As this is the most complex webpage in this section, particularly for newbies, we've arranged this webpage into a few tabs to make it easier to digest.
Before we get into the reversal of the processes of stigma and exclusion we need to understand the predicament many people who are affected (by stigma and exclusion) are caught up in. So let's start with a list of things which need to be taken into consideration.
- The vast majority of people who are affected by stigma and exclusion have no real possibilities to overcome the stigma by themselves. Some people can, because they have a social support network, but most people don't have a social support network and are struggling with too many issues and barriers to make any changes.
- Organizations cannot do much because they have structures, policies, hierarchies, and often do not have the awareness or understanding of stigma or exclusion to be of any help. Social stigma cannot be addressed by simplistic solutions because they are social processes and once a life is broken it usually stays broken. Dealing with stigma and exclusion can get very resource hungry very fast if you don't know what you're doing.
- Charitable organizations can only deal with the most superficial, practical issues and even then their resources are stretched and many struggle to find funding, staff and volunteers.
- The Government approach is the simplest - get a job. Update your CV. Apply for more jobs. Politicians have zero interest in social security, let alone social stigma and exclusion.
- Intervention does not work. At all. Experiences of social stigma and exclusion are as unique as the individual who has to deal with them. Conditionality works against almost everyone and it's hard to reintegrate people into a society which has rejected them over and over and over again.
- There is a profound lack of insight and awareness into such issues as stigma and exclusion, poverty, inequality, and such issues as addiction, mental health issues, obesity, recividism, and not much effort or willingness to learn because so many settle for stigma, judgment and blame. Unfortunately such people are in positions of power and have control of both resources and opportunities.
It is possible to reverse the toxic processes of social stigma and exclusion through a community based approach outside the wider community and society in a way which offers those affected an immediate sense of social inclusion into a community which is open-minded, non-judgmental, and empathic. There is a widespread need for such a community of outsiders and not so much outsiders.
Qultura is set up to be an alternative dream weaving community where anyone can find community and overcome the issues of stigma and exclusion.
Dream weaving is literally the 'weaving together' of different thoughts, emotions, experiences, memories, stories, perspectives, ideas, feelings and so on together to create a new reality. As dream weaving is a magical way of creating new reality - and magic is all about unity and a connection between individual and environment - this is something that can be easily done in community as a community process.
What you're actually doing is seeking connections between four different things - memory, the environment, trauma (or past trauma) and the mind. This can be done easily through social interaction, community involvement and participation, drama, role play, to create conceptual reality which is based on the creation of truth through sharing humanity, narratives, and conscious awareness.
Putting those affected by stigma and exclusion at an advantage
The development of an alternative dream weaving community puts many people affected by social stigma and exclusion at an advantage because they have had to deal with the traumatic processes of stigma and exclusion, and in their often 'broken' lives and loss of status they are much closer to social reality than anyone else.
Having to deal with stigma and exclusion forces those affected to be creative, problem solvers, and while many of their experiences with others have been harsh they are generally further along the path of mindfulness and conscious awareness than most other people in society - many of who are still wrapped up in their Egos and clinging to their social positions and status.
Therefore the reality here is that those affected by social stigma and social exclusion are not living 'broken' lives at all, because it's the system in which we all live which is dysfunctional and broken. They are simply the victims of others who believe you can have a society without integrity, dignity and empathy.
Within the context of a dream weaving community it's the outsiders of society who can often provide the most insight and many have been forced to develop a 'meta-physic', i.e. a deeper spiritual and existential dimensions to their lives. Therefore the inclusion of such people into our dream weaving community is fundamental to its development. Please keep this in mind as it will become relevant later when we get into our community projects.
But first we need to get into what Qultura is about and how it is designed to work.
Qultura is a complete system for developing conscious awareness, truth and mindfulness broadly similar to other such systems as Buddhism, Taoism, some forms of yoga, and so on. Some have said that it is very similar to Taoism and can be seen as a stripped down, modern alternative to Taoism. It was developed over 12 years from 2009 by Stella Baker (a mystic and modern urban shaman) together with Ian 'Fibbo' Fibbens (1965-2013) and is a fusion and derivative of Theravada Buddhism, theosophy and the Kabbalah. Therefore in terms of other systems it's pretty much shiny and new.
It's based entirely on the Principle and the Process.
The Principle and the Process
Existence is a principle. Creativity and interaction is a process. This is all you really need to know about the basic principles of all existence. This is the 'how' and 'what' of life. Asking "What?" gives you a principle. Asking "How?" gives you a process.
Everything in existence has its own unique principle and process. A tree has a principle and a process. This planet has a principle and process. The universe has a principle and a process. You have a principle and a process. So too does everyone else.
You develop a Qultura method to become familiar with your unique principle and process so you can live consciously in relative harmony with your environment and others.
To get a deeper understanding of what Qultura is and is designed to work we need to understand what it is not. Qultura is not a belief system, a philosophy, and it's not a method which you can follow. There are two aspects to Qultura which are designed to work simultaneously.
Qultura methodology is a complete methodology in 'kit' from. There are four components to Qultura methodology:
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Natural Law
- Universal Principles
- Combined numerology
- Unmind
The methodology is made freely accessible to you (and everyone else) in the form of a free e-book titled 'The Principle and the Process' and also on four webpages here on this website under 'Methodology'.
