Friends,
My USA tour is shaping up very nicely.
I'll be meeting with Jim Rough (creator of Dynamic Facilitation) in Port
Townsend, Washington. He set up a 30 minute TV show for the two of us,
and we'll be having (separately) a roundtable discussion with some of
Jim's friends. Several other meetings and discussions are also being
arranged in Oregon. I'm particularly looking forward to meeting with Tom
Atlee, Rosa Zubizarreta, and Tree Bressen - all involved with
facilitation and community building. When in Hawaii, there may be an
opportunity to give a public talk in Honolulu.
In Palo Alto, on Weds Feb 18 at 8pm, we're having a roundtable discussion.
Several people have signed up already, and there is room for more. Let
me know if you're interested and I'll send more details.
all the best,
rkm
____________________________________________________
New idea for Global Transformation
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In ZGT (Zen of Global Transformation, on the cj website) I put forward
the idea that the key to global transformation is the creation of
community identity and empowerment. The key to building community, I
suggested, is learning to listen to one another and work together --
despite differences in interests, values, and beliefs. The final
element in ZGT was the identification of the kind of process that can
enable such listening and learning - Dynamic Facilitation (DF) or the
equivalent.
Recently, as I've reported, a Wisdom Council session was held in Oregon
and it demonstrated exactly the kind of community breakthrough that I
anticipated in ZGT. The session used DF and was facilitated personally
by Jim Rough. I think this was a strong validation of some of the ZGT
concepts, and I'll be meeting with several of the people who were
involved in the event. I plan to incorporate some of their comments and
experiences in my next publication project.
What was lacking in ZGT was any notion of how we could systematically
encourage the spread of such processes, and hence the widespread
emergence of community. I've now thought of a way for that to happen,
and as usual your feedback and comments will be appreciated.
The idea is a simple one: self-replication. Instead of trying to arrange
lots of community sessions, through some kind of activism or
organization, the idea is to invent a kind of group, and a kind of
process, which naturally clones itself - a social meme.
The spark for this cloning - the launch of the meme - will come in the
form of a carefully designed pamphlet. Let me first say something about
the non-content characteristics of the pamphlet...
Consider some of the meme pamphlets / books that are already out there,
such as the best-selling stop-smoking and diet books. These propagate
by two means - catchy cover and word of mouth. The pamphlet I have in
mind would have a very catchy cover, with a good title and cover design,
and endorsements from famous people. I'm hoping to get a Forward from
Michael Moore. I'd probably publish it through one of the on-demand
self-publishing organizations - it gets out quicker that way and gets
listed on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and bookstores get a listing for
it. By these means, there would be hope for decent initial sales. If the
content of the pamphlet delivers what I hope it will deliver, the
word-of-mouth promotion should also be good.
As regards content, I have in mind a Forward and three chapters. I'm not
sure yet about the titles yet, but for now I'm calling the pamphlet, "We
The People - Your Guide to Transformation". For the chapters, the
working titles are, "Why Bother?", "Guide to Empowerent", and "Why
not?".
The "Why Bother?" chapter is basically an essay about how people can
make a difference, and how ordinary people can find wisdom within
themselves under the right circumstances. I'd hope this would be written
by someone like Tom Atlee or Jim Rough. The idea is to cut through the
reasons for political apathy and cynicism, and the assumptions that
elections are the only way people can hope to 'make a difference'. The
goal is to inspire hope and curiosity - motivation to read the rest of
the pamphlet. It will suggest: "Use our Guide to start a group among
your friends, neighbors, or colleagues. You will experience a
breakthrough of mutual understanding and empowerment."
The "Guide" chapter is a "How To" manual for holding DF-style sessions.
This is one of the things I'll be talking to Jim and others about on my
tour. We need a modified DF process that doesn't require a trained
facilitator. This is typical of How To books. Usually some practitioner
(doctor, counsellor, etc.) explains in layman's terms what she does in
her own practice - so that people can do it for themselves. I'm hoping
one of our DF practitioners (Rosa, Tree, or Jim) can write this chapter.
This is the heart of the pamphlet.
The "Why not?" chapter is about making use of the empowerment - "Why not
go out and make a difference?". I'm thinking I'll write this one
myself. There would be some words about how our civilization is heading
for disaster, and how We The People are the only ones who will or can do
anything about it. The rest might be summarized this way: "You've found
in your group that We The People exists. By using the right process,
your group has awakened to its identity and power. Why not start another
group to spread the awakening further? Why not help awaken your whole
community?" This chapter will include case-history examples where this
kind of thing has been done successfully, or at least where significant
progress has been made. Jim and Tom have such examples on their
websites.
Here's why I anticipate a meme / cloning effect - in addition to
whatever propagation occurs from the publication process and
word-of-mouth. From the experience in one of these "We The People"
groups, I would expect that some percentage of the participants would be
naturally motivated to 'spread the message' by forming another group.
In addition, the "Why not?" chapