The Meaning of Freedom

The Meaning of Freedom

Aug 3, 2025 | Leadership, Presence, Time, Transformation, Truth

Freedom, NH Town Hall

This past weekend, I had occasion to visit Freedom, NH for their Old Home Week Celebration—an experience that changed my perspective on what it means to be human.

Yes, this sounds dramatic, but transformation of perspective is not a process that abstractly happens in a person’s head. Rather, it is an embodied experience that can be significantly enhanced in the presence of others.

Certainly, I have had my fair share of enlightening experiences in academic settings. I have cried after reading some academic literature, and I have felt my entire body tingle when people consciously bring their complete selves to dialogues.

More than Pancakes

What I found beautiful about the celebration in Freedom this weekend was captured in their pancake breakfast this morning. I witnessed neighbors hugging, people smiling, folks donating resources and time to bring people together over plates of fruit, donuts, pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

I sat at a table with strangers and learned about a woman’s love of this town, where she lives, and how several events from this past week were to contribute to the education of kids. I overhead conversations and listened to the stories of people I may never see again.

What I most remember, however, was the smiles on people’s faces—people of all ages, brought together in a town hall that looked like something from a Normal Rockwell postcard. The event was free, but people were encouraged to bring food or cash to support the local food pantry. I brought cash.

Seeking Connection

As I sat and observed the people around me, I felt like I was part of something intimate and yet much larger than just me. I was witnessing humanity at its best.

Why did I drive 20 minutes for a breakfast I could have made for myself with my beautiful mountain views? For the same reason everyone else made their way to a small town hall on the eastern edges of New Hampshire on a gorgeous summer morning.

We wanted to connect, get roped into conversations with strangers, watch kids eat pancakes with their little fingers, and watch other people watch us watch them and smile.

Creating Space for New Friends

There is so much ugliness in this world, and there always has been. There is so much beauty in this world, too, and we do not need to look far to find it.

We cannot systematically address the ills of this world, but we can break bread—or pancakes—with our neighbors.

I do not know if the people at this breakfast were Republicans or Democrats. I did not speak with anyone about their political views.

I drank coffee and ate too many pancakes, and I smiled at strangers who often smiled at me first. In today’s experience, Space as Metaphor was more than a metaphor. It existed in a town hall in Freedom, NH, and the only way I discovered it is because I was there.

Sharing Space

Space as Metaphor is not an invitation to abstraction. It is an invitation to share our lives with others and move beyond the conventional labels invented by men who do not know you or me.

When we define one another with simplistic words, we reduce one another to caricatures. It is both sad and painful because we are much more than any single word can possibly fathom.

So what is the meaning of Freedom? I am not entirely sure, except I am certain it is a shared experience, one made much more memorable over pancakes and laughter.

Ultimately, the meaning exists in my heart, and I have strangers in a small town in NH whom I can thank for this humble reminder. We are human beings and we belong to one another—and that is the true meaning of Freedom.

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Rethinking Transformation: More Than a Hero’s Tale

Rethinking Transformation: More Than a Hero’s Tale

Jul 20, 2025 | Leadership, Space as Metaphor, Transformation, Truth

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For generations, the hero’s journey has shaped how we imagine change. Its arc—departure, ordeal, return—offers a compelling story of individual transformation. What if this is just one story among many? What if, instead of a lone hero, we focused on the spaces between us, the stories that overlap, the fields we co-create?

The Space as Metaphor Charter emerges from this very question. Drawing on Indigenous knowledge systems, Ubuntu, Taoism, Buddhism, and ecopsychology, this charter challenges the dominance of the hero’s journey and its focus on linear, individual achievement. Instead, it lays the groundwork for Space as Metaphor itself, an open-source conceptual framework for transformation—one that is collective, process-oriented, and ethically charged (Levey, 2024; Nicolescu, 2002).

Space as Home: Co-Mingling the Internal and External

In education, business, and therapy, we’re often taught to separate “internal” and “external” spaces: the mind versus the room, the self versus the system. Space as Metaphor, however, asks us to see these not as opposites, but as co-mingled—each shaping and being shaped by the other.

How I feel inside colors how I experience a meeting; the design of a classroom or curriculum helps to shape my sense of self.

There is no clear boundary. Space is always relational, always in flux (Levey, 2024).

What if every space—classroom, boardroom, counseling office, or quiet corner of your mind—could feel like home? This is not a home defined by walls or outcomes, but by a sense of belonging, story, and possibility.

