Resonance Section Reading Group
The Reading Group is a regular event of the Resonance Section of the MIND Foundation.
The MIND Foundation has an overarching socio-philosophical project for society as a whole, called ‘Bewussteinskultur’ (Culture of Consciousness).
Bewusstseinskultur consists of three key elements: an ethical attitude toward one’s mental states, the systematic cultivation of valuable states, and enculturation, integrating these states into society (Thomas Metzinger).
The Resonance Section can be understood as a mix of a think tank, hackerspace, and connection hub of Bewusstseinskultur. Using ‘Resonance’ (Hartmut Rosa) as the umbrella term and underlying principle of meaningful interactions of people with one another and the world, we explore theories, evidence, and practices that help scale the human soul’s flourishing.
The reading group starts with the book ‘Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy’ (Glen Weyl, Audrey Tang, and the Plurality Community).
One of our core ideas is that ‘Plurality’ can be considered a form of ‘Systemic Resonance’. The pristine and good are often found in the realm between interconnected, complementary dual principles, such as Logos and Eros, Chaos and Order, or Yin and Yang.
Bewusstseinskultur and Plurality may have a similar relationship. Bewusstseinskultur mainly focuses on sharing individual phenomenal subjective experience. Plurality mainly focuses on the structure of collaboration systems that, in turn, are composed of individual elements and their interactions.
Accordingly, the individual and systemic are interdependent, offering a rich potential to learn from and resonate with each other.
The philosophy and practices of the Plurality movement offer possibilities to scale a Bewusstseinskultur. In turn, the Bewusstseinskultur offers practices to foster the cultivation of benevolence (e.g., the principle of charity) among actors of Plurality.
In line with these ideas, this reading group could also be called a holistic hackerspace – where Resonance bridges Bewusstseinskultur and Plurality.
When reading the book, we will use existing Plurality tools and ideas to brainstorm and develop new ones to improve the group as a resonance space and create tools for others.