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Journal of Contemplative Inquiry

Abstract

This case study shares our learning journey while co-creating The Mindfulness Alliance, a non-profit committed to catalyzing collective capacity to foster awareness-based social change. The paper explores our contemplative governance development through the lens of the me-to-We journey, the shift from an ego-centric to an eco-centric worldview. We present our 4C framework as a means to better understand this inner journey and the essential awarenessbased transformation literacies that we need to cultivate in order to meet urgent intra- and interdependent societal challenges. We explain the me-to-We journey as a journey toward transformative unity, a new term which explicates the type of interdependent unity needed to change the world. We introduce The Cycle of Transformative Unity, an emergent awareness-based model which incorporates the concept of toroidal flow to support understanding the 4C change processes as the constantly unfolding, nonlinear, interdependent journey from me-to-We. These models (1) give rise to new ways of thinking and teaching about the journey of growing awareness, (2) have implications for the evolution of practice frameworks and trainings, and (3) offer insights for the creation of educational spaces that are relevant to educators, leaders, practitioners, and change-makers in any arena. The article advocates for intentionally growing the capacity for awareness and the capacity for connectedness, to foster the transformative unity needed for broad social change. We are each called upon to dare greatly, and to reimagine a just way forward—together.

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