The charter invites us to treat all spaces as living homes, full of personal and collective stories, beliefs, and histories. It asks us to pause, reflect, and challenge our assumptions as plans emerge and unfold, creating “thick” experiences that invite deeper awareness.

Deconstructing the Charter: Articles as Invitations

The Space as Metaphor Charter is not a set of rules, but a series of living invitations:

Space Honors Complexity
Space is never empty. It is layered, storied, and interconnected. To honor space is to resist easy answers and make room for what is not yet known (Morin, 2008).

Space Holds Story
Every space is full of stories—personal, collective, organizational, ancestral. The charter asks us to listen for the stories that are present and those that are missing (Levey, 2024).

Space is Historical and Indigenous
Space carries memory. It is shaped by history, power, and culture. To make space is to honor the land, the ancestors, and the wisdom that came before (Massey, 2005).

Space Welcomes Uncertainty
Uncertainty is not a problem to solve, but a condition for emergence. The charter invites us to pause, reflect, and let new possibilities arise (Nicolescu, 2002).

Space Holds Trauma and Healing
Space can wound, but it can also heal. By holding space for grief, restoration, and transformation, we honor the full spectrum of human experience (Naess, 2005).

Space is Chaos and Home
Space can unsettle and shelter. It can be a site of rupture and a place of reorientation. “Home” is not a fixed address, but a process of making room for ourselves and each other (Levey, 2024).

Space is Methodology
Space is not just a metaphor, but an ethical and epistemological guide. It shapes how we learn, relate, and transform—together (Nicolescu, 2002).

Honoring Multiple Ways of Knowing: Process Over Output

At the heart of the charter is a radical ethic: honoring process over output. This is a direct inheritance from Indigenous ways of knowing, which value the journey, the relationship, and the ongoingness of inquiry. The charter resists urgency, binary thinking, and the need for consensus. It asks us to trust in emergence, to invite missing voices, and to act in ways that increase—not limit—the number of choices.

Space as Education
Imagine classrooms where silence is honored, stories are welcomed, and learning is a shared journey—not a race to the finish line. Here, “home” is a space of belonging, not just achievement.

Space as Leadership & Organization
What if organizations were designed to listen, adapt, and make room for emergence? Leadership becomes less about control, more about holding space for complexity and transformation.

Space as Counseling & Healing
Healing is not about fixing, but about “being-with.” Space is held as sacred and relational, supporting deep listening and restoration.

Space as Community & Dialogue
Dialogue is not about consensus, but about making room for multiple truths, discomfort, and the unknown.

The Ethical Imperative: Keeping the Question Open

What if we endeavored to make every space feel like home? Where is this space? For whom? What does “home” mean, and for whom?

The charter refuses to answer these questions for you. Instead, it invites you to ask them—again and again. In doing so, it embodies Heinz von Foerster’s ethical imperative: act always to increase the number of choices.

By not closing the question, we keep the space open, alive, and full of possibility.

Explore the Space

 

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References

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2016). Heroic leadership: An influence taxonomy of 100 exceptional individuals. Routledge.

Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row.

Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces. New World Library.

Chen, X. (2017). The ecological crisis and the Western worldview. Journal of Environmental Studies.

Jung, C. G. (2010). The archetypes and the collective unconscious. Princeton University Press.

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

Krishnamurti, J. (1991). Meeting life: Writings and talks on finding your path without retreating from society. HarperOne.

Levey, R. (2024). Embodying transdisciplinarity: An alternate narrative framework to the hero’s journey as a tool for transformation (Doctoral dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Macy, J., & Johnstone, C. (2012). Active hope: How to face the mess we’re in without going crazy. New World Library.

Massey, D. (2005). For space. Sage Publications.

Mezirow, J. (1978). Perspective transformation. Adult Education Quarterly, 28(2), 100–110.

Morin, E. (2008). On complexity (R. Postel, Trans.). Hampton Press. (Original work published 1990)

Morin, E. (2014). Complexity and contradiction in the Western worldview. Complexity Journal.

Naess, A. (2005). Self-realization: An ecological approach to being in the world. In A. Drengson & H. Glasser (Eds.), The selected
works of Arne Naess (Vol. 10, pp. 81–109). Springer.

Nicolescu, B. (2002). Manifesto of transdisciplinarity (K. Claire Voss, Trans.). State University of New York Press.

Nisbett, R. E., et al. (2001). Culture and systems of thought: Holistic versus analytic cognition. Psychological Review, 108(2), 291–310.

Scharmer, O. (2007). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Doubleday.

