The Vibrancy Frontier

To understand how the ecosynomic axioms manifest in collectives, imagine a 5-dimensional space (see Figure 1), where:[1]

• X = relationship with self
• Y = relationship with other
• Z = relationship with whole
• A = relationship with spirit
• B = relationship with nature

Figure 1: Five Axes of Vibrancy

The X-axis represents one’s relationship with one’s own self – how I see and experience my self. How free I am to explore and express my deepest potential. We relate to this axis as the degree of freedom we experience in expressing our own creativity

The Y-axis represents one’s relationship with the other – how I see and experience you. You too are equally gifted and full of potential. We relate to this axis as the degree of fairness we experience in the equality with which we treat each other, giving each other an equal chance to express our unique gifts.

The Z-axis represents one’s relationship with the whole, the collective, the we – how I see and experience my contribution to the collective and how the collective relates to me. We relate to this axis as the degree of solidarity we experience in our caring for all and the collective’s caring for us.

The A-axis represent one’s relationship with Spirit – how I see and experience the absolute nature of the manifest divine. We relate to this axis as the degree of transcendence we experience in the directness of our experience of Spirit. This is the playground of religion and spiritual development.

The B-axis represents one’s relationship with Nature – how I see and experience the manifest experience of the natural environment, the forces and beings of nature. We relate to this axis as the degree of fitness and balance we are able to find with the ecosystem, in its continuous evolution. This is the playground of naturism and the ecological movement.

From one perspective, five axes can seem to add great complexity. For an image of working with these five axes, from your everyday experience, think about the last time you were preparing for an excursion, trying to fit everything you needed into your backpack, suitcase, or car. At first it seems that you are not able to get everything in, then you remember or are reminded of basic packing principles – you cannot pack that much in there, unless you use different packing principles. By understanding how the elements relate in space, one can better use the available space. In backpacks, more fit by rolling the clothes. In boxes, more fits by using soft objects to fill the spaces between squared objects. In economics, it is hard to see how to pack in the axioms of 2+ axes, as they are very different in size, shape, and space requirements. In ecosynomics, all five axes fit easily, as they are just different projections of one principle, harmonic vibrancy, and human beings work all the time with bringing greater harmonic vibrancy into their lives.[2]

The vibrancy frontier is the set of points that describe the zone where collectives manifest on these five axes – the degree of vibrancy experienced (see Figure 2). This vibrancy zone is bounded by a cylindrical surface.[3]

Figure 2: Ecosynomic Vibrancy Frontier

The color-coding in Figure 2 shows the next higher dimension of harmonic vibrancy, with red signifying low, yellow medium, and green high. Communities that strongly limit others from their freedom (relationship with self), equality (relationship with other), or solidarity (relationship with whole) are in the red zone, which developmentally is ego- to ethno-centric. This holds for small, others-limiting collectives, from gangs to exclusionary groups. The yellow zone is for larger groups that exclude “other half,” such as nation states, liberals versus conservatives, and fundamentalist religious groups.

The five-axis vibrancy frontier also helps us see where to look for different kinds of vibrant collectives. Like the periodic table, with empty spaces for yet undiscovered elements, which led researchers to where the missing elements must be, the vibrancy zone indicates where to look for the collectives with the most relevant and vibrant emerging agreements. The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev is generally credited with inventing the periodic table in 1869, intending to illustrate the recurring, thus periodic, trends in the properties of the chemical elements, plotting them by atomic mass. Likewise, with the five axes, we can now identify where there are probably collectives with certain, comparable characteristics and how to identify them.

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[1] While this starts with five dimensions of relationship, clearly there are literally an infinite number of dimensions that humans experience in relationship to prosperity and life. This book starts with the primary five relationships guiding human development for the past few hundred years.

[2] Are there well-accepted measures for the gestures, which are aligned with the validity claims for freedom, equality, and solidarity?

[3] The shape of the vibrancy space, bounded by a cylinder surface. This shape might be the inside of the torus. Is this a “known” (formulated) structure? Is this the embracing of the feminine? Together the masculine piercing forth through the levels of vibrancy, as embraced by the feminine, generate the vibrancy zone.