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.

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

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Unstorying the Self

Unstorying the Self

Oct 13, 2024 | Love, Time, Transformation, Truth

As I reflect on my responsibilities as a human being to others, which include people, the more-than-human world, and the planet, I cannot help but question my story. Whose story is this?

Unstorying My Self

Recently, I discovered Unstorying™. Developed by Nicole Miller, PhD, this method teaches a process and practice of self-actualization shadow work grounded in depth psychology, which focuses on exploring the unconscious and subconscious aspects of the mind.

According to proponents of depth psychology, which would include Carl Jung if he were alive, these unconscious and subconscious aspects of the mind drive much of human behavior. To understand human behavior, then, I must look not just within myself, but rather at the narrative arc of how I make meaning out of my own experiences.

The question, ‘Whose story is this?,’ is neither rhetorical nor easily answered by merely pointing the finger at myself (or someone else). Rather, this question invites me to explore myself in relation to the stories I craft when trying to make sense of phenomena.

Unearthing The Self

Dr. Miller uses the term ‘unearthing’ to describe her process of self-inquiry, whereas I might prefer the term, excavate.’ However, our respective characterizations are similar in that we focus on our selves – not the constructed self  we often imagine through our stories, but the inside self that remains outside the stories that seemingly captivate us.

Who am I outside of my stories – and are these really ‘my’ stories? These questions are pregnant with assumptions, none of which are truth in the way Western society might present.

Unearthing the self is not so much an effort to re-narrate an individual life’s meaning to reveal a truth. Rather, it is an opportunity to reimagine the self outside the bounds of linearity and cognition. To inquire into the self is therefore not (and not not) anything other than exploration through the catacombs of our respective consciousnesses, which are portals to what exists within (and outside) ourselves.

Widening The Self

These ruminations lead me back to my initial reflection, which is to what extent am I responsible to others? Indeed, if my focus is exclusively on my self, how can anything I do have value for others?

From an ecopsychological point of view, the answer may be to widen (and deepen) my concept of self to include identification not just with other humans and society but also with nature and the world itself (Naess, 1987).

When we identify with something larger than ourselves, whether that be our family, a circle of friends, a team, or a community, that becomes part of who we are. There is so much more to us than just a separate self; our connected self is based on recognizing that we are part of many larger circles. (Macy & Johnstone, 2012, p. 90)

If our stories and metaphors (and our responses to them) represent ancient forms of innate human knowledge that exist within the collective unconscious (Jung, 2010), unstorying myself has ethical implications. For whom? Precisely.

In the words of Heinz von Foerster, the Ethical Imperative is to “act always so as to increase the number of choices” (2018, p. 13). And stories.

References

Jung, C. G. (2010). Four archetypes. In G. Adler (Ed.) & R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), Collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 9, Part 1, pp. 7–44). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1969)

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

Naess, A. (2005). Self-realization: An ecological approach to being in the world. In A. Drengson (Ed.), The selected works of Arne Naess (Vols. 1–10, pp. 2781–2797). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4519-6

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

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons. 

  • Free membership gives you access to community conversations and introductory resources.
  • Paid membership opens full access to courses, live sessions, and the complete Field Guide.
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Best Practices in Organizations

Best Practices in Organizations

Jul 16, 2023 | Leadership, Strategy, Transformation

Recently, I had a “conversation” with an individual about next steps related to further developing a nonprofit board. Excited about some of my recent research that touches on new ways to conceptualize the role of nonprofit board development, I indicated that perhaps we could consider new ideas.

I am not sure what I expected to receive for a response, but I was met with something to the effect that he wanted to move toward “best practices.” In that moment, I realized that not only was he not interested in what I had to say, but that he had employed absolute thinking.

Absolute thinking is a way to present an idea as incontrovertible, unassailable, and universally correct. How was I to respond to his statement of “best practices?” He left no room for dialogue or discussion. Was I to offer up “okay practices” or “less than practices?”

If you manage people or serve on a nonprofit board, I invite you to consider how you think you know what you know. If you are not sure, that is perfectly okay. If your response is that your opinion is based in science or research, that is also perfectly acceptable.

My invitation, then, is for you to go farther in your inquiry. What has worked based on your experience? What do those around you feel or think about the subject? When developing an organization, there are extraordinary opportunities for self-reflection and process-building.

When anyone appeals to the somewhat amorphous and nebulously defined “best practices,” what they are subtly communicating is that they have no interest in any sort of dialogue within which new understandings may be co-created among diverse stakeholders.

After all, does anyone knowingly employ “best practices?” Ostensibly, the entire world is predicated on “best practices,” but for whom? Who benefits from these so-called best practices?

Heinz von Foerster developed something known in cybernetic thinking circles as the Ethical Imperative: “Act always so as to increase the total number of choices.” Are you increasing choices at your organization? For whom?

Not surprisingly, the gentleman I referenced at the beginning of this file never spoke to me again about nonprofit board development. The last I heard, he is developing various subcommittees and an overall board structure “by the book.” I wonder who wrote that book?

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons. 

  • Free membership gives you access to community conversations and introductory resources.
  • Paid membership opens full access to courses, live sessions, and the complete Field Guide.
Explore The Commons

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What is Love?

What is Love?

Dec 21, 2022 | Love

Sure, I know love. It is a feeling, right? Is it an action, too? Or is it a sequence of actions? Is it formulaic? When I read my last post on love, I am forcibly reminded that perhaps I do not know what love is it all.

Written by Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now is a song whose lyrics have always haunted me, this stanza in particular:

I’ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It’s love’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know love at all

As I try and unpack the above sentiment in my heart now that I am clearly past childhood (or am I?), I have a feeling that the way I have experienced love throughout my entire life has been remarkably selfish in some ways. I reduce love to (non)actions. I can do this, but I cannot do that, etc.

What does that really mean? I do not know except in hypothetical scenarios that, well, are hypotheses on what I ‘might’ or ‘might not’ do in a given circumstance. Perhaps, however, I limit my life and those of others when I imagine what I either can or cannot do.

Heinz von Foerster developed an ethical imperative, which states: Act always so as to increase the total number of choices. I find this statement profound in many ways. When I look at the sum of my life and various specifics, I do not see I have embodied this principle very well, if at all.

Recent events in my life actually call into question the extent to which this imperative currently serves as a guiding beacon in my relationships with others. I am obtuse. I am aloof, and I have discovered long-cycle patterns of behavior that take years to unfold. My discovery of these long-cycle patterns provide fuller context into my assertion that I am broken as a man.

What is love? Unlike some in this world who cling to ‘absolute’ truth, I cannot definitively say one way or another. What I do feel, though, is that the quest to love others deeply has intrinsic value in ways that affect past, present, and future. Whose past? Whose present? Whose future?

Nothing should ever be taken for granted.

About Spaciology

Spaciology is not abstract theory; rather, it is a practice you can feel.

  • Inside: Pause, breathe, notice.
  • Outside: Design rooms, rituals, and agendas that slow the spin and invite care.
  • Between us: Make dialogue a place where different truths can live together long enough to teach something.

Ultimately, leadership is the art of making space for what’s important (for everyone) and letting that clarity shape the next step. When we change the spaces from which we lead, our strategies change with them.

Spaciology Learning Commons

Want to go further? Join the Spaciology Learning Commons. 

  • Free membership gives you access to community conversations and introductory resources.
  • Paid membership opens full access to courses, live sessions, and the complete Field Guide.
Explore The Commons

Stay in Touch

Work with Me
Contact Me