Chapter 4

60 minutes. If the groups want to discuss their proposals in more details, you should offer additional 30 minutes to them

For this activity you will need papers and markers for the group work. Activity could be implemented in any kind of outdoor space where the safety of participants is guaranteed. The best settings for this activity would be some kind of a beach or a mountain peak.

Through meditation in the open, participants will try to give their ideas about the future of the society. They will then offer some of the solutions how to overcome or avoid the possible problems they will anticipate.

Chose the place for your activity. Make sure that the trip to the location is safe. Prepare the blankets for sitting in the circle or some alternative to it. Discuss this about your participants.

Step 1: Start this activity in a form of guided fantasy. Participants should sit in the circle, in the field. Tell them to relax and think about the sounds of the nature that is surrounding them, to feel the grass and the soil beneath them.

Step 2: When they are comfortable start with encouraging them to think about the time when nature was flourishing; how did it all started; to think about the first plants and first animals that were growing in the field. Tell them to imagine the moment when the man first came here. How was it for him? What were his first thoughts and impressions? How did the nature react to him? Tell them to go in this moment and think about all the things that are happening at this field at this moment? What is the context in which it exists? What are the main problems for its existence? Then tell your participants to go into the future and try to imagine the field in 50 or more years then today.

Step 3: Put your participants in small groups and tell them to exchange what they thought about during the meditation. Tell them to list all the possible problems and challenges connected to the existence of the field and its surroundings? What is it that they can do together to stop some of the bad scenarios? What should decision makers do about it? Is there a way for us to convince them to do so?

Step 4: Groups should present their work to the others and exchange about their conclusions.

Did everyone feel able to participate and to contribute to the work?
How did it feel to receive feedback about their proposals?
Are they satisfied with the solutions offered in the groups?

What will be their rights as citizens in the future?
What will be their duties as citizens in the future?