Simpson, L. (2011). Dancing on our turtle’s back: Stories of Nishnaabeg re-creation, resurgence, and a new emergence. Arbeiter Ring Publishing.

Stein, K. (1984). Toni Morrison’s Sula: A black woman’s epic. Black American Literature Forum, 18(4), 146–150.

von Foerster, H. (2003). Understanding understanding: Essays on cybernetics and cognition. Springer.

von Foerster, H. (2018). The ethical imperative: Essays on the co-evolution of man and machine. Stanford University Press.

Wheatley, M. J. (1992). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Yunkaporta, T. (2021). Sand talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world. HarperOne.

Battiste, M. (2013). Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit. UBC Press.

Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces (3rd ed.). New World Library.

Chilisa, B. (2017). Decolonising transdisciplinary research approaches: An African perspective for enhancing knowledge integration in sustainability science. Sustainability Science, 12(5), 813–827.

Clarke, J. J. (2000). The Tao of the West: Western transformations of Taoist thought. Routledge.

Dei, G. J. S. (2000). Rethinking the role of Indigenous knowledges in the academy. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 4(2), 111–132.

Freire, P. (2020). Pedagogy of the oppressed (D. Macedo, Trans.; 50th anniversary ed.). Routledge. (Original work published 1970)

Gergen, K. J. (2015). An invitation to social construction (3rd ed.). SAGE.

Girardot, N. J., Miller, J., & Liu, X. (Eds.). (2001). Daoism and ecology: Ways within a cosmic landscape. Harvard University Press.

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

Levey, R. (2024). Embodying transdisciplinarity: An alternate narrative framework to the hero’s journey as a tool for transformation (Doctoral dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Macy, J., & Johnstone, C. (2012). Active hope: How to face the mess we’re in without going crazy. New World Library.

Massey, D. (2005). For space. SAGE.

Mezirow, J. (1978). Perspective transformation. Adult Education Quarterly, 28(2), 100–110.

Miller, J. (2017). China’s green religion: Daoism and the quest for a sustainable future. Columbia University Press.

Morin, E. (2014). Complexity and uncertainty: A philosophical approach. Springer.

Nicolescu, B. (2002). Manifesto of transdisciplinarity (K. C. Voss, Trans.). State University of New York Press.

Palmer, P. J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. Jossey-Bass.

Roszak, T., Gomes, M. E., & Kanner, A. D. (Eds.). (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, healing the mind. Sierra Club Books.

Salmón, E. (2000). Kincentric ecology: Indigenous perceptions of the human–nature relationship. Ecological Applications, 10(5), 1327–1332.

Sardar, Z. (2010b). Welcome to postnormal times. Futures, 42(5), 435–444.

Scharmer, C. O. (2007). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. Berrett-Koehler.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art & practice of the learning organization. Doubleday.

Simpson, L. B. (2011). Dancing on our turtle’s back: Stories of Nishnaabeg re-creation, resurgence and a new emergence. Arbeiter Ring Publishing.

Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (3rd ed.). Bloomsbury.

Tzu, L. (2004). Tao Te Ching (K. Voss, Trans.). http://globalradical.com/Tao/tao.pdf

Von Foerster, H. (2018). The beginning of heaven and earth has no name: Seven days with second-order cybernetics. Fordham University Press.

Wheatley, M. J. (1992). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world. Berrett-Koehler.

Yunkaporta, T. (2021). Sand talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world. HarperOne.

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The Sun Will Never Set

The Sun Will Never Set

Jul 12, 2025 | Spoken Poetry

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There is a world inside
every song 
experienced in every heart
within the souls
of those who live on planets
that spin
inside galaxies that turn,
dreams that burn
within
the hopes and fears
of lost men at sea,
always searching
for the elusive ‘me’
within the me
that cannot change
because it must not die
nor must we try
to decipher
because
there is space
in every time,
time in every space,
love in every trace
of what once was
alive and real,
tangible and could feel
the wind,
the fire,
the earth,
and the sea
that churns beneath
the sky,
the dome,
the envelope,
the home,
the beauty
amidst the fear
behind the smile,
perched on the tear
of the woman
who holds
and carries the sphere,
the here
beyond the now,
past the how,
outside the known,
beneath the love,
outside thought,
before yesterday
and tomorrow
exists a universal sorrow
that once one is,
one eventually will not,
and yet galaxies will spin
and light will travel
and the sun will never set.

