OUR PRIMARY TOOL
This Wise Democracy Pattern Language highlights dynamic factors and design principles which can make an activity, organization or community more wisely self-governing.
Based on hundreds of real-life innovations, this evolving database of wise democracy “patterns” helps us understand, re-imagine and transform the ways we manage our shared world.
Order your card deck
You can now buy a beautiful boxed set of version 2.0 pattern cards and support materials here. Version 2.0 is also available for free download here.
Image-Credit: Martin Rausch
The Evolution of 3D Wise Democracy
& Introductory Videos
Key Concepts
Your Guide to
Wise Democracy Theory and
This Pattern Language
Image Credit: Boondocks – Pixabay
Check out the “Three Key Assumptions” this project is based on.
21st Century Problems
Choosing and Improving
The Diversity Key
FIRST ASSUMPTION
We assume that our societies need – and that visitors to this site want – a wiser democracy – that is, a participatory system for generating collective wisdom to guide ourselves in meeting 21st century challenges. We also assume that to the extent we don’t have a wise democracy – given what’s unfolding in our world – we will continue to be in increasingly big trouble, individually and collectively.
SECOND ASSUMPTION
We assume that to the extent we can identify and understand the factors that would make a society both democratic and collectively wise, we can look over existing initiatives and innovations and choose and improve what could help us create a wise democracy, as well as creating new initiatives to also serve that purpose.
THIRD ASSUMPTION
We assume that something this big cannot be achieved by any one person, group or network. It will need to be taken up as a passionate calling and commitment by widely diverse people, groups, and networks all guided by understandings like those noted in Assumption 2 and reworking those understandings together as they learn together from experience.
Image Credit: pixel2013 / valeriiaarnaud / Rawpixel.com – Pixabay/Shutterstock
Donate What Feels Right
Dear friends of the wise democracy vision,
This site has been created by the passion and care of Tom Atlee and Martin Rausch. Creating version 1.0 was a full-time 9 month common journey. Version 2.0 has involved us in a similar six month labor of love.
If you are using this site and its deck of pattern cards – or if you are simply inspired to support this project – we invite you to donate what feels right for you on our donation page. (You can click here for some thoughts from Frederic Laloux on choosing how much to give.)
Your donation will help us expand our work to promote this vision of an increasingly wise participatory society.
Coheartedly and thank you,
Martin and Tom
Testimonials
Tom Atlee offers a fresh and penetrating perspective on the creation of a wise democracy. His pattern language work expands and connects our understandings of power, participation, and wisdom into a new and compelling synthesis for making a difference in today’s challenged world. – Juanita Brown and David Isaacs
What Tom Atlee is writing about is just about the most important thing that’s happening at the beginning of the 21st century. – Paul H. Ray, Ph.D., co-author of The Cultural Creatives
Tom Atlee helps us envision, in amazing detail, how we can shape democracy we believe in because we are creating it together. – Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet and EcoMind
Integrating even a portion of what Tom Atlee shares on Wise Democracy, will greatly improve our ability to realize our highest aspirations and potential. I suggest reading a pattern daily for reflection and experimenting. – Steve Waddell, PhD, MBA
Incredible resource. Thanks for putting it together. I’m looking forward to taking it to the areas that I work and advocate in. I think our species is at risk, and I absolutely see the value in the work you’ve been doing. Over the years, it’s consistently been the only thing that has ever made sense to me as a way to address those challenges. I watched the webinar tour you did and was inspired to re-engage. Thank you. – Dan Gooden
Tom Atlee shows us how we can harness our collective wisdom to discern the way forward in these complex and challenging times. Inspiring and highly recommended! – William Ury, co-author, GETTING TO YES and author, THE THIRD SIDE
As one of the founding members of Vaiscope and GroupsStartup I would love to share the wisdom links with our community. The aim is as many of the wisdom change maker projects exposed to each other as possible Meme image… https://www.groupsstartup.net/uploads/9/7/8/8/97887446/unity003_orig.jpg
Feel free to share any of the resources on this site with your community, Alex. – Tom
Daniel, good to see you here! As you may know, there will soon be a version of the deck available for purchase… the main reason for this being, that we want to make it easy to put the deck into people’s hands, as a step toward those “essential qualities of a thing” becoming embodied and grounded in people’s experience … I’m very excited about making this resource more easily available… !!!!
Nicely done Tom. A pattern language surfaces the essential qualities of a thing, and what better than to apply this to democracy so that more people can work wisely and directly to sustain it…from interpersonal relationships to international relations.
Tom, I lost my internet connection at 1:38. I did hear your five aspects of wholeness. Thank you for all the work you’ve done on understanding and elucidating the facets and relationships involved in wise democracy. Now that I feel personally (virtually) connected with you, I want to make some time to learn more about it. Should I start with the website, the cards, your book? With gratitude, Dawn
Hi Dawn – Sorry for the delayed response. I’d suggest playing with the cards (physically or virtually, as in the “Portfolio Views”, exploring ones that either interest you or you have questions about by referring to their individual pattern pages and/or following their “related patterns”. We are developing an expanded version of 96 patterns that will be released in a few months, but it includes most of the existing patterns so your explorations now will be totally fine. Note that the pattern language is by far the most comprehensive output of my life, but many find my book The Tao of Democracy a great introduction. Coheartedly, Tom
I must voice my enthusiasm for your kindness giving support to those individuals that should have advice on this important matter.
Love your question, “What is it good for?” Gets right to the point!
Your means of explaining everything in this post is truly good,
all be able to easily know it, Thanks a lot.
Excellent site Tom !
I an usually silent in networks being actively engaged with multiple stakeholders from village level self help group members to policy makers. But I am preparing to move out now and engage with people in other societies. The concept of self help is almost equivalent to the pattern language as it embraces all aspects of life and is built on understanding and relating to human nature. There is a practical method of sharing it and training facilitators of change anywhere. Hope we can tie up sometime to start something together.
Love
Varun
Love it!
It’s time to fix Democracy.
Check blockchain based Flux framework.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7MCxADcrwE
Interesting, Pedro. While the wise democracy perspective is more about deliberation and other factors than voting, we’re exploring how to talk about voting (e.g., the proposed pattern Wholesome Choicefulness at https://www.wd-pl.com/patterns-under-development/). I’m really interested in understanding leading-edge voting systems. From what little I got from your video, I’m wondering about its similarities and differences when compared to Argentina’s DemocracyOS and Net Party https://www.wired.com/2014/05/democracy-os/. I’d love to read your comparison(s). – Tom
The website is beautifully designed and contains such timely wisdom.
You continue to inspire and reach for greater heights! I am ever hopeful that your work takes hold.
I am always looking for ways to utilize your wisdom where I can.
Wonderful website! My deepest hanks, Tom, for your inspiring contributions and heartfelt wisdom to the great conversation that humanity and Nature are engaged in.
What at timely and inspiring gift you are offering to us all and to our world at this critical time. Heartfelt thanks Tom!!
Beautiful new site, Tom. Thank you for your ongoing contributions to the field of participatory democracy.
Tom: This is great work – thank you for your immense contribution to the conversation about democratizing the world. Are you familiar with MiVote.org and Richard Hames, founder of Centre for the Future in Melbourne? His work has the same aim – to change the face of democracy and making government and governance a truly global force, rather than force used by elites to maintain power. I assume you know him – if you don’t, be sure and check out his work.
Tom,
This is a timely and much needed initiative. Great start.
Thank you.
Ruben