Scotland is capable of great things. In the run-up to the 2014 referendum on independence we saw large-scale public mobilisation, where the Yes campaign pioneered a new political culture of volunteer groups, town hall meetings, gigs, street rallies and viral internet campaigns. The question now is how that energy and enthusiasm can be sustained and rebooted, and what kind of timescale a second drive for independence would require.

There has been a period of quiet reflection in the two years following the referendum defeat, interspersed with promising results for SNP candidates at Westminster and Holyrood elections. I sense that many people are now eager to start building towards independence again. Hope is returning to the movement. The SNP is trying to address the impatience of its new membership.

If there is to be a new drive for independence we should first remember that the Yes campaign was not led by governments, parties or politicians, but by an unprecedented groundswell of passionate, spontaneous and self-organising volunteers.

In my new book, ‘The Summer of Independence’, I recount the story of how the referendum became a platform for creativity, self-expression and challenging political convention. It is the first written account of that period from a grassroots perspective. It takes account of everything from town hall meetings to street rallies, to National Collective pub nights and the month-long ‘Yestival’ tour across Scotland in the summer of 2014. The book, I hope, will act as a reminder of the power and agency of ordinary people during that campaign.

The First Minister has suggested that Scotland being taken out of the European Union against its will next month could be one of the ‘material changes of circumstance’ which triggers a second independence referendum. That may well be true, but it’s also clear there will be a new independence drive whatever the result on Europe. In or out, an independent Scotland remains our only real hope of meaningful transformation.

The Yes movement has its eye on a second opportunity, but one it has to be certain of winning. It would be a mistake to focus on timescales alone - those of us who believe in an independent Scotland need to return to the core principles of our argument and reiterate, in clear and positive terms, precisely what independence is for. Independence means an end to unaccountable Westminster governments, a greater chance of social justice, equality of status for Scotland on the international stage, and the proper democratic representation of the Scottish people at all levels of government.

If the case for independence lies dormant until a second referendum is announced, those who voted No the first time will most likely vote No again. Their concerns and criticisms need to be addressed first in a way that is respectful and constructive. Now is the time for resilience in our independence movement, but it is also time for empathy, compassion and understanding. Scotland belongs to all of us, and a broad kirk must keep its doors open.

Referendum or no referendum, the work should start now in earnest. The Catalan movement, for example, is busier than ever despite having no binding referendum on the horizon. Assemblea Nacional Catalana, the pro-independence, non-party umbrella group, organises regular demonstrations, music concerts and a whole network of local campaign branches across Catalonia and beyond. It’s a bottom-up, grassroots model which unites members of many political parties under one banner for self-government.

There is no reason why something similar couldn’t work in Scotland. ‘Yes Scotland’ played a similar, albeit temporary role. We are yet to see what the SNP’s proposed summer drive for independence will look like, but any single-party initiative will have its limitations. If we are serious about building a majority for independence then a broad, diverse and multi-coloured movement is essential.

Our vehicle to self-government, I believe, is now unstoppable. But it’s a bus, not a bulldozer, and we will do well to remember the good principles of hope and inclusion exercised in the summer of 2014. We fell short of the overall majority, but in the process support for independence has risen from a traditional thirty per cent baseline to forty-five per cent on the day of polling. Who knows what that number is now, or will be in the coming years.

Scotland has changed fundamentally, even to a greater extent than its political parties. The independence movement has not only been a challenge to distant political power, it has been a challenge to every austere, reserved and hesitant trait of our own character. It has been a challenge to the idea that we should refrain from discussing our beliefs in public, that we should accept what we are given, and that ordinary people should not trust themselves with power. Most of all it has been a challenge to the idea that we are powerless by right, that we are unworthy of struggle, that to strive for better is delusional, and that we should not take control of our own lives for fear of the mistakes we might make in the process.

It has been a real joy to be part of this movement which does not doubt people, but trusts and believes in them. It continues as a bond between the people it enabled and empowered. I have seen how Scotland is changing, and how the direction of travel is one towards a revived, more imaginative national thinking. To take part has been a great adventure, and I hope the next stage of our journey will be as colourful and transformative as the last.

Andrew Barr is the author of ‘The Summer of Independence’(Word Power Books 2016) launched this week.