The Three-Step Hero Shift: a practical toolbox for transforming individuals, teams, families, communities and entire territories.

What if the fastest way to transform an egocentric leader were not to fight their ego — but to give their ambition a better mission?

Humanity is facing a dangerous paradox: Our technological capabilities are accelerating exponentially, while our collective capacity to cooperate, anticipate consequences and exercise responsible leadership is struggling to keep pace.

We can develop artificial intelligence, manipulate genomes, build extraordinary cities and mobilize trillions of dollars. Yet we still struggle with corruption, territorial conflicts, institutional distrust, organized violence, ecological destruction and leadership based on domination. We have developed extraordinary tools, but not necessarily the collective maturity to use them wisely.

And time is becoming a scarce resource… the clock is ticking… We cannot afford to wait generations for a large-scale change in leadership.

What if we could make people experience the benefits of servant leadership before they fully understand its philosophy?

This is the central proposition of the ‘Hero Shift’.

Instead of demanding that people become selfless, spiritually enlightened or systemically intelligent before they can contribute, we create conditions where they discover, through practical action, that helping others can generate recognition, belonging, confidence, meaningful achievement and personal purpose.

In short:

Don’t ask people to abandon their desire to be important. Help them become important by doing something genuinely useful.

1. The leadership challenge: from domination to regeneration

The term ‘mafia leadership’ is used here as a metaphor for a particular leadership pattern, not as a clinical diagnosis or an accusation of criminal conduct.

It describes environments where power is maintained through fear, hierarchy, personal loyalty, control of resources, exclusion, corruption and capacity to reward or punish.

These patterns can appear in families, companies, political institutions, communities and organizations of any size.

Conversely, ‘servant leadership’, a concept popularized by Robert K. Greenleaf, starts from a different proposition: the legitimacy of leadership emerges from serving people, enabling others to grow and taking responsibility for the larger system.

This is not merely an ethical preference. It is also an organizational proposition.

A meta-analysis covering 130 independent studies found that servant leadership provided additional predictive value beyond several other leadership models, with trust, fairness and leader–follower relationships helping explain associations with desirable workplace outcomes.

2. The Spiral Dynamics leap: from Red to Turquoise

Spiral Dynamics, building on Clare W. Graves’s work and later developed by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, offers a useful conceptual language for how people organize power, identity, responsibility and meaning.

The model’s eight color-coded value systems are commonly portrayed as follows:

THE DEVELOPMENTAL METAPHOR

Within this framework, Red emphasizes assertiveness and personal power, while Turquoise symbolizes interdependence and concern for the whole.

A literal leap from level 3 to level 8 implies bypassing substantial developments in discipline, achievement, empathy and systems understanding.

(That claim is not scientifically established. Spiral Dynamics has conceptual value, but its rigid stage structure, measurement and empirical validation remain contested.)

Our proposal is therefore more precise, and potentially more powerful:

We do not need to accelerate the entire psychological evolution of a human being to begin accelerating regenerative behavior.

We can invite a person who is strongly motivated by status or personal power to perform a genuinely useful act, experience shared achievement and gradually adopt broader patterns of responsibility.

Instead of attempting to manufacture instant enlightenment, we create a shortcut to the experience and practice of serving a larger whole.

The transformation of identity may follow behavior, through repetition, reflection, relationships and genuine responsibility. But not totally guaranteed of course.

This distinction makes the model practical, testable and ethically defensible.

3. The Three-Step Hero Shift

Experience → Evidence → Understanding → Repetition → Identity → Shared culture

The entire model follows one principle:

First create a positive experience. Then make its value visible. Finally, help people understand the wider system they are improving.

This reverses the conventional approach, which often begins with abstract theory, complex warnings or moral lectures, education, and only later invites practical engagement.

Here, meaningful action comes first.

STEP 1 — ACT

Transform the desire for power → into the pride of contribution

From victim, spectator or dominant individual to useful hero.

The first transformation is behavioral, not philosophical.

Give people a meaningful problem they can help solve, the freedom to use their talents and a visible opportunity to succeed.

The objective is to replace the emotional reward of domination with the more constructive reward of contribution.

The psychological mechanism

A person may be motivated by recognition, power, financial reward, belonging, achievement or simply the need to matter.

We do not have to eliminate these motivations. We design opportunities where they align with the common good.

This is consistent with Self-Determination Theory, which identifies autonomy, competence and relatedness as important foundations of motivation. A recent meta-analysis of workplace research provides substantial support for links between these needs, autonomous motivation and workplace outcomes.

The deeper message becomes:

I have something valuable to offer. I can make a difference. Other people benefit from my presence.

Toolbox 1 — The Hero Activation Protocol

Seven practical actions:

1. Identify the strength

Ask: What can this person do well, enjoy doing, or learn quickly?

2. Identify a real need

Choose a concrete challenge defined by the people affected

3. Offer a meaningful mission

Let the participant select or co-design a task they can own

4. Give bounded authority

Provide resources, decision rights, safety rules and a clear objective

5. Make success achievable

Aim for a useful, verifiable result in 7–14 days

6. Recognize contribution

Celebrate specific actions, teamwork and beneficiaries’ perspectives

7. Transfer the spotlight

Ask the person to acknowledge those who helped and empower the next contributor

The recognition system matters enormously.

Celebrate real service rather than theatrical heroism. A person who silently repairs a water system may create more value than someone who dominates a public ceremony.

Rewards can include public appreciation, skills credentials, paid opportunities, peer nominations, responsibility and recognition of verified useful work.

In a RegenEra-type economic model, this can connect with Proof of Useful Work, provided that the validation and reward rules are transparent, fair and independently auditable.

Wangari Maathai

In Kenya, Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, inviting women to plant trees while addressing environmental degradation and the challenges facing rural livelihoods.

What began as a practical local action evolved into a movement linking environmental protection, women’s empowerment, livelihoods and civic participation. The Nobel Committee reported that her initiative had contributed to planting over 30 million trees by the time of her 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

The leadership insight is not simply that Maathai was extraordinary.

It is that she created a way for ordinary people to become agents of extraordinary change.

The hero was also the woman growing seedlings, the neighbor protecting the soil and the community taking responsibility for its future.

Application: a former neighborhood strongman

Imagine a neighborhood where an influential young man gains status through intimidation, controlling access to opportunities or dominating others.

Rather than granting him political power or excusing harmful behavior, the community offers a voluntary, supervised opportunity to contribute to a safe public-space improvement project.

He may discover that organizing volunteers, protecting equipment and solving logistical problems brings a different kind of recognition.

However, participation must include accountability, protection for people he previously intimidated and safeguards against converting the project into a new personal power base.

The desired shift:

“People respect me because they fear me” → “People respect the contribution I make.”

That is the first bridge.

STEP 2 — CHOOSE

Make the consequences visible: domination versus regeneration

From winning against others to succeeding with others.

The second step transforms an initial act of service into a conscious choice.

People need to understand not merely that helping others feels good, but that cooperation, trust and long-term stewardship can produce better outcomes than coercion and destructive competition (which has been proven true, over and over, in many economic studies).

Real life is rarely divided into heroes and villains. Moralizing and shame can reinforce defensiveness, resentment and polarization. Instead, we make two possible futures visible, including their consequences, costs and trade-offs.

The ‘Two-Futures Exercise’

For a concrete challenge, participants compare two competing strategies:

Path A — Control and extraction

Concentrate authority, maximize personal advantage, preserve dependencies, hide information and compete for scarce resources.

Possible short-term benefit: rapid control and concentrated rewards.

Potential cost: distrust, exclusion, fragility and resistance.

Path B — Contribution and regeneration

Distribute responsibility, build local competence, share benefits fairly, improve common resources and create mutual gains.

Possible short-term cost: coordination, negotiation and shared decision-making.

Potential benefit: trust, resilience, ownership and durable value.

Crucially, do not assume Path B wins every short-term comparison. Show credible evidence, opportunity costs, implementation risks and the conditions under which cooperation succeeds.

Toolbox 2 — The Evidence and Choice Protocol

1. Reveal the costs. Map the hidden consequences of the current leadership model: conflicts, turnover, dependency, environmental damage, lost productivity or declining trust.
2. Demonstrate the alternative. Use a credible local success story, field visit, small pilot or comparative case study.
3. Challenge the participants. Ask how they could double useful results without doubling budgets or transferring the costs to others.
4. Co-create the solution. Invite affected people into the decision-making process, not merely as an audience.
5. Agree on a measurable commitment. Set outcomes, a budget, responsibilities, safeguards and a deadline.
6. Reflect and choose again. Review results, including unintended harms, and improve the approach.

The central question is:

What if the most intelligent way to become successful is to make the people around you successful too?

Nelson Mandela

A powerful historical illustration comes from South Africa in 1995.

The Springbok rugby team had carried strong symbolic associations with the apartheid era. Nelson Mandela’s public support for the team, culminating in his appearance wearing the Springbok jersey during the Rugby World Cup victory, became an enduring symbol of reconciliation.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation describes the gesture as especially significant to the Afrikaner community, while recognizing that the work of reconciliation remained far from complete. Mandela did not need to persuade every South African to embrace the same historical interpretation overnight. He used a shared national experience to make a different relationship between communities imaginable.

The leadership lesson:

A powerful symbolic act can invite people to practice a new collective identity before consensus about the past or future has fully developed.

Participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre

In 1989, Porto Alegre began involving citizens directly in municipal budget decisions.

A World Bank account describes a process that grew from only a few hundred skeptical participants to nearly 100,000 direct participants over approximately a decade. Citizens were not merely asked to trust officials. They were invited to participate in prioritizing public spending. However, subsequent research also documents declining political support and the suspension of the original process, illustrating why participation needs durable institutional support, financing and implementation capacity.

This is an essential lesson for the Hero Shift: a good experience must become a reliable institution rather than depend indefinitely on one charismatic leader.

STEP 3 — CONNECT

Make the whole system understandable, meaningful and alive

From individual hero to steward of a living ecosystem.

In the third step, we help participants discover that their contribution is not an isolated good deed.

It is part of a network of relationships between people, institutions, natural systems and economic activities.

The objective is to make systems thinking accessible through experiences, stories and nature-inspired metaphors, rather than dense theoretical language.

A person who repairs a garden becomes connected to food security, biodiversity, water, health, education, intergenerational cooperation and local employment.

A person who helps a struggling neighbor may also strengthen trust, reduce isolation and improve the capacity of the community to respond to future crises.

These effects should be investigated rather than assumed, but they help participants ask better questions about the wider consequences of their actions.

Toolbox 3 — The ‘Living-System Narrative’ Protocol

Tool A: Speak nature’s language.

Rather than explaining complex interdependencies through abstract diagrams alone, use metaphors that people can observe.

The mangrove

A community with multiple roots, protective functions and mutually supporting activities. Different forms of contribution create resilience together.

The forest

Growth depends on diversity, nutrient cycles and ecological relationships. No individual tree represents the entire forest.

The pollinator

One small useful contribution can benefit many other actors. A value-creating role does not always require direct control of the final result.

Teaching analogies…

Tool B: Draw the web of consequences.

Take the useful action from Step 1 and ask participants to map who benefits, who might lose, what resources are consumed, what dependencies are created and what happens over five or ten years.

Illustrative systems map: one community food garden

Potential relationships to explore and validate. The lines do not imply that positive effects automatically occur.

Tool C: Replace the single hero with a community of heroes.

Ask every participant to identify a new contributor, transfer a skill or share decision-making authority. The aim is to turn personal achievement into a self-reinforcing culture of contribution. A successful leader no longer needs to stand at the center of everything.

José Andrés and World Central Kitchen

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, José Andrés developed an approach to humanitarian food assistance that mobilizes cooking expertise, local partners and existing food businesses. World Central Kitchen’s model combines fast emergency action with local networks of restaurants, cooks and suppliers. The organization reports having served hundreds of millions of meals internationally.

The underlying leadership lesson is particularly relevant:

Instead of building an entire response around one heroic personality, develop the capacity of a distributed network to act.

The founder contributes vision, relationships and coordination. Many others provide the direct service. Leadership evolves from being indispensable to making collective capability possible.

The institutional dimension: Elinor Ostrom

The third step also requires governance.

Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom demonstrated through field research that communities can develop workable rules for managing shared resources, including forests, fisheries and grazing areas. In practice, community leadership needs clearly understood responsibilities, meaningful participation, transparent monitoring, legitimate conflict-resolution processes and safeguards against capture.

This is where inspiration becomes durable capacity.

4. The business case: from a leadership workshop to regenerative infrastructure

The commercial and societal opportunity is not simply to sell another executive coaching program. It is to develop a replicable leadership activation system that helps organizations and territories convert existing human potential into measurable community value. Traditional leadership training often focuses on the individual leader: communication, charisma, negotiation, strategic vision and executive performance.

The Hero Shift focuses on a different unit of transformation:

The leader, the people they empower, and the system they improve together.

The proposed value chain

The model becomes especially attractive when integrated with a system that recognizes verified contributions, such as Proof of Useful Work.

But financial incentives alone are insufficient. They must not displace intrinsic motivation, enable favoritism or turn community service into a competition for prestige.

5. The leadership transformation scorecard

How can we know whether we are achieving anything beyond a temporary enthusiasm effect?

Measure observable changes across the three steps, and distinguish activity from durable impact.

Dimension — What to measure

1. Contribution

Completed useful missions; quality and verified benefit

2. Empowerment

Participants exercising meaningful decision-making authority

3. Cooperation

Cross-group projects, mutual assistance and trust

4. Accountability

Follow-through, transparent decisions and resolution of disputes

5. Systems thinking

Ability to identify dependencies, trade-offs and unintended effects

6. Leadership multiplication

New facilitators, transferred responsibilities and initiatives continuing without the founder

For evaluation, establish a baseline before the program, review at day 90, and ideally assess again six and twelve months later. Include independent beneficiary feedback and a comparison group where feasible.

The most revealing question may be:

How many people who previously waited for a leader are now capable of leading useful action themselves?

And an equally important second question:

Can they do so responsibly without concentrating power, excluding others or generating new dependencies?

6. Five safeguards against creating another personality cult

The greatest danger of this approach is that it could accidentally reward precisely the behavior it seeks to transform. Giving recognition and authority to a dominant personality without safeguards can reinforce domination.

Therefore:

• Voluntary participation and dignity. No psychological labeling, public shaming or coercion; never classify individuals as inferior Spiral Dynamics stages.
• Power with accountability. Decision-making authority must be bounded, reviewable and withdrawable when abused.
• Recognition without dependency. Reward contribution, collaboration and the growth of others, not celebrity or personal loyalty.
• Evidence over spectacle. Verify benefits and costs, including the perspectives of marginalized people and unintended losers.
• Institutional continuity. Build transparent rules, shared ownership and succession plans so initiatives do not depend on a single charismatic founder.

Importantly, difficult leaders may require professional mediation, formal accountability processes or organizational changes. A service project must never substitute for justice, safeguarding or restitution after serious harm.

7. From leadership training to a scalable RegenEra model

For Club of Brussels and RegenEra, the Hero Shift could become a practical human-development component connecting individual empowerment, community resilience, territorial regeneration and Proof of Useful Work.

Citizens and local communities

Soul Circles and neighborhood initiatives can offer the first safe experiences of belonging, useful contribution and mutual recognition.

Companies and executive teams

Turn leadership programs into real, concrete organizational improvement missions: lower waste, new employee initiatives, better cooperation, practical innovation, underused resource activation, and succession capacity.

Municipalities and territories

Create civic leadership laboratories where citizen groups, public institutions, entrepreneurs and associations work together on problems with measurable outcomes.

Youth and education

Replace the exclusive focus on performance and employability with real opportunities for young people to create value, discover skills and develop agency.

National and international regeneration

Apply the method to leadership development, local resilience, reconstruction, cooperative enterprises and large-scale territorial programs.

It should be designed around three types of value:

Human value: stronger agency, confidence, belonging and cooperative capabilities.

Societal value: useful solutions, resilience, reduced dependencies and improved common resources.

Economic value: measurable efficiencies, improved services, employability, new enterprises and scalable capabilities.

The multiplier is not the number of people who attend a workshop. It is the number of useful initiatives and capable new leaders that continue to emerge after the workshop ends.

8. Why this approach could work — and what remains to be demonstrated

The theory draws support from several established research areas, though the integrated Hero Shift framework itself remains a proposal still requiring pilot validation.

Motivation through autonomy, competence and connection

Self-Determination Theory has a substantial empirical foundation, including contemporary workplace evidence.

Constructive relationships across social groups

A major meta-analysis involving 515 studies found that intergroup contact typically reduces prejudice, especially when constructive conditions are present.

Service-oriented organizational leadership

Meta-analyses associate servant leadership with a range of positive individual, team and organizational outcomes.

Collective governance and community participation

Ostrom’s research and participatory governance experiences demonstrate that communities can develop institutional arrangements for managing shared resources.

A three-step leap from Red to Turquoise

This remains an untested hypothesis… There is no reliable basis to claim that a particular training sequence can directly or permanently move people through six Spiral Dynamics levels.

It is whether a structured program of meaningful action, reflection, shared recognition and systems understanding can produce more durable prosocial leadership behaviors than conventional leadership training, at a competitive cost. That would be a significant result in its own right.

9. The deeper breakthrough: stop waiting for humanity to — finally — become ‘wise’

We have spent centuries trying to convince humanity to become more conscious. Hundreds of prophets, saints and wise tried to — really — but most often nailed to the wall for it… because they challenged the ‘maffia power’ in place. But today, these ‘values and behaviors and wisdom’ became clues for survival of humanity. Whether we like it or not.

We publish increasingly sophisticated analyses. We organize conferences. We explain planetary boundaries, growing inequalities, psychological distress, systemic risks and the dangers of a fragmented civilization. Yet abstract knowledge does not automatically translate into behavior.

The Hero Shift proposes a different starting point. Do not start by asking people to understand the whole world. Start by helping them improve one small part of it. Let them experience the satisfaction of being useful. Let them discover what they are capable of. Let them be appreciated by people whose lives they have genuinely improved. Then show them how their work connects to a larger living system.

And finally, invite them to help others experience the same thing.

A father who discovers that his children need his presence — more than his authority.

A business executive who discovers that empowering colleagues can create greater organizational capability — than controlling them.

A mayor who discovers that citizens can become co-creators of community resilience.

A young person who stops seeing themselves as powerless and discovers that their particular talents have a valuable place in the world.

A local leader who discovers that their most meaningful legacy is not personal obedience — but a community capable of thriving without their constant intervention.

None of these people needs to understand Spiral Dynamics to begin acting differently…

None needs to become a philosopher, ecologist or systems scientist before making a meaningful contribution.

And none needs to abandon the desire for achievement, recognition or a successful life.

They discover that these aspirations can coexist with service and responsible stewardship.

This is perhaps the real shortcut.

Not from one psychological label to another.

But from power as domination to power as contribution.

From seeking followers to developing leaders.

From protecting personal territory to improving a shared future.

From being the center of the story to helping others become protagonists.

And ultimately, from doing something good once to becoming someone who habitually contributes to the good.

The leadership equation

Power × Purpose × Participation

= Regenerative Leadership Potential

Human agency, meaningful direction and collective participation need to reinforce one another. The ultimate test of the model is whether people can move beyond the need for constant applause.

Recognition opens the door. Belonging encourages them to stay. Purpose gives them direction.

But mature servant leadership becomes visible when someone does the right thing even when nobody is watching — and when they willingly make room for someone else to lead.

The aim is not to create a civilization of celebrated heroes. It is to create a civilization in which useful contribution becomes normal, dignified, rewarding and accessible to everyone.

And maybe that is how large-scale transformation begins: not with a handful of enlightened leaders trying to save the world, but with millions of ordinary people discovering that they can help regenerate it.

The Hero Shift™ — an applied framework for accelerating prosocial leadership and regenerative action, to be piloted and validated through Club of Brussels.

19 leaders who changed the world by empowering others

There is a fascinating pattern among many of humanity’s most consequential changemakers — on as well as under the radar…

They did not simply solve problems for people. They enabled ordinary people to become part of the solution.

Some were presidents. Others were doctors, teachers, social workers or people starting with almost nothing. Some became world-famous, while others remained surprisingly modest.

What unites these examples is not that they were perfect, or lacked ambition. It is that their lasting influence often came from transferring capability, dignity, responsibility and opportunity to others.

Here are some particularly inspiring stories, viewed through our three steps: ACT → CHOOSE → CONNECT.

1. Abdul Sattar Edhi — Pakistan

From a small dispensary to a nationwide humanitarian network

Edhi began with modest medical services in Karachi. Over decades, his foundation developed ambulance services, shelters, orphanages and emergency assistance. He was known for an austere personal lifestyle and a commitment to helping people regardless of background.

Hero Shift lesson: You do not need wealth, status or political power to start building a system of service. Start with one unmet human need, then organize others around it.

2. Govindappa Venkataswamy — India

The doctor who made the fight against avoidable blindness scalable

Despite severe rheumatoid arthritis, Dr. V retrained in ophthalmology and became an accomplished eye surgeon. He founded Aravind Eye Hospitals in 1976, developing an innovative system that could deliver affordable, high-volume eye care.

Hero Shift lesson: True leadership is not performing every act yourself. It is designing a system through which many others can perform extraordinary work.

3. Jane Addams — United States

One house that helped reshape social welfare

In 1889, Addams and Ellen Gates Starr established Hull House in Chicago. What began as a neighborhood settlement developed into a center for education, childcare, social services and civic reform, while influencing the emerging profession of social work.

Hero Shift lesson: A small, welcoming physical place can become an incubator for social transformation. Especially relevant to Soul Circles and community resilience hubs.

4. Paul Farmer — Haiti / Global health

Healthcare begins with accompaniment, not simply treatment

A physician and co-founder of Partners In Health, Farmer challenged the assumption that high-quality medical care was unrealistic in poor communities. His work connected clinical treatment with community health workers, social support and systemic health inequalities.

Hero Shift lesson: Treat people as partners in rebuilding their lives, rather than passive recipients of assistance.

These four examples share a remarkable characteristic: they began with a concrete problem and developed an institutional response that multiplied their personal contribution. They did not wait for society to become more enlightened. They began building something useful.

5. Leymah Gbowee — Liberia

During Liberia’s civil war, Gbowee mobilized Christian and Muslim women in a nonviolent peace movement. Their demonstrations contributed to pressure for the 2003 peace agreement. She received the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Hero Shift lesson: People who had suffered through a conflict became active participants in changing its course.

6. Kailash Satyarthi — India

An engineer who became an activist against child exploitation, Satyarthi developed rescue, rehabilitation, education and supply-chain initiatives. By the time of his 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, his movement had helped free more than 83,000 children from exploitation.

Hero Shift lesson: Transform a moral conviction into an organized system that provides new opportunities and changes the rules sustaining a problem.

7. Malala Yousafzai — Pakistan / Global

Malala continued advocating for girls’ education despite violent repression and surviving an assassination attempt in 2012. She later co-founded the Malala Fund with her father to support girls’ education and advocacy.

Hero Shift lesson: Courage can begin with one young person’s voice, but sustainable change requires helping many other voices be heard.

8. Wangari Maathai — Kenya

She turned the simple act of planting a tree into a movement for environmental restoration, women’s livelihoods and civic empowerment. The Green Belt Movement had contributed to planting more than 30 million trees by her 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Hero Shift lesson: Give people an action that is easy to understand, locally meaningful and capable of producing wider systemic benefits.

Notice how different their challenges were: war, exploitation, educational exclusion and ecological degradation. Yet their strategies had something in common: ordinary people became contributors to change, rather than merely waiting for institutions to solve everything.

