Existential Resilience

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The Existential Resilience Collaboration Initiative ERiCi

The Existential Resilience Collaboration Initiative ERiCi explores the role of contemplation, aesthetics and compassion to counter stress, fragmentation and the loss of meaning that underlie today’s societal crises, with the ultimate aim is to increase individual, collective and planetary wellbeing.

Human beings carry within them the ability, developed through evolution, to find meaning in existence. Its core is their experience and understanding of themselves as part of larger communities, human as well as spiritual and planetary. Today, when sick-leave due to stress is on the rise, and crises, from war to ecological collapse threaten the foundation of society, our inner power to create and feel meaningfulness in life is more crucial than ever! This relates not only to coping with stress and threats, but also to collaboratively finding solutions to their underlying causes.

​Contemplation – to raise our gaze above purely instrumental concerns; Aesthetics – to see and care for beauty in what exists around us; and Compassion – to bond with others and the more-than-human world, are three paths to meaning-making, which can free individuals from self-encapsulation, make them see their role and agency, and ignite the urge to take responsibility for supporting sustainability and wellbeing across individual, collective, and system levels.

ERiCi explores these intertwined paths with a special focus on integrating them in education and professional practice across different sectors and levels in society. For more information, see the initiative’s institutional website at Lund University (lu.se/erici) and a recent article about ERiCi here.

Cooperation partners include around 20 organisations from different fields, with a focus on healthcare, arts, education, and sustainability.

15 September 2023

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Our Collaboration with Lund Cathedral

Lena Sjöstrand, Cathedral Chaplain at Lund Cathedral, is an active member of ERiCi. She works with exhibitions and dialogues between the church, theology and different artistic expressions.

– Through art we can reflect on existential threats and resilience and share experiences both with and without words, explains Lena Sjöstrand.

She is particularly interested in exploring if and how art, rituals, and reflection in holy spaces can support existential resilience and nurture hope.

Hope was also an important aspect of Prof. Christine Wamsler’s presentation on ‘Living with uncertainty’ during the North European Cathedral Conference 2024 in Lund. The presentation was part of ERiCi’s collaboration with Lund Cathedral, and lead to further cooperation activities with the Swedish church.

– I deeply appreciate the work with Lena Sjöstrand, Lund Cathedral, the Swedish church, and the inter-faith work that we are supporting with ERiCi. It is crucial to both understand and support existential health and resilience, says Prof. Wamsler.

9 May 2024

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Existential Resilience in Songs and Singing

On the 6th of February 2024, we organised a workshop on ‘existential resilience in songs and singing’ with our partner Musik i Syd. The workshop took place at at Skissernas museum and included a lecture on, and an interactive practice of, shared singing plus a concert performance, featuring renowned jazz singer Isabella Lundgren (www.isabellalundgren.com). After this, the workshop participants, discussed the following three questions:

  1. Relevance for own work context: Is shared singing or similar practices relevant for your work context? how do you think such practices can support existential resilience in your work context?
  2. Potential integration in own work context: How could shared singing or similar practices be applied and integrated in your work context? Please share examples and innovative ideas.
  3. Drivers and obstacles: How can we overcome existing barriers for integration and create synergistic collaboration across work contexts among ERiCi partners?

The workshop was very much appreciated by all participants. As Christopher M. expressed it after the workshop: “I wish everyone (in the world) would have been here for it.”

14 February 2024

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Research and Harvesting Seminars

Every year, ERiCi organizes research and harvesting seminars. These seminars:

  • Provide a platform for mutual learning, critical synthesis and reflections regarding i) previous ERiCi activities and ii) work on existential resilience more broadly (research, education, practice), to ultimately
  • Support dialogue about how the ERiCi partners can deepen collaboration and improve their work in the field.

In November 2023, ERiCi partners (researchers and practice partners) discussed previous ERiCi activities to learn and decide about future activities that would be most beneficial for the group.

In March 2023, ERiCi partners worked met to identify and discuss the needs and gaps they experience in their work on existential resilience. On this basis, potential (short- and long-term) solutions were discussed.

13 February 2024

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Art and Nature (ARNA)

The association ARNA (art and nature) is one of ERiCi’s cooperation partners. ARNA works through the cultural dimension of sustainability. The UNESCO report RE|SHAPING POLICIES FOR CREATIVITY, 2022 states that culture has the ability to shape societies’ narratives. They are powerful resources for reshaping our relationship with nature and promote the paradigm shifts that are urgently needed to change the way we live, produce and consume towards sustainability.

– In our commitment to a sustainable future, there are several central issues that touch on existential resilience. Will the global challenges facing humanity mean that we need to fundamentally redefine what it means to be human? And how can art be a pathfinder and bridge builder in such an upheaval process?, says Kerstin Jakobsson, project leader at ARNA.

