Vitality Triangle

Abstract

How can we navigate complex power dynamics in our every-day interactions, while sourcing our collective powers for a just transition to equitable, regenerative economies where we all get to be alive, well, and free? How can we disrupt the politics of trauma and cultivate a politics of flourishing?  This article explores how an inner-compass, the “Vitality Triangle,” can help us meet these challenges by living our questions while embodying, embedding, and emplacing three principles of regenerative vitality in living systems: liberty, reciprocity, and integrity. The Vitality Triangle is not a new theory; it is a heuristic diagram informed by diverse lineages of thought and action that can help us cultivate ecosystem awareness as we navigate from the life-threatening conditions characterizing our current geological epoch to geographies of radical resilience. The article brings attention to academic and paradigmatic assumptions regarding ontology, sovereignty/power, epistemology, and cartography that have contributed to a downward spiral of degenerative socio-ecological relationships, as depicted by the “Precarity Triangle.” The Vitality Triangle supports shifts in consciousness conducive to an upward spiral of regenerative relationships in dynamic, co-evolving living systems. The Vitality Triangle builds upon and complements Theory U as an awareness-based approach to systems change. It shares core ontological assumptions with Theory U, including an understanding that form follows consciousness, and therefore, shifting from ego-system to ecosystem awareness represents a powerful leverage point for systems change, regenerating vitality across scales in nested living systems – from bodies and the body politic, to the ecosystems of which we are part.