About

Who we are

Seeds of Renaissance (SoR) is a place for seekers who sense the impending death of old paradigms and long for the ideas, the practice, and the company to help birth the new. We are a movement and a space of belonging, offering mythos and language for what we already feel.

A woman holds stones beside a lake — Photography by Issy Baylis, 2026

Why now?

We are living in a transition moment, the slow death of old civilisations (modernity), while the new world has not yet fully been born. There is a disillusionment and a widespread loss of meaning, yet there is not yet a coherent cultural vision powerful enough to guide what comes next.

Why Seeds of Renaissance?

Not a return to the past, but a genuine rebirth

Our aim at SoR is to plant the seeds of a movement and foster a greenhouse for a new paradigm that is aware of itself. Modernity was itself born out of civilisational collapse in Europe at the end of the mediaeval period, leading to the first Renaissance which was a period of great cultural rebirth. At such a threshold, what is needed is not better management of existing systems, but a transformation at the level of foundations: a shift in the deep stories, values and ways of being that constitute culture itself.

Our original name, Second Renaissance came from this understanding of our current times. Not a return to the past, but a genuine rebirth drawing on all that has come before, while daring to become something new. Since our inception we have reconsidered our original name and determined that Seeds of Renaissance better captured what it is we set out to do. While we see a renaissance forming, we understand that it cannot be quantified or defined by one group and must be cultivated through collaboration from around the world.

The manifesto

Human civilization has always been a story of transformation, of old worlds dying and new ones being born. As in every great turning, crisis carries within it the seed of rebirth. We are living through such a moment.

We are a movement called to bring forth a civilizational renaissance.

Read our manifesto

What makes us different?

We are not here to decorate the old paradigm

Our SoR theory is grounded in practical experience of embodying authentic, honest hope through action. We are not here to decorate the old paradigm. We are here to alchemise mythos into action while helping midwife a wiser, weller civilisation.

Meditation without responsibility becomes retreat; action without wisdom becomes repetition of the old world. With kind authority and gentle somatic curiosity, SoR asks the questions you want the answers to with depth, rigour, wisdom, long-sighted perspective, the integration of theory and practice connected to a greater vision.

We are committed that our dreams of utopias do not turn into nightmares.

The Stewards

Sylvie Shiwei Barbier's and Rufus Pollock's symbiotic partnership creates a field of creativity balancing the yin and yang. They work together to converge the masculine and the feminine, the embodiment and the theory, the mystical and the rational. Their commitment to seeding a renaissance is fused in love and a shared commitment to act with wisdom and care to bequeath a better world to the next generations, including their own children. They share a deep understanding that as future ancestors, the suffering and shadow we don't transform, we transmit.

Sylvie Shiwei Barbier

A visionary ritual artist and co-founder of Life Itself. Her work synthesises Eastern and Western philosophies and aesthetics. Sylvie trained as a performance artist, designer and facilitator in anthroposophy pedagogy. Her work is an expression of her commitment to create, share and support a civilisational renaissance.

Rufus Pollock

A researcher, writer and entrepreneur exploring the meeting point of culture, consciousness, and systems change. Rufus trained as a mathematician and economist at the University of Cambridge and spent over a decade building open digital infrastructure. His work is an expression of a commitment to renew our civilisation's foundations.

Our embodiment in living is one of the greatest ways we plant the seeds of a renaissance. It shows that there is a way to be on a powerful spiritual path while raising children. Sylvie Barbier · Seeds of Renaissance Manifesto

Our roots

Rooted in Life Itself

Seeds of Renaissance was started by Life Itself, a collective that looks after it for now. Seeds is the wider movement, where the podcast, magazine, courses and events live, and it is meant to grow much bigger than Life Itself. You can take part without ever joining Life Itself.

It grew out of our work on these questions since 2016. Since 2024 we have published six papers, two issues of a magazine and a podcast, and from July 2024 to March 2026 we held weekly online calls.

An ecosystem is emerging of individuals and organisations, bonded by a shared recognition of this historical moment, and a calling to respond. See the ecosystem map, or our fuller ecosystem mapping research.

Curators

Sylvie Barbier, Rufus Pollock, Jonah Wilberg, Naeema Zarif.

Advisors

Alexander Beiner (Rebel Wisdom), Daniel Thorson (Emerge Podcast), Danielle Johnson (Limicon), Isabela Granic (McMaster University, Liminal Learning), James Baker (Intentional Society), Jamie Bristow (Mindfulness Initiative), Joe Lightfoot (Collective Blooming), Naryan Wong (Cultivating Leadership, Limicon), Oren Slozberg (Commonweal), Peter Limberg (the Stoa), Phil Chen (Eon V, Limicon, Ephemeral Group Process), Richard Bartlett (The Hum, Microsolidarity).

The fingerprints and the swallow

Our brand mark centres the swallow whose flight announces the arrival of spring and the promise of brighter days after a period of darkness. The swallow brings hope, renewal, enduring love, fresh starts, and protective good luck on its wings. Surrounding the swallow are radiating fingerprints, like seeds, arranged to mimic rays of the sun heralding a new dawn. The colour combination of red, white, and black represents life, death, and transition. Like the swallows our song announces the coming of spring as we travel through the dark night.

Who we're here for

We are here for people who

are disillusioned by the crises of modern civilisation
sense that something new is trying to emerge
want to participate in bringing forth a new paradigm
seek meaning, depth, and wisdom
are intellectually curious but also practically hungry and are searching for grounded hope

Some may already know these ideas conceptually but do not yet know how to live them. Others may feel isolated, overwhelmed, or cynical after seeing movements fail, fragment, or lose integrity.

We are here for people seeking depth and beauty and people who want transformation that is philosophical, spiritual, cultural, relational, practical and embodied.

Our invitation

Another world is on her way

We're eager to connect with those who feel, as we do, that our civilisation is at a profound threshold and that our relationship to life is in need of a profound shift. Join our newsletter to never miss an episode of the Seeds of Renaissance Podcast and to stay up to date on what's happening at SoR and in the broader community of seekers ushering in what's to come.

Our task is to listen for her breathing and help her be born.

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Two dancers with their arms raised — Fig. 2Listening for her breathing.