9. Muhammad Yunus — Bangladesh

Yunus questioned why banks systematically excluded poor borrowers. He developed the Grameen Bank model, which had reached over seven million borrowers by the time of its 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, many of them women.

Hero Shift lesson: Instead of treating disadvantaged people only as beneficiaries, redesign institutions so they can participate economically. Microcredit also illustrates the importance of debt safeguards and realistic impact assessment.

10. Jimmy Carter — United States / Global

After his presidency, Carter devoted decades to humanitarian, public-health and peacebuilding activities. His work through the Carter Center supported the international Guinea worm eradication campaign.

When that campaign began in 1986, an estimated 3.5 million people developed the disease annually. Only 10 human cases were provisionally reported worldwide in 2025, according to the Carter Center.

Hero Shift lesson: A person’s greatest service may come from the institutions and partnerships they build after leaving formal authority.

11. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — Liberia

As Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state, Sirleaf led Liberia during a difficult period of postwar reconstruction. After leaving office, she established a presidential center focused on expanding women’s leadership.

Hero Shift lesson: Leadership can extend beyond holding office into preparing others for positions of responsibility. Her presidency also demonstrates how much harder institutional transformation is than personal inspiration.

12. Bill Drayton — Ashoka / Global

Drayton founded Ashoka in 1980 to identify, support and connect social entrepreneurs. The organization reports supporting more than 4,000 fellows across 99 countries. His underlying philosophy is especially close to your Hero Shift: rather than depending on a few exceptional heroes, societies should develop the capacity for everyone to become a changemaker.

Hero Shift lesson: The greatest multiplier is not an invention but a system for discovering and enabling other people’s potential.

13. Desmond Tutu — South Africa

Tutu became internationally recognized for his nonviolent opposition to apartheid. He later chaired South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, helping create a public process for examining past human rights violations.

The commission’s work and limitations remain subjects of serious historical debate, but the effort sought to address collective suffering without defining an entire national future solely through vengeance.

Hero Shift lesson: Leadership can combine moral conviction, accountability, dignity and the difficult work of rebuilding relationships.

14. Nelson Mandela — South Africa

Mandela’s political importance extended beyond his personal endurance during imprisonment. His negotiations with F. W. de Klerk contributed to the democratic transition from apartheid; both received the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

The transition required compromise across profound divisions while leaving major economic inequalities unresolved.

Hero Shift lesson: Exercising power can mean creating conditions in which former adversaries can participate in a shared political future.

15. José Andrés — World Central Kitchen

Through World Central Kitchen, Andrés has helped build a humanitarian food-response network using local chefs, restaurants, suppliers and volunteers.

Hero Shift lesson: A successful leader does not need to control every action. The organization becomes more capable when local contributors have the tools and authority to act.

16. Mimi Silbert — San Francisco, USA

Delancey Street Foundation

From former offenders and people struggling with addiction to entrepreneurs, professionals and mentors. In 1971, Delancey Street began with four residents, a $1,000 loan and a radically different idea: people who had been written off by society could become the driving force behind their own rehabilitation. Rather than building a conventional institution dependent on professional staff, Mimi Silbert and co-founder John Maher developed a self-help community where residents learn, work, support one another and operate businesses. The residents have helped build and operate restaurants, moving companies, cafés and other enterprises. Delancey Street’s San Francisco waterfront complex, approximately 400,000 square feet, was substantially constructed and supervised by residents themselves.

The foundation has reported more than 14,000 graduates, although that historic figure is self-reported rather than an independently verified current outcome count.

Hero Shift lesson: One of the clearest illustrations of moving from victimhood or destructive behavior toward contribution, responsibility and dignity.

Instead of asking people merely to stop doing harm, create a system where they become useful to others, learn valuable skills and build a different identity.

The breakthrough: Those who once needed help become the people capable of helping others.

17. Jean-Philippe Byamungu — Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo

En Avant les Enfants / HAD — Humanisme et Action pour le Développement

Restoring dignity to vulnerable elderly people, women and families amid decades of conflict.

In eastern Congo, where wars, displacement and poverty have severely disrupted communities, Jean-Philippe Byamungu has spent more than two decades supporting vulnerable people through housing, community gardens, agroecology and local development initiatives.

He coordinates the work of En Avant les Enfants in Goma and leads its local partner HAD. In June 2024, he received the inaugural Prix Éric de Lamotte, accompanied by a $10,000 grant, recognizing his work with older people, agroecology and vulnerable young women (which he offered to his reforesting projects). The award organizers reported that his initiatives supported more than 3,000 elderly people through accommodation and communal gardens.

Hero Shift lesson: In a territory marked by fear, wars, dependency and repeated crises, effective community leadership can begin by restoring dignity and the ability to act.

Food production, housing and local livelihoods are not merely humanitarian services. When designed with residents, they become instruments of autonomy, confidence and renewed social connection.

The breakthrough: Even in a region experiencing profound instability and wars, communities can develop local capabilities that outlast individual projects.

18. Ebrahim Vadachia — Durban, South Africa

Urban Improvements Precincts — UIP Durban

From urban disorder and homelessness to jobs, public safety, responsibility and community participation. As chairman of Durban’s Urban Improvements Precincts, Ebrahim Vadachia has worked to bring together businesses, property owners, municipal authorities and community organizations to improve the city’s public spaces, safety and local economic conditions. His approach illustrates how urban regeneration can combine practical management with opportunities for people who have become excluded from the formal economy.

One particularly relevant initiative is City Changers.

In 2023, the program began by recruiting 15 people experiencing homelessness, providing accommodation and access to paid work in cooperation with Durban’s Metro Police. The municipality reported that the participants were no longer living on the streets and had obtained meaningful employment. The initiative aimed to expand further, although that expansion target should not be confused with confirmed results.

06 April 2023. Vadachia had also helped develop a street-ambassador initiative. A 2019 local report documented 96 ambassadors operating in the city and plans to expand the initiative.

Hero Shift lesson: People who have been perceived primarily as an urban problem can be offered an opportunity to contribute to the city, earn a livelihood and regain a meaningful social role. The problem becomes the solution if we are able to see a human being behind a person in despair. The wider transformation is equally important: businesses, residents and authorities share practical responsibilities for improving their common environment.

The breakthrough: Urban regeneration becomes more than cleaning streets and protecting property. It can also become a mechanism for restoring individual dignity, creating employment and building community responsibility.

19. El Hadji Mandiaye Niang — Mbour, Senegal

Founder of PEVA Consulting — Agronomist, environmental entrepreneur and community changemaker

From prison sentences to second chances: transforming incarcerated people into skilled agricultural workers and future entrepreneurs. What if prison were not simply a place where society removes people who have broken its rules, but also a place where individuals could prepare to rebuild their lives and contribute to society? This is the philosophy behind the prison reintegration training initiative promoted by Mandiaye Niang in Senegal.

An agricultural engineer and founder of PEVA Consulting in 2018, Niang has developed initiatives in agroecology, agricultural entrepreneurship, environmental protection and vocational training. He also leads FITTI Incubateur, which supports entrepreneurship with social and environmental impact.

His particularly inspiring initiative is to train people while they are still incarcerated, so that upon release they possess practical skills that can help them find employment or start small agricultural businesses.

His training approach encompasses several regenerative occupations: Permaculture, Seed multiplication, Composting, Biogas, Beekeeping, Market gardening,…

His public communications confirm a program focused on agricultural training, vegetable nurseries, composting, livestock, agricultural management and entrepreneurship for incarcerated people. The complete six-occupation curriculum described above comes from your account; I could not independently verify that every occupation is already being taught or document employment outcomes after release.

The genius of the approach lies in fundamentally changing the narrative:

OLD IDENTITY: “I am a convict. Society has rejected me. My future is already compromised.”

NEW POSSIBILITY: “I have learned something useful. I can produce food, restore soil, earn a livelihood, support my family and make a positive contribution.”

This is much more than vocational education. It connects personal rehabilitation with food security, environmental regeneration, employability and community resilience.

Senegal has already demonstrated interest in such approaches: a 2025 agreement between its agriculture and justice ministries aims to support agricultural training and reintegration, while a separate prison poultry project in Mbour reported former inmates applying their new skills professionally after release. These provide relevant context, although they are distinct from PEVA Consulting’s initiative.

Hero Shift lesson: Instead of defining people forever by the worst chapter of their lives, provide a credible pathway through which they can demonstrate competence, regain responsibility and build a new future.

The breakthrough: Prison reintegration can become a bridge between human dignity, economic participation and ecological regeneration.

This is an especially relevant potential application of Proof of Useful Work: verified learning, voluntary productive activities, fair compensation where applicable and pathways to employment could form part of an integrated reintegration program, with strong safeguards against exploitative prison labor.

Some leaders build prisons. Others build the bridges that help people leave prison with a new future.

Mandiaye Niang reminds us that the purpose of regenerative leadership is not to divide humanity permanently between the good and the bad, the successful and the failed.It is to create real opportunities for people to become useful, capable and responsible contributors to society.

This example connects the Hero Shift’s three steps particularly clearly: ACT by learning practical skills, CHOOSE by preparing a different livelihood, and CONNECT by contributing to food systems, local economies and environmental restoration.

What makes these examples particularly powerful?

Mimi Silbert:

Criminal histories, addiction, exclusion

→ Peer responsibility, education, self-managed enterprises

Jean-Philippe Byamungu:

Poverty, displacement, vulnerable families and elderly people

→ Dignity, community support, local livelihoods and autonomy

Ebrahim Vadachia:

Homelessness, urban decline, fragmented responsibility

→ Paid participation, public-private cooperation, practical neighborhood regeneration

All illustrate a crucial proposition for our leadership framework:

A society changes profoundly when people who were considered part of the problem are given a genuine opportunity, appropriate support and the responsibility to become part of the solution. Leadership does not necessarily begin with the ambition to transform the world. Sometimes it begins with the determination to transform one street, one neighborhood or one person’s life.

What these stories suggest for the Hero Shift

There are three important patterns.

First, the entry point was often surprisingly small. A tree seedling, a modest loan, a health clinic, a neighborhood house, or a gathering of women demanding peace.

Second, the changemaker expanded the circle of responsibility. Instead of keeping all the action in their own hands, they mobilized the knowledge, capabilities and commitment of other people.

Third, lasting change depended on the creation of something beyond personal inspiration: institutions, networks, financing mechanisms, governance, training and recurring opportunities to participate.

These examples do not prove that the leaders themselves jumped across Spiral Dynamics stages. They demonstrate something more directly useful: the potential for a simple, meaningful action to grow into a much larger system of collective contribution.

Memorable conclusion

The most transformative leaders in history did not always begin with armies, fortunes, political offices or sophisticated theories.

Some began with a tree. Others with a classroom, a medical dispensary, a small loan, a neighborhood house or a gathering of frightened mothers.

They did not wait for humanity to become wise before inviting it to do something useful.

They showed people that they mattered. That they had talents. That they could contribute. That they could improve their own lives while improving those of others.

And then the extraordinary happened: the beneficiaries became contributors, the contributors became leaders, and some of those leaders began creating opportunities for yet more people.

The ultimate success of servant leadership is not how many followers a leader attracts. It is how many new leaders become capable of serving others.

Perhaps the future will not be saved by one great hero.

Perhaps it will be regenerated by millions of people discovering the hero already within them.

For RegenEra, that last insight is particularly fertile: the ambition should not simply be to create a leadership academy, but to build an infrastructure that makes useful, responsible changemaking widely accessible, recognizable and replicable.

Here, the Mathew 20:16 gospel becomes prophetical — as a key to regenerative transition: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Michel A. de Kemmeter

Club of Brussels — RegenEra

Une cyberattaque interrompt les services d’une commune. Une vidéo truquée accuse une minorité. De faux messages annoncent que l’eau potable est impropre à la consommation. Le politique promet, mais active austérités, coupes vives. Les habitants ne parviennent à joindre aucun interlocuteur de confiance. Confusion et colère se propage plus vite que les informations fiables. Tout devient crise de légitimité.

Ce scénario est fictif, mais il révèle une vulnérabilité importante : les dommages infligés par une attaque cyber, ou par comportements politiques difficiles, dépendent en partie de l’état de la société qu’elle frappe.

Un territoire doté de services fiables, de relations de confiance, d’institutions qui rendent des comptes et d’habitants habitués à coopérer dispose de davantage de moyens pour contenir une perturbation. Un territoire déjà marqué par l’abandon, l’épuisement et la méfiance réciproque offre à la même attaque davantage de possibilités de dégénérer.

Voilà pourquoi l’économie régénérative a sa place dans le débat sur la sécurité. Plus même, sur la cohérence, l’éthique, sur la reconnexion bottom-up.

Sa contribution potentielle consiste à reconstruire les capacités humaines, écologiques et économiques qui permettent à une société de fonctionner sous pression. La preuve de travail utile — Proof of Useful Work, ou PoUW — pourrait rendre ce travail visible, vérifiable et économiquement viable. Ensemble, elles portent une proposition forte : rémunérer les personnes qui renforcent les fondations que des acteurs hostiles, extractifs, hyper-capitalistes au court terme, cherchent à fracturer, extraire, et détruire.

Il s’agit d’une stratégie à expérimenter, et non d’une affirmation établie selon laquelle les crédits de régénération empêcheraient les guerres hybrides ou révoltes sociales. D’autant plus que la confiance (en général et en particulier) est déjà très abîmée.

La vulnérabilité sous-jacente à la guerre de l’information

L’IA générative transforme l’économie de la manipulation : des textes, des voix et des images d’apparence crédible peuvent être produits à faible coût, personnalisés et amplifiés par des réseaux automatisés. L’objectif peut aller bien au-delà du fait de convaincre quelqu’un d’un mensonge particulier : il peut s’agir de saper la confiance dans les institutions, le journalisme et la possibilité même d’établir les faits.[1]

L’OTAN identifie également la propagande, la tromperie, le sabotage et d’autres méthodes hybrides comme des instruments de déstabilisation. Son cadre de résilience met l’accent sur la continuité des pouvoirs publics et des services essentiels, ainsi que sur la coopération entre administrations, entreprises et société civile.[3][4]

Le territoire — commune, quartier ou région — devient ainsi un espace d’action crucial. C’est là que les habitants constatent si l’eau coule, si les écoles fonctionnent, si les entreprises survivent et si les promesses publiques ont un sens.

La désinformation n’a pas besoin de pauvreté ou d’exclusion pour prospérer. Des communautés instruites, aisées et fortement interconnectées peuvent elles aussi faire circuler des contrevérités. Mais les griefs réels constituent une matière que les manipulateurs peuvent exploiter. Une réponse convaincante doit donc s’attaquer à la fois aux contenus trompeurs et aux défaillances qui leur donnent une forte prise sur la psychologie affaiblie des gens de tout bords.

La critique, la contestation et la défiance légitimes doivent conserver toute leur place. L’objectif est de rendre les institutions plus dignes de confiance et les citoyens plus capables d’exercer leur jugement de manière indépendante.

De citoyens abandonnés, à des contributeurs capables d’agir

Le Wise Paper 12, développé par RegenEra–Club of Brussels, part d’un déséquilibre économique : une grande partie du travail qui soutient la prospérité est mal/pas rémunérée, jusqu’à ce que son absence provoque crises coûteuses et chocs.[2]

Préserver la santé des sols, accompagner les personnes isolées, restaurer les systèmes hydriques, réparer/construire les logements et aider des personnes à retrouver un emploi porteur de sens peut bénéficier à de multiples acteurs. Pourtant, aucun bénéficiaire ne finance nécessairement, à lui seul, suffisamment cette activité pour en assurer la pérennité.

Une économie régénérative cherche à organiser cette demande manquante. La PoUW y ajoute un processus de preuve : convenir de la situation de départ et du résultat visé ; réaliser le travail ; vérifier ce qui a changé ; établir qui en a bénéficié ; puis rémunérer ce travail dans le cadre d’un accord financé.

L’enjeu de sécurité est concret. Un jeune rémunéré pour améliorer la résilience locale de l’approvisionnement en eau acquiert des compétences, un revenu et un rôle reconnu. Un habitant qui aide ses voisins à repérer les escroqueries contribue à la protection collective. Des personnes dont les rapports avec les institutions étaient surtout marqués par le rejet peuvent découvrir une relation fondée sur la contribution et un traitement équitable.

Il ne s’agit pas d’acheter la loyauté. Il s’agit de créer des possibilités d’agir, de ‘faire sa vie’, de ‘construire demain’.

L’enquête de l’OCDE sur la confiance publiée en 2024 révèle que 69 % des répondants ayant le sentiment d’avoir leur mot à dire sur l’action publique faisaient confiance à leur gouvernement national, contre 22 % parmi ceux qui n’avaient pas ce sentiment. Cette association ne prouve pas qu’un programme PoUW rétablira la confiance. Elle montre toutefois pourquoi une participation réelle mérite autant d’attention que la communication publique.[5]

La confiance ne se réclame pas simplement. Il faut donner aux personnes des raisons de l’accorder — et leur laisser la liberté de la retirer.

Le travail partagé peut tisser des liens par-delà les divisions

Un service de réparation de quartier, un jardin collectif ou un projet de prévention des inondations peut réunir des personnes qui, autrement, se connaissent surtout à travers des stéréotypes. Travailler à un résultat tangible permet de reconnaître les compétences, la fiabilité et l’interdépendance de chacun.

Ce mécanisme compte lorsqu’un message fabriqué cherche à dresser des voisins les uns contre les autres. Connaître personnellement quelqu’un offre un moyen de vérifier une affirmation avant de la partager. Savoir qui entretient un réseau d’eau permet de comprendre une interruption avant d’y voir un complot.

Cependant, la cohésion au sein d’un groupe peut aussi renforcer l’hostilité envers ceux qui n’en font pas partie. Un programme crédible doit délibérément créer des liens entre générations, niveaux de revenus, langues et cultures. La participation doit être volontaire, l’accès équitable, et chacun doit pouvoir contester les décisions sans perdre ses moyens de subsistance.

Le meilleur niveau de pouvoir est le communal. Une dynamique basée sur la ’résilience familiale’, organisée en cohortes d’équipes d’action autour de sujets-clé précis, mis en commun — en vrai: eau potable, bois, nourriture locale, mutualisation mobilité, santé prévention, éducation mutuelle, etc etc.

Le résultat recherché est une capacité accrue à coopérer malgré les désaccords, et à cette fin, de re-créer solidarité locale, intelligence de résilience, engagement sociétal. Et au final: équilibre social et sociétal, croissance vertueuse, augmentation du bien-être et niveau de vie. Et enfin, finaliser un modèle exportable dans le reste du monde.

Faire des preuves concrètes une composante de la vie économique quotidienne

La PoUW offre une autre piste prometteuse : une culture d’affirmations que l’on peut vérifier.

Le Wise Paper 12 distingue les activités de leurs résultats. Planter des arbres est une activité ; leur survie dans la durée et l’amélioration du fonctionnement écologique sont des résultats. Organiser une formation est une activité ; l’amélioration démontrée des compétences est un résultat.[2]

Appliquée localement, cette rigueur permet aux habitants de poser des questions simples : qu’avait-on promis ? Que s’est-il réellement passé ? Qui l’a vérifié ? Qu’est-ce qui reste incertain ? Qui a été payé ? L’écart entre les promesses, les blablas, les discours, les plans… et les réalisations concrètes sur le terrain est souvent immense. Les jeunes, en particulier, n’en peuvent plus des paroles creuses.

Un tableau de bord public des projets pourrait répondre à ces questions grâce à des synthèses accessibles, des évaluations indépendantes et un historique des corrections, tout en protégeant les données personnelles. Les responsables devraient expliquer les échecs autant que les réussites.

Cela ne se traduirait pas automatiquement par une résistance à toutes les fausses informations. Mais cette pratique pourrait installer des habitudes utiles : demander des preuves, distinguer les observations des interprétations et accepter les corrections.

Le système de vérification lui-même doit pouvoir être contrôlé. Un contrat intelligent sur une blockchain peut conserver la trace d’une affirmation ; il ne peut pas établir que celle-ci est vraie. Les validateurs peuvent s’entendre frauduleusement, les capteurs peuvent tomber en panne et les preuves générées par l’IA peuvent tromper. L’indépendance, les audits, les recours et les vérifications sur le terrain font donc partie intégrante de la crédibilité du modèle.

Réduire les perturbations qu’un attaquant peut exploiter

La restauration des zones humides, la diversification de l’approvisionnement alimentaire, la résilience énergétique, le développement des compétences et du pouvoir d’agir, ainsi que le bon fonctionnement des lieux de vie communautaires sont généralement présentés comme des investissements environnementaux ou sociaux. Ils peuvent aussi contribuer au maintien des fonctions essentielles en cas de perturbation.

Un lieu de proximité doté d’une alimentation électrique de secours testée et de dispositifs de communication adaptés peut soutenir les habitants pendant une panne. Un réseau d’approvisionnement diversifié peut réduire la dépendance à un seul itinéraire interrompu. Un réseau local d’entraide peut repérer les personnes isolées avant qu’une défaillance de service ne devienne une urgence individuelle.

Ces bénéfices dépendent toutefois de conditions précises. Une installation solaire dépourvue de stockage adapté et de capacité à fonctionner indépendamment du réseau peut ne fournir aucune électricité pendant une panne générale. Un réseau local dépendant d’une seule plateforme mal sécurisée peut créer un nouveau point de défaillance unique.

La régénération doit donc intégrer l’ingénierie, l’entretien et des exercices réalistes. Les capacités locales doivent compléter les réseaux plus larges, l’entraide entre territoires et les services professionnels de secours.

La proposition stratégique est simple : lorsque les fonctions essentielles continuent d’être assurées, un attaquant dispose de moins de perturbations à transformer en peur et en accusations.

Résilience et cybersécurité devient un travail utile doté d’un financement

Le lien avec la lutte contre la cybercriminalité est le plus direct lorsque la PoUW finance des actions de protection précises, augementant la résilience.

Un programme territorial pourrait financer l’intervention de professionnels formés pour aider les petites entreprises et familles à sécuriser leurs comptes, à tester la restauration de leurs systèmes à partir de sauvegardes et à préparer leurs procédures de gestion des incidents. Il pourrait aider les habitants à s’exercer à vérifier, par un canal indépendant, les demandes urgentes de paiement, y compris celles qui utilisent des voix clonées. Les organisations locales pourraient tester leurs moyens de communication lorsque leurs systèmes habituels deviennent indisponibles.

Ces activités s’inscrivent dans les pratiques établies de cybersécurité. Le cadre de cybersécurité 2.0 du NIST organise la gestion des risques autour de six fonctions : gouverner, identifier, protéger, détecter, répondre et rétablir.[6]

La contribution de la PoUW serait d’organiser le financement et la vérification de ces capacités. Une feuille de présence à un atelier constitue une preuve limitée. Un exercice de rétablissement réussi ou une amélioration vérifiée des dispositifs de protection constitue une preuve plus solide.

Les paiements ne doivent jamais récompenser la dissimulation des incidents. Une hausse des signalements peut, dans un premier temps, témoigner d’une meilleure détection et d’une confiance accrue. L’adhésion politique ne doit pas davantage devenir un résultat rémunérable : aucun crédit pour féliciter les dirigeants, soutenir des discours officiels ou qualifier les opposants d’agents de désinformation.

Qui finance la prévention ?

L’un des apports économiques les plus utiles du Wise Paper 12 est le financement par les bénéficiaires. Plusieurs acteurs peuvent soutenir conjointement un travail dont aucun ne capte, à lui seul, tous les bénéfices.[2]

Les communes bénéficient de la continuité des services. Les entreprises bénéficient d’une diminution des interruptions. Les assureurs peuvent bénéficier d’une réduction des sinistres couverts. Les habitants bénéficient de services plus sûrs et d’une capacité d’action accrue. Leurs contributions exigent néanmoins des engagements négociés : une estimation de la valeur sociale ne crée pas, à elle seule, de l’argent disponible.

