Rev Up the Renaissance
Be the (Sea) Change You Want to See
By Jim Kenney

Are we living in an age of moral growth or moral decay? Despite the turmoil that’s characterized by the early twenty-first century so far, American culture is actually evolving. Many of the cultural problems we see all around us are expressions of the turbulence created by the clash between the declining wave of “older values” and the ascending wave of “new values.”

We’re not changing biologically, but our culture, our ‘social skin,’ is changing to fit the complex and potentially wonderful times in which we live. We’re in the middle of a twenty-first century Renaissance—and yet we are often so preoccupied with simply ‘coping’ that we can’t see the dramatic, positive changes that are unfolding all around us.

So here’s the question: Is there anything we can do to “rev up” the twenty-first century Renaissance—to move the evolutionary process along? Absolutely yes. Here are a few action steps to get us started:

Reorient Yourself To A Changing World
Learning the language of cultural evolutionary sea change is essential for several reasons. It deepens clarity and nurtures hope. It provides a lens through which we can much more accurately view our changing times. It’s a great source of comfort in our angst-ridden age.

Understand The Two-wave Model
The crossing of the declining, long-dominant older value wave and the rising newer wave. (Thriving in the Crosscurrent offers a thorough explanation.)

Honor The Best Of The Older Wave
Justice, fairness, honesty, loyalty, patriotism, kindness, and many other essential virtues have a place in both the older and newer wave. In other words, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”.

Know The Anomalies
These are the surprising observations that tell us there’s something wrong with many of our prevailing values and assumptions. For example, we’ve learned that men are not superior to women, that the concept of “race” is mostly fiction, that humans really can damage the Earth irreparably, that more than one religion might be valid, that we cannot simply ignore issues of justice and human rights. Each of these realizations counters a longstanding cultural assumption. Each appears as an “anomaly,” an unsettling but necessary truth.

Don’t Mistake Eddies For New-Wave Values
Some of the most disturbing phenomena of our time—rampant incivility, race-based hate groups, unchecked corporate greed, violent acts of terrorism—are not indicators of new values, but are patterns of resistance to change. They are reactive counter-flows that can slow but not stem the new tide.

Familiarize Yourself With The Emergent Values Of The Newer Wave. Remember “P, J, S”: peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.

Educate Yourself
Learn as much as you can about one or more emerging new wave concerns. Human rights, ecology, and gender equity are good examples.

Learn one thing every month about “what’s working” in the struggle to make a better world. For example:

Nonviolent conflict resolution: “the Season for Nonviolence”.
(www.agnt.org/snv2010/SNVintro.htm).

The best in ecological stewardship (www.grist.org).

The UN Millennium Development Goals project ( www.un.org/millenniumgoals ).

Engage Others
Learning is only part of the process; it all comes together when we share new information and understanding with family, friends, colleagues, and others. “Learn and share” is the mantra of the sea change agent. At every stage of your growing understanding, concern, and commitment, make sure you bring along at least one other person. Learning and sharing deepens confidence, provides confirmation, and generates the energy to take the next step.

Become A Voice Of Clarity
Learn and share cutting-edge information about the 21st century sea change. Become a source of hope. Seek out and share evidence of values and behaviors that are really changing for the better.

Learn what to watch for…watch and pass it on.

Become an amateur expert in one area of new wave value shift (identify, absorb, pass it on).

Join the “Sea Change Blog Discussion”
Recruit a partner or two or three…or open up a network to share information, inspiration, and ideas for cooperative common action.

Use your Facebook or Twitter account to build a conversation. Watch it grow into a network.

Draw on your developing social network to create a modest action group, whose members might resolve to take and share one exemplary step each month. For example:

Volunteer in a neighborhood cleanup.

Work in a food pantry.

Start a letter-writing campaign for human rights.

Do Your Part To Change The World
Understand the difference between events you can’t change (like the Gulf disaster) and creative responses you can support or join in.

Find an area where you can be a catalyst. Identify a P, J, S cause where you can make even a small difference. Find an opening and take an initial step. For example:

Read an important and inspiring book and pass it on to a friend.

Make a financial contribution to a “sea change” project.

Organize a discussion and action group.

Volunteer your time.

Write a letter to government representatives, to an individual or a group making a difference, or to the media.

Now take another step: Adopt a problem; make a personal commitment. Engage your friends, your network. For example: Poverty And Hunger In Your Own City Or Region: Help a public agency assist one struggling family.

Invest in the price of a tank of gas in the Gulf cleanup.

Adopt A Group
Find at least one NGO or other group that is making a “sea change” difference somewhere in the world. Find out how you can help…financial contributions are wonderful, but there’s often a way to become more personally involved. Tell your friends about your commitment.

Jim Kenney, author of, Thriving in the Crosscurrent: Clarity and Hope in a Time of Cultural Sea Change, has been recognized as a leader in the global movement for intercultural understanding. Kenney is the cofounder and executive director of Common Ground, an adult educational center offering a wide range of programs on the great cultural, religious. For additional information on his various global programs visit: www.SeaChanges.net.