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The Radical Limits of Prescriptive Approaches

The Radical Limits of Prescriptive Approaches

Jul 3, 2025 | Love, Presence, Space as Metaphor, Time, Transformation, Truth

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There is a certain comfort in a playbook: step one, step two, step three—a promise of order in a world that feels increasingly chaotic. In the workplace, in organizations, and even in our personal lives, we often reach for guides and checklists in the hope they will deliver us from conflict or confusion into clarity and connection.

What if the very structure of the playbook is the problem?

The Seduction—and Failure—of the Linear

Many traditional approaches to personal and organizational conflict and transformation are obsessed with the prescriptive: “Do this, then that, and you’ll get the result you want.”

These methods can be helpful for addressing surface-level issues, but they rarely address the underlying causes. In fact, they often reinforce the very boundaries—emotional, relational, and systemic—that keep us isolated and reactive (Levey, 2024; Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021).

This is not a theoretical critique. In my own research and experience, I have seen how these approaches can leave us feeling more alone, more entrenched, and less able to respond creatively to the complexity of real life. The proverbial playbook, for all its promises, is a map that refuses to acknowledge the terrain has changed (Levey, 2024).

Embodiment: The Missing Radical Act

What is missing from the ‘playbook’ is embodiment. Embodiment is not just “being present” or “mindfulness” as a buzzword. It is the radical act of bringing the whole self—body, emotion, history, and relationship—into the process of transformation.

As I argue in my dissertation, this is a move away from the linear, heroic, individualistic journey toward a more spacious, relational, and collective way of being (Levey, 2024; Dall’Alba & Barnacle, 2007).

Embodiment means that transformation is not something that happens “out there,” or in the abstract, but in the lived, felt experience of our bodies and our relationships. It is a process that is messy, nonlinear, and often uncomfortable. It is also, crucially, a process that cannot be scripted in advance (Levey, 2024; Franklin-Phipps, 2020).

Dialogue as Embodied Practice: Making Space Real

This is where dialogue comes in—not as mere communication, but as an embodied act. Communication, in its most common form, is transactional: information is exchanged, positions are stated, and the goal is often persuasion or agreement.

Dialogue, by contrast, is a practice of presence. It is a way of being-with, of inhabiting the space between self and other, of listening with the whole body and allowing oneself to be changed by the encounter (Levey, 2024, pp. 116-117; Bakhtin, 1986).

In the EcoDialogues framework, which draws from Indigenous, Eastern, and transdisciplinary wisdom, dialogue is not a tool for consensus or conflict resolution. It is a method for inhabiting space together, for witnessing and being witnessed, for allowing the boundaries between us to become more porous. Dialogue is not about winning or losing, but about opening—a process that is as much somatic as it is semantic (EcoDialogues, 2024; Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021).

This is a crucial distinction. Communication can happen without embodiment; dialogue cannot. Dialogue, in its truest sense, is an embodied act of resistance against the inherited norms and power structures that keep us apart. It is a way of creating new spaces—through vulnerability, collective care, and shared movement—where authentic connection and transformation can flourish (Levey, 2024, pp. 116-117; Moore, 2018).

Spaciology—my framework for transformation—makes this explicit: space is not just a metaphor, but a lived, relational field. Dialogue is what makes space real. Without dialogue, “space” remains an abstraction. With dialogue, it becomes a living, breathing context for change (Levey, 2024, pp. 142-150; EcoDialogues, 2024).

Dialogue, Belief, and Organizational Culture

These potential new spaces are not just metaphorical, as they refer to the changing of beliefs and assumptions, which translates directly into new organizational cultures.

When we engage in authentic dialogue that is embodied, vulnerable, and open—we create the conditions for shifts in perspective to take place. Research across organizational studies, transformative learning, and my own research all support the claim that authentic dialogue creates spaces where real change happens—not when people are forced or coerced, but when they willingly shift their perspective (Mezirow, 1978; Levey, 2024, pp. 96-101; Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021; Burbules & Bruce, 2001).

This is the heart of Spaciology—not a playbook, but an invitation—a call to inhabit our lives, relationships, and organizations as open, generative spaces. By dissolving the walls around our hearts through embodied, spatial practices, we engage in a form of creative resistance that is both deeply personal and profoundly collective.

An attention to all spaces is how we move from separation to belonging, from rigidity to flow, from inherited boundaries to co-created possibility (Levey, 2024, pp. 142-150; Massey, 2005).