L’approche de valorisation du document prend en compte, sans double comptage, les pertes évitées, les revenus supplémentaires, les actifs restaurés, les économies sociales et les bénéfices écosystémiques, après déduction des coûts sur l’ensemble du cycle de vie. Elle ajuste les valeurs revendiquées en fonction de l’additionnalité, de l’attribution, de la qualité des preuves et de la pérennité des résultats.

Dans le cas des menaces hybrides, l’incertitude est particulièrement importante. Une attaque qui n’a jamais eu lieu ne peut pas être comptabilisée à la légère comme une attaque empêchée. Les mesures doivent privilégier les capacités démontrables et les performances de rétablissement ; les pertes modélisées doivent rester clairement présentées comme des estimations. Un même bénéfice ne doit pas être compté deux fois.

Ses crédits de régénération enregistrent des résultats déclarés admissibles. Leur émission ne crée aucun euro et ne garantit aucun acheteur. Cette distinction renforce la crédibilité de la proposition : la première expérimentation peut fonctionner au moyen de contrats ordinaires et de paiements effectivement financés.

Une expérimentation territoriale qui mérite d’être lancée

Sur cette base, une commune ou un groupe de communes pourrait tester un ensemble de projets associant continuité des services essentiels, protection concrète contre les cybermenaces, accès inclusif à un travail rémunéré, coopération entre communautés et accès public aux preuves.

Les premiers mois permettraient d’établir les situations de référence, d’obtenir les engagements des acheteurs, de mettre en place une supervision indépendante et de définir les règles d’évaluation. Les actions seraient ensuite évaluées à travers des exercices de rétablissement, des résultats durables en matière d’emploi, des compétences pratiques de vérification, la disponibilité des services et des enquêtes représentatives sur le pouvoir d’agir et la confiance institutionnelle. Lorsque cela est possible, des territoires de comparaison ou un déploiement progressif aideraient à distinguer les effets du programme des tendances générales.

La réussite se mesurerait à la réduction des vulnérabilités exploitables, à un rétablissement plus rapide et à une coopération davantage soumise à une obligation de rendre des comptes — pas à une hausse de la popularité des responsables en fonction. Les résultats publiés devraient également faire apparaître les échecs, les inégalités de participation et les effets indésirables. Les données sur la confiance devraient rester agrégées ; personne n’a besoin d’un « score de loyauté » individuel.

Le programme lui-même devrait être protégé contre la fraude, l’exclusion et les cyberattaques. Les aides essentielles doivent rester accessibles aux personnes qui ne peuvent pas ou ne souhaitent pas participer. Les médias indépendants et la société civile doivent conserver leur capacité à enquêter sur le projet.

L’opportunité est considérable, car ces investissements peuvent produire de la valeur même en l’absence d’attaque hostile. De meilleurs services, des emplois utiles, des écosystèmes en meilleure santé et des relations plus solides améliorent la vie quotidienne tout en renforçant les capacités de réponse aux situations d’urgence.

Les opérations hybrides cherchent à affaiblir la capacité d’une société à comprendre les événements et à agir collectivement. Une économie régénérative peut contribuer à reconstruire cette capacité à partir du terrain. La PoUW peut offrir une méthode rigoureuse pour la financer.

Nous devons continuer à protéger les réseaux, à enquêter sur les opérations hostiles et à contester les affirmations fabriquées. Nous devons aussi prêter attention aux conditions quotidiennes qui rendent les communautés plus difficiles à déstabiliser.

Donnons aux citoyens un rôle dans la réparation de la société — et une raison ‘d’y croire à nouveau’.

La recherche en psychologie apporte un fondement crédible à une régénération construite à partir du terrain : une méta-analyse de 60 études a montré que la participation aux décisions dans les organisations était associée à une motivation et à un engagement plus élevés, tandis que des expériences sur la décision publique ont montré qu’offrir à différents groupes une possibilité équitable d’exprimer leur point de vue renforçait la confiance envers les décideurs et l’acceptation des décisions. Ces résultats ne prouvent pas encore que la preuve de travail utile puisse restaurer la confiance politique, mais ils étayent une proposition forte : les personnes sont davantage susceptibles de s’investir dans un avenir commun lorsqu’elles peuvent réellement contribuer à le façonner. La PoUW pourrait traduire cette possibilité en actions quotidiennes : les habitants identifient les besoins locaux, contribuent à concevoir les projets, restaurent une rivière, accompagnent des voisins isolés ou régénèrent un espace délaissé — et reçoivent une reconnaissance ainsi qu’une contrepartie tangible pour leurs contributions vérifiées. Leur implication produit des améliorations visibles, donnant à la coopération une crédibilité que les promesses politiques ne peuvent, à elles seules, apporter. Pour les responsables politiques, en Belgique comme ailleurs, cela ouvre une voie exigeante vers une légitimité retrouvée : partager un pouvoir réel, donner des moyens aux initiatives citoyennes et montrer ce que la participation des habitants a changé. Une consultation de façade risque d’aggraver le désengagement ; une participation authentique donne à chacun un intérêt dans la réussite collective. Pour les responsables politiques, la possibilité de sauver leur crédibilité passe par les moyens qu’ils donneront aux citoyens de réparer la société qu’ils partagent.

Une société à laquelle on a envie d’appartenir est plus difficile à retourner contre elle-même. Construire cette société est un travail utile — et le travail utile mérite une base économique viable.

« L’incertitude et le manque de confiance coupent les ailes des “entrepreneurs traditionnels”, tandis qu’ils stimulent les véritables innovateurs. »

Michel A. de Kemmeter

Sources et précisions

1. Philippe Dambly, La désinformation au risque de l’intelligence artificielle, octobre 2026. Présentation fournie par l’auteur, notamment les sections consacrées à l’IA générative, au risque systémique, à la guerre hybride et à l’intégrité de l’information.
2. RegenEra–Club of Brussels, Wise Paper 12, fichier fourni : Wise Paper 12 oct.pdf. Sections consacrées à l’équation de valeur de la PoUW, au financement par les bénéficiaires, à l’architecture de preuve et de règlement, ainsi qu’au projet pilote de 10 millions d’euros. L’application à la résilience face aux menaces hybrides développée ici constitue une proposition, et non un résultat évalué dans le document.
3. OTAN, Lutter contre les menaces hybrides.
4. OTAN, Résilience, préparation du secteur civil et article 3.
5. OCDE, Enquête sur les déterminants de la confiance dans les institutions publiques — Résultats 2024. Les résultats de cette enquête sont de nature observationnelle.
6. NIST, Cadre de cybersécurité 2.0 : guide de présentation et ressources.

Two ways of responding to fear — a choice each of us can make

We are living through a prophetic era. Not “prophetic” because someone predicted every event in detail. Prophetic because this period reveals what was already present beneath the surface. And well, yes, it was announced a few times…

Crises act like an X-ray. They expose publicly the fragility of our systems, the intentions of our leaders, the mechanisms of power — mirroring our own deepest reflexes. Thety also act as ‘birth contractions’. Painful, uncomfortable, but every time we see more of ‘whats coming’.

When insecurity and fear grows, two very very different responses become possible. They exist in our society, in our institutions, and inside every one of us. Two sides of the same coin.

Path A: Survival at ‘any’ price

The first response is instinctive: Protect yourself. Accumulate. Obey whoever appears powerful. Do whatever is necessary to survive — even if it means betraying your values.

This path is moved by fear. Cascading from top to bottom and bottom to top. It is driven by the need to control, guided by dependency, and filled with anxiety. It is piloted by many of ‘those in charge’. We can see their behaviour — agendas are now very clear and transparent.

Its logic is simple:

• Find protection.
• Follow the strongest.
• Accumulate money, information, influence, or resources.
• Avoid questioning the system.
• Repeat the dominant narrative.
• Accept almost anything in exchange for security.

This is the old “reptilian” survival reflex: fight, flee, freeze — or submit.

It is understandable. Life has become difficult for many people. They face financial pressure, loneliness, information overload, illness, war, ecological disruption and uncertainty about the future.

When people are exhausted, apparent security becomes extremely attractive.

But protection has a price. Little by little, we hand over our capacity to think, choose and act. We allow institutions, corporations, algorithms, political movements, media systems or ‘charismatic’ leaders to define what is true, what is possible and whom we should fear.

The transaction is never presented honestly. It does not say:

“Give us your freedom.”

It says:

“Trust us. We will ‘keep you safe’….”

At first, the compromise appears small. We remain silent. We adapt. We obey an instruction that contradicts our conscience. We accept a comfortable lie. We repeat something we have not verified. We tolerate what we would once have rejected.

Each concession seems insignificant.

Together lined up, however, they create dependency. Our whole know history is a succession of dependencies from religion, politics, wars, beliefs, dogmas.

This is how modern forms of servitude emerge: not necessarily through visible chains, but through fear, debt, distraction, isolation, social pressure and the gradual abandonment of personal responsibility.

We cannot condemn the people who take this path. All pieces of the puzzle, collectively, conspure towards that direction: school, organized religions, academics, politics, media, businesses,… etc etc.

Most are not evil. They are tired, frightened, wounded or trying to protect their families. I already lost many close friends and relatives. Even the visionary ones. They have seen, were shocked, and… abandoned. They died, or suffered a lot, or just extinguished their inner light.

And all of us can fall into this response…

One could say: ‘It is impossible to choose another path, we are obliged, we have no choice …’. As an answer. Yes it is tough. I admit. But I have seen very simple people, very humble, not letting go of their values, serving in silence, staying benevolent, collaborative and empathic, helping whenever they can even if they have nothing. Yes, we do have a choice. Even humbly, we can, in this huge flow of massive grey mass of floating sh!t, stay real, human, humble. I know you know some of them too. They are examples to follow.

Path B: Recovering our sovereignty

The second path begins with a different decision:

‘I will not allow my fear to decide who I become.’

This does not mean denying danger, rejecting institutions or pretending that everything will be fine.

Sovereignty is not rebellion against everything.

It is the capacity to remain conscious, discerning and aligned — even under pressure.

This path is moved by love rather than fear. It is driven by faith — not blind belief, but confidence that life can still carry meaning. It is guided by a sincere search for truth and nourished by connection, service and joy.

But this path is very much more demanding… Freedom requires inner work.

To recover our sovereignty, we must examine what controls us:

• unresolved trauma;
• inherited beliefs;
• fear of rejection;
• dependence on approval;
• resentment and shame;
• compulsive consumption;
• the need to dominate or to be rescued;
• stories in which we remain permanently powerless.
• victimisation;
• etc etc

We must gradually stop asking only:

“Who is responsible for what happened to me?”

And begin asking:

“What can I do with what happened to me?”

This does not erase injustice. It does not excuse abuse or deny suffering. It restores our capacity to act. Our wounds may explain our reactions, but they do not have to govern the rest of our lives.

What does sovereignty look like in practice?

The idea can sound abstract. In reality, it begins through very ordinary choices.

1. Reconnect with our body

Fear lives not only in our thoughts but also in our nervous system. Sleep, movement, breathing, healthy food, contact with nature and moments of silence are not luxuries. They help us recover the physical stability required to think clearly.

A permanently exhausted person is easier to frighten and manipulate.

2. Verify before believing or sharing

Ask simple questions:

• Who benefits from this message?
• What evidence supports it?
• Is it informing me — or merely provoking fear or anger?
• Have I considered another serious point of view?
• Am I reacting, or am I discerning?

Truth is not whatever confirms our existing beliefs. It requires humility, patience and courage to revise our position.

3. Reduce unnecessary dependencies

Sovereignty grows when we recover practical capacity. Learn to grow some food. Repair objects. Know your neighbours. Develop useful skills. Reduce excessive debt. Diversify income. Build local networks. Understand basic health, water, energy and emergency preparedness.

No one can become completely independent — and that should not be the objective. The objective is healthy interdependence: being able to contribute with ‘your best’, as well as receive — abundance. Because collectively, ‘all our best’ = multiply into abundance. Its mathematics.

4. Heal what repeatedly controls you

If an old wound constantly determines your relationships, decisions or reactions, seek help. Therapy, trusted communities, spiritual practice, bodywork, time in nature and honest conversations can all contribute to healing.

Inner freedom does not mean having no wounds. It means that our wounds no longer make every decision for us.

5. Reconnect with others

Isolation amplifies fear. Sovereignty is not solitary individualism. We become stronger through trustworthy relationships, mutual support and communities where people can speak honestly without being humiliated.

A small circle of reliable people may offer more real security than a thousand online followers.

6. Create something useful

Fear asks:

“How can I protect myself?”

Regeneration asks:

“What can I repair, improve or contribute?”

Teach someone. Help a neighbour. Restore soil. Support a young person. Start a local project. Share knowledge. Build an ethical business. Care for someone who is struggling. Useful action transforms anxiety into agency. It is proven: acting, together, to serve (whatever, even small) = the best way to walk through chaos and ordeals.

7. Protect joy

Joy is not naivety. It is a source of resilience — and sometimes an act of resistance. Music, friendship, beauty, humour, celebration, love and gratitude remind us why life is worth protecting. A society deprived of joy becomes easier to control.

Two worlds are emerging

We can already see them.

One world is increasingly centralized, anxious and dependent. It promises security through control, surveillance, consumption and obedience.

The other world is still scattered and largely invisible.

It lives through citizens, families, entrepreneurs, farmers, teachers, carers, artists, communities and courageous leaders who are rebuilding autonomy, trust, meaning and practical solidarity.

These people are not perfect. They are often afraid too… But in the middle of the noise, they continue to listen to their conscience. They speak when silence would be easier. Or stay silent when everyone else screams. They extend a hand. They connect people. They test solutions. They preserve life.

They are quietly building another future inside the present one. In ‘resilience and regeneration islands’

Can we move from Path A to Path B?

Yes.

These are not fixed categories of “good people” and “bad people.” They are two directions, and both exist within us. We may choose courage in one situation and fear in another. We may recover our sovereignty, lose it temporarily, and recover it again. The decisive question is not:

“Which group do I belong to?”

It is:

“Which direction am I reinforcing through my choices today?”

The movement from A to B can begin very simply:

• one fear questioned;
• one dependency reduced;
• one truth spoken;
• one wound acknowledged;
• one practical skill learned;
• one relationship repaired;
• one neighbour helped;
• one meaningful project started.

BUT: The window will not remain open forever

Systemic shocks are likely to intensify and increasingly overlap: climate disruption, geopolitical conflict, economic fragility, technological upheaval, mental-health pressures and declining trust.

They may arrive like contractions before a birth — closer together, stronger and harder to ignore. Under pressure, the systems and habits we have built will determine how we respond.

This is why the choice cannot be postponed indefinitely.

Path A may initially appear easier. It asks us to surrender part of our judgment in exchange for promised protection. But its long-term destination is deeper dependency and increasingly sophisticated control.

Path B is more demanding. It asks us to heal, learn, discern, cooperate and take responsibility. But it leads toward greater freedom, health, dignity, connection and joy. We do not need to escape society to begin. We can remain inside the existing world while living according to another logic. We can find others who have made the same choice. We can form circles of trust, build local resilience, share resources and create regenerative projects.

Person by person. Family by family. Community by community. We do not have to wait for the entire system to change before changing the way we live within it.

My estimation is that less than 1% have chosen ‘B’. Of course, the majority will tell, scream, cry, beg, or announce that they chose ‘B’, but at the first blow, they will lock themselves up from the inside, in their Titanic cabin, and hide in their beds. You will recognize the ‘A’, who still stand strong whatever happens, in the tornado, figthing fires, helping the weak, speak for them and inspire.

The choice is not between fear and having no fear. It is between being governed by fear, and learning to move through it.

The choice is not between obedience and permanent rebellion. It is between abandoning our conscience, and recovering our discernment.

The choice is not between surviving and dying. It is between surviving at any price — and becoming fully alive.

The two worlds are already emerging. The question is no longer whether we can see them.

The question is: Which world are our daily choices helping to build?

Michel A. de Kemmeter, RegenEra — Club of Brussels

Make Useful Work Visible — Open-up the ‘Missing Economy’

From GDP and externalities to ‘Proof of Useful Work’, regenerative value and economic resilience in an age of multiple systemic shocks

By Michel A. de Kemmeter — Club of Brussels · RegenEra

There are moments in history when a society lacks solutions. And there are strange moments when the solutions are already around us, the people capable of implementing them are available, the problems are obvious — yet the economic system cannot connect the three. We maybe entered such a moment.

We know how to restore soil. We know how to reduce recidivism. We know that education changes health outcomes. We can restore wetlands before floods, insulate houses before energy crises, repair water systems before shortages, regenerate forests before erosion, train people before unemployment turns into exclusion, and strengthen communities before shocks test them. Yet remarkably often, the destruction has a budget, and the prevention does not.

A flood creates construction contracts. Illness creates medical expenditure. Crime creates prison expenditure. A polluted river creates treatment expenditure. Burnout creates healthcare and replacement costs. A forest fire creates reconstruction expenditure. But preventing all of them may produce little or no conventional revenue for the person doing the useful work. Worse, people ‘who want to repair the damage to people and planet’ should volunteer, or beg for a few bucks for a living…

This is not a moral paradox. It is an accounting problem, a financial problem and increasingly a national-security problem. And perhaps it opens one of the largest unexplored economic spaces of the twenty-first century.

We have seen this problem before

Modern national accounting was born from crisis.

During the Great Depression, governments discovered that they were trying to manage economies they could barely measure. Simon Kuznets produced the first systematic US national-income estimates for Congress in 1934; what evolved into modern GDP became one of the foundational instruments of economic policymaking. (Bureau of Economic Analysis). It was a brilliant invention. But its creators knew its boundaries. Kuznets explicitly cautioned against treating national income as a sufficient measure of welfare. The omission of unpaid household production was already one obvious problem. Decades later, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that including household production would have increased measured US GDP in 2010 by roughly 26% — around $3.8 trillion. (Apps Bea)

The work existed. The value existed. The accounting perimeter did not see it. That distinction matters enormously. Because something similar is happening today with ‘regenerative work’.

From industrial economy to the ‘missing economy’

The industrial age solved an extraordinary problem: how to produce more. The financial age became exceptionally good at answering a second question: how to allocate capital toward activities capable of producing monetary returns. But neither system was originally designed to answer a third question:

How much total value is created when someone prevents damage, restores functionality, strengthens a community or regenerates a living system?

Economics has certainly not ignored this question. Externalities, welfare economics, human capital, cost-benefit analysis, social return on investment, natural-capital accounting and ecosystem services have all addressed pieces of it. The United Nations went an important step further in 2021 when the UN Statistical Commission adopted SEEA Ecosystem Accounting, a framework explicitly designed to measure ecosystem assets and services and connect them to economic activity; ecosystem accounts are now used to inform policy in more than 34 countries. (SEEA)

So the missing economy was not theoretically undiscovered. What remained missing was the bridge:

WORK → PROOF → VALUE → FINANCE

A practical mechanism allowing ‘useful work’ itself to enter economic calculation.

That is what Proof of Useful Work — POUW is intended to provide. Those PouW producing, ‘minting’ Regeneration Credits (similar to carbon- and biodiversity credits system).

“There is no alternative”

The phrase became emblematic of a particular late-twentieth-century political economy. Margaret Thatcher used the language of “no real alternative” in defending her economic programme in 1980. (Margaret Thatcher Foundation). But history rarely ends. Markets themselves evolved. Environmental accounting evolved. Impact measurement evolved. Risk modelling evolved. Satellite monitoring evolved. AI makes verification cheaper. Central banks now model climate and nature-related financial risks. Insurers increasingly understand preventive investment through avoided losses.

The alternative is therefore not to abandon markets. It is to increase what markets are capable of seeing. That is a profoundly different proposition.

RegenEra- Club of Brussels has created a full library of 120+ PouW in most functionalities of society. Each time, we can validate a multiplication of value of the initial investment (X3 up to X20 — studies available on demand). Bioclimatic biosourced housing, mental health, food security, local water infrastructure, etc etc. 120 entries. Put side by side, it shows a powerful future snapshot of what is possible — without reinventing the wheel.

The Regeneration ‘PouW Value Equation’

At its heart, the proposition is almost embarrassingly simple:

If useful work prevents measurable losses, creates measurable income, restores measurable assets, reduces measurable public expenditure, generates tax revenues and restores measurable ecosystem services, then it has economic value — even when today’s transaction system fails to reward it.

The proposed equation is:

Where AVL is verified avoided-loss value;

INC is net new income created;

ASV is asset value restored or created;

SOC is social costs avoided;

FIS is additional fiscal revenue;

ECO is verified ecosystem-service value;

and COST is the full lifecycle cost of making, maintaining, measuring and, where necessary, reversing the intervention.

All future values are converted to present value, normally over an agreed 5-, 10-, 20- or 30-year horizon. The % for actualisation is of course also to be agreed upon and TBD’d.

Then comes the discipline that separates POUW from ‘impact storytelling’:

A project that would have happened anyway receives less additionality.

A result based on weak evidence receives less confidence.

A temporary outcome receives less permanence.

An intervention responsible for only part of an observed improvement receives less attribution.

Uncertainty therefore reduces the value claim. That is intentional.

No proof, no claim.

And then comes the systemic foresight ‘acid test’

Our economies generally value projects under normal conditions. But the next decades require another question:

What happens to the value of this intervention when the system is under stress?

RSF2040 — Regenerative Systemic Foresight (by RegenEra — Club of Brussels — info on demand) — adds the reduction in expected systemic loss:

For every relevant shock scenario, we estimate probability multiplied by losses before and after the intervention: A microgrid may therefore have one economic value during normal electricity supply — and another during a blackout. A wetland has one recreational value during normal weather — and another when it prevents €20 million of flooding. A local food network has one value when international logistics work — and another when they do not. A healthy, trained population has one value in normal life — and another when the country suddenly needs people capable of organising, repairing, caring and acting.

That second value is resilience value. And our current economy still measures it poorly (or not at all).

Why this is becoming urgent

Timing matters. The World Economic Forum’s 2026 risk survey places geoeconomic confrontation, interstate conflict, extreme weather, societal polarisation and misinformation among the leading immediate risks. The IMF reports global public debt at just under 94% of world GDP in 2025, projected to approach 100% by 2029, limiting governments’ room for repeated crisis spending. (World Economic Forum). UNDRR estimates direct disaster losses at roughly $202 billion annually, but above $2.3 trillion a year once indirect, cascading and ecosystem effects are included. (UNDRR). At the same time, UNEP calculates that for every $1 going into protecting or restoring nature, roughly $30 flows into nature-negative activities. In 2023, it estimates $7.3 trillion in nature-negative finance against about $220 billion for nature-based solutions. (UNEP — UN Environment Programme)

This may be one of the strangest balance sheets in economic history:

we finance the deterioration generously, then discover that we cannot afford the repair (???!!!)

Nature is no longer an environmental side issue

Central bankers themselves are beginning to recognise this (even though some of them still publicly say that environmental decay has no impact on the economy — global collapse data being available since the 60-ties). ECB research finds that around 72% of euro-area non-financial corporations are critically dependent on at least one ecosystem service, while approximately 75% of corporate bank-loan exposures are to companies strongly dependent on such services. (European Central Bank). The Network for Greening the Financial System has developed frameworks and, in 2026, new tools enabling central banks and supervisors to analyse nature-related financial risks. (ngfs.net)

In other words:

soil, water, biodiversity and ecosystem functionality are migrating from the environment ministry, straight into the ‘risk department’.

