Institutional Self-Negation

Description

Benjamin Life:

"Let's talk about what bioregional backbone organizations can uniquely provide. These are traditional nonprofits, but with a radically different purpose.

Think of them as translation membranes — interfaces between the dying world of empire and the emerging world of bioregional commons. They speak the old language when necessary: receiving grants, signing contracts, interfacing with government agencies, providing tax receipts.

But here's what makes them revolutionary: they practice institutional self-negation. They explicitly recognize their own limitations. They refuse to claim authority over the bioregion. They commit to flowing significant resources directly to network-governed allocation. They implement rotating leadership with clear term limits. They make their decision-making and resource flows transparent.

They exist to serve, not to control. To enable, not to direct. This institutional humility is a spiritual practice — an ongoing recognition that the institution is always servant to the living commons, never its master."

(https://omniharmonic.substack.com/p/bioregional-coordination-sacred-work)