In September, while in Frankfurt I happened to meet Rufus Pollock, the founder of Open Knowledge and co-founder of Life Itself, an organisation based in France. We entered into a deep discussion about the significance and challenges of new cultural prototypes and ways of living that offer potential viable alternatives to the problems of modernity.

I was delighted when three months later I was able to speak with Rufus about his project’s vision of creating conscious co-living hubs and fostering a radically wiser world. Referring to himself and the team behind Life Itself as “utopian pragmatists”, Rufus described to us how Life Itself aims to integrate inner and outer change, focusing on practical action and experimental learning. We discussed the importance of spiritual practice, shadow work and the challenges of hyper-individualism amidst the need for collective fields in fostering cultural evolution.