Also under 'Methodology' are additional mystical resources either connected to or supportive of Qultura methodology including Kabbalah numerology and the five dimensions of living existence, together with six free e-books.
Qultura methodology is arguably the simplest and easiest system to learn. The e-book in PDF format is just 97 pages. You learn or at least become familiar with the four components in your own time through self-study. For most people it's somewhere between a few hours and a couple of days.
The whole point of developing a Qultura method is to become 'real' which means you develop your own, unique Qultura methods based on your knowledge of life, your past memories, your experience of life, and your individual perspective on life.
You develop a Qultura method in the Qultura community together with other members of the community through dream weaving activity.
Qultura methodology is designed to be developed through dream weaving activity and practice in the very amenable social environment of the Qultura community. It would be very difficult to do any sort of dream weaving if everyone is following the same basic method which is why we do not advocate either meditation or yoga. Nor do we offer any courses or provide you with a teacher because you shouldn't need a teacher or a course to teach you how to exchange stories or get to know other people, which is essentially what dream weaving is really all about.
Access to the Qultura community is completely free of charge to everyone. You can access the community both online via a Community Message Board and also real time through community projects.
To become a member of our community all you need to do is register on our Community Message Board and participate. However this is a very small community at present and we are seeking to develop it through a couple of long term community projects.
In order to develop the Qultura community further we are developing two long term community projects - a Human Library project and Qultura Connect, which is the working title for our universal system of community volunteering and activism.
Within these community projects we intend to develop a complete process of recovery for people who are affected by social stigma and exclusion, something which doesn't seem to exist in our communities or even in society in general.
Now you might remember, if you read the tab about dream weaving that often people affected by stigma and exclusion were further along the path when it comes to dveeloping conscious awareness and mindfulness. Well we've created a new role in our community volunteering system specifically for those affected by stigma and exclusion. It's called reverse participation.
You get more details about these projects and reverse participation in the relevant sections of this website, but to give you a brief overview...
The notion of reverse participation comes an understanding that within the context of a community volunteering system created to help and support people affected by stigma and exclusion, there needs to be a role for them which does not involve any actual volunteering or activism. This is so as to offer such people a sense of immediate social inclusion without needing to attach any obligation or expectation from them.
What such people have is the ability to share insight which would be of benefit to both members of the Qultura community and also to other people outside the community. Therefore it's enough for anyone in this role to simply make contact and share experiences of their life and their stories with others.
Reverse participation is only relevant within the context of the Qultura Connect project when developing the Human Library project together with volunteers and activists. When they become involved in the Human Library project directly to share their insight with people at Human Library events, they of course become Human Books.
We also make it clear to those interested in reversing their participation in our community that they can do so in order to access community support from both within and outside our community. Within our community they can access emotional, psychological support from community volunteers, particularly community support volunteers, and have as much opportunity as possible to develop a stronger social support network through our community.
However when it comes to material, financial and professional support needs we signpost them out to the relevant organizations. In this way we develop a long term community process to reverse the traumatic processes of stigma and exclusion, but leave the more superficial and material stuff to the organizations.
The Human Library project is a new 'in development' long term community project which is designed to start the community process of recovery for people affected by stigma and exclusion. However our Human Library project will follow a somewhat different protocol from the original Human Library social movement.
The notion of a human library is not new. The original Human Library started in the year 2000 in Denmark and is a thriving international social movement. It is designed to address stigma and exclusion, much the same as we are doing. But what we've found are some human libraries are presenting human books according to their labels and social markers and challenging people to overcome their prejudices.
There is no need to follow such protocol as Qultura is an alternative dream weaving community developing as a new type of mystical community resource. Having supported people affected by stigma in the past, such as homeless people, we recognize the fact that nobody wants to be defined by their labels and most people affected by stigma are genuinely fascinating people once you get to know their stories. Therefore we are developing an entirely different set of protocols for our Human Library project.
You can find out more in our 'Human Library' section.
So finally, to round off this section of the website there needs to be a fairly brief overview of Qultura Connect.
Qultura Connect is the shorter name for our universal system of community volunteering which forms the basis of the Qultura Core community.
In recent years, particularly after the COVID lockdowns, it's become much harder for people to find work or jobs, particularly sustainable long term jobs. Prior to COVID it was mainly older people who faced struggles finding work or jobs, but since COVID many younger people are finding it difficult to find work. What this means is that social stigma is affecting many more people, and more people are finding it much harder to find work or even gain sufficient experience to be treated seriously as candidates for a job.
This in turn is having a knock on effect when it comes to volunteering as many people are seeking volunteering opportunities which will directly lead to paid work. With many more people seeking experience from volunteering it's getting hard to find sustainable volunteering opportunities without being exploited, and it's much harder to find volunteers for a specific role.
So what we've done is develop a universal community volunteering system which is completely self-identifying, self-regulating and self-perpetuating. No volunteer recruitment, no application process, no interviews or training, and nothing like an unpaid job. Our system is a community based system where you can change roles, switch roles, mix and match different roles and volunteer as much or as little as you wish.
Please understand that from our perspective community volunteering is primarily a social activity - and so therefore is an excellent opportunity for dream weaving activity on a different level as a practice. To find out more about how this all works please head to the 'Get involved' section of this website. So let's end this section here.