The Evidence for Dialogue

All kinds of research support the notion that authentic dialogue is the space where shifts in perspective occur (Pipere & Lorenzi, 2021; Levey, 2024, p. 117; Burbules & Bruce, 2001; Moore, 2018). Real change happens when people willingly shift their perspective—not when they reach for a playbook with the same “plays.” Dialogue is not just a method, but an embodied, relational, and transformative act that changes not only what we do, but who we are, together.

Explore the Space

 

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References

Bakhtin, M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays (C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Eds., V. W. McGee, Trans.). University of Texas Press.

Burbules, N. C., & Bruce, B. C. (2001). Theory and research on teaching as dialogue. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., pp. 1102–1121). American Educational Research Association.

Dall’Alba, G., & Barnacle, R. (2007). An ontological turn for higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 32(6), 679–691. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070701685130

EcoDialogues. (2024). Space as Metaphor, Dialogue as Method: Brief Overview [PDF]. UYM Charities.

Franklin-Phipps, A. (2020). Historical interludes: The productive uncertainty of feminist transdisciplinarity. In C. A. Taylor, C. Hughes, & J. Ulmer (Eds.), Transdisciplinary feminist research (pp. 29–42). Routledge.

Levey, R. (2024). Embodying Transdisciplinarity: An Alternate Narrative Framework to the Hero’s Journey as a Tool for Transformation [Doctoral dissertation, California Institute of Integral Studies].

Massey, D. (2005). For space. SAGE.

Mezirow, J. (1978). Perspective transformation. Adult Education Quarterly, 28(2), 100–110. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171367802800202

Moore, S. A. (2018). Radical listening: Transdisciplinarity, restorative justice and change. World Futures, 74(7–8), 471–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2018.1485436

Pipere, A., & Lorenzi, F. (2021). The dialogical potential of transdisciplinary research: Challenges and benefits. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 77(8), 559–590.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2021.1875673

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Unstorying the Narratives of Space

Unstorying the Narratives of Space

Jun 13, 2025 | Love, Presence, Space as Metaphor, Time, Transformation, Truth

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What if space isn’t just where things happen—but how they happen? What if space is the story beneath the stories?

When I talk about my Space as Metaphor framework, I am not speaking in abstract theory. I am talking about the real landscapes of our lives—internal, relational, and ecological—and the ways we carry those landscapes in our bodies, choices, and beliefs and assumptions.

Developed by Dr. Nicole Miller, PhD, Unstorying™ is a practice designed to help people explore these landscapes. It is not about replacing one narrative with a better one. It is about gently loosening the grip of stories we did not even know we were living inside so we can discover new spaces both within and around ourselves.

What kinds of stories is she talking about? These are the stories beneath the day-to-day circumstances of our lives—the quiet, persistent narratives that shape how we interpret our experiences and what meaning we make from them. They often emerge as  “I feel” stories.

“I feel neglected.”
“I feel unheard.”
“I feel like I am not enough.”

Deeper Patterns

When something happens in our lives, we naturally develop feelings in response. However, those feelings are not just about this moment. The moment could be a trigger, awakening a deeper emotional pattern—and behind that pattern is a story.

From a depth psychology perspective, much of human experience—our thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and motivations—is shaped by unconscious processes. These unconscious stories once protected us. They helped us survive. But many of them were formed in the distant past (likely as children)—consequently, they may no longer serve us (now).

According to Carl Jung, we all share universal patterns and symbols that surface in myths, dreams, and personal narratives. Unstorying™ explores these myths, dreams, and personal narratives—not to pathologize them, but to gain insight and space.

A core “I feel” story is not something wrong with us. It’s a doorway.

Taking the Journey

Unstorying™ invites us through that doorway. It is a journey into ourselves—where we learn to sit with our emotions without judgment, without analysis, and without the belief that we need to fix anything.

In simply sitting and observing, we begin to recognize patterns in how we react and behave. This is a liminal space—not one that merely allows for transformation. Rather, space is transformation.

This space is not bound by time or our experience. There is only now—and so the changes we seek begin and end in ourselves right now.

When I suggest space as a metaphor for transformation, I am not saying stories disappear. Instead, I am arguing that an intent to cultivate an awareness of the spaces within and around us will increase the number of choices. Everything becomes a choice—and in this kind of space, each of us can find something larger than narrative.

In space, we find connection to ourselves, to others, and to the Earth. This is the purpose of Unstorying™—not to lose meaning, but to open (ourselves) to the possibility of new meaning(s) found in the spaces we inhabit.

Because space is not a place.
It is experienced.
It is lived.
And every one—and every thing—belongs in space.

Explore the Space

 

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