We hold space for activists and changemakers to restore their relationship with themselves, others and the natural world.
Can we dismantle the system without dismantling its imprint inside of us? The dominant worldview has separated us from ourselves, others and the natural world. On this planet that we all inhabit, we are the only living beings who violate the universal principle of interdependence which runs through our shared ecosystem, with devastating consequences.
Our conditioned minds prefer to ignore the obvious: that inner and outer change are interlinked. We feel we can’t afford to slow down when the world is on fire. Many of us don’t feel ready to turn inwards out of fear for what we will find. But in the meantime our change work replicates patterns of separation, greed and control. We reproduce toxic power dynamics. We get caught up in linear thinking and short-term solutions. We perpetuate polarisation.
It takes courage to go on an inner journey to undo what centuries of toxic culture has done to us. And it takes community. Healing ourselves is not self-indulgence or luxury. Healing ourselves and dismantling the system from within is a political act. It is urgent. It is necessary.
If we choose to liberate ourselves from these mindsets and behaviours, what would our change work look like? What would resource redistribution look like?
“Everything flows from right relations”
– Indigenous wisdom
Many activists and changemakers who are committed to deep systems change have the system generally working in their favour. The more privileges we enjoy inside a system, the lesser we are aware of how it works through us. We become like fish, no longer aware that we are in water.
Until we confront, unlearn and transform the limitations inside of us, our change work will be limited. We will keep oppressing and exploiting, including in how we do change.
“As long as you think you’re free, no escape is possible” – Ram Dass
N O U S is an invitation to embark on a shared journey of critical self-reflection, contemplation and healing, rooted in retreat and community.
To slow down and explore how the system shows up in us, our relations and our change work.
To experience that:
Change is cellular, rippling outwards.
Change is relational, rather than systemic.
We can’t control the system. But we can control ourselves and how we live our relations inside the system. And how empowering is that. We can decide to do the work. We can return to right relations with ourselves, others and the natural world. And so, the system gets transformed, from the inside out.
“In the end we will save only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught”
- Baba Dioum
OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES
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Joy
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Abundance
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Presence
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Authentic power
WHY N O U S ?
“There where is the nous, lies the treasure.”
- Gospel of Mary Magdalene
N O U S goes beyond language and culture.
N O U S is non-binary.
N O U S leaves space to be and to breathe.
Nous comes from ancient Greek νοῦς. In the ancient world, the nous was seen as the mind’s eye or the finest point of the soul.
It’s the in-between place available to all of us, where we can choose to go and tune in with our inner knowing.
A place to connect with source.
A place where dogma, constructed mindsets and ego fall away.
