01171 Invisible Structure Inventory

When someone asked Thich Nhat Hahn, a noted Buddhist teacher, what we could do to save our world, he replied: "We must hear within ourselves the sound of the earth crying." — Floating around the internet.

The basic assignment:

Make a spreadsheet or database that lists all of the invisible structures which are part of your life. Include any in which you no longer participate.

Classify them based on —

  1. those which are voluntary affiliations and

(2) invisible structures where participation and/or presence is involuntary or by default (based on factors beyond your control, e.g., birth into a particular family or race or nationality).

Involuntary or default affiliation examples —

  • You were born or adopted into a certain family (this includes people adopted at young ages).
  • You are of a particular country, state or province, county, city or town.
  • You belong to a certain race or mixture of races, etc.

Voluntary affiliation examples —

  • Job or workplace, business, profession
  • School
  • Clubs or professional associations
  • Political organizations.
  • Religious affiliation based on an adulthood choice.
  • All internet/cyberspace affiliations (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, My Space, websites you own or manage, online communities/bulletin boards where you read and/or post, discussion groups, etc.)

For each structure,

  • Include the geographic location(s) for the structures.
  • Dates of involvement
  • Include organizations you no longer affiliate with.
  • If there are regional and/or local units of national or international organizations where you participate, list them.
  • Use keywords to classify the structures.
  • Indicate the voluntary or default nature of your association. “Default” includes all the structures you are in by default, birth, or other involuntary aspect. “Voluntary” are structures where you choose to be present.
  • Use one or more keywords to describe the governance of the organization (democratic, authoritarian, political, etc.)
  • Use one or more keywords to describe the purpose of the organization. If there is a divergence between the ideal or stated purpose of the organization, and the actual purpose of the organization, use more keywords to describe all of the purpose(s).
  • Use keywords to describe your role (leader, minion, owner, governance, operations, etc.)
  • If a structure is a community, identify it as such.
  • How often do you participate in the structure?
  • Add a keyword to your inventory describing whether they will assist or hurt you or are neutral towards achieving your goals.

Evaluate your invisible structures in different ways.

  • Sort by date to view them chronologically.
  • Sort by default/voluntary to get a snapshot of that aspect.
  • Sort by keywords describing your role(s).
  • Sort by purpose.
  • Sort by geographic area.
  • Sort by purpose and geographic area.
  • Sort by frequency of participation.

The purpose of the sorting evaluation is to increase your personal understanding of your involvement in invisible structures. Do you see any patterns? If so, make notes about any patterns you discern.

Invisible Structure Goals

Once you have engaged in long and thoughtful observation of your invisible structure situation, what’s missing in your invisible structure "life"? What invisible structures do you need in your life to support your movement towards a more sustainable and just lifestyle by using permaculture design? What structures do you need to remove from your life because they hurt you or hold you back from achieving sustainability goals? Are there structures you want to work on to improve their ability to help you or to lessen their ability to hinder your movement towards a more sustainable way of living?

Make a list — your “first thoughts” — and then keep working on it as you move into and through your own personal permaculture journey. If you find yourself thinking, “I need something or someone to help me with this”, or, “this looks hard,” note that on your wish list that it “needs invisible structure assistance.” Elaborate the idea as your experience grows and ideas mature.

For example, do you need better access to locally grown foods and locally made nonfood items? You could start a process to organize a cooperative that provides excellent access to locally grown foods and nonfood items. Or you could look for a farmers’ market and if there isn’t one in your area, start one.

As you study your goals, rank them as to importance.

Regarding your affiliations that are helpful for sustainability . . . observe and analyze your participation in the structures that are helpful. Is there something that can be done to optimize the support of that structure for your lifestyle design? Is this something that you can do? Or does the organization need to change or develop a new program or activity? Write all of this in your observation journal and include it as “grist for your design mill” as you work on your lifestyle design.

Regarding your affiliations that are useless for sustainability . . . ask yourself why you are there if the affiliation is voluntary. If an involuntary or default participation, examine your participation. Does your participation help or hurt your movement towards a more sustainable way of living? Or is it neutral?

You may not be able to get out of such structures. I am a citizen of the United States of America, which is presently mostly useless when it comes to sustainability. It's not possible for me to emigrate elsewhere. As a practical matter, renouncing my citizenship would do nothing for sustainability. So I do what I can to change the direction of the US government, by working on areas where I do have control and influence. This starts with my personal life and goes out from there.

Regarding your affiliations that are harmful for sustainability . . . how can you minimize that harm? Can you withdraw your consent/affiliation? Can you help the structure become less harmful and more positive? If intervention is needed, where is the best place for that intervention? Can you do this by yourself (unlikely in most situations)? If not, where can you find help? To continue my nationality example. . . the government of the United States does a lot that is anti-sustainability. In the first place, I distinguish between my nationality and my government. I am a citizen of the United States and I love my country. The United States government is not the same thing as the United States as a country and people. I fear the government, I love my country.

Document all of this at every stage of the effort. Don’t let random thoughts get away without jotting them down or recording an audio note. Sometimes those random thoughts that just creep into our brain apparently out of nowhere are the most valuable and important.

As you develop your lifestyle design, refer frequently to these lists. You may decide to include initiating organizing efforts for some of the invisible structures you need as part of your design decisions. One of the first iPermie design challenges involves creating an invisible structure — you own personal learning community.

Invisible structures are a fact of life. They can help or hinder you. Learning how to maximize the support of invisible structures, and how to minimize the harm they can do is one of the critical permaculture design skills that will support your successful lifestyle design effort.