Slow

It is time to take a long, slow look at what we are doing...

Fast food, media soundbytes, speedy information networks, rapid, global flows of goods and services, an over-saturated and ever-growing commercial landscape...... Daily life has become a cacophony of experiences that disable our senses, disconnect us from one another and damage the environment.

But deep experience of the world-- meaningful and revealing relationships with the people, places and things we interact with-- requires many speeds of engagement, and especially the slower ones.

'Slowness' is a holistic approach to creative thinking, process and outcomes. It envisions positive human and environmental impacts of designed products, environments and systems, while constructively critiquing the processes and technologies of which they are born. It celebrates local, closely connected fusions of people and industry, it preserves and draws upon our cultural diversity, and it relies on the open sharing of ideas and information to arrive at innovative solutions to contemporary challenges.

Slowness is not time-based. It doesn't refer to how long it takes to make or do something, but rather describes the individual's elevated state of awareness in the process of creation, the quality of its tangible outcomes and a richer experience for the community it engages.

It is morning, Sunday morning, late September. It is sunny and the sky is deep blue without a cloud. Later today there will be a small celebration in our town for the autumn harvest. It is a social affair, spread by word of mouth, neighbours telling neighbours, people have been bringing little baskets of locally created produce, bread, beer, cheese, vegetables, herbs, honey, eggs. All the produce is locally produced, the gathering is part of our town's project - Incredible Edible Todmorden, a celebration of local food, an imaginative response to the swirl of modern life. It is simple yet effective, it is touching peoples interest in a way of living which for two, perhaps three generations has slowly been eroded, the connection of people to their environment, people to each other, people to their communities. It is deceptive however, the project is immediate and life enhancing, but it is also of considerable importance, it demonstrates the possibility of other structures and other forms of community than those that dominate contemporary western society. It is neither looking back to a rosy past, nor aiming to preach a different vision of the future, but through the practice of community action it generates the dialogue of the possible through which new interpretations of reality are presented. Underpinning much of the work of the project is a deep commitment to emergence, to the importance of dialogue, of being open to new connections and ideas and to suspend the voice of judgement that so often gnaws away and tells us it is not possible.