That is historically significant.

Example 1 — Prisoners: from cost centre to restored human capacity

Take: correctional education. A major RAND meta-analysis commissioned through the US justice system estimated, for a hypothetical cohort of 100 prisoners, education-programme costs of approximately $140,000–$174,400. Expected three-year reincarceration costs were estimated at $2.94–$3.25 million without correctional education, compared with $2.07–$2.28 million for participants.

That is approximately: $870,000–$970,000 of reincarceration costs avoided

for an intervention costing only: $140,000–$174,400 or roughly $5 saved in reincarceration costs for every $1 spent. The meta-analysis found a 13-percentage-point reduction in reincarceration risk; a later meta-analysis of higher-quality studies found participants were about 28% less likely to recidivate. (Bureau of Justice Assistance)

Even before counting: new income, tax revenues, family stabilisation, victim costs avoided, mental health, or productive work. A conservative POUW calculation therefore already opens a substantial value field.

And interesting field examples exist. RegenEra’s own project material documents Mandiaye Niang’s permaculture work in Senegalese schools and prisons: seven schools and three prisons are described, with prisoners learning regenerative-agriculture skills and some having employment pathways before release. That case still requires independent outcome evaluation before claiming a measured POUW return — but it is precisely the kind of real-world intervention POUW is designed to test.

The conceptual shift is profound. The prisoner ceases to be represented only as:

COST

and becomes potentially:

RESTORED HUMAN CAPITAL + AVOIDED COST + INCOME + TAXPAYER + COMMUNITY CAPACITY.

Example 2 — Soil, forests and biodiversity: rebuilding natural infrastructure

Consider a 1,000-hectare landscape programme integrating regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, soil restoration, water retention and ecological corridors. Assume, illustratively, a total lifecycle intervention cost equivalent to €1,000 per hectare, or:

€1 million

WRI’s international restoration research estimates that each $1 invested in degraded-land restoration can generate roughly $7–$30 in economic benefits, through combinations of agricultural production, water, carbon, ecosystem services and livelihoods. (wri.org) Applied only as a benchmark — not as proof — a €1 million programme with comparable performance would imply:

€7–30 million gross lifetime benefits

or

€6–29 million net value before POUW evidence adjustments.

The whole point of POUW would be not to award those numbers automatically.

The 1,000 hectares would instead be monitored for: soil organic matter, water infiltration, crop stability, farmer income, input reductions, biodiversity, erosion, carbon, flood losses avoided, and ecosystem functionality.

Then the value would be earned through evidence. Why does this suddenly matter geostrategically?

Because the UK government’s 2026 Nature Security Assessment concluded with high confidence that global ecosystem degradation and (irreversible) collapse threaten UK national security and prosperity. It links ecosystem degradation to crop failures, water insecurity, disease, migration, geopolitical instability and economic insecurity. The assessment notes that the UK imports around 40% of its food, cannot currently feed itself from domestic production under existing diets and prices, and judges that simultaneous production collapse in two or more global breadbasket regions would almost certainly drive global food prices significantly higher. (GOV.UK)

Its own restoration example is striking: in Malawi, more than 20 million trees were planted and 42,000 hectares rehabilitated, supporting over 500,000 residents with improved water access, diversified food and income; dependence on humanitarian aid among participants reportedly fell by 60%. (GOV.UK)

This is exactly where environmental restoration stops being environmental charity.

It becomes:

FOOD SECURITY => WATER SECURITY => NATIONAL SECURITY => ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY

Example 3 — Education: maybe the largest health intervention we rarely book as health expenditure

Consider education. A 2024 global systematic review and meta-analysis covering 603 eligible studies, 59 countries and more than 10,000 observations found a dose-response relationship between schooling and adult mortality: each additional year of education was associated on average with a 1.9% lower risk of all-cause adult mortality, rising to 2.9% for adults aged 18–49. (PubMed Central (PMC)). UNESCO provides an even more striking counterfactual: if all girls completed primary education, maternal deaths could fall by about two-thirds, saving approximately 98,000 lives under its current global estimate. (UNESCO)

What department owns that value?

Education? Health? Employment? Finance? Women and families? Economic development?

The answer is precisely the problem…

The value crosses ministries. Therefore nobody’s balance sheet captures the whole return.

POUW is designed for exactly these cases.

It would not impose a universal monetary price on a human life. Jurisdictions could use their established QALY, healthcare-cost or statistical-life methodologies where appropriate, while reporting human outcomes separately. But it would make visible that spending €1 on education may simultaneously produce:

health value, income value, fiscal value, productivity value, family value, and resilience value.

This is ‘systemic economics’.

Important accounting rule: never count the same benefit twice

An “ultimate formula” can become dangerous if it becomes an excuse for limitless impact claims. If land value rises because flood risk fell, one cannot necessarily book both the full property-value increase and the full flood-risk reduction. If education increases income and higher income reduces certain social costs, causal chains must be separated.

So POUW needs a brutally simple rule:

ONE BENEFIT → ONE ACCOUNTING ENTRY.

And another:

VALUE ≠ PRICE.

If a project creates €1 million of verified societal value, it does not automatically follow that its provider should receive €1 million.

How much did it cost vs. How much is the actualized value

The value calculation answers:

How much was created?

A second question asks:

Who benefited?

Government? Insurer? Bank? Landowner? Employer? Citizen? Utility?

And only then comes the financing question:

What proportion of that value can reasonably finance the useful work?

That is where a genuinely new market can emerge.

If the cost is lower than the actualized value, well… common sense would oblige us to proceed to produce the PouW. Today we don’t… Let start before chaos obliges us to, at a multiplied human, environmental and economic cost.

From beneficiary to financier

Imagine a €100,000 intervention creating:

€80,000 of avoided insurer losses,

€60,000 of future municipal savings,

€40,000 of additional household income,

€30,000 of increased productive asset value,

and €20,000 of additional tax receipts.

Today’s system might leave the project unfunded because: no single actor receives enough direct cash return.

POUW reveals that several actors together do. The next economic innovation is therefore not merely impact measurement.

It is:

BENEFICIARY FINANCING: ‘Regeneration Credits’ marketplace

Those benefiting from avoided future costs can co-finance the activity producing them. That could eventually include outcome contracts, insurance incentives, public procurement, resilience funds, tax mechanisms, bank finance and — only when governance and law are mature — Regeneration Credits. Those credits can finance the PouW if a market is created for those.

The mechanics are stunningly simple:

→ PouW is produced

→ validated by (at least) 3 peers: beneficiary, public authority, employer (for ex.) = minting on a smart contract blockchain

→ traded on a marketplace

→ exchanged, it the PouW producer wants, into FIAT currency $€£, with a flat tax (10 or 15% for example), or traded against products and services quantified in Regeneration credits on the marketplace.

It’s not new… some societies do already create space for ‘common work’

The idea that citizens devote part of their capacity to maintaining the commons is not new.

Rwanda’s Umuganda is perhaps the clearest modern institutional example. Rwandan law establishes community work once a month, traditionally on the final Saturday. The official policy applies an obligation to able citizens between 18 and 65 and defines the objective as public-interest work, development and community participation. (Rwandalii) One need not copy its compulsory dimension — indeed, a European POUW economy should in my view be voluntary, remunerated where value is created, rights-based and democratically governed. But Umuganda demonstrates something economically interesting:

a society can reserve time and social capacity for maintaining common assets instead of assuming that everything useful must originate in either government bureaucracy or conventional commercial employment.

Bali provides a different model. There is no equivalent single national monthly work day. Instead, the Balinese banjar and customary-village structures embed gotong royong — mutual assistance — into local social organisation. Research on Bali’s COVID response showed that existing banjar and adat structures could rapidly mobilise communities and were formally integrated into Satgas Gotong Royong response mechanisms. (PubMed Central (PMC))

Rwanda shows institutionalised common work. Bali shows distributed community capacity. POUW would add a third dimension:

ECONOMIC RECOGNITION OF VERIFIED COMMON WORK.

What would it take to prove this?

Not a global revolution. Not another 500-page report. And certainly not a new currency issued on day one. It could begin with three actors and twenty-four months. (RegenEra — Club of Brussels is working on it already, join if interested — PM).

First: visionary territories

Three to five municipalities, regions or small states could open a controlled POUW economic sandbox.

Each might select perhaps five classes of work: ex-prisoner reintegration, water resilience, regenerative agriculture, housing repair, community health or biodiversity restoration.

Baseline first. Work second. Verification third. No proof, no claim.

Second: one courageous central bank

Not to “print money for good deeds”. That would destroy the credibility of the experiment before it began. A central bank could instead do what central banks are exceptionally good at:

measure, stress-test, model, challenge, supervise and observe.

This is no longer alien to their mandate environment. The NGFS has already built nature-risk frameworks for central banks and supervisors, while the ECB is explicitly examining how ecosystem degradation propagates through the economy and banking system. (ngfs.net)

I would propose a 6–12–24 month experiment. During the first six months, POUW values remain shadow accounts: nothing monetary is issued. Baselines, counterfactuals and valuation rules are tested. By twelve months, the first independently verified outcomes can be compared with predicted results. By twenty-four months, authorities can answer empirically:

Did €1 of POUW activity create €0.50, €2, €5 or €15 of attributable value?

Then — and only then — finance ministries, insurers, banks, municipalities and monetary authorities can decide which mechanisms merit recognition.

Third: citizen collectives

People willing to enter this economic space not as beneficiaries, but as producers.

A young person restores soil. A retired engineer audits water systems. A former prisoner grows food. A neighbour supports elderly people. A carpenter adapts homes. An electrician installs resilience systems. A community restores a wetland. Investors create new local water and energy infrastructures. Their work is no longer labelled “volunteering” simply because the existing market has no price for it.

It becomes:

USEFUL WORK

→ VERIFIED OUTCOME
→ MEASURED VALUE
→ POTENTIAL INCOME.

That could become an entirely new employment frontier.

The formula is not ultimately about money

There is one value I would deliberately keep outside the monetary multiplier:

‘human regeneration’

Purpose. Dignity. Trust. Belonging. Joy. Mental health. Confidence. Love instead of fear. The experience of being useful. Global (mental and chronic) health data are worsening. This is worrying. We will not achieve those mega-shifts with people who are ill and/or weak.

These should be measured through a parallel Human Regeneration Dividend, rather than multiplied arbitrarily into euros (even though tha ‘lost capital’ and actaulized cost of long term illness can be calculated). Because not everything valuable should be reduced to money. But everything valuable should stop being treated as valueless. Lets just take it as a ‘valuable bonus’, knowing that we will not regenerate the environment, nor economy, with a sick population — the mental and chronic disease data being staggering.

This is where prophetical wise values become our ticket to survival of humanity. We now have the historical evidence that investors prefer to accelerate accumulation of resources — whatever collapse may happen or not — as they ‘will be safe’ anyway — and will re-build society with whoever will have survived after collapse — survival of the fittest posture.

Perhaps this is what the ‘prophetic era’ actually means

It is not an era in which somebody knows the future. It is an era in which the consequences of our present choices are becoming visible before our institutions have learned how to respond to them. We can see the ageing populations. The debt. The soil depletion. The biodiversity loss. The mental-health pressure. The climate extremes. The geopolitical fragmentation. The infrastructure dependencies. The employment transition created by AI.

The UN now estimates that disasters cost the world above $2.3 trillion once their cascades are counted. The IMF shows governments entering this period with less fiscal room. Central banks are discovering that bank balance sheets depend on water, soil, flood protection and functioning ecosystems. (UNDRR)

So perhaps our greatest shortage is not capital. Nor technology. Nor labour. It is an economic permission structure allowing all three to meet around ‘useful work’.

The Missing Economy

There may be millions of economically useful jobs waiting to exist:

restoring water; repairing soils; caring for elderly people; preventing illness; renovating buildings; restoring biodiversity; supporting traumatised people; reducing recidivism; repairing products; teaching resilience; manage poly-shocks and cataclysms; creating local food capacity; protecting communities against floods and heat; rebuilding degraded territories.

The needs exist. The people exist. The solutions exist.

What does not yet exist at scale is the economic bridge between them.

That is the space POUW attempts to open. Not an economy replacing capitalism. Not an economy abolishing money. Not an ideological revolution. Something more pragmatic:

an extension of the economic perimeter.

The industrial economy taught us to value production. The financial economy taught us to value returns. The environmental era taught us to notice externalities. The regeneration economy may have to teach us to value:

what keeps life, society and the economy functional.

And perhaps the “Ultimate Economic Formula” is ultimately not the equation itself. It is the question the equation forces us to ask:

If work demonstrably prevents destruction, restores people, regenerates nature, strengthens society and saves tomorrow’s money — why should our economy continue pretending that it is worth almost nothing?

There is an alternative. It has been growing in the blind spots of our accounting systems for decades. It is time to measure it. Then test it. Then pay for what actually works.

THE REGENERATION ECONOMY

Make useful work visible. Make value measurable. Make prevention financeable. Make regeneration a livelihood.

No proof, no claim.
No value without evidence.
But no useful value left economically invisible.

Create that ‘ULTIMATE GROWTH’ that can save lives and make us deserve this planet.

Michel A. de Kemmeter

RegenEra — Club of Brussels

From predicting crises — to building capacity to function through them

For decades, risk management was relatively simple.

A financial crisis belonged to economists.
A drought belonged to farmers.
A war belonged to Defence.
Mental health belonged to doctors.
A blackout belonged to utilities.
A flood belonged to insurers.

That world is disappearing.

The defining characteristic of the years ahead may not be the size of any single crisis, but the collision between several stresses at the same time.

Energy affects water. Water affects food. Food affects inflation. Inflation affects interest rates. Interest rates affect debt. Debt affects government capacity. Government capacity affects health, infrastructure and social stability. Social instability affects investment. Cyber disruption can affect almost all of them simultaneously.

This is what we call systemic convergence.

And it changes the central question.

The question is no longer only: “What could go wrong?”

It is: “What happens when the next shock arrives before we have recovered from the previous ones?”

There is increasingly strong evidence that several major systems are simultaneously losing some of their traditional shock-absorption capacity.

1. The next crisis may be a cascade

Imagine a plausible sequence.

A geopolitical conflict interrupts an important energy corridor.

Energy prices rise.

Transport and fertiliser become more expensive.

Food prices follow.

Inflation returns.

Interest rates remain higher for longer.

Highly indebted governments pay more to finance themselves.

They simultaneously need more money for defence, ageing populations, healthcare, climate adaptation and social protection.

Then comes a severe drought, flood or heatwave.

Insurance losses increase.

Businesses postpone investment.

A cyberattack temporarily disrupts electricity, payments or logistics.

Social networks fill the resulting information vacuum with rumours, manipulation and anger.

None of these events alone needs to destroy the system.

The danger comes from their interaction. Cascade.

This is not theoretical. The World Economic Forum’s 2026 risk survey ranks geoeconomic confrontation as the leading immediate global risk, followed by interstate conflict, extreme weather, societal polarisation and misinformation. (World Economic Forum)

The challenge of the next five years may therefore be less about predicting the “black swan” than understanding the chain reaction. And, get prepared.

Those scenarios are not sci-fi, but were made decades ago. Behind closed doors, it was decided to go on, accelerate and control as much resources as possible, to be prepared and protected. And re-build society with whoever survived (probably the fittest). We can see our leaders nudge in that direction. All solutions to mitigate impact existing, but kept carefully behind closed doors…

2. Several buffers are already becoming thinner

Consider seven signals.

Debt

Global public debt was just under 94% of world GDP in 2025 and, according to the IMF, is projected to reach 100% by 2029. Governments simultaneously face growing costs for defence, social programmes, strategic autonomy and interest payments. (IMF)

Debt itself is not collapse.

But debt reduces room for manoeuvre when the next emergency arrives.

Geopolitical pressure

Global military expenditure reached $2.887 trillion in 2025, the eleventh consecutive annual increase and 41% above its 2016 level in real terms. (SIPRI)

Whatever one’s political interpretation, these resources reflect a world preparing for greater strategic competition.

And every additional defence, reconstruction or energy-security requirement eventually competes with other public priorities.

Climate and physical losses

The years 2015–2025 were the eleven warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Extreme heat, heavy rainfall and tropical cyclones are already disrupting interconnected economies. (World Meteorological Organization)

UNDRR estimates annual direct disaster losses at roughly $200 billion, but more than $2.3 trillion per year once indirect, cascading and ecosystem effects are included — around 2% of global GDP. (UNDRR)

That is no longer merely an environmental issue.

It is becoming a balance-sheet issue.

Insurance

Natural catastrophes generated $107 billion of insured losses in 2025. Swiss Re estimates a long-term real growth trend of 5–7% annually; if that persists, insured losses could reach approximately $186 billion in 2030, while a peak-loss year could approach $400 billion. (Swiss Re)

This matters beyond insurers.

The cascade can become:

physical risk → insurance premium → insurability → mortgage availability → property value → banking exposure → municipal finances.

Food

Conflict, economic shocks and extreme weather are increasingly compounding each other. FAO reports that since 2018 the number of people whose acute food insecurity is mainly driven by weather extremes has roughly tripled, while those principally affected by economic shocks have increased sixfold. (FAOHome)

Food is especially dangerous systemically because it connects:

climate + energy + fertiliser + logistics + purchasing power + political stability.

Electricity

The IEA expects world electricity demand to grow by an average 3.6% per year from 2026 to 2030, driven by industry, air conditioning, electric vehicles, appliances and data centres. (IEA)

That growth is welcome if capacity keeps pace.

But our dependence is becoming extraordinary:

electricity → telecoms → payments → water pumps → hospitals → AI → refrigeration → transport → industry.

A modern economy can therefore be extremely advanced and simultaneously extremely dependent on one invisible bloodstream.

Social cohesion

The United Nations’ World Social Report 2025 identifies economic insecurity, inequality, declining trust and social fragmentation as destabilising forces. More than half the world’s population reports little or no trust in government. (Social Desa)

This matters because trust itself is infrastructure.

A society with high trust can ask citizens to cooperate during an emergency.

A society with low trust may turn even technically manageable disruptions into behavioural crises.

3. We therefore need a new instrument: the GSCI

We propose developing a:

GLOBAL SYSTEMIC CONVERGENCE INDEX — GSCI

The objective would not be to predict the date of a collapse.

That would be scientifically questionable and politically unhelpful.

The purpose would be to detect something much more useful:

When are several major systems simultaneously approaching conditions in which they could amplify one another?

Think of it as a weather radar for systemic risk.

A meteorological radar does not tell you precisely which tree will fall.

It tells you that the atmospheric conditions for a serious storm are gathering.

The GSCI should attempt to do the same for our economies and societies.

4. The 12 GSCI indicators

We propose monitoring twelve families of signals.

GSCI domain

What we would watch

1. Geopolitics & Conflict

wars, sanctions, chokepoints, military expenditure

2. Sovereign Debt & Finance

debt service, bond stress, leverage, liquidity

3. Energy

oil/gas shocks, grid adequacy, strategic dependence

4. Food

stocks, prices, harvests, fertilisers, trade restrictions

5. Water

drought, groundwater, reservoirs, industrial/agricultural pressure

6. Climate & Natural Hazards

heat, floods, wildfire, storms, physical losses

7. Insurance & Real Assets

premiums, protection gaps, uninsurable assets

8. Electricity / Digital / Cyber

grid stress, data dependency, cyber incidents

9. AI / Employment / Productivity

job disruption, concentration, productivity distribution

10. Health & Human Capacity

mental health, absenteeism, care-system capacity

11. Demography & Social Systems

ageing, dependency ratios, migration pressures

12. Trust & Social Cohesion

confidence, polarisation, misinformation, unrest

But monitoring twelve individual indicators is not enough. The innovation lies in measuring convergence.

5. The dangerous factor is synchronisation

Three red indicators are not necessarily dangerous if they are unrelated. Three interconnected red indicators are different. For example:

Oil shock

food-price shock

sovereign-debt stress.

Or:

heatwave

electricity shortage

water shortage.

Or:

unemployment

falling purchasing power

collapsing public trust.

The GSCI should therefore monitor four dimensions:

PRESSURE

How stressed is each system?

ACCELERATION

Is it deteriorating quickly?

INTERCONNECTION

How strongly can it affect other systems?

BUFFER

How much spare capacity remains?

The conceptual equation could be expressed simply as:

SYSTEMIC RISK ≈ PRESSURE × INTERCONNECTION × SIMULTANEITY ÷ RESILIENCE

Not as a literal physical law. As a decision framework.

6. Proposed GSCI dashboard

A first experimental version might use five levels.

0–25 — GREEN

Normal systemic variation.

26–45 — YELLOW

Rising pressure. Watch dependencies.

46–60 — ORANGE

Several stresses becoming coupled.

61–75 — RED

Material cascade risk. Activate resilience measures.

76–100 — DEEP RED

Multiple critical systems under simultaneous stress. Continuity becomes the priority.

The index would need to be back-tested against historical episodes — 1973, 2001, 2008, 2020, 2022 and other systemic events — before claiming predictive power.

That evidence discipline is important.

7. The real risk may be psychological before it is physical

Human beings are remarkably resilient when a crisis is: understood, temporary, and perceived as manageable.

The situation becomes more dangerous when people experience:

permanent uncertainty + falling living standards + contradictory information + institutional distrust + loss of control.

WHO notes that almost everyone affected by emergencies experiences some psychological distress, while around 22% of populations exposed to conflict during the previous decade may experience a mental disorder such as depression, anxiety or PTSD. (Organisation mondiale de la santé)

That creates another cascade, which we are unprepared for, and thus hyper-fragile (read: we will lose people on the way):

SHOCK

↓

INSECURITY

↓

ANXIETY

↓

ANGER

↓

SEARCH FOR SIMPLE EXPLANATIONS

↓

POLARISATION

↓

LOSS OF TRUST

↓

WEAK COLLECTIVE RESPONSE

The capacity of people to remain calm, connected and useful is therefore not a “soft” issue. It is part of national resilience.

8. So how should we navigate 2026–2031?

Our answer is not:

stockpile everything.

Nor:

wait for governments.

Nor:

build bunkers.

Nor even:

predict the crisis perfectly.

The more robust strategy is:

BUILD FUNCTIONALITY THAT REMAINS VALUABLE UNDER MANY DIFFERENT FUTURES.

This is the basis of regeneration. Multisolutions. Redundancy, Subsidiarity.

STRATEGY 1 — FROM FORECASTING TO FORESIGHT

Prediction asks:

What will happen?

Foresight asks:

What could happen — and which decisions are intelligent across several plausible futures?

Every family, company, city and government should understand: its critical dependencies; its potential breaking points; its hidden assets; its alternatives; its strategic partners.

That is what RSF2040 — Regenerative Systemic Foresight is designed to do.

STRATEGY 2 — REDUCE CRITICAL DEPENDENCIES

Not total autonomy. Useful redundancy.

A household with stored drinking water. A company with two suppliers. A hospital with backup power. A city retaining stormwater. A farm rebuilding soil. A neighbourhood with local food capacity. A territory with distributed energy. A country with alternative logistics.

Each adds a small amount of:

FUNCTIONAL SOVEREIGNTY.

Thousands of such changes radically alter how a society absorbs shocks.

STRATEGY 3 — TURN PROBLEMS INTO PRODUCTIVE WORK

We face a strange economic paradox.

There is enormous work that urgently needs doing: restore soils; retain water; renovate buildings; care for elderly people; repair equipment; restore forests; train young people; produce local food; strengthen communities.

Yet our economic system often struggles to finance it. This is what we call:

THE MISSING ECONOMY.

