisting of a few strong core principles beginning with "Life is Precious," that adapts its behavior to new environmental inputs. Our creative energies are brought to bear within the general framework of the SolSeed language and practice in order to take advantage of opportunities.
=== Forming SolSeed communities ===
One key pillar of SolSeed practice is the formation and sustenance of SolSeed communities. These communities are intended to include, to some degree, every aspect of human life just as societies do. Though some of them may occupy only a city block or two, these communities are not just places to live, but to work, to play, and to participate in [[Spiritual Practice]]. These communities help to keep Starfarers, who have chosen to hasten the fulfillment of "The Destiny," doing work and play that is "on purpose," though without trying to limit people's creative expressions in other directions.
One of the most obvious truisms in organizing is that "you spend time on what you spend time on." Basically you get more of what you have. We find that if we engage in a regular conference call every week, for example, we start to make commitments and things start to happen. If you spend time on SolSeed, then you spend time on SolSeed.
So if you live in a SolSeed community where many of your activities are devoted to SolSeed, surrounded by like-minded people who are doing likewise, then chances are that many of your activities will be devoted to SolSeed. This is perfect for someone who wants to have many of their activities pointed toward hastening the fulfillment of the "The Destiny." This is perfect for someone who wants to be in touch with the possibilities that are represented by being a Starfarer. And because of our open-source philosophy, this is also perfect for someone who has his/her own ideas to contribute to what SolSeed is about and what it means to devote part of your life to this organization and this Destiny.
=== Spiritual Practices ===
While the SolSeed Movement is not a religion, we do seek to create meaning and community. We strengthen and explore our shared values by celebrating the solstices and equinoxes and by holding regular services for our members and friends. Some members of SolSeed keep Sabbath as part of their praxis; others practice by intentionally living lightly on the earth; still others bring life by advocating for political change. We honor these value-based actions by naming them SolSeed Practices. By living our values, we strengthen our awareness of our identity as SolSeed, The Body of All Life.
=== Truth, Beauty, and Values (the religion of science) ===
When there is data available, we use it. We believe the scientific method is currently our best mechanism to learn, codify, and share information about our world and universe. The distillation of the scientific method is essentially this:
* Create a recipe that includes how and what you should expect to see
* The community of the adequate can then perform the recipe and interpret the results, honestly reporting whether the expectation was met or not
* Recipes that are confirmed by others are elaborated on
But where do the recipes come from? Ideas for experiments and models with predictive power are not generated by science. They are generated by Life's creative spark. The same creative juices that stir one person to pen an opus stir another person to create a theory to explain cosmic background radiation. This creative force is mysterious. Where does it come from? We choose to see it as an emergent property of life that occurs when the input and [...]
So truth within many different realms can be communicated via the scientific method. This is true within the objective physical realm as exemplified by the "hard sciences" like chemistry, geology, neuroscience and the like. It is true within the realm of mind and can be seen in mathematics, logic, philosophy and the "soft sciences" like psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The scientific method even applies to the spiritual side of life to some degree, and can be applied to meditation and other recipes for altering one's perception of the ground of beingness. (The problem is that subjective experience is very difficult to measure, and science works best with quantitatively measurable results.)
The community of the adequate is a concept I first learned about from Ken Wilber. He makes the point that unless you have a super-collider, it is difficult to play back the recipes that are currently being run at CERN - The Large Hadron Collider. This requirement keeps the community of the adequate quite small to test out the recipes they propose. Likewise, many mathematical proofs involve concepts that are beyond the ken of most people. Evaluating whether the proof is sound requires a level of expertise that comes only with special aptitude and training. This too limits the size of the community of the adequate. Mathematical recipes are no less real for being entirely within the realm of mind. They are inner recipes rather than outer recipes.
One of the degenerations that comes from the science being most successfully applied to the objective outer space is the collapse of inner and outer realms and the collapse of spiritual with objective. An example of this can be seen in experiments that try to show there is some sort of telepathic force field that operates within and across life. These experiments confuse the essentially [...]