– The EriCi network gives us opportunities to discuss these questions and exchange experiences with other organizations, which contributes to deepening our work while we get inspiration and new contacts, which we hope will lead to new collaborations in the future, she adds.

In May 2024, ARNA is organising a workshop for all ERiCi partners to strengthen collaboration and advance discussions on the role of culture and art for existential resilience and sustainability.

9 January 2024

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Connecting the Dots: Emergent Research on Existential Resilience

In recent years, the field of existential resilience and similar approaches, such as inner tranformation, inner transition, existential sustainability, personal sustainability, and personal spheres of transformation, have received increasing attention in science, education, policy and practice. In a new article published in Sustainability Science, LUCSUS Professor Christine Wamsler and colleagues systematise the core contributions of this emerging field for supporting sustainability and climate work.

This is the first academic article that summarises the key characteristics of this emerging field. It clarifies current misconceptions and provides a guiding heuristic to help orient related work, says Christine Wamsler, Professor at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS).

Inner transformation for supporting existential resileince is a dynamic field, with varied terminology, a breadth of applications, and intense debate about possible contributions as well as limitations and shortcomings. Against this background, this new article provides clear  guidance for sustainability and other  scholars, educators and practitioners to better understand the concept of inner transformation, and systematically integrate individual, collective and system changeinto their work. 

– We explain in our article how individual, collective and system change are entangled, why sustainability challenges can be understood as crises of relationships or disconnection, and how we can improve current approaches by shifting focus from entities to relationships, their qualities, and the processes comprising these, says Christine Wamsler.

The identified six key contributionsand characteristicsof inner transformation are framed and organised under the acronym IMAGINE (see figure). They describe why and how related research, practice and education recognize:

  • the Interdependence among inner and outer phenomena across individual, collective and system levels.
  • the Multiple potential that is latent within each of us to enable transformative change;
  • the Activation of inner dimensions across individual, collective and system levels;
  • the Generation of inner, transformative capacities through intentional practices;
  • the INnclusion of diverse perspectives; and
  • the Expansion of associated knowledge systems for sustainability.
illustration

IMAGINE: systematisation of the six core characteristics of inner transformation and inner–outer change processes, organised under the dimensions of ontology, praxis and epistemology. All six characteristics are entangled, intertwined and interdependen

Read the full article: IMAGINE sustainability: integrated inner‑outer transformation in research, education and practice

Overview table of the key characteristics and contribution of inner transformation for sustainability

8 November 2023

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Meet our Partner ’Konstfrämjandet Skåne’

The field of ‘Art and Health’ is a central aspect of Konstfrämjandet Skåne’s long-term work and engagement. Related projects aim to provide new perspectives and conversations through art.

–  We firmly believe in the pivotal role of art for improving education and wellbeing. Engaging with art and embracing the aesthetic experience can facilitate introspection—a space where one can be present without fear of criticism, prejudices, or the burden of performance expectations. It’s a place where individuals can come together and connect in new ways, explains Ana María Bermeo.

Contemplation, compassion, and aesthetics are cornerstones of both ERiCi and Konstfrämjandet Skåne’s work on ‘Art and Health’.

– We are proud to cooperate with ERiCi, an initiative that understands the importance of sustainability anchored in care, thus going beyond ‘network’ towards ‘netcare’. Being a part of ERiCi opens for us doors to a community that not only enriches but also deepens our knowledge.

For more information see https://skane.konstframjandet.se/projekt/konst-och-halsa

7 November 2023

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UNEXPECTED – Arts & Innovation Forum

During 2023, ERiCi engaged as a collaborating partner in the UNEXPECTED Art and Science Innovation Forum. Martin Garwicz and Sisters Hope were actively engaged in different activities.

Now we are proud to disseminate the film from the event (6 minutes). Thanks to the engagement from the participants, all cross innovation areas regarding existential resilience, transforming fashion, digitalised concert experiences, arhaeology & tech, biosphere development, and realising human rights are now moving forward with new insights, ideas and connections. Read more in the article Innovation happens on the edges by Bodil Malmström.

We are also collaborating for the next UNEXPECTED. If you have ideas and suggestions, we would be happy to hear from you! 

Image credits: One Resilient Earth

19 October 2023

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Activity on Existential Resilience in Schools and Education

Several ERiCi activities focus on education – from primary to secondary education, professional training and adult development. In 2023, we conducted a related seminar with two of our external cooperation partners.

The purpose of the seminar was to exchange knowledge and experiences of, and inspiration for, integrating existential resilience in all kinds of schools and educational contexts. The seminar included two presentations and short workshops by our ERiCi partners and affiliates, followed by a discussion:  

  • DRÖMMEN OM DET GODA (THE DREAM OF THE GOOD) is a Swedish NGO with 25 years of experience of working in schools with a four-component method encompassing stillness, touch, reflection and movement. Drömmen om det goda gives courses for children and youth in all ages as well as for teachers and headmasters. 