The challenge is not simply to create more jobs. It is to make useful work economically visible. That is the purpose of:

PouW — PROOF OF USEFUL WORK

Work performed. Output verified. Outcome measured. Value demonstrated.

STRATEGY 4 — MOVE FROM SUSTAINABILITY TO ‘MULTIPLE LEVERAGE’

A classical project solves one problem. A regenerative project tries to solve several.

Planting a hedge may improve: water retention, soil, biodiversity, agriculture, landscape, flood protection.

Renovating a building may improve: energy, health, housing affordability, employment, property value, carbon.

The question for every euro becomes:

HOW MANY SYSTEMS CAN THIS INVESTMENT IMPROVE AT ONCE?

That may become one of the most important investment questions of the next decade.

STRATEGY 5 — INVEST BEFORE THE DAMAGE

Our economies are remarkably effective at finding billions after disasters.

Much less effective at financing the activity that would have reduced them beforehand.

Yet UNDRR’s central conclusion is precisely that resilience investment can interrupt the cycle of disasters, debt, uninsurability and humanitarian need. (UNDRR)

This opens a large emerging investment universe:

WATER

RESILIENT HOUSING

ENERGY REDUNDANCY

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

FORESTS

COOLING

LOCAL PRODUCTION

REPAIR

HEALTH & HUMAN CAPACITY

STRANDED REAL ESTATE RECONVERSION

DEGRADED LAND REGENERATION

This is not charity. Much of it is tomorrow’s infrastructure.

9. Three levels of action

The transition needs to become much easier to enter.

We propose three levels.

RESILIENCE 1 — FREE

Prepare.

For citizens, families and SMEs:

simple toolboxes; good habits; water; food; energy; cyber; financial resilience; health; community preparedness.

Everyone can begin.

RESILIENCE 2 — BUSINESS PROJECTS

Build.

Turn vulnerability into projects:

community energy; building renovation; food hubs; water retention; shared mobility; repair centres; cohousing; regenerative agriculture; local manufacturing.

The crisis becomes a source of new businesses and useful jobs.

RESILIENCE 3 — INVEST

Transform assets.

Mobilise serious capital toward:

water infrastructure; polluted and degraded land; stranded real estate; energy systems; resilient agriculture; forests; health infrastructure; productive communities; safe-haven capacity.

The transition moves:

FROM THE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT TO THE BALANCE SHEET.

10. Build “Regeneration Islands” before trying to change the world

Large systemic ideas become credible only when people can walk through them.

So rather than waiting for an entire country to change, create:

a regenerative building; a resilient SME; a farm; a school; a neighbourhood; a village; a square kilometre; a city district. Measure it. Document it. Improve it. Then replicate it.

We call these:

REGENERATION ISLANDS

or

PROOF TERRITORIES.

The sequence is:

SOLVE LOCALLY

↓

PROVE

↓

DOCUMENT

↓

TEACH

↓

FINANCE

↓

REPLICATE

This may ultimately be faster than trying to reform entire systems from the top.

11. The next five years are not only about resilience

This distinction matters.

Resilience asks:

How do we withstand the shock?

Regeneration asks:

How do we emerge with greater capacity than before?

A flooded neighbourhood rebuilt exactly as before is recovery.

A flooded neighbourhood redesigned to retain water, create shade, produce energy, protect biodiversity and reduce future insurance losses is regeneration.

A closed factory reopening is recovery.

A closed factory becoming a circular manufacturing and training hub is regeneration.

The difference is:

DO NOT SIMPLY REBUILD THE OLD VULNERABILITY.

12. Three futures remain open

Between now and approximately 2031, we can imagine three broad scenarios.

SCENARIO A — MANAGED TURBULENCE

Several shocks occur, but institutions absorb them. Growth remains uneven. Adaptation accelerates gradually. This is probably the least disruptive outcome. Regeneration still pays.

SCENARIO B — THE CASCADE

Several stresses overlap: geopolitics, energy, debt, climate, food, digital disruption, social pressure.

No single system completely collapses, but multiple systems temporarily function badly. This is where distributed resilience becomes extremely valuable.

SCENARIO C — THE REGENERATION DIVIDEND

Societies begin investing before failure.

Water systems improve. Buildings are transformed. New work is created. Communities reconnect. Energy becomes more distributed. Nature becomes infrastructure. Capital begins valuing avoided future liabilities. The shocks still happen. But their consequences are smaller. And the transition itself creates economic activity. This is the future worth building.

13. The GSCI therefore needs a second index

Tracking danger alone would be incomplete.

Alongside the Global Systemic Convergence Index, we should eventually track a:

GLOBAL REGENERATION CAPACITY INDEX — GRCI

How much capacity are we creating to offset systemic pressure?

Measure:

water resilience; local energy; food security; healthy ecosystems; human capacity; housing resilience; repair capacity; community strength; critical skills; financial buffers; distributed infrastructure; institutional trust.

Then the real question becomes:

IS SYSTEMIC RISK GROWING FASTER THAN REGENERATION CAPACITY?

That is a much more useful conversation than:

“When will civilisation collapse?”

14. The opportunity behind the risk

Periods of disruption historically reprice what societies consider valuable. The coming repricing may increasingly favour assets that preserve: water, food, energy, health, land, skills, community, repair, functional infrastructure.

The most valuable territory may not be the one with the highest nominal property price. It may be ‘the one that still works’.

The most valuable company may not be the one with the most efficient just-in-time system. It may be the one ‘capable of continuing production when its competitors cannot’.

The most valuable citizen may not simply be the person with the highest degree.

It may be the person who knows how to do something useful when circumstances change. And thus, survive with its family.

15. Our proposed doctrine for the next five years

We can summarise it in six verbs:

FORESEE

Understand the pressures.

PREPARE

Build buffers and alternatives.

CONNECT

Find the people and solutions already working.

REGENERATE

Use every intervention to improve several systems.

PROVE

Measure what actually changed.

SCALE

Finance and replicate what works.

The invitation

The next five years do not need another audience watching history happen. They need participants. You do not need to “save the planet”. Start somewhere concrete.

One family. One company. One farm. One building. One watershed. One neighbourhood. One village. One square kilometre.

Ask:

What are our most important dependencies?

What happens if several fail together?

What resources and people do we already have?

What proven solutions exist elsewhere?

Which one project could improve three or five systems simultaneously?

Then build it. Measure it. Share it. And let others learn from you, improve and copy it.

THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

The fundamental challenge may not be preventing every crisis.

That is impossible. It is to prevent crises from cascading into loss of functionality, loss of trust and loss of agency. And this is why regeneration is much more than an environmental agenda.

It is becoming:

an economic strategy, an investment thesis, a resilience doctrine, a jobs programme, a territorial strategy, and potentially a new framework for security and survival.

We cannot know exactly which shocks will come next. But we can decide how much stronger we will be when they arrive.

GSCI — see the convergence.

RSF2040 — understand the cascades.

POUW — prove useful action.

Regeneration Islands — demonstrate it.

Finance — scale it.

The future is not only something to forecast. It is something we can prepare — and regenerate.

The real question today is not: ‘what shall we do ?’ But, ‘Where, and with whom?’. Best regen practices exist. But reliable people, with the right values, who have genuine intentions, and a good heart … that is much more difficult to find. Fertile land and leadership for genuine projects also. Opportunists are everywhere, but they will fail. We are in the middle of a very long expected and announced prophetical era. We know the script. We were warned over and over. And we can see many doing the same mistakes over and over…

Maybe its time now, to inject more coherent values into our economy. Not just another coin, method or model. Other vibes. Love instead of fear.

Michel A. de Kemmeter

RehenEra — Club of Brussels

There are moments in History when it is no longer enough to comment on the state of the world.

It is no longer enough to be outraged or to share an article. It is no longer enough to say: “This is serious.”
It is no longer enough to wait for someone, somewhere, in some distant institution, to finally come and fix what is falling apart before our eyes. Or a prophet, whom we would quickly nail to the wall. Or an alien…

Because the question is no longer only: What is happening in the world?

The real question is: What is this world doing to us?
And above all: What can we do, concretely, together, now?

Let us face reality.

The environment is severely damaged.
Soils are being exhausted.
Water is becoming fragile.
Forests are burning.
Biodiversity is declining. Harvests too.
The oceans are suffocating.
Territories are cracking. The dream has become a nightmare…

But it is not only the planet that is tired.

Human beings are tired too, lobotomized, massively hypnotized by this system that is causing its own downfall.

Their psychological health is wavering.
Their bodies are absorbing too much.
Their emotions are overflowing.
Their families are under strain.
Their relationships are becoming fragile.
Their future looks uncertain.
Their children look ahead and sometimes ask, with good reason:

“What kind of world are we being asked to grow up in?”

And in the middle of all this, we continue as if nothing were happening…

We continue to exponentially accelerate a model that exhausts people, land, institutions and the economy itself.

We called this progress — growth — competitiveness.

But when growth destroys the roots of life, it is no longer growth.

It is organized degeneration.

And the most serious thing is that we know it: we all see it, with the naked eye.

We have seen global plans, summits, promises, gigantic budgets, tens of trillions, historic speeches.
We have seen thousands of pages written to save humanity and the planet.

And yet, the indicators are getting worse. Leaders are racing toward wars, minerals and AI — exponentially accelerating destruction.

So we must have the courage to ask a difficult question:

Are those who claim to manage the world still capable of preparing the future? Do they truly want to?

Because let us be fair: institutions are necessary.
Public policies are necessary.
Administrations are necessary.
Armies, municipalities, schools, hospitals, companies and associations are necessary.

But they are not delivering.

They are too slow, too segmented, too trapped in their own internal logic.
Too absorbed by urgency, fear, communication, political survival or short-term management.

The personal agendas of leaders are taking precedence over the common good… The corrupted gravediggers and pickpockets act without the slightest shame.

And in the meantime, citizens wait…

They wait in loneliness.
They wait in noise and confusion.
They wait in fear.
They wait in that invisible prison whispering:

“I have no choice.”

These are the four great blockages of our time.

The first blockage is loneliness.

Never have we been so connected.
And never have so many people felt so alone.

Alone in their homes. Alone in their couples and families.
Alone at work. Alone with their intuitions and fears.
Alone with their talents that no longer find their place.

But we know one thing:

the transition will not happen by itself, nor alone.

We do not go through an age of shocks as isolated individuals.
We go through it in circles, in alliances, in communities.
We go through it with open hands, true eyes, simple words and useful actions.

The second blockage is noise.

Media noise.
Digital noise.
Political noise.
The noise of opinions.
The noise of fears and anxieties.
The noise of empty promises.
The noise of artificial intelligence producing faster than we can discern.

Whom should we believe?
What should we believe?
Where is the truth, the just?
Where is the useful?

In a confused era, discernment becomes a survival skill.

We do not need more noise.
We need places where we can slow down, listen, sort, understand, feel, reflect and recover the thread.

The third blockage is the high cost of living.

Basic needs are becoming heavy.
Housing is becoming difficult. Heating is becoming uncertain.
Eating healthily is becoming expensive. Healthcare is sometimes becoming inaccessible.
Preparing for the future seems reserved for those who can afford it.

And yet, another way exists.

Living better with less is possible.

Not in misery, nor in guilt. Not in sad renunciation.

But through shared intelligence: pooling resources, repairing, growing, learning, exchanging, reducing dependencies, recovering know-how, rebuilding autonomy, reorganizing our lives around what truly matters.

The fourth blockage is the invisible prison. That terrible sentence: “I have no choice.”

I have no choice about my work.
I have no choice about my consumption.
I have no choice about my future and that of my children.

That is false.

Never in history have there been so many alternatives. Never have so many solutions existed. Never have so many people experimented with other ways of living, producing, healing, building, growing, educating, financing, connecting.

The problem is not the absence of alternatives.

The problem is that the alternatives are not connected, not visible enough, not transmitted. They are not financed according to their usefulness.

That is why we are creating Soul Circles.

Not as one more activity or club.
Not as a refuge to escape the world.
Not as a spiritual trend or an improvised therapy.

Soul Circles are local circles of co-creation, connection, resilience, mutual support and discovery.

Places where powerlessness is transformed into a next step.
Places where we move from complaint to action.
Places where wounds can become contribution.

Simple places where we come to lay down what we carry.
Places where we can be heard without being judged.
Places where we learn to discern within the noise.
Places where we share solutions for living better.

We have entered a prophetic era — not in the sense of fear or the end of the world, but in the sense of revelation. Everything that was hidden… is appearing. And this era has been announced for a very long time, through the scripts. Everyone has free choice.

The fragility of systems.
The loneliness and insecurity of families.
The exhaustion of caregivers.
The vulnerability of territories.
The poverty of certain discourses.
The loss of meaning at work.
The fatigue of young people.
The violence of an economy when it forgets life. The incompetence and corruption of our leaders. The inability of our institutions to act for the good.

Everything is being questioned.

And if we do not prepare ourselves, many things will be shattered into a thousand pieces — our institutions, our economies, our bonds, and sometimes ourselves.

But this era is not only a threat. It is also a call.

A call to grow, to reconnect.
A call to stop waiting, to recover our creative power.
A call to build the world that is coming within the cracks of the old world.

And for that, we need allies.

The first ally is citizens themselves: you and us.

Us. Our families. Our neighbors. Our friends. Our colleagues. Our children. Our elders.
All those who feel that something must be done, but do not yet know where to begin.

The first act of regeneration is not to change the entire world: it is to stop remaining alone.

The second ally is the invisible heroes.

For years, sometimes decades, women and men have been developing real solutions: regenerative agriculture, water, community health, inclusion, reintegration, housing, low-tech, local energy, education, circular economy, soil restoration, resilience for villages and cities.

They do not always make much noise. They are not always at the big summits. They do not always have the microphones.
But they have the methods. They have the proof. They have field experience.

We call them SuperIncubators.

They are the holders of solutions.
They are the silent champions of the world to come. Without the slightest Nobel Prize.

The role of Soul Circles is to connect citizens to these champions.
To learn from them. To copy what works. To adapt locally.
To create new professions. To give birth to projects.
To transform inspiration into useful economic activity.

The third ally is the protective actors: emergency services, armies, civil protection, firefighters, doctors, logisticians, critical infrastructures.

Because when the great shocks arrive — floods, fires, supply disruptions, social tensions, migrations, cyberattacks, energy and water crises — they will be on the front line. They know it. But they will not be able to do everything alone: protecting the population against entirely new enemies, and against itself.

The best national security will not only be military. It will also be human, social, food-related, water-related, energy-related, psychological and territorial.

A connected population is more resilient than a panicked population.
A prepared community costs less than an abandoned community.
A living territory is safer than a fragmented territory.

The fourth ally is visionary leaders. They exist.

Mayors. Regional leaders. Business leaders. Investors. Teachers. Farmers. Public officials. Military leaders. Entrepreneurs.

They know the old model will not be enough.
They are looking for roadmaps.
They are looking for projects.
They are looking for methods.
They are looking for alliances.

To them, we say:

We come with circles, champions, projects, territories, methods and a vision. Let us build together. Humbly.

The great cross-cutting challenge of our time is insecurity: a feeling that drains our energy.

Job insecurity in the face of AI.
Financial insecurity.
Insecurity about the future of children.
Energy insecurity.
Climate insecurity.
Geopolitical insecurity.
Health insecurity.
Identity insecurity.
Inner insecurity.

And when this insecurity is not accompanied, it becomes fear.
When it becomes fear, it becomes withdrawal.
When it becomes withdrawal, it becomes anger.
When it becomes anger, it becomes fragmentation.

But if this insecurity is welcomed, understood and connected to action, it can become a force: Acceptance. Trust. Power. Grounding. The foundation from which each of us can emerge into our unique value — in service of true progress.

This is where transformation begins:

I am no longer only worried. I try to understand, and I prepare myself.

I am no longer only alone. I join a circle.

I am no longer only lost in the noise. I learn to discern.

I am no longer only the victim of a system. I recover my next step.

I am no longer only tired. I become useful again.

This is the promise of Soul Circles. And this promise is not empty: if we work together, if we connect citizens, entrepreneurs, SuperIncubators, territories, institutions and investors, we can still regenerate a significant part of the planet and of humanity by 2031.

We can create the virtuous, useful and joyful professions of tomorrow.

We can launch real Regeneration Islands:

Farms. Neighborhoods. Schools. Shared homes.
Places of health. Water projects. Repair workshops.
Training programs. Complementary currencies.
New companies and virtuous businesses. Territories that become alive again.

We can do this without waiting for total collapse. Yes, it has already begun, silently.

Because collapse is not a strategy.
Fear is not a strategy.
Waiting is not a strategy.
Complaint is not a strategy.

Regeneration, however, can become a real strategy.

So I ask you:

Are we going to continue watching the world unravel, collapse, each of us behind our screens, each of us in our fear, each of us in our corner?

Or are we going to rise, connect, learn, build and transmit?

Are we going to wait for the old world to give us permission to build the new one?

Are we going to war, or are we going to discover the world positively?

Or are we going to begin now, with what we have, where we are, with those who are ready?

A circle. A place.
A true word. A shared skill.
A project. A SuperIncubator.
A pilot territory.
A trained young person. A supported family.
A restored land. A reconnected community.
A profession of tomorrow. A useful act.

Then another. Then another.

And soon, these will no longer be isolated circles. They will be a constellation.

A constellation of citizens who no longer want to endure.
A constellation of invisible heroes.
A constellation of regenerative entrepreneurs.
A constellation of courageous territories.
A constellation of solutions that already exist.
A constellation of people who have understood that the future will not come only from above.

It will begin here. Between us. In a circle.

We will not go through this era alone.

We will go through it in strong circles.
We will go through it with courage and discernment.
We will go through it with love and method.
We will go through it with useful actions.

And as the old world cracks, those cracks become places of birth.

May every Soul Circle become a small light.
May every light reveal a path. May every path lead to an action.
May every action regenerate a person, a family, a territory, a river, a land, an economy.

The time is no longer to ask: “Who will save us?”

The time has come to say: “We will connect. We will learn. We will act. We will regenerate.”

A circle. A bond. One small useful step. Not naively, but by having created and validated together a real Regenerative Transition Infrastructure. A real process that limits risks, explains paradigm shifts, shows what already works, reassures, accompanies. From understanding to experimentation, to scaling. A real movement of emergence, with those who have understood the values carried by this era, and who are open to learning and evolving at every level.

Those who prefer to go to war, who remain selfish and opportunistic, rigid and manipulative, are not welcome.

Solutions and the Professions of Tomorrow

But it is not enough to say that the world is going badly.

Once we have seen the problem, a greater question arises:

What do we do now?

And there, good news appears.

It does not appear on television.
It does not always appear at the big summits.
It does not appear in official speeches.

But it exists. Everywhere in the world, solutions are already here.

Women and men already know how to regenerate soils.
They know how to capture water.
They know how to restore wetlands.
They know how to create biodiversity corridors.
They know how to transform organic waste into compost, biofertilizers and biochar.
They know how to guide young people toward green professions.
They know how to help people in burnout return to life and work.
They know how to reintegrate former prisoners into useful activity.
They know how to transform abandoned buildings into places of living, learning, autonomy and resilience. To build bio-based, autonomous, beautiful and affordable homes. To create products with living chemistry, bio-based and 100% biodegradable.

These solutions are not dreams.
They are measurable. They are verifiable. And… they are the mega-businesses of tomorrow.
They create multiplied value for years. They avoid future costs.
They restore productive capacity. They strengthen resilience.
This is exactly the principle of POUW, Proof of Useful Work: not rewarding good intentions, but verified useful work that truly reduces future costs, restores productive capacity and creates measurable resilience and value.

And this is where Soul Circles become much more than a “talking circle”.

A Soul Circle is not only a place where people come to lay down their fear.
It is a place where fear becomes discernment.
Discernment can become decision. Decision can become learning.
Learning can become a profession. And the profession can become contribution.

Because the era ahead will not only need consultants, communicators and crisis managers. It will need virtuous professions.

It will need people capable of taking care of life… Imagine:

Young people who feel lost today could become regenerative water technicians: capturing rain, storing, filtering, distributing, recycling, purifying, creating rain gardens and autonomous phyto-purification zones.

People who love the earth could become soil regenerators: compost, biochar, mycorrhizae, fertility, infiltration, microbial life, sustainable yields, resilience in the face of drought. Soil restoration is a high-leverage activity, because the soil continues to create value through future yields, water, carbon and resilience.

Farmers could become architects of regenerative agriculture: fewer inputs, more fertility, better water retention, healthier food, more stable and diversified income.

Gardeners, landscapers, naturalists, beekeepers, schools and municipalities could become creators of biodiversity corridors: living hedges, flower strips, pollinators, fruit trees, covered soils, ecological continuity. Pollinator corridors are identified as strongly linked to agricultural yields, food resilience and biodiversity.

Craftspeople, repairers, designers, seamstresses, recyclers and local entrepreneurs could become repair and reuse entrepreneurs: textiles, objects, furniture, bicycles, electronics, materials. These are sober, useful, local, job-intensive professions requiring little starting capital.

Municipalities and property owners could create Regeneration Islands in abandoned buildings: former offices, farms, schools, warehouses, empty houses, brownfields, unused public buildings. These places can become housing, learning spaces, workshops, gardens, care spaces, hubs for water, energy, food and resilience. The transformation of dormant real estate assets into Regenerative Islands can become a credit class that creates housing, food, energy, training, care, community and resilience.

Coaches, caregivers, therapists, trainers and social entrepreneurs could become guides back to life: burnout prevention, mental resilience, emotional health, trauma, gradual return to work, rebuilding trust, transforming hardship into capacity.

Young people can become the builders of tomorrow, using local, ecological, recyclable, low-cost and low-tech materials, building what is beautiful, good and affordable.

And this is not marginal.

The RegenEra framework identifies the regeneration of human potential, well-being and community fabric as a colossal first field of opportunity: mental health, burnout prevention, resilience, trauma-informed care, training, reskilling, inclusion, social cohesion and community development.

Educators, trainers, craftspeople and entrepreneurs could become trainers for regenerative professions: installing solar, measuring soil quality, repairing, growing, insulating, transforming, building with bio-based materials, accompanying groups, animating communities, developing local projects.

Municipalities could create territorial resilience professions: resilient neighborhood animator, local mutual-support coordinator, citizen energy facilitator, shared-resource manager, risk mapper, crisis-hub coordinator, food-autonomy facilitator.

Entrepreneurs could create the companies of the world to come:

companies in water, soil, compost, community health, training, low-tech, repair, local energy, agroforestry, phyto-purification, energy renovation, biomaterials, bio-based chemistry, microgrids, biodiversity and social cohesion.

These are the cool professions of tomorrow.

Not “cool” because they are fashionable.
Cool because they restore meaning and make people useful.
Cool because they reconnect the head, the hands and the heart.
Cool because they create employment without destroying the living world.
Cool because they allow us to say to our children: “I am not only earning a living. I am repairing a part of the world.”

This is the simple revolution. For too long, we have paid to degenerate:

We have paid when someone falls ill.
We have paid when a young person drops out.
We have paid when someone reoffends.
We have paid when a soil dies or a land burns.
We have paid when water is lacking.
We have paid when a city floods.
We have paid when a building remains empty.
We have paid when waste piles up.
We have paid when loneliness becomes depression.
We have paid when burnout becomes sick leave.

But what if we paid earlier?

If we paid to prevent.
If we paid to repair.
If we paid to restore.
If we paid to train.
If we paid to connect.
If we paid to regenerate.

This is the heart of Kairos and Regeneration Credits:

No proof, no credit. Small proof, small credit. Success verified over time, full credit. If we had applied this rule to our policies and institutions, many of them would have had to reimburse their salaries.

