Village Mindedness

May it come to pass that we live our lives so as to be ancestors worthy of being claimed by the generations to come

Sign up for meaningful updates

Village-minded living in a modern villageless world

Village-mindedness is about cultivating a deep, communal understanding of life’s interdependence and responsibilities, even when the practicalities of creating a physical village may be difficult. It’s about how we think, act, and conduct ourselves in the world, especially in the face of modern challenges like consumerism, generational shifts, and fragmented social structures.

I work as a cultural consultant, helping individuals, communities, and organisations engage in the essential work of village-making — creating cultures of interdependence, mutual responsibility, and collective well-being in a world hindered by an amnesia of village consciousness.

Through practical frameworks like mentorship, leadership development, and community held initiation, I guide groups in building cohesive, resilient cultures that are rooted in the principles of village-mindedness, preparing people to find and fulfil their unique role within the collective. 

In short, I help people cultivate village-minded cultures in a modern, villageless world.

About James Wong

Like others, I have been confounded and confused by the ways of this world. Something about the modern paradigm just seems to have something missing. Forlorn and full of forgetting, I’ve brailed along the brooding horizon and more often than not, failed to place a fingers on why.

Community Building, Social Regeneration, Intentional Communities, Urban Renewal have long been buzz words and speak to a longing to belong. Yet belonging is not a state of being that like a mountain peak is achieved on summiting the peak but belonging comes from the act of climbing.

For the last 11 years, I’ve cut my teeth stewarding the initiation of destructive and self-destructive men aged 18-25 into manhood through grassroots-led rite of passage ceremonies. 

My approach is both rooted in practice but also draws on the mythopoetic traditions of old. A way of understanding the world that the cave paintings describe – a time when we all lived closer to the land, where our belonging was rooted in a place and we were connected to our ancestors and duty bound to our forebears.

Modern day and globalisation have done wonders to lift us out of poverty and we have the technogoly to digitally connect across the globe yet there remains a sense of homelessness, stemming from a deep a longing to belong. Looking back to where we come from and feeling our way through the old memories of our ancestors offers a way that get our bearings in a modern globalist society.