Evolutionary Boot Camps offer a training space for humanonauts who want to pioneer the next humanity. This project has grown inside me for the past 3-4 years. Now time has come…

NOTE: the first Evolutionary Boot Camp will take place in Bali, April 11-17 2016. Details here.

A little bit of context

Our species evolves, so does the way society organizes itself. And so does collective intelligence. We transition from thousands of years of pyramidal collective intelligence (top-down, centralized, market and money based…) towards holomidal collective intelligence (distributed, local and global, based on mutualist economy…). More and more people pioneer new ways to exist individually and collectively, from energy to education, from science to healthcare, from ecology to food (as expressed in trailer The New Republics).

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On that same evolutionary wave, many people take the journey of personal growth. Sociology offers a precise scrutiny of this evolution, for instance through the rise of cultural creatives (Ray & Anderson). Maps of stages of consciousness (Wilber, Aurobindo, Gebser, Graves) show also a clear rise of consciousness on the planet, leading to more and more people wanting to interconnect and build societies and organizations that reflect their being and their values. We can also see a shift from rational societies to transrational societies (they include rationality, but transcend it to go beyond its limitations).

Individual evolution doesn’t provide many clues on how to build an enlightened society. Many people have pioneered a specific sector in the doing side, like permaculture, ecology, sustainable economies, renewable energy, software, schools, etc. But how do we put the pieces together? How do we design thriving societies from that? How do we activate individual evolution in making evolved collectives?

In my trips around the world, I see the same pattern reproducing again and again: evolved people keep reproducing the same old society together, and they suffer from it. It operates like if some hidden old social DNA kept the old society alive, with its limitations, regardless the work on personal growth and the breakthroughs in external technologies. Something seems to operate independently.

After years of research, I came to realize that the “we” that operates through the individual hasn’t evolved very much. Spiritual traditions have focused on liberating the “I” –the self– as a primary condition for liberating the We. Yet they haven’t addressed that part of the “we” –society– that perpetuates itself through the I, now time has come to take the challenge.

For instance, by writing this page in English, I use a collective tool: language. All languages contain multiple layers of archaic forms of consciousness by the very way they describe reality. They perpetuate the use of old maps and archaic, if not violent, forms of consciousness. Evolving language certainly evolves the we.

Another example: conventional money. This very old technology supports pyramidal collective intelligence very well. Because money concentrates itself in the hands of a few, it serves societies that need to rely on competition, market based economies, centralized power, i.e. pyramidal collective intelligence. It doesn’t serve holomidal collective intelligence, based on distributed networks and mutualist economy. Shifting to such an economy requires we build a technology better than money. A technology that makes us see integral wealth, a language of flows. It will evolve the We and its consciousness in a magnitude that no one can imagine today.

One last example (among so many others): social codes. Social codes never exist randomly. They have a purpose. They keep the societal structure alive and protect it. For instance standard conversations don’t leave space for silence, deep breath, meditation. We “take the floor”, we want people to listen to what we have to say, or push. Because of their speed, conventional conversations make us operate on automatic pilot. They protect our integrity and they mostly operate from the mental. Wisdom driven conversations and transrational based conversations, require a whole other set of social codes to support them. The 6 agreements that include a deep breath before speaking, for instance, offer an architecture that support the emergence of wisdom in conversations.

For years I have given 3 days seminars on collective intelligence. They offered an initiation based on an integral approach involving body, mind and spirit. I have trained hundreds of persons to evolve their body, their language, the way they use technology or see the world. It has contributed to spreading and growing awareness and knowledge about this new discipline. Although I kept saying and writing that one shouldn’t attend these seminars for personal development, most people kept coming for this motive. Many of them faced a “transition crisis” and wanted to invent a new life for themselves, clean the bad old contracts they had with the conventional world, and embody another world via their own choices and lifestyle.

Noble motives, but not sufficient.

Pioneering the next society and the next consciousness requires much more than a personal therapeutic shift. It requires the spirit of an fierce explorer giving 100% of his/her energy and attention. To make a long story short, although collective intelligence seminars served lot’s of people, they didn’t contribute to train the fierce pioneers that the world to come needs.

So, late 2011, I stopped giving seminars. I realized I had to invent a better and more powerful architecture for these spaces, evolve my communication, and become super selective. This question really helped me: what kind of design does it take to train ourselves as humanonauts of the next evolutionary leap?

Just think of an astronaut who prepares himself/herself to travel to a new planet or galaxy, and you get the real picture.

From Astronaut to Humanonaut

Imagine you dream to travel into space to discover and inhabit new universes. Because of their own physics and topology, these virgin worlds offer many possibilities to reinvent life. New civilizations can grow there from a clean start. You feel an irresistible attraction for the journey. You want to become an astronaut who will pioneer these worlds.

Could you do that on your spare time? Would reading books on personal development do the job? Of course not. You know that becoming an astronaut will ask for every single piece of your will, your courage, your attention, your energy and your time. You will have to leave everything in order to commit to the journey. If you have a family, then you will need to make an agreement with them so they support you unconditionally.

Before getting into the spacecraft, you will follow a long and extensive preparation –physical, mental, psychological and, in many regards, spiritual. You will learn how to make the right decisions in unknown and sometimes risky environments, you will prepare yourself to face every possible scenario and provide appropriate responses, you will master zillions of techniques and technologies. You will train yourself to keep cool in situations that would drive anyone crazy or frozen by fear. Although this training and journey may terrify many people, you love it because it makes you thrive. You made your dharma of it.

Becoming a humanonaut that explores and embodies the next humanity requires the very same intensity of training and commitment as an astronaut.