And that changes absolutely everything.

Because then, useful professions become financeable.
Invisible heroes become visible.
SuperIncubators become transferable.
Territories become laboratories.
Citizens become actors.
Young people become builders.
Companies become partners in regeneration.
Investors become guardians of the future.

In a Soul Circle, then, we do not only come to talk about what is wrong.

We can come with a question: “Which profession of tomorrow is calling me?”

We can come with a fear: “What if my job disappears with AI?”

We can come with an intuition: “I feel I need to change, but I do not know toward what.”

We can come with a talent: “I know how to fix, cook, listen, repair, grow, organize, transmit.”

And the circle can answer:

Then let us learn.
Let us connect to a SuperIncubator.
Let us visit a place that works.
Let us copy a model.
Let us adapt it here.
Let us find an entrepreneur.
Let us find a municipality.
Let us find a school.
Let us find a farm.
Let us find an empty building.
Let us find a small amount of funding.
Let us launch a prototype.

A Soul Circle then becomes a planetary nursery of projects.

A nursery of professions.
A nursery of mutual support.
A nursery of discernment.
A nursery of local regeneration.

And what if every circle launched a project?

One circle launches a nourishing garden.
Another launches a repair team.
Another launches an anti-burnout program.
Another supports isolated seniors.
Another trains young people in green professions.
Another restores a pond, a hedge, a stream.
Another transforms neighborhood organic waste into compost.
Another helps a school become a mini resilience hub.
Another helps a company reduce water, energy and waste.
Another transforms an empty house into a place of welcome and learning.

Then the circles cease to be only circles.

They become a human infrastructure.

An infrastructure of transition and connection.
An infrastructure of resilience and new professions.
An infrastructure of regenerative economy.

And the most beautiful thing is that we do not need to wait until everything is perfect.

Let us start small.

A circle. A solution. A profession. A project. A place. A first partner. A first proof. A first credit. A first revenue. A first transformation.

Then the next circle. Then the next neighborhood. Then the next village. Then the next region. And soon, a dynamic appears.

People no longer only ask: “How can I survive this world?”

They begin to ask: “Which part of the world can I regenerate?”

They no longer only ask: “Who will save me?”

They ask: “With whom can I build?”

They no longer say: “I have no choice.”

They say: “I see alternatives. I see allies. I see professions. I see projects. I see my next step.”

This is the commitment we propose. And it will offer a new resilience and security for you and your families.

Joining a Soul Circle is not joining one more organization.

It is entering a movement that says:

We will transform loneliness into alliance.
We will transform noise into discernment.
We will transform the high cost of living into shared intelligence.
We will transform the prison of “I have no choice” into pathways of action.
We will transform fear of tomorrow into the professions of tomorrow.
We will transform the wounds of this era into proof of regeneration.

And we will do it with those who already know. They are waiting for us.

With the SuperIncubators. With citizens.
With entrepreneurs. With young people.
With territories. With visionary companies.
With courageous investors. With institutions that truly want to serve life rather than their ego or personal interest.

Because the future will not be written by those who own the most. It will be written by those who regenerate the best.

And tomorrow, the real professions of the future may be these:

Those who restore water.
Those who bring soils back to life.
Those who guide young people back toward usefulness.
Those who repair objects instead of throwing them away.
Those who transform waste into resources.
Those who accompany exhausted people back toward life.
Those who connect the old and the young.
Those who create autonomous neighborhoods.
Those who build with earth, wood, straw, hemp, mycelium.
Those who heal relationships.
Those who know how to measure proof.
Those who know how to say: “Here, we have regenerated something. And here is the proof.”

So yes, the world is in crisis. But it is full of possible futures.

It is up to us to see them and connect them. It is up to us to learn them.
It is up to us to finance them and transmit them. It is up to us to embody them.

Because a degenerated world will not be regenerated by anxious spectators.

It will be regenerated by circles of “cool and passionate” people, connected, trained, courageous, useful, joyful, and ready to build the virtuous professions of the world to come.

One Soul Circle at a time. One project at a time. One profession at a time. One proof at a time. One life at a time.

The secret ingredients?

(1) Taking action, together, with fast and visible results, brings security, hope and trust.

(2) The issue is us: becoming mature, happy, fully healthy and fulfilled human beings.

(3) The greatest happiness, offering the highest satisfaction and recognition, is to contribute to the happiness of others.

Sophie Gillet and Michel de Kemmeter

Il y a des moments dans l’Histoire où il ne suffit plus de commenter l’état du monde.

Il ne suffit plus de s’indigner ou de partager un article. Il ne suffit plus de dire : “C’est grave.”
Il ne suffit plus d’attendre que quelqu’un, quelque part, dans une institution lointaine, vienne enfin régler ce qui se défait sous nos yeux. Ou un prophète (qu’on s’empresserait de clouer au mur). Ou un extra-terrestre…

Car la question n’est plus seulement : Que se passe-t-il dans le monde ?

La vraie question est : Qu’est-ce que ce monde provoque en nous ?
Et surtout : Que pouvons-nous faire, concrètement, ensemble, maintenant ?

Regardons la réalité en face:

L’environnement est gravement abîmé.
Les sols s’épuisent.
L’eau devient fragile.
Les forêts brûlent.
La biodiversité recule. Les moissons aussi.
Les océans s’asphyxient.
Les territoires se fissurent. Le rêve est devenu cauchemar…

Mais il n’y a pas que la planète qui soit fatiguée.

L’humain aussi est fatigué, lobotomisé, hypnotisé massivement par ce système qui cause sa propre perte.

Sa santé psychologique vacille.
Son corps encaisse trop.
Ses émotions débordent.
Ses familles se tendent.
Ses relations se fragilisent.
Son avenir lui paraît trouble.
Ses enfants regardent devant eux et se demandent parfois — avec raison :
“Mais dans quel monde nous demande-t-on de grandir ?”

Et au milieu de cela, nous continuons comme si de rien n’était…

Nous continuons à accélérer exponentiellement un modèle qui épuise les personnes, les terres, les institutions et l’économie elle-même.

Nous avons appelé cela progrès — croissance — compétitivité.

Mais quand la croissance détruit les racines de la vie, ce n’est plus de la croissance.
C’est de la dégénérescence organisée.

Et le plus grave, c’est que nous le savons: nous le voyons tous, à l’œil nu !

Nous avons vu des plans mondiaux, des sommets, des promesses, des budgets gigantesques (des dizaines de trilliards), des discours historiques.
Nous avons vu des milliers de pages pour sauver l’humain et la planète.

Et pourtant, les indicateurs empirent. Les dirigeants font la course aux guerres, aux minerais et à l’IA — accélérant exponentiellement la destruction.

Alors il faut avoir le courage de poser une question difficile :

Est-ce que ceux qui prétendent gérer le monde sont encore capables de préparer l’avenir ? En ont-ils vraiment envie ?

Car soyons justes : les institutions sont nécessaires.
Les politiques publiques sont nécessaires.
Les administrations sont nécessaires.
Les armées, les communes, les écoles, les hôpitaux, les entreprises, les associations sont nécessaires.

Mais elles ne délivrent pas.

Elles sont trop lentes, trop segmentées, trop prisonnières de leurs propres logiques.
Trop absorbées par l’urgence, la peur, la communication, la survie politique ou la gestion du court terme.

Les agendas personnels des dirigeants prenant le pas sur le bien commun… Les fossoyeurs et voleurs à la tire corrompus agissent sans la moindre gène.

Et pendant ce temps, les citoyens attendent…

Ils attendent dans la solitude.
Ils attendent dans le bruit et la confusion.
Ils attendent dans la peur.
Ils attendent dans cette prison invisible qui murmure :
“Je n’ai pas le choix.”

Voilà les quatre grands blocages de notre époque:

Le premier blocage, c’est la solitude.

Jamais nous n’avons été aussi connectés.
Et jamais autant de personnes ne se sont senties seules.

Seules dans leur maison. Seules dans leur couple et leur famille.
Seules au travail. Seules avec leurs intuitions et leurs peurs.
Seules avec leurs talents qui ne trouvent plus leur place.

Mais nous savons une chose :
la transition ne se fera pas toute seule, ni tout seul.

On ne traverse pas une époque de chocs en individus isolés.
On la traverse en cercle, en alliance, en communauté.
On la traverse avec des mains tendues, des regards vrais, des paroles simples et des actes utiles.

Le deuxième blocage, c’est le bruit.

Le bruit médiatique.
Le bruit numérique, digital.
Le bruit politique.
Le bruit des opinions.
Le bruit des peurs et des angoisses.
Le bruit des promesses creuses.
Le bruit de l’intelligence artificielle qui produit plus vite que nous ne savons discerner.

Qui croire ?
Que croire ?
Où est le vrai, le juste ?
Où est l’utile ?

Dans une époque confuse, le discernement devient une compétence de survie.

Nous n’avons pas besoin de plus de bruit.
Nous avons besoin de lieux où l’on peut ralentir, écouter, trier, comprendre, sentir, réfléchir et retrouver le fil.

Le troisième blocage, c’est la vie chère.

Les besoins de base deviennent lourds.
Se loger devient difficile. Se chauffer devient incertain.
Se nourrir sainement devient cher. Se soigner devient parfois inaccessible.
Préparer l’avenir semble réservé à ceux qui en ont les moyens.

Et pourtant, une autre voie existe.

Vivre mieux avec moins, c’est possible.

Pas dans la misère ni dans la culpabilité. Pas dans le renoncement triste.

Mais dans l’intelligence partagée : mutualiser, réparer, cultiver, apprendre, échanger, réduire les dépendances, retrouver des savoir-faire, reconstruire de l’autonomie, réorganiser nos vies autour de ce qui compte vraiment.

Le quatrième blocage, c’est la prison invisible. Cette phrase terrible: “Je n’ai pas le choix.”

Je n’ai pas le choix de mon travail.
Je n’ai pas le choix de ma consommation.
Je n’ai pas le choix pour mon avenir et celui de mes enfants.

C’est faux.

Jamais dans l’histoire il n’y a eu autant d’alternatives. Jamais autant de solutions n’ont existé. Jamais autant de personnes n’ont expérimenté d’autres façons de vivre, produire, soigner, bâtir, cultiver, éduquer, financer, relier.

Le problème n’est pas l’absence d’alternatives.

Le problème est que les alternatives ne sont pas reliées, ne sont pas assez visibles, ne sont pas transmises. Elles ne sont pas financées à la hauteur de leur utilité.

Voilà pourquoi nous créons les ‘Soul Circles’.

Pas comme une activité de plus ou un club.
Pas comme un refuge pour fuir le monde.
Pas comme une mode spirituelle ou une thérapie improvisée.

Les Soul Circles sont des cercles locaux de co-création, reliance, de résilience, d’entraide, de découvertes.

Des lieux où l’on transforme l’impuissance en prochain pas.
Des lieux où l’on passe de la plainte à l’action.
Des lieux où les blessures peuvent devenir contribution.

Des lieux simples où l’on vient déposer ce que l’on porte.
Des lieux où l’on peut être entendu sans être jugé.
Des lieux où l’on apprend à discerner dans le bruit.
Des lieux où l’on partage des solutions pour vivre mieux.

Nous sommes entrés dans une époque prophétique — non pas au sens de la peur ou de la fin du monde, mais au sens de la révélation. Tout ce qui était caché… apparaît. Et cette époque est annoncée depuis très longtemps, avec les scripts. Chacun a le libre choix.

La fragilité des systèmes.
La solitude et insécurité des familles.
L’épuisement des soignants.
La vulnérabilité des territoires.
La pauvreté de certains discours.
La perte de sens du travail.
La fatigue des jeunes.
La violence de l’économie quand elle oublie la vie. L’incompétence et corruption de nos dirigeants. L’incapacité de nos institutions d’agir pour le bien.

Tout est mis en question.

Et si nous ne nous préparons pas, beaucoup de choses seront cassées en mille morceaux — nos institutions, nos économies, nos liens, et parfois nous-mêmes.

Mais cette époque n’est pas seulement une menace. Elle est aussi un appel.

Un appel à grandir, à nous relier.
Un appel à cesser d’attendre, à retrouver notre pouvoir créateur.
Un appel à bâtir le monde qui vient dans les fissures du monde ancien.

Et pour cela, nous avons besoin d’alliés.

Le premier allié, ce sont les citoyens eux-mêmes: vous et nous.

Nous. Nos familles. Nos voisins. Nos amis. Nos collègues. Nos enfants. Nos anciens.
Tous ceux qui sentent qu’il faut faire quelque chose, mais ne savent pas encore par où commencer.

Le premier acte de régénération, ce n’est pas de changer le monde entier: C’est de ne plus rester seul.

Le deuxième allié, ce sont les héros invisibles.

Depuis des années, parfois des décennies, des femmes et des hommes développent des solutions réelles : agriculture régénérative, eau, santé communautaire, inclusion, réinsertion, habitat, low-tech, énergie locale, éducation, économie circulaire, restauration des sols, résilience des villages et des villes.

Ils ne font pas toujours beaucoup de bruit. Ils ne sont pas toujours dans les grands sommets. Ils n’ont pas toujours les micros.
Mais ils ont les méthodes. Ils ont les preuves. Ils ont l’expérience du terrain.

Nous les appelons les SuperIncubateurs.

Ils sont les détenteurs de solutions.
Ils sont les champions silencieux du monde qui vient. Sans le moindre Prix Nobel.

Le rôle des Soul Circles est de relier les citoyens à ces champions.
D’apprendre d’eux. De copier ce qui fonctionne. D’adapter localement.
De créer de nouveaux métiers. De faire naître des projets.
De transformer l’inspiration en activité économique utile.

Le troisième allié, ce sont les acteurs de protection : services de secours, armées, sécurité civile, pompiers, médecins, logisticiens, infrastructures critiques.

Car lorsque les grands chocs arriveront — inondations, incendies, ruptures d’approvisionnement, tensions sociales, migrations, cyberattaques, crises énergétiques et d’eau — ce sont eux qui seront en première ligne. Ils le savent. Mais ils ne pourront pas tout faire seuls: protéger la population contre de tout nouveaux ennemis, et contre elle-même.

La meilleure sécurité nationale ne sera pas seulement militaire. Elle sera aussi humaine, sociale, alimentaire, hydrique, énergétique, psychologique et territoriale.

Une population reliée est plus résiliente qu’une population paniquée.
Une communauté préparée coûte moins cher qu’une communauté abandonnée.
Un territoire vivant est plus sûr qu’un territoire fragmenté.

Le quatrième allié, ce sont les dirigeants visionnaires. Il y en a.

Des maires. Des responsables de régions. Des chefs d’entreprise. Des investisseurs. Des enseignants. Des agriculteurs. Des responsables publics. Des militaires. Des entrepreneurs.

Ils savent que l’ancien modèle ne suffira pas.
Ils cherchent des feuilles de route.
Ils cherchent des projets.
Ils cherchent des méthodes.
Ils cherchent des alliances.

À eux, nous disons :
Nous venons avec des cercles, des champions, des projets, des territoires, des méthodes et une vision. Construisons ensemble. Humblement.

Le grand défi transversal de notre époque, c’est l’insécurité: sentiment qui sape nos énergies.

L’insécurité du travail face à l’IA.
L’insécurité financière.
L’insécurité de l’avenir des enfants.
L’insécurité énergétique.
L’insécurité climatique.
L’insécurité géopolitique.
L’insécurité sanitaire.
L’insécurité identitaire.
L’insécurité intérieure.

Et quand cette insécurité n’est pas accompagnée, elle devient peur.
Quand elle devient peur, elle devient repli.
Quand elle devient repli, elle devient colère.
Quand elle devient colère, elle devient fragmentation.

Mais si cette insécurité est accueillie, comprise, et reliée à l’action, elle peut devenir une force: Acceptation. Confiance. Puissance. Ancrage. La base pour émerger à notre valeur unique, chacun de nous — au service d’un vrai progrès.

C’est là que commence la transformation:

Je ne suis plus seulement inquiet. J’essaye de comprendre, et je me prépare.

Je ne suis plus seulement seul. Je rejoins un cercle.

Je ne suis plus seulement perdu dans le bruit. J’apprends à discerner.

Je ne suis plus seulement victime d’un système. Je retrouve mon prochain pas.

Je ne suis plus seulement fatigué. Je redeviens utile.

Voilà la promesse des Soul Circles. Et cette promesse n’est pas creuse: Si nous travaillons ensemble, si nous relions les citoyens, les entrepreneurs, les SuperIncubateurs, les territoires, les institutions et les investisseurs, nous pouvons encore régénérer une partie significative de la planète et des humains d’ici 2031.

Nous pouvons créer les métiers vertueux, utiles et joyeux de demain.

Nous pouvons lancer des vrais “îlots de régénération”:
Des fermes. Des quartiers. Des écoles. Des maisons partagées.
Des lieux de santé. Des projets d’eau. Des ateliers de réparation.
Des formations. Des monnaies complémentaires.
Des entreprises nouvelles et business vertueux. Des territoires qui redeviennent vivants.

Nous pouvons faire cela sans attendre l’effondrement total. Oui, il a démarré, en silence.

Car l’effondrement n’est pas une stratégie.
La peur n’est pas une stratégie.
L’attente n’est pas une stratégie.
La plainte n’est pas une stratégie.

La régénération, elle, peut devenir une vraie stratégie.

Alors je vous le demande :

Allons-nous continuer à regarder le monde se défaire, s’écrouler, chacun derrière son écran, chacun dans sa peur, chacun dans son coin ?

Ou allons-nous nous lever, nous relier, apprendre, construire et transmettre ?

Allons-nous attendre que l’ancien monde nous donne la permission de bâtir le nouveau ?

Allons-nous en guerre ou allons-nous découvrir le monde positivement ?

Ou allons-nous commencer maintenant, avec ce que nous avons, là où nous sommes, avec ceux qui sont prêts ?

Un cercle. Un lieu.
Une parole vraie. Une compétence partagée.
Un projet. Un SuperIncubateur.
Un territoire pilote.
Un jeune formé. Une famille soutenue.
Une terre restaurée. Une communauté reconnectée.
Un métier de demain. Un acte utile.

Puis un autre. Puis un autre.

Et bientôt, ce ne seront plus seulement des cercles isolés. Ce sera une constellation.

Une constellation de citoyens qui ne veulent plus subir.
Une constellation de héros invisibles.
Une constellation d’entrepreneurs régénératifs.
Une constellation de territoires courageux.
Une constellation de solutions qui existent déjà.
Une constellation de personnes qui ont compris que le futur ne viendra pas seulement d’en haut.

Il commencera ici. Entre nous. Dans un cercle.

Nous ne traverserons pas cette époque seuls.

Nous la traverserons en cercles forts.
Nous la traverserons avec courage et discernement.
Nous la traverserons avec amour et méthode.
Nous la traverserons avec des actes utiles.

Et comme l’ancien monde se fissure, ces fissures deviennent des lieux de naissance.

Que chaque Soul Circle devienne une petite lumière.
Que chaque lumière révèle un chemin. Que chaque chemin mène à une action.
Que chaque action régénère une personne, une famille, un territoire, une rivière, une terre, une économie.

Le temps n’est plus à demander : “Qui va nous sauver ?”

Le temps est venu de dire : “Nous allons nous relier. Nous allons apprendre. Nous allons agir. Nous allons régénérer.”

Un cercle. Un lien. Un petit pas utile. Non pas naïvement, mais en ayant créé et validé ensemble une réelle ‘Infrastructure de la Transition Régénérative’. Un vrai processus qui limite les risques, qui explique les changements de paradigmes, qui montre ce qui marche déjà, qui rassure, qui accompagne. De la compréhension à l’expérimentation, à la mise à l’échelle. Un vrai mouvement d’émergence, avec ceux qui ont compris les valeurs porteuses de cette époque, et qui sont ouvert à apprendre et évoluer à tous niveaux.

Ceux qui préfèrent aller en guerre, qui restent égoïstes et opportunistes, restent rigides et manipulent, ne sont pas le bienvenu.

Solutions et les métiers de demain

Il ne suffit pas de dire que le monde va mal.

Une fois que nous avons vu le problème, une question plus grande se lève :

Que faisons-nous maintenant ?

Et là, une bonne nouvelle apparaît.

Elle n’apparaît pas à la télévision.
Elle n’apparaît pas toujours dans les grands sommets.
Elle n’apparaît pas dans les discours officiels.

Mais elle existe. Partout dans le monde, des solutions sont déjà là.

Des femmes et des hommes savent déjà régénérer les sols.
Ils savent capter l’eau.
Ils savent restaurer des zones humides.
Ils savent créer des corridors de biodiversité.
Ils savent transformer des déchets organiques en compost, en biofertilisants, en biochar.
Ils savent accompagner des jeunes vers les métiers verts.
Ils savent aider des personnes en burn-out à revenir à la vie et au travail.
Ils savent réintégrer d’anciens prisonniers dans une activité utile.
Ils savent transformer des bâtiments abandonnés en lieux de vie, d’apprentissage, d’autonomie et de résilience. Construire des maisons biosourcées, autonomes, belles et abordables. Créer des produits avec chimie du vivant, biosourcée, biodégradable à 100%.

Ces solutions ne sont pas des rêves.
Elles sont mesurables. Elles sont vérifiables. Et… ce sont les méga-business de demain.
Elles créent de la valeur multipliée, pendant des années. Elles évitent des coûts futurs.
Elles restaurent une capacité productive. Elles renforcent la résilience.
C’est exactement le principe du ‘PouW’ (Proof of Useful Work) : ne pas récompenser les bonnes intentions, mais le travail utile vérifié qui réduit réellement les coûts futurs, restaure la capacité productive et crée une résilience et valeur mesurable.

Et c’est là que les Soul Circles deviennent bien plus qu’un ‘cercle de parole’.

Un Soul Circle n’est pas seulement un lieu où l’on vient déposer sa peur.
C’est un lieu où la peur devient discernement.
Le discernement peut devenir décision. La décision peut devenir apprentissage.
L’apprentissage peut devenir métier. Et le métier peut devenir contribution.

Car l’époque qui vient n’aura pas seulement besoin de consultants, de communicants et de gestionnaires de crise. Elle aura besoin de métiers vertueux.

Elle aura besoin de personnes capables de prendre soin de la vie…. Imaginez:

Des jeunes qui aujourd’hui se sentent perdus pourraient devenir techniciens de l’eau régénérative : capter la pluie, stocker, filtrer, distribuer, recycler, purifier, créer des jardins de pluie et des zones de phytoépuration autonomes.

Des personnes qui aiment la terre pourraient devenir régénérateurs de sols : compost, biochar, mycorhizes, fertilité, infiltration, vie microbienne, rendement durable, résilience face aux sécheresses. La restauration des sols est une activité à haut levier, car le sol continue à créer de la valeur à travers les rendements futurs, l’eau, le carbone et la résilience.

Des agriculteurs pourraient devenir architectes d’agriculture régénérative : moins d’intrants, plus de fertilité, meilleure rétention d’eau, nourriture plus saine, revenus plus stables et diversifiés.

Des jardiniers, paysagistes, naturalistes, apiculteurs, écoles et communes pourraient devenir créateurs de corridors de biodiversité : haies vivantes, bandes fleuries, pollinisateurs, arbres fruitiers, sols couverts, continuité écologique. Les corridors de pollinisateurs sont identifiés comme fortement liés aux rendements agricoles, à la résilience alimentaire et à la biodiversité.

Des artisans, réparateurs, designers, couturières, recycleurs et entrepreneurs locaux pourraient devenir entrepreneurs de la réparation et du réemploi : textile, objets, meubles, vélos, électronique, matériaux. Ce sont des métiers sobres, utiles, locaux, intensifs en emplois, avec peu de capital au départ.

