Creating upCreation: An Unfolding Story

How does a concept, an idea come alive?

What gives it the energy to live, to be noticed, to take form, and obtain the attention of others?

What enables an idea or concept to thrive

Background

The word “upcreation” was created by Kevin Kelly for his book, What Technology Wants (2009):

“Self-organization that brings forth an emergent level of complexity that
encompasses, without destruction, the previous lower levels of organization. In the
right circumstances self organization can often also be legitimately called self-
creation. Without an outside agent, the parts cohere into a new organization that
brings forth an “emergent” level or self not present before. Since the new emergent level of complexity encompasses, without destruction, the previous ‘lower’ levels of organization, I call this self-creation of higher levels ‘upcreation’.” —Kevin Kelly

Gail rolled this around in her mind for a number of years. Gail was infatuated with the idea, but what did it mean?

How would she use it?

Around 2015, it began to grow in her mind, to come alive as she shared it, to be important, and to be useful in her thinking.

By 2018, it caught the imagination of others and together they began to ask, how could they put this idea out in the larger market place? What role could it play in helping them let go of the ideas in the existing paradigm and find their path into the emerging one? What could upCreation teach them?

Finally, in 2020, it had reason and purpose to come alive.
In the throes of the pandemic, the team formed upCreation as a way to journey together — learning, developing skills, collaborating. This video from an early upCreation session explains the purpose of the program.

Our Workshop

Join design team members Philippe, Ryan, and Gail as they unfold the story of upCreation. What made the timing, the circumstances, and the unique offering work at this particular time?

This 90-minute workshop will begin with the story of how and why it came to be — the underpinnings and scaffolding for its development. From there we will bring in participants who joined us in this journey through a Fish Bowl module.

Finally, in small groups, we will be asking “upCreation” what it wants from us next. How is it, and why is it, that you want to play another role in helping humans leap the abyss from an old dying paradigm into the emergence of a beautifully unfolding new one?

Our Hosts

Gail Taylor is the founder and CEO of Tomorrow Makers, Inc., helping to create scaffolds and tools for leaping the abyss… from one paradigm to another.

Philippe Coullomb is a transformation Designer and Co-Founder of Openfield in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He has developed a deep experience in transformation design and group genius facilitation across all industries for the deep transformation of complex systems.

Ryan “Rev” Romsey is a writer, musician, storyteller, designer, builder, troubleshooter, adaptor, VRchitect, student, teacher, philosophizer, and heyoka.