Boot Camps for Humanonauts

So, what will we do in evolutionary boot camps? I guess you have the concept now: train and play. These boot camps will give you an overview of the journey you can take to prepare yourself for the next humanity. No one in these boot camps will tell you what you should do in the future and the kind of person you should become. You will train with other fellows so you can build great capacities to invent the future.

What?

• We will learn the fundamentals of collective intelligence and the language for social engineering.
• We will contemplate the arrow of evolution that manifests via our individual and collective consciousness.
• We will envision possible worlds that want to come into existence.
• We will intensively train our bodies for some hours everyday so that everything we learn or unlearn becomes fully embodied.
• We will explore new technologies and see how we can hack them or design them in order to provide the right infrastructure for the world we want.
• We will explore how the old social DNA perpetuates itself through language, food, social codes, technology, time, culture, the body, the doxa.
• We will practice new architectures for new social DNA through language, food, social codes, etc.
• We will see how we create architectures that support higher forms of consciousness, individually and collectively.

Evolutionary boot camps will last for 7 full days. It doesn’t include arrival and departure, they must happen the days before and the day after the event.

Can we learn all these things in just 7 days? Of course not. Didn’t I write that becoming a humanonaut requires a 24/7 involvement? However these 7 days will give you enough tools and context to decide whether you want to embark on the full time journey for yourself. Not for me or any specific organization. For yourself.

What will come next? I have no idea. You will decide. Everyone will decide. Maybe a movement will emerge. Or a global boot camp. Or nothing. I have no agenda, I invite you to trust the process, as I do.

The week will have 2 parts:

1. Days 1-4: intensive training, as described above.
2. Days 5-7: we continue the training and the group has open spaces to reflect on the “what next?”, for you, for others.

Who?

Attending an evolutionary boot camp means you match and agree with every criteria listed below:

• You fill in this form to explain why you want to attend.
• You have a super physical condition. I mean super. Not as an international athlete, but you should consider running 10km, doing 20 push ups or jumping from 2m high a natural thing. You may have a good level in some sports (martial arts, swimming, rock climbing, marathon, dance, anything…). Intensive training hours don’t scare you.
• You don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs.
• You consider yourself as a free person and a free spirit.
• You have developed artistic skills — music, drawing, writing, filming, circus… anything.
• You have a strong rational, scientific, intuitive and curious mind.
• You have solved your main psychological and existential issues. Boot camps will not serve as a space for therapy, healing or just personal development.
• You experience a deep spiritual journey grounded by a spiritual practice (yoga, meditation, martial arts, shamanism…).
• You at least eat vegetarian, if not vegan.
• You agree that during this week you will eat raw organic vegan food.
• You have a skillful practice of the Internet, such as social media, coding, design, architecture…
• You have a free life as well as a free spirit. You haven’t entangled yourself in heavy duty life style such as a family life, heavy work position, a house to pay for the next 20 years, etc.
• Breaking old social codes also includes exploring other possibilities with the body, such as nakedness. You feel okay with it.
• If people tell you that Boot Camps hide a secret sect under the control of a guru, and you fear this for real, please don’t register. It means you haven’t built enough autonomy to trust your own judgment and to experience that freedom depends exclusively on you.
• You speak fluent English — I mean fluent, not school level.
• You agree that I will coach you during this whole week and you trust my leadership on this. At least for a week.
• If I see you as a possible candidate for the boot camp, you agree we have a one-to-one interview so I can sense your deep motivation and you can ask all the questions you want.

How?

I will not organize evolutionary boot camps myself. You will organize them, from finding the place to calculating the costs, to dealing with logistics (accommodation, food, cooking, travel…), to distributing everyone’s role and setting up the support system. It demonstrates your capacity to make things happen. It also makes clear that we don’t make yet another class for personal development or spiritual tourism. Boot camps belong to the DIY philosophy.

We begin with an interview together. We will get to know each other. I will ask about your motivation, leadership and the role you want to take in setting up the event. You can ask all the questions you want.

These boot camps will work with groups of 12-30 people.

Where?

Boot camps can take place anywhere on the planet. From Patagonia, to Central Manhattan, to the heart of India, to Hogwarts.

Boot camps should take place in spaces that embody the values we hold: ecological, beautiful, spiritually grounded.

The place should have the capacity to host daytime activities for everyone — from indoor/outdoor physical play (depends on the climate), to computer work, to meals, to meditation circles. If the place can’t host everyone during the night, then the close neighborhood should offer complementary facilities.

The place should have a very good internet connection.

How much?

Boot camps rely on the gift economy. It means:

• I offer you my work, my experience and my time. I only ask the group to support my travel expense + food + accommodation.
• In the end you can make a conscious gift. Not as a debt or duty, but from gratitude if you experience it. A gift to me, or to anyone else in the world. The philosophy consists in keeping the chain of kindness alive.
• On top of your travel expense, you will likely have to invest some conventional money for accommodation and food, unless someone also offered these things to the boot camp.

Imagination and inner autonomy always help find practical solutions. For instance you may organize a conference for me that pays for the trip. Or your aunt has a chateau she wants you and your circle to enjoy. Or your best friend has extra air miles to spare. Just allow the flow to happen, and it will happen.

How to apply?

1. Read carefully the criteria above and ask yourself whether they apply to you
2. Fill in the registration form
3. Have an interview with me if I select you as a potential candidate

If I don’t select you, don’t take it personally. It doesn’t say anything about your richness and potential as a human being. It just means you don’t match with the specific criteria for this specific boot camp. Maybe next time. Don’t give up if you really want it.

See you soon maybe!

 

An objective map of evolution of consciousness…