Des communes et propriétaires pourraient créer des îlots de régénération dans des bâtiments abandonnés : anciens bureaux, fermes, écoles, entrepôts, maisons vides, friches, bâtiments publics inutilisés. Ces lieux peuvent devenir logements, lieux d’apprentissage, ateliers, jardins, espaces de soin, hubs d’eau, d’énergie, d’alimentation et de résilience. La transformation d’actifs immobiliers dormants en ‘Regenerative Islands’ comme une classe de crédit qui peut créer logements, nourriture, énergie, formation, soin, communauté et résilience.

Des coachs, soignants, thérapeutes, formateurs et entrepreneurs sociaux pourraient devenir accompagnateurs de retour à la vie : prévention du burn-out, résilience mentale, santé émotionnelle, trauma, retour progressif au travail, reconstruction de la confiance, transformation de l’épreuve en capacité.

Des jeunes qui deviennent les bâtisseurs de demain avec matériaux locaux, écologiques, recyclables, low cost, low tech, construisant du beau, du bon, de l‘abordable.

Et ce n’est pas marginal.

Le cadre RegenEra identifie la régénération du potentiel humain, du bien-être et du tissu communautaire comme un colossal premier grand champ d’opportunités : santé mentale, prévention du burn-out, résilience, soin informé par le trauma, formation, requalification, inclusion, cohésion sociale et développement communautaire.

Des éducateurs, formateurs, artisans et entrepreneurs pourraient devenir formateurs aux métiers régénératifs : installer du solaire, mesurer la qualité des sols, réparer, cultiver, isoler, transformer, construire en matériaux biosourcés, accompagner des groupes, animer des communautés, développer des projets locaux.

Des communes pourraient créer des métiers de résilience territoriale : animateur de quartier résilient, coordinateur d’entraide locale, facilitateur d’énergie citoyenne, gestionnaire de ressources partagées, cartographe des risques, coordinateur de hubs de crise, facilitateur d’autonomie alimentaire.

Des entrepreneurs pourraient créer les entreprises du monde qui vient :
entreprises d’eau, de sol, de compost, de santé communautaire, de formation, de low-tech, de réparation, d’énergie locale, d’agroforesterie, de phytoépuration, de rénovation énergétique, de bio-matériaux, chimie biosourcée, de microgrids, de biodiversité, de cohésion sociale.

Ce sont les métiers cool de demain.

Pas “cool” parce qu’ils sont à la mode.
Cool parce qu’ils redonnent du sens et qu’ils rendent utile.
Cool parce qu’ils reconnectent la tête, les mains et le cœur.
Cool parce qu’ils créent de l’emploi sans détruire le vivant.
Cool parce qu’ils permettent de dire à ses enfants : “Je ne suis pas seulement en train de gagner ma vie. Je suis en train de réparer une partie du monde.”

Voilà la révolution simple. Nous avons trop longtemps payé pour dégénérer:

Nous avons payé quand quelqu’un tombe malade.
Nous avons payé quand un jeune décroche.
Nous avons payé quand une personne récidive.
Nous avons payé quand un sol meurt ou une terre brûle.
Nous avons payé quand l’eau manque.
Nous avons payé quand une ville inonde.
Nous avons payé quand un bâtiment reste vide.
Nous avons payé quand les déchets s’accumulent.
Nous avons payé quand la solitude devient dépression.
Nous avons payé quand le burn-out devient arrêt de travail.

Mais si nous payions plus tôt ?

Si nous payions pour prévenir.
Si nous payions pour réparer.
Si nous payions pour restaurer.
Si nous payions pour former.
Si nous payions pour relier.
Si nous payions pour régénérer.

C’est le cœur de Kairos et des ‘crédits de régénération’ :
pas de preuve, pas de crédit. Petite preuve, petit crédit. Succès vérifié dans le temps, crédit complet. (Si nous avions appliqué cette règle à nos politiques et aux institutions, ils auraient dû rembourser leur salaire pour nombreux d’entre eux)

Et cela change absolument tout.

Car alors, les métiers utiles deviennent finançables.
Les héros invisibles deviennent visibles.
Les SuperIncubateurs deviennent transmissibles.
Les territoires deviennent laboratoires.
Les citoyens deviennent acteurs.
Les jeunes deviennent bâtisseurs.
Les entreprises deviennent partenaires de régénération.
Les investisseurs deviennent gardiens du futur.

Dans un Soul Circle, on ne vient donc pas seulement parler de ce qui ne va pas.

On peut venir avec une question : “Quel métier de demain m’appelle ?”

On peut venir avec une peur : “Et si mon travail disparaît avec l’IA ?”

On peut venir avec une intuition : “Je sens que je dois changer, mais je ne sais pas vers quoi.”

On peut venir avec un talent : “Je sais bricoler, cuisiner, écouter, réparer, cultiver, organiser, transmettre.”

Et le cercle peut répondre :

Alors apprenons.
Relions-nous à un SuperIncubateur.
Visitons un lieu qui fonctionne.
Copions un modèle.
Adaptions-le ici.
Trouvons un entrepreneur.
Trouvons une commune.
Trouvons une école.
Trouvons une ferme.
Trouvons un bâtiment vide.
Trouvons un petit financement.
Lançons un prototype.

Un Soul Circle devient alors une pépinière de projets, planétaire.

Une pépinière de métiers.
Une pépinière d’entraide.
Une pépinière de discernement.
Une pépinière de régénération locale.

Et si chaque cercle lançait un projet ?

Un cercle lance un jardin nourricier.
Un autre lance une équipe de réparation.
Un autre lance un programme anti-burn-out.
Un autre accompagne des seniors isolés.
Un autre forme des jeunes aux métiers verts.
Un autre restaure une mare, une haie, un ruisseau.
Un autre transforme les déchets organiques du quartier en compost.
Un autre aide une école à devenir un mini-hub de résilience.
Un autre aide une entreprise à réduire l’eau, l’énergie, le gaspillage.
Un autre transforme une maison vide en lieu d’accueil et d’apprentissage.

Alors les cercles cessent d’être seulement des cercles.

Ils deviennent une infrastructure humaine.

Une infrastructure de transition, de reliance.
Une infrastructure de résilience, de nouveaux métiers.
Une infrastructure d’économie régénérative.

Et le plus beau, c’est que nous n’avons pas besoin d’attendre que tout soit parfait.

Commençons petit.

Un cercle. Une solution. Un métier. Un projet. Un lieu. Un premier partenaire. Une première preuve. Un premier crédit. Un premier revenu. Une première transformation.

Puis le cercle suivant. Puis le quartier suivant. Puis le village suivant. Puis la région suivante. Et bientôt, une dynamique apparaît.

Les personnes ne se demandent plus seulement : “Comment survivre à ce monde ?”

Elles commencent à demander : “Quelle partie du monde puis-je régénérer ?”

Elles ne demandent plus seulement : “Qui va me sauver ?”

Elles demandent : “Avec qui puis-je construire ?”

Elles ne disent plus : “Je n’ai pas le choix.”

Elles disent : “Je vois des alternatives. Je vois des alliés. Je vois des métiers. Je vois des projets. Je vois mon prochain pas.”

Voilà l’engagement que nous proposons. Et cela offrira une nouvelle résilience et sécurité pour vous et vos familles.

Rejoindre un Soul Circle, ce n’est pas rejoindre une organisation de plus.

C’est entrer dans un mouvement qui dit :

Nous allons transformer la solitude en alliance.
Nous allons transformer le bruit en discernement.
Nous allons transformer la vie chère en intelligence partagée.
Nous allons transformer la prison du “je n’ai pas le choix” en chemins d’action.
Nous allons transformer la peur de demain en métiers de demain.
Nous allons transformer les blessures de l’époque en preuves de régénération.

Et nous allons le faire avec ceux qui savent déjà. Ils nous attendent.

Avec les SuperIncubateurs. Avec les citoyens.
Avec les entrepreneurs. Avec les jeunes.
Avec les territoires. Avec les entreprises visionnaires.
Avec les investisseurs courageux. Avec les institutions qui veulent vraiment servir la vie plutôt que leur ego ou intérêt personnel.

Car l’avenir ne sera pas écrit par ceux qui possèdent le plus. Il sera écrit par ceux qui régénèrent le mieux.

Et demain, les vrais métiers d’avenir seront peut-être ceux-ci :

Ceux qui restaurent l’eau.
Ceux qui font revivre les sols.
Ceux qui ramènent les jeunes vers l’utilité.
Ceux qui réparent les objets au lieu de les jeter.
Ceux qui transforment les déchets en ressources.
Ceux qui accompagnent les personnes épuisées vers la vie.
Ceux qui relient les anciens et les jeunes.
Ceux qui créent des quartiers autonomes.
Ceux qui construisent avec la terre, le bois, la paille, le chanvre, le mycélium.
Ceux qui soignent les liens.
Ceux qui savent mesurer la preuve.
Ceux qui savent dire : “Ici, nous avons régénéré quelque chose. Et voici la preuve.”

Alors oui, le monde est en crise. Mais il est plein de futurs possibles.

À nous de les voir et de les relier. À nous de les apprendre.
À nous de les financer, et de les transmettre. À nous de les incarner.

Car un monde dégénéré ne sera pas régénéré par des spectateurs inquiets.

Il sera régénéré par des cercles de personnes ‘cool et passionnés’, reliées, formées, courageuses, utiles, joyeuses, et prêtes à bâtir les métiers vertueux du monde qui vient.

Un Soul Circle à la fois. Un projet à la fois. Un métier à la fois. Une preuve à la fois. Une vie à la fois.

Les ingrédients secrets ?

(1) Entrer en action, ensemble, avec résultats rapides et visibles, offre la sécurité, l’espoir et la confiance.

(2) L’enjeu c’est nous: devenir des humains adultes, heureux, en pleine santé, et épanouis.

(3) Le plus grand bonheur, offrant satisfaction et reconnaissance suprême, est de contribuer au bonheur des autres.

Sophie Gillet et Michel de Kemmeter, RegenEra & Soul Circles

La plupart des dirigeants occidentaux ne cherchent évidemment pas à détruire leurs pays. Mais leurs décisions, additionnées les unes aux autres, produisent un résultat qui ressemble à une forme de suicide du système : on protège l’appareil tout en affaiblissant progressivement la société qu’il est censé protéger.

1. Une économie de plus en plus organisée autour de la menace

Les dépenses militaires européennes ont atteint environ 864 milliards de dollars en 2025, soit une hausse de 14 % en un an et leur niveau le plus élevé jamais enregistré par le SIPRI. L’augmentation peut être justifiée par des menaces géopolitiques réelles, mais elle devient destructrice lorsque la sécurité militaire progresse au détriment de la santé, de la cohésion sociale, de l’éducation, de l’autonomie énergétique ou de la résilience territoriale.

Le paradoxe européen est particulièrement visible : les règles budgétaires restent contraignantes pour de nombreux investissements civils, tandis qu’une flexibilité pouvant atteindre 1,5 % du PIB pendant quatre ans a été prévue pour les dépenses militaires supplémentaires. Cela crée objectivement une hiérarchie politique dans laquelle l’armement bénéficie d’un espace financier que la prévention sociale ou écologique obtient beaucoup plus difficilement.

Des dépenses parfois absurdes: avions d’attaque sans appareil de défense, logistique pas à la hauteur, personnel non formé et ‘endormi’ depuis des décennies, mais surtout, pas du tout préparé à des menaces réelles internes suite aux changements climatiques, économiques et sociaux. Et… pourquoi notre ‘ennemi’ attendrait que nous soyons ‘ré-armés’ dans 7 ans pour attaquer, alors que nous sommes le plus vulnérables aujourd’hui ? Et que l’homme en face n’est plus si jeune… D’ici 7 ans il ne sera probablement plus autant motivé, ou sera peut être malade.

2. Une gestion comptable qui détruit les capacités futures

La dette publique et les charges d’intérêt réduisent les marges de manœuvre. Le FMI estime que la dette publique mondiale, alimentée en grande partie par les grandes économies, pourrait atteindre 100 % du PIB mondial dès 2029. Dans cette situation, les gouvernements sont poussés vers des arbitrages rapides : coupes vives, reports d’investissements, hausse des prélèvements ou réduction de services.

Mais réduire indistinctement la santé, la prévention, l’éducation, environnement, les infrastructures ou la recherche pour « sauver les finances publiques » peut avoir l’effet inverse : davantage de maladies, d’absentéisme, de décrochage, de dépendance, de faible productivité et donc moins de recettes fiscales. L’austérité devient alors une économie immédiate qui fabrique des coûts différés. Massifs. Voir totalement incommensurables.

3. Un affaiblissement financier désormais visible

Plusieurs signaux majeurs existent : Moody’s a retiré aux États-Unis leur dernière notation Aaa en mai 2025 ; S&P a abaissé la France à A+ en octobre 2025 et la Belgique à AA– en avril 2026. Ces dégradations reflètent principalement les difficultés à maîtriser la dette, les déficits et les dépenses structurelles.

Le danger apparaît lorsque les réponses aux dégradations — nouvelles coupes, impôts, réduction d’investissements — dégradent encore la croissance, le consentement collectif et la capacité productive. Une boucle d’appauvrissement défensif peut alors se former. Car avec une moindre crédibilité sur les marchés, les taux augmentent, et aggravent les déficits déjà abyssaux.

4. Une démographie qui réduit progressivement la base du système

Le vieillissement européen augmente les besoins en pensions, en soins et en dépendance tout en réduisant la population qui travaille et finance ces dépenses. La Commission européenne considère explicitement que le vieillissement exercera une pression croissante sur les finances publiques et réduira la base de financement des systèmes de santé.

Dans l’Union européenne, le ratio entre les personnes de 65 ans et plus et la population de 20 à 64 ans est passé d’environ 26,8 % en 2004 à 37 % en 2024 : on est passé de presque quatre adultes d’âge actif par personne âgée à moins de trois. Et ce n’est que le début.

On demande donc à une population active proportionnellement plus petite de financer davantage de retraites, de santé, de dette, de défense et d’adaptation climatique — tout en supportant plus de pression professionnelle. Tout devenant plus cher… les familles deviennent exsangues.

5. Une société psychiquement épuisée

L’OMS estime qu’environ une personne sur six vit avec un trouble de santé mentale dans sa région européenne. Elle relève également une progression importante de l’anxiété et de la dépression chez les jeunes depuis la pandémie. Les malades chroniques aussi augmentent, ainsi que les absences longue durée — dépassant les coûts du chômage.

Lorsque les politiques publiques génèrent simultanément insécurité économique, discours de guerre, précarité, complexité administrative, peur climatique, compétition permanente et sentiment d’impuissance, elles entretiennent la maladie qu’elles prétendent ensuite traiter — de façon disons, assez gauche: antidépresseurs, anxiolytiques, psychologie inefficace,…

6. Les ‘gardiens du vivant’ exsangues et ruinés

Tous les métiers du “caring”: éducation, santé, environnement, inclusion,… etc — bref, tous ceux qui sont là pour réparer ce que le modèle économique extractif a provoqué, non seulement sont épuisés, ruinés, mais cela n’a pas suffit de les obliger à entrer dans cet espace économique extractif qui les a broyés comme les autres, restent dans modèles gauches et inefficaces, par obligation réglementaire. Les solutions et alternatives existant, mais interdites par lois et règles (et habitudes hypnotiques ‘on a pas le choix — il n’y a pas d’alternative’).

7. Une crise de confiance qui appelle davantage de contrôle

Dans les pays étudiés par l’OCDE, seulement 39 % des personnes déclarent une confiance élevée ou modérée envers leur gouvernement national, tandis que 44 % expriment peu ou pas confiance. Dans certains pays, c’est encore plus…

La tentation institutionnelle consiste alors à répondre à la perte de confiance par davantage de réglementation, de surveillance, de communication contrôlée ou de restrictions. Or plus un système remplace l’adhésion par le contrôle, plus il risque de perdre sa légitimité.

V-Dem constate d’ailleurs en 2026 une détérioration démocratique jusque dans plusieurs pays d’Europe occidentale et d’Amérique du Nord. Cela ne signifie pas que l’Occident serait devenu autoritaire — cette région reste entièrement composée de démocraties selon V-Dem — mais certains mécanismes de recul démocratique sont désormais également observés en Occident.

8. La boucle d’auto-fragilisation

On pourrait la représenter ainsi :

Perception de menaces
→ augmentation des dépenses sécuritaires et militaires
→ dette, impôts et restrictions budgétaires
→ coupes dans la prévention, la santé et l’investissement civil
→ détérioration de la santé mentale et de la cohésion sociale
→ baisse de productivité et augmentation de l’inactivité
→ diminution de la base fiscale
→ dégradation des finances et des notations
→ mécontentement, polarisation et défiance
→ davantage de contrôle et de gouvernance par la peur
→ nouvelle perception de menaces.

Le système consacre alors de plus en plus de ressources à traiter les conséquences de sa propre manière de fonctionner: une boucle infernale d’implosion.

Même si le problème central n’est donc pas une volonté active de destruction:

• une myopie politique dominée par les échéances électorales ;
• une gouvernance fragmentée, incapable de voir les effets systémiques ;
• une préférence pour le traitement visible des crises plutôt que leur prévention;
• une confusion entre sécurité de l’État et résilience de la société ;
• une captation croissante des décisions par les intérêts les mieux organisés ;
• l’absence totale d’un véritable projet mobilisateur pour les générations futures.

Les dirigeants occidentaux entretiennent une dynamique d’auto-fragilisation : pour répondre aux crises immédiates, ils affaiblissent progressivement les capacités humaines, sociales, économiques et démocratiques nécessaires pour affronter les crises futures.

La descente aux enfers sera nettement plus rapide que l’ascension…

Nous ne serions donc pas face à un suicide volontaire, mais à quelque chose de peut-être plus inquiétant : une civilisation qui, par peur de perdre ce qu’elle possède, détruit progressivement ce qui lui permettait de vivre: ses racines, ses fondamentaux.

Solutions ?

Tout le monde regarde l’Europe. Même les européens se demandent pourquoi vu les erreurs successives de gouvernance de guerre plutôt que de solutions régénératives de l’UE… Car, rien de vraiment intéressant ne viendra d’Amérique du Nord. Les agendas de la Chine sont clairs et transparents, et délivrent. L’Afrique fait ce qu’elle peut pour récupérer une souveraineté après des siècles de colonialismes éhontés,… et l’Amérique latine est ‘entre les deux. S’il y a intelligence, elle pourrait venir d’Europe, d’entre les fentes d’un système fissuré. Avec antidotes, vaccins, contre ‘ce qui ne délivre pas’, après des décennies d’efforts post-industriels idéologiques — aujourd’hui devenus totalement désuets et même ridicules. L’UE est entrée en récession, et doit donc se réinventer. Ou mourir. Mais nous sommes impatients — ouioui — de voir les soubresauts de vie de ce grand corps en palliatif.

Les ‘nouvelles idées’ sont hyper difficiles à implémenter — non pas à cause de l’hyper-réglementation (car il existe des façons faciles de créer exceptions juridiques et zones franches), mais par la peur de perdre les acquis d’une caste au pouvoir. Et probablement aussi une incapacité de se projeter avec agilité d’une classe de dirigeants d’un âge avancé (‘ne m’emmerdez pas 5 ans avant ma pension — on a plus l’âge de …’).

Ou peut-être, les idées venant de la marge en occident, avec moyens financiers d’investisseurs visionnaires, sur territoires accueillant de nouvelles idées ? Un exercice planétaire, unifié ?

Qui vivra verra.

Nous avons oui, déjà perdu de nombreux ‘vrais’ penseurs, récemment: Philippe de Woot, Bernard Liétaer, Bernard Stiegler, Ervin Laszlo, Jean Ziegler, Edgar Morin, Bruno Latour, Jürgen Habermas, Hazel Henderson, David Graeber, Daniel Kahneman, Michel Serres, … mais où sont les prochains — de la prochaine génération ? Et leur travail a servi à quoi ? Et puis d’ailleurs… les prophètes et sages de l’histoire, ceci inclus Ghandi, Luther king et Jésus de Nazareth ? Où est passé leur héritage ?

Ce qui est certain, c’est que le citoyen ‘lambda’ est de moins en moins dupe, que les manœuvres des lobbies et ‘élites’ sont visibles à l’œil nu, que de très nombreux curseurs sont dans le rouge (inclus colère, fatigue et maladies). Cela promet des joyeuseries à court terme. Achetez vos tickets première classe au premier rang — enjoy the show.

Michel de Kemmeter

RegenEra — Club of Brussels

Et pourquoi, malheureusement, ce n’est pas seulement une impression. C’est très réel. Un crime silencieux contre l’humanité…

Disons-le gentiment : une grande partie de la population occidentale ne va pas bien. Pas bien du tout.

Disons-le moins gentiment : nous regardons des millions de personnes marcher avec de l’anxiété dans le ventre, du brouillard dans le cerveau, de la rage dans le système nerveux, et un téléphone à la main qui leur annonce toutes les sept secondes que le monde s’effondre, que quelqu’un ment, que quelqu’un d’autre vend une solution miracle, et qu’apparemment il faut aussi boire plus d’eau.

Merveilleux.

La question n’est pas : « Pourquoi les gens deviennent-ils instables ? »
La vraie question est : « Comment pourraient-ils ne pas le devenir ? »

Nous avons créé la machine industrielle parfaite pour la surcharge mentale. Et aussi, un crime silencieux contre l’humanité. Pour l’argent. En extrayant de l’argent des êtres humains comme nous extrayons les ressources de la Terre. Sans le moindre sens de la responsabilité des conséquences de nos actes.

1. La solitude historique : la grande faillite émotionnelle

Pour la première fois dans l’histoire, des millions de personnes sont censées affronter la vie seules.

Pas symboliquement seules. Vraiment seules.

Pas de village. Pas de tribu. Pas de grand-mère à proximité. Pas de voisins à qui faire confiance. Pas de rituel partagé. Pas de communauté stable. Pas de cercle d’anciens. Pas de récit commun. Même en famille et dans le couple, on a peur… de perdre.

Juste vous, votre boîte mail, votre loyer, vos formulaires d’assurance, vos impôts, votre appli de rencontre, votre fil d’actualité, vos traumatismes, et une carte de fidélité de supermarché qui vous connaît mieux que votre famille.

Polarisés par des croyances, des récits, des groupes Facebook — mais aussi politiquement polarisés, entre wokisme, menaces, insécurité…

Et maintenant, nous entrons dans une période de ‘polycrises’ sérieuse : instabilité économique, stress écologique, tensions géopolitiques, fragmentation sociale, disruption technologique.

Traverser cela seul n’est pas « difficile ».
C’est biologiquement absurde. Impossible.

Le système nerveux humain n’a pas été conçu pour traiter une incertitude civilisationnelle assis seul dans un appartement une chambre, en mangeant des pâtes réchauffées sous un éclairage LED.

Donc oui, l’anxiété explose. Pas parce que les gens sont faibles. Parce que l’isolement est un poison silencieux.

‘De plus en plus de solitude — de plus en plus besoin de solidarité’

2. Bruit, fake news, bouillie IA et effondrement de l’attention

Ensuite vient la deuxième couche : le bruit.

Chaque jour, nous recevons plus d’informations que nos ancêtres n’en traitaient en plusieurs mois.

News, fausses actualités, demi-actualités, actualités de rage, actualités d’influenceurs, actualités de panique, « contenu » généré par IA, écrit par personne, pour personne, pour ne rien dire, afin de vendre quelque chose d’inutile.