Ingrid Torstensson and Margareta Rosenquist from Drömmen om det goda will presented their work and led a practical exercise. More info under: https://drommenomdetgoda.se/ 

  • SISTERS HOPE is an internationally acclaimed Copenhagen-based art performance group, founded and led by Gry Worre Hallberg, and it is one of ERiCi:s external (i.e. non-LU) partners. Sisters Hope’s artistic research includes the integration of aesthetic processes into schools and education. 

Gry Worre Hallberg, artistic leader of Sisters Hope, presented their method for sensuous learning and also led a practical exercise. More information under: www.sistershope.dk

19 October 2023

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Inter-Faith Activity on Existential Resilience with Monastics from Plum Village

Close-up shot of a beautiful blooming sunflower at sunset. sunflower bud.

One of the activities conducted during 2023 was a workshop on contemplation and compassion for existential resilience from the perspective of guests from the Plum Village Monastery founded by Thích Nhât Hanh.

The aims of the workshop were: i) to experience and discuss the role of contemplation and compassion in supporting existential resilience and sustainability, and ii) to discuss measures for integrating contemplation and compassion into different sector education and practice for supporting resilience and sustainability across individual, collective and global levels. The latter includes the integration of related practices and measures aimed at challenging unsustainable systems and structures.

19 October 2023

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Activitiy on Art and Mental Health

Another activity during 2023 was a one-day symposium on art and mental health, organised by ERiCi (Existential Resilience Collaboration Initiative) and by the National Center for Art and Mental Health in Denmark (Danskt Center for Kunst og Mental Sundhed, CKMS), which is one of ERiCi’s external partners.

The purpose of the symposium was to explore participatory art workshops as a format for creating resonance spaces for listening together and thereby building existential resilience. We will also reflected on the concept of listening and its potential for understanding the dynamics within a participatory art workshop.

The act of listening together here means something beyond the purely acoustic and auditory. It is about creating a shared space for resonance, where a special kind of attentiveness is cultivated, for what is verbalized as well as for non-verbal affective communication. The concept of resonance, as developed by German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, is a receptive mode of relating where we may be touched, moved, by the voice – or wordless presence – of another. It is also the state of being where we can resonate with the world as a whole, where the world is not silent to us. See the TEDx talk where Hartmut Rosa explains his thoughts on resonance: https://www.uv.uio.no/english/research/groups/humstud/events/rosa-210422.html

The symposium was based on the progressive work at CKMS with participatory art workshops, especially the research program REWRITALIZE, see https://ckms.dk/rewritalize/ 

19 October 2023

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Meet our Partner ‘Sisters Hope’

Sisters Hope, one of our ERiCi practice partners, is an award-winning Copenhagen-based performance group and movement spearheading a new wave of performance artwork.

– The practice unfolds at the intersection of aesthetics and ecology and argues that the sensuous supports a more sustainable world, as it evokes a deep understanding of the connectedness of everything. The Poetic Self, central to Sisters Hope’s performance method, can be understood as a new mental ecology that unfolds within the new social ecology that Sisters Hope is, and which stimulates environmental connectedness, explains Gry Worre Hallberg, the founder of the performance group Sisters Hope.

Being part of ERici is important, inspiring, and relevant for her, because

– We must create spaces, not only for participation in but, for ‘inhabitation’ of the sensuous and poetic. Why? Because such spaces can stimulate a deep sense of connectedness at all levels, which is so pivotal in order to transition into a more resilient and sustainable future.

18 October 2023

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Healing our human-nature relationship

– For us, being part of ERiCi was an obvious choice as it gives us the opportunity to exchange experiences, knowledge and insights on existential resilience and sustainability, which is a very important topic for us, says Anna-Karin Poussart, coordinator and manager of the stork biosphere reserve ‘Storkriket’.

– ERiCi helps us to connect with new and interesting actors, identify and develop new knowledge, and gain new insights for our work.

In Scania, the stork was common. But when we began to cultivate the land in new ways, the stork disappeared. In 1954, the last two storks nested on a farm in Scania. But through the work of the Nature Conservation Association, in 2014, the first wild-born pair bred again in Scania. 

This is a story about man’s relationship with nature. How we exploit, influence and depend on it, and the need to understand and address individual and planetary wellbeing together. It is also the story that gave the biosphere reserve its name.

Connecting Sjöbo, Lund and southern Eslöv, the stork biosphere reserve ‘Storkriket’ is a place where creativity and knowledge can grow, offering a context for understanding our identity and responsibility in time and space to, ultimately, support resilience and sustainably.

– We are on a journey  towards becoming a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve and will then be a model area for sustainable development. As part of this, we are continuously working to reconcile inner and outer dimensions of sustainability, which is also at the heart of ERiCi, explains Anna-Karin Poussart.

18 October 2023

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