A perspective on co-creating

Life is an interesting experience.
As humans we are observers of life unfolding - of consciousness experiencing itself.

What is our role and agency in this?

Intuitively, many of us feel that we have some agency, some part to play in the evolution of everything. You push a few buttons on the laptop keyboard, and this website appears.

At the same time, it’s clear how small ‘we’¹ are in the unfolding of everything.

So as designers or more generally as human beings experiencing this life, we might ask: What is our role in the process of co-creation?

The ping-pong

Sitting in a cab in London, I had this beautiful conversation with George, a taxi driver. He used the metaphor of the ping-pong of life: We do our part (’raise our hand’ for a possibility, do the ping) and surrender to the response by the universe (the pong). Doing our part wholeheartedly while being curious/open/surrendered to whatever arises - knowing we can’t control the outcome.

The ping can be anything. From a word that is spoken to an action taken. These ‘pings’ create ripples and ‘interare’ with everything².

All we can do is serve the ‘ping’ in this moment with all our heart and the highest intention. Then, open up to the ‘pong’ from the universe/a higher power/life.

When we design, we have the chance to remember and embrace this: our agency and responsibility in the co-creation. The humble understanding that we can’t control outcomes, but that our ping matters.

What matters is the frequency, the vibration of the intention. How we are in every moment. Hence, to co-create worlds of thriving, we show up with love and care in our words and actions.

The practice

How can we refine and deepen our ‘ping’ in the practice of co-creation?

Nourishing our various bodies and layers³ and the connections between them. Allowing life and creative force to flow through us without friction and resistance⁴
Deepening our ‘designing’ practice and skills (more on this in the design section): Intuitive familiarity and experience with designing processes and methods, creative tools, useful structures that help crystalise the subtle possibilities into reality
Learning to ask helpful questions that open new possibility spaces
Mindfully choosing spaces, formats and actors: What space/format/constellation of actors allows for emergence and arising of beauty?
Nurturing our dreaming and imagination

Perspectives

Droplets of the ocean⁵

What if we are the droplets of the ocean - each reflecting the colours of the indescribable, unpredictable life experience? What if this is just life experiencing itself - through every droplet, every soul, all the eyes of every being? And in the unfolding of life, every soul adds their frequency - their colour as the light passes through it. Leading to a beautiful spectrum on the ever-evolving and emerging canvas of life. Maybe the highest power is playfully experiencing itself, as the unfolding and as all the droplets of the ocean.

Cosmic Drama

Maybe not even the highest power would want ‘to know and specify’ this cosmic play (Cosmic Drama, Alan Watts building on Hinduism).

To explore

Interbeing in the various publications and the life’s work of Thich Nhat Hanh
A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
Alan Watts: We are creating everything and nothing at the same time
The metaphor of the seed: Plant it with love - don’t take it out of the soil daily to check if it has grown roots (Philipp Aeschlimann)
Conversations with George Millard
Philosophical perspectives on agency and free will
Big Theory of Everything, by Tom Campbell
Teachings such as “Tat tvam asi” (“That thou art”) in the Chandogya Upanishad

Footnotes
1 Now when we start talking about ‘I’/’We’ it gets interesting. Which part is that? Where do we start and end? Where is our boundary? Are we still the same if we lose a body part, abilities, our personality as we get dementia, ...?
2 More on Interbeing can be explored in the work of Thich Nhat Hanh
3 For example the main ‘intelligence centres’: heart, mind, gut/belly or the 5 koshas (summary written by AI and reviewed/adapted):
Annamaya Kosha: The physical body
Pranamaya Kosha: The energetic and breath body that drives vitality and life force
Manomaya Kosha: The mental and emotional body of sensory processing and raw thoughts
Vijnanamaya Kosha: The wisdom body of higher intellect, conscience, and deep intuition
Anandamaya Kosha: The subtle bliss body closest to the true inner self and peace
4 Reducing friction and resistance in our body, so that energy and creativity can flow through us just like electricity in a wire
5 Elements of this perspective have emerged over the years, and I could not clearly attribute the origins of every element. I am humbly aware that all of this is building on threads and great insights of ancient philosophical and spiritual lineages. I have checked with ChatGPT and the most prominent original sources are Rumi/Sufism, Alan Watts, and Advaita Vedanta.
Rumi/Sufism: The image of the individual as a drop within the ocean — distinct in form, yet inseparable from the whole.
Watts repeatedly used the wave and ocean analogy and the perspective that the individual is an expression of the universe itself.
Advaita Vedanta: The non-dual philosophy of Advaita Vedanta and the Upanishads express that the same underlying Self is present in all beings.