Nous nous noyons dans les mots et nous mourons de faim de sens.
Le discernement s’est perdu dans la bataille.

La durée d’attention diminue. L’intelligence émotionnelle s’affaiblit. Le QI aussi. La vraie conversation est remplacée par la réaction. Les « likes ». La nuance est assassinée en public par des algorithmes avec des chaussures de clown.

Pendant ce temps, les problèmes auxquels nous faisons face deviennent plus complexes, plus interconnectés et plus rapides.

Résumons donc la farce :

Le monde exige plus de sagesse que jamais, et nous nous entraînons à penser en émoticon, en titres choc et en vidéos de douze secondes.

Brillant. Qu’est-ce qui pourrait mal tourner ?

La confusion explose. Et de temps en temps, on se fait arnaquer sur une offre en ligne.

Les gens ne savent plus ce qui est vrai, qui croire, ce qui compte, quoi faire, ni même ce qu’ils ressentent.

Alors ils se figent. Ou ils crient. Ou ils fuient. Ou ils achètent une nouvelle formation en ligne, ou une nouvelle paire de baskets.

‘De plus en plus de bruit — de plus en plus de complexité — de moins en moins de discernement’

3. « Il n’y a pas d’alternative » : la cage invisible

La troisième folie est la croyance qu’il n’y a pas de sortie.

« Je dois. »
« Il n’y a pas moyen de faire autrement. »
« Et puis, où pourrais-je aller ailleurs ? »

Pas d’alternative au stress.
Pas d’alternative à la dette.
Pas d’alternative au travail vide de sens.
Pas d’alternative à la solitude.
Pas d’alternative à la machine.
Pas d’alternative au fait d’être épuisé, médicalisé, distrait et discrètement désespéré.

C’est peut-être le traumatisme le plus profond de l’Occident moderne : non pas la douleur elle-même, mais la croyance que la douleur est normale et que rien d’autre n’est possible.

Les gens ne souffrent pas seulement.
Ils souffrent à l’intérieur de systèmes qui leur disent :
« Veuillez vous adapter. C’est comme ça, la vie. »

Non. Ce n’est pas ça, la vie.

Un être humain n’est pas conçu pour vivre comme une ‘unité de productivité avec un abonnement Netflix’.

Quand les gens se sentent piégés, le trauma grandit. Quand ils ne voient aucune porte, le corps et l’âme commencent à hurler. Maladies du siècle doublée d’une profonde perte d’alignement, de sens, de santé mentale.

Parfois sous forme d’anxiété.
Parfois sous forme de dépression.
Parfois sous forme de burn-out.
Parfois sous forme d’addiction.
Parfois sous forme de rage contre tout et tout le monde.

Et ensuite, nous appelons l’individu « malade », pendant que l’environnement reste poliment non questionné.

Très pratique. M’enfin, c’est le monde autour de nous qui est malade — comment rester ‘en bonne santé’ dans un monde malade ?

‘De plus en plus d’angoisse d’enfermement — de plus en plus de contrôle sur nous’

4. Notre modèle de santé mentale trop étroit

Soyons justes : beaucoup de médecins, psychiatres, psychologues et thérapeutes font un travail courageux, nécessaire et magnifique.

Cet article n’est pas une attaque contre eux. C’est une attaque contre un système trop étroit. Trop souvent, la réponse par défaut à la souffrance mentale est :

Médication.
Congé maladie.
Liste d’attente.
Revenez dans six mois.
Bonne chance. Essayez de ne pas vous effondrer entre-temps.

Ce n’est pas un écosystème de guérison. C’est du bricolage d’urgence.

Et les résultats ne sont pas bons — dans notre monde tellement ‘développé’ — si l’on en croit les faits et les chiffres. C’est un immense échec.

La médication peut être utile. Les soins cliniques peuvent sauver des vies. Mais si quelqu’un est seul, perdu, économiquement terrorisé, spirituellement vide, socialement déconnecté, physiquement épuisé et noyé dans le bruit numérique, une pilule seule ne reconstruira pas sa vie. Sortons une fois pour toutes de cette naïveté. Nous traitons les êtres humains comme s’ils étaient des machines défectueuses. Mais les gens ne sont pas des machines. Ce sont des êtres relationnels, émotionnels, physiques, spirituels et sociaux.

Ils ont besoin de sécurité. De rythme. De communauté. De sens. De toucher. De nature. De but. De sommeil. De mouvement. De conversation honnête. D’un endroit où pleurer. D’un endroit où rire. D’un endroit où redevenir utile.

Le fait que nous considérions cela comme « alternatif » en dit long sur notre niveau de confusion.

Et sur notre degré de dépendance à la machine à gellules.

‘De plus en plus de malades — de moins en moins de temps — de plus en plus de pilules’

5. Le cirque « new age » n’est pas toujours mieux

Maintenant, avant que la communauté de l’encens ne se sente trop à l’aise, parlons.

Car le monde alternatif possède lui aussi sa magnifique collection de folies.

Certaines personnes fuient la froideur du système médical et tombent directement dans le brouillard spirituel.

Soudain, tout est « énergie », « fréquence », « quantique », « alignement divin », « nettoyage ancestral », « manifestation », « karma » ou « contrat d’âme ».

Parfois, cela signifie quelque chose. Et parfois, cela ne signifie absolument rien — mais avec des bougies.

Il existe de magnifiques guérisseurs, des guides matures, des praticiens sages et des approches profondément transformatrices en dehors du courant dominant. Mais il existe aussi des égos spirituels habillés en lin blanc.

La posture est familière :

« Moi, je sais. »
« Tu n’es pas prêt. »
« Tu es dans la résistance. »
« Ta vibration est basse. »
« Cela fera 888 €. »

Merveilleux. L’illumination avec plan de paiement.

Certaines personnes utilisent la spiritualité pour se reconnecter à la réalité. D’autres l’utilisent pour l’éviter complètement.

Elles flottent tellement haut au-dessus du sol qu’elles oublient de payer leur loyer, de s’excuser, de prendre des décisions ou d’écouter quelqu’un qui n’est pas d’accord.

Mais « elles savent », et elles vont vous expliquer le sens de la vie après une session d’ayahuasca. Ou vingt.

Ce n’est pas de l’éveil. C’est de la dissociation avec de la musique douce et des fleurs.

La vraie spiritualité vous rend plus ancré, plus honnête, plus aimant, plus responsable et plus utile.

Si elle vous rend arrogant, vague, manipulateur ou allergique aux faits concrets, vous n’avez pas transcendé l’ego. Vous l’avez habillé en blanc.

C’est pire. Vous croyez à votre propre histoire tordue.

6. Les gens « aux commandes » perdent aussi le fil

Et puis, nous avons les soi-disant « leaders ». Bruxelles, Washington DC, Dubaï, Davos, Londres,…

Dirigeants politiques, économiques, institutionnels, académiques, financiers, stratégiques, dirigeants de syndicats et de fédérations — tous ces gens très sérieux, en costumes très sérieux, utilisant des mots très sérieux dans des salles très sérieuses. Payés par nos impôts.

Et pourtant, d’une manière ou d’une autre, le résultat dur aujourd’hui est le suivant : effondrement de la confiance, populations épuisées, inégalités explosives, dépassement écologique, crise de santé mentale, logique de guerre, fragmentation sociale, et le sentiment général que personne ne conduit réellement le bus.

Beaucoup d’entre eux ne sont pas mauvais. Beaucoup sont dépassés. Certains sont piégés dans des systèmes qu’ils ne contrôlent plus — même s’ils ont vraiment essayé.

D’autres font encore semblant que l’ancien monde peut continuer avec quelques slides ESG et un post LinkedIn sur le « purpose-WHY », ou une retraite de week-end autour de tables avec des speakers TED et des auteurs à succès — voire une fondation philanthropique qui « aide » et partage des photos avec ses enfants au déjeuner du dimanche ou dans son rapport annuel « d’impact ».

Mais le fantasme du contrôle est en train de mourir. On le voit à l’œil nu. Tout cela ressemble à une fin de partie dans un bac à sable de petits garçons.

L’idée que la société peut être gérée d’en haut, avec des tableaux de bord, de la pression, de la dette, de la surveillance, du marketing brillant, des discours polis et des réunions à huis clos, est en train de s’effondrer.

Les gens ne répondent plus. La planète ne coopère pas.

Les jeunes n’achètent plus l’histoire. Nous les avons perdus.

La classe moyenne est épuisée, ruinée. Les pauvres sont abandonnés.

Les riches construisent des bunkers, ce qui est toujours un excellent signe de confiance.

Les pays occidentaux sont devenus des ‘pays du Tiers-Monde avec une ceinture Gucci’.

Voilà ce qu’il reste : terres détruites, démographie vieillissante, population brûlée de l’intérieur, économies en faillite. La chute est beaucoup plus rapide que l’ascension.

Donc oui, même les « gens aux commandes » deviennent fous — parce que la machine dont ils ont profité est maintenant en train de dévorer ses propres opérateurs.

Et ils sont détestés — parce que les gens affamés et épuisés ont compris leur jeu. Ils ont vu, réellement, comment ils décident et gèrent : dans leur propre intérêt, tout en siphonnant ce qui reste de l’argent pour eux-mêmes.

Zéro soin. Zéro attention. Zéro cœur. Zéro responsabilité.

Alors, tout le monde est-il fou ?

Pas cliniquement. Pas littéralement. Pas à 100 %.

Mais culturellement ?
Systémiquement ?
Spirituellement ?
Socialement ?

Disons que l’Occident traverse une gigantesque crise nerveuse tout en essayant encore de répondre correctement à ses emails.

Nous ne sommes pas seulement en train d’observer une folie individuelle.

Nous observons une civilisation qui a perdu le contact avec les bases :

Les gens ont besoin des gens.
Les corps ont besoin de rythme.
Les enfants ont besoin de sécurité.
Les adultes ont besoin de sens.
Les communautés ont besoin de confiance.
Le travail a besoin de dignité.
Les économies ont besoin de but.
La technologie a besoin de limites.
La spiritualité a besoin d’ancrage.
Le leadership a besoin d’humilité.

Rien de tout cela n’est compliqué. Rien de tout cela n’est très cher.

Mais apparemment, il nous a fallu plusieurs siècles de « progrès » pour l’oublier. Alors même que tous les sages et prophètes nous l’ont expliqué de mille manières, depuis des millénaires. Beaucoup ont été cloués au mur pour cela :

« Comment oses-tu défier notre pouvoir, et offrir aux gens l’autonomie de penser, basée sur l’amour plutôt que sur la peur ? »

« Tu as un rêve ? Boum. Maintenant tu peux rêver, te taire, et nous laisser siphonner l’énergie et l’argent du peuple. »

Si vous vous souvenez un peu de l’histoire, vous alignerez rapidement les noms et adresses de ceux qui ont été tués, moqués, marginalisés, réduits au silence. Qu’avons-nous appris après tous ces sacrifices ? Pourquoi choisissons-nous encore la guerre, la peur et la division ?

Pourquoi ?

La voie de sortie

La réponse n’est pas de rejeter la médecine.
Ni d’adorer aveuglément les chamans.
Ni de blâmer seulement les politiciens.
Ni de fuir dans la fantaisie.
Ni d’attendre que la prochaine application, pilule, gourou, élection, milliardaire ou intelligence artificielle vienne nous « sauver ».

La réponse est de reconstruire la forte infrastructure humaine manquante.

Des cercles.
Des communautés.
De vraies conversations.
De la résilience locale.
Des rituels sains.
De la guérison intégrative.
Du travail qui a du sens.
Du soutien mutuel.
De l’éducation émotionnelle.
De la régulation par le corps.
Une connexion à la nature.
De la solidarité pratique.

Et un bien meilleur sens de l’humour, parce que franchement, sans cela, toute cette affaire devient insupportable.

Nous n’avons pas besoin de plus de bruit.

Nous avons besoin d’endroits où les gens peuvent enfin s’entendre eux-mêmes — et s’entendre les uns les autres.

Nous n’avons pas besoin de plus de fausses solutions.

Nous avons besoin de communautés vivantes où guérison, clarté et action peuvent grandir ensemble.

Nous n’avons pas besoin de devenir parfaits.

Nous avons besoin de redevenir suffisamment sains pour arrêter de prétendre que tout cela est normal.

Et la bonne nouvelle ?

Tout le monde n’est pas perdu.

Il existe encore des gens qui voient. Une toute petite fraction de la population.

Des gens qui reconstruisent la confiance.
Des gens qui créent des cercles.
Des gens qui guérissent discrètement.
Des gens qui servent sans faire une religion d’eux-mêmes.
Des gens qui reconnectent le monde intérieur et le monde extérieur.

Autrement dit :

Oui, l’Occident semble complètement fou.

Sauf, bien sûr, vous et moi — qui lisons cet article.

Évidemment. Nous, ça va. Plus ou moins.

En fait, non. J’ai changé d’avis : nous sommes fous aussi.

Parce que nous acceptons que nos amis et nos familles soient traités aussi mal par le système médical : médicaments sur ordonnance… sans autre parcours intégré, intelligent, vers un comportement sain, une santé globale, qui pourrait peut-être mener à une vie plus consciente et plus accomplie. C’est un crime profond et silencieux contre l’humanité.

Nous sommes vraiment tous fous.

Mais d’admettre que nous le sommes —ou tout au moins, disfonctionnels — nous fera peut etre entrer dans un espace où nous allons pouvoir guérir et avancer…

Michel A. de Kemmeter

Let’s say it gently: a large part of the Western population is not doing great. At all.

Let’s say it less gently: we are watching millions of people walk around with anxiety in their stomach, fog in their brain, rage in their nervous system, and a phone in their hand telling them every seven seconds that the world is ending, someone is lying, someone else is selling a miracle solution, and apparently they should also drink more water.

Wonderful.

The question is not: “Why are people becoming unstable?”
The real question is: “How could they not?”

We have created the perfect industrial machine for mental overload. Also, a silent crime against humanity. For money. Extracting money from people like we do from earth.

1. Historical loneliness: the great emotional bankruptcy

For the first time in history, millions of people are expected to face life almost alone.

Not symbolically alone. Actually alone. No village. No tribe. No grandmother nearby. No neighbours you can trust. No shared ritual. No stable community. No circle of elders. No common story. Just you, your inbox, your rent, your insurance forms, your tax bill, your dating app, your newsfeed, your trauma, and a supermarket loyalty card that knows you better than your family.

Polarized through beliefs, stories, Facebook groups — but also politically polarized, woke, threats, insecurity…

And now we are entering a period of serious shocks: economic instability, ecological stress, geopolitical tension, social fragmentation, technological disruption.

Going through that alone is not “difficult.” It is biologically absurd. Impossible.

The human nervous system was not designed to process civilizational uncertainty while sitting alone in a one-bedroom apartment eating reheated pasta under LED lighting.

So yes, anxiety explodes. Not because people are weak. Because isolation is silent poison.

‘More and more loneliness — lerss ans less solidarity — more en more need of collective intelligence’

2. Noise, fake news, AI sludge, collapsing attention

Then comes the second layer: noise.

Every day, we are hit by more information than our ancestors processed in months. News, fake news, half-news, rage-news, influencer-news, panic-news, AI-generated “content” written by nobody, for nobody, to say nothing, in order to sell something.

We are drowning in words and starving for meaning. Discernment got lost in the battle.

Attention spans are shrinking. Emotional intelligence is weakening. Real conversation is being replaced by reaction. ‘Likes’. Nuance is being murdered in public by algorithms wearing clown shoes.

Meanwhile, the problems we face are becoming more complex, more interconnected, and faster.

So let’s summarize the joke:

The world requires more wisdom than ever, and we are training ourselves to think in memes, headlines and 12-second videos.

Brilliant. What could possibly go wrong? Confusion explodes. And once in a while, ripped off on online deals.

People no longer know what is true, who to trust, what matters, what to do, or even what they feel.

So they freeze. Or they shout. Or they escape. Or they buy another online course.

‘More and more noise — less and less intelligence — more and more complexity’

3. “There is no alternative”: the invisible cage

The third madness is the belief that there is no way out. ‘I have to’ — ‘There is no way out’ — ’Where can I go elsewhere anyway’ ?

No alternative to stress.
No alternative to debt.
No alternative to meaningless work.
No alternative to loneliness.
No alternative to the machine.
No alternative to being exhausted, medicated, distracted and quietly desperate.

This is perhaps the deepest trauma of the modern West: not pain itself, but the belief that pain is normal and that nothing else is possible.

People are not only suffering. They are suffering inside systems that tell them: “Please adapt. This is just how life is.” No, it is not.

A human being is not designed to live as a productivity unit with a Netflix subscription.

When people feel trapped, trauma grows. When they see no door, the body starts screaming. Sometimes as anxiety. Sometimes as depression. Sometimes as burnout. Sometimes as addiction. Sometimes as rage against everyone and everything.

And then we call the individual “sick,” while the environment remains politely unquestioned.

Very convenient.

‘More and more control and anxiety’

4. Our mental healthcare model is too narrow

Let us be fair: many doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists do courageous, necessary, beautiful work. This article is not an attack on them. It is an attack on a system that is far too narrow. Too often, the default response to mental suffering is:

Medication.
Sick leave.
Waiting list.
Come back in six months.
Good luck. Try not to collapse in the meantime.

This is not a healing ecosystem. This is emergency patchwork. And the results are no good — if we believe the facts & figures.

Medication can be useful. Clinical care can save lives. But if someone is lonely, lost, economically terrified, spiritually empty, socially disconnected, physically exhausted and drowning in digital noise, a pill alone will not rebuild their life.

We are treating human beings as if they were malfunctioning machines. But people are not machines. They are relational, emotional, physical, spiritual, social beings.

They need safety. Rhythm. Community. Meaning. Touch. Nature. Purpose. Sleep. Movement. Honest conversation. A place to cry. A place to laugh. A place to be useful again.

The fact that we consider this “alternative” says a lot about how confused we have become. How dependent we became from the pill machine.

‘More and more illness — less and less time — more and more pills’

5. The “new age” circus is not always better

Now, before the incense community gets too comfortable, let’s talk. Because the alternative world also has its own magnificent collection of madness. Some people escape the coldness of the medical system and fall directly into spiritual fog.

Suddenly everything is “energy,” “frequency,” “quantum,” “divine alignment,” “ancestral clearing,” “manifestation”, “karma”, or “your soul contract.” Which sometimes means something. And sometimes means absolutely nothing, but with candles.

There are beautiful healers, mature guides, wise practitioners, and deeply transformative approaches outside the mainstream. But there are also spiritual egos wearing linen. The posture is familiar:

“I know.”
“You are not ready.”
“You are in resistance.”
“Your vibration is low.”
“That will be €888.”

Wonderful. Enlightenment with a payment plan. Some people use spirituality to reconnect to reality. Others use it to avoid reality altogether. They float so high above the ground that they forget to pay rent, apologize, make decisions, or listen to anyone who disagrees. But ‘they know’, and ‘they gonna explain you what life is about’ after an Ayahuasca session or twenty.

That is not awakening. That is dissociation with soft music and flowers.

Real spirituality makes you more grounded, more honest, more loving, more responsible and more useful.

If it makes you arrogant, vague, manipulative or allergic to concrete facts: you have not transcended the ego. You have dressed it in white. It is worse. You believe in you own wicked story…

6. The people “in charge” are also losing the plot

And then we have the so-called ‘leaders’. Brussels, Washington DC, Dubai, Davos, London,…

Political leaders, economic leaders, institutional leaders, academic leaders, financial leaders, strategic leaders, union and federations leaders — all the serious people in serious suits using serious words in serious rooms. Paid for by our taxes.

And yet, somehow, the hard result today is: collapsing trust, exhausted populations, exploding inequality, ecological overshoot, mental health crises, war logic, social fragmentation and a general feeling that nobody is actually driving the bus.

Many of them are not evil. Many are overwhelmed. Some are trapped inside systems they no longer control — even if they really tried. Some are still pretending the old world can continue with a few ESG slides and a LinkedIn post about purpose, or a weekend retreat around tables with TED speakers and best-selling authors — or even a philantropic foundation who ‘helps’ and shares pictures with their children on sunday lunch or in their annual ‘impact’ reports.

But the control fantasy is dying. We can see it with the naked eye. All of it. Looks like the end game in the boys’ sandbox.

The idea that society can be managed from the top, with dashboards, pressure, debt, surveillance, glossy marketing and polite speeches, closed door meetings, is breaking down.

People are not responding anymore.
The planet is not cooperating.
The young are not buying the story anymore. We lost them.
The middle class is exhausted, bankrupt.
The poor are abandoned.
The rich are building bunkers, which is always a sign that confidence is high.

The Western countries became ‘Third World countries with a Gucci belt’. Thats all what is left: destyroyed land, old demography, burned-out population, and bankrupt economies. The fall being way faster than the rize.

So yes, even the “people in charge” are going mad — because the machine they benefited from is now eating its own operators. And, they are hated — as starving exhausted people penetrated their game, and have seen for real how they decide and manage: for their own interest, whilst siphoning whats left of the money for their own. Zero care.

So, is everyone crazy?

Not clinically. Not literally. Not 100%. But culturally? Systemically? Spiritually? Socially?

Let’s say: the West is in a massive nervous breakdown while still trying to answer emails properly.

We are not witnessing individual madness only.
We are witnessing a civilization that has lost connection with the basics:

People need people.
Bodies need rhythm.
Children need safety.
Adults need meaning.
Communities need trust.
Work needs dignity.
Economies need purpose.
Technology needs boundaries.
Spirituality needs grounding.
Leadership needs humility.

None of this is complicated or expensive.
But apparently, we needed several centuries of “progress” to forget it. Even though all wise and prophets have explained us in many ways, for millenia. Many have been nailed to the wall for that: ‘How dare you challenge our power, and offer autonomy of thinking to people, based on love instead of fear’… ‘You have a dream ? Boom ! Now you can dream, sh!t up and let us suck the people’s energy and money out.’

If you remember history a little — you will quickly line up names and addresses of those people who were killed, mocked, marginalized, silenced. What have we learned after all those sacrifices ? Why do we still go for war, fear and division ? Why ?

The way out

The answer is not to reject medicine. Not to worship shamans blindly.
Not to blame politicians only. Not to escape into fantasy.
Not to wait for the next app, pill, guru, election, billionaire or artificial intelligence to ‘save’ us.

The answer is to rebuild the missing strong ‘human infrastructure’.

Circles. Communities.
Real conversation.
Local resilience.
Healthy rituals.
Integrative healing.
Meaningful work.
Mutual support.
Emotional education.
Body-based regulation.
Connection to nature.
Practical solidarity.

And a much better sense of humour, because frankly, without it, the whole thing is unbearable.

We do not need more noise. We need places where people can finally hear themselves — and each other again.

We do not need more fake solutions. We need living communities where healing, clarity and action can grow together.

We do not need to become perfect. We need to become sane enough to stop pretending this is normal.

And the good news? Not everybody is lost. There are still people who see it. A very tiny fraction of population.
People rebuilding trust.
People creating circles.
People healing quietly.
People serving without making a religion out of themselves.
People reconnecting the inner world and the outer world.

In other words: Yes, the West looks completely crazy.

Except, of course, you and me — reading this article. Obviously. We are fine. More or less.

Well actually, no, I changed my mind: we are nuts too ! Because we accept that our friends and family are treated so badly by the medical system: prescription medication… with no other integrated, smart pathway to sound behaviour, global health, which maybe, will lead to a more conscious and fulfilled life. That is a deep and silent crime against humanity.

We all are really crazy.

But admitting our disfunctionality helps us — maybe — enter a space in wich we can heal and progress…

Michel A. de Kemmeter