An Experiment in Reimagination
Lighting Our Lamps
There are people among us who rely on imagination, creativity, vision, possibility, story, and even play to make good change in the world. We are here to educate and support them.
Pronoia Academy will offer certificates and classes to creatives, visionaries, healers, leaders, and guides who yearn to place their special skills in service to new guiding stories and practices for our troubled time. We need new worldviews!
In other words, we teach and encourage lamplighters: a new kind of change agent who works through imagination and inspiration.
Read "From Higher to Deeper Ed" for more about what we're building and why.
Bless the poets, the workers for justice,
the dancers of ceremony, the singers of heartache,
the visionaries, all makers and carriers of fresh
meaning—We will all make it through,
despite politics and wars, despite failures
and misunderstandings. There is only love.
— Joy Harjo, “Bless the Poets”
Frequently asked questions
What is going on here?
Creative troublemaking. Inspiration. Reenchantment. Ideas and conversations and projects focused on how to move forward together. Jung was right that we don't "work through" the hardest problems, we find ways to outgrow them.
Won't the world improve if we all meditate more?
No. Humanity has experimented with contemplative practices for our entire existence. Is the world governed fairly? Reflective and consciousness-based practices are hugely important, but they aren't a magic pill for cultural transformation.
When does all this go live?
It will gradually. The free tier of our Lampcove community is live now. Grants are in the offing. A nonprofit board is being recruited. Check back now and then to see our progress.
What are some of the values of Pronoia Academy?
Humaneness, creativity, openness, vision, collaboration, inclusion, equity, care, respect, wisdom, virtue, and honesty. We find unity by delighting in our differences. We love to learn.
What do you hope to accomplish?
Show that lasting change can come from imagination, inspiration, celebration, performance, play, and creative collaboration. Also, demonstrate that one can find a deep education without the high cost of tuition.
What is one takeaway from the Pronoian philosophy?
Everyone can participate in beneficial change. It doesn't require the super-wealthy, the famous, or the politically powerful. When enough people stand up for something good, it arrives.
The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
— JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
JRR Tolkien
