The phrase came out almost by accident, during a U3A session:
“The folly of trying to build an ecology.”
And yet, it stayed with me—like a pebble in the shoe of my thinking.
What does it mean to try to build something that, by its nature, emerges?
This reflection has led me deeper into questions I’ve long held:
How do we live, learn, and lead in tune with the rhythms of life—rather than in opposition to them?
How do we recover relationship, when so much of modernity teaches us to manage, engineer, or dominate?
These questions have begun to shape not only my thinking, but my writing voice itself.
I’ve recently started a new space on Substack called The Pond and the Pulse—a place for stories, fieldnotes, and quiet reckonings. It’s less about performance, more about presence. Less about thought leadership, more about listening.
Here are two pieces that might speak to you:
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🐍 The Man and His Serpent: A short story I’ve kept private until now. It speaks of inherited power, self-confrontation, and the possibility of choosing differently.
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🌀 The Pulse Beneath the Pavement: (to be published Thursday, 25 April). A personal fieldnote about ego, silence, and the strange paradox of writing into a world that often doesn’t echo back.
If you’ve been part of our U3A group—or if you’re someone sensing that another way of being is not only possible, but already quietly underway—you’re warmly invited to walk a little further with me.
Terry Cooke-Davies
21st April, 2025
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Listening is the beginning of belonging.
