Participatory Philanthropy

One of my first experiences of fully participating in life came during a river rafting trip on a difficult section of the Salt River in Arizona during spring flood.  I was a freshman boatman paddling with six veteran guides when the boat ahead of us capsized.  With minimal direction from our captain, everyone immediately leapt into action.  We paddled like maniacs to the overturned boat. Two men then launched themselves into the air and onto the bottom of the capsized boat as if shot from a cannon. Others threw rescue lines to swimmers and others hauled them like fish into our boat.  Others, myself included, steered our boat and kept it from capsizing as we navigated continuous whitewater. Our actions were totally spontaneous and yet they seemed somehow scripted to include all of us and the river itself.

I’ve learned that this state of individual and collective “flow” can be experienced, not just in crisis situations, but in all domains of life including philanthropy. One of the keys to getting into flow is to recognize that it’s accessed through a particular state of being called “participatory consciousness.”  In short, there are three basic ways of thinking, acting, and being (states of consciousness). These states, namely “instrumental,” “receptive” and “participatory,” are available to us in every moment. And yet, most of us limit ourselves to just one or two states at any given time, and rarely do we engage the most dynamic and creative state of “participatory consciousness” that is experienced as flow.

Here’s a brief run-down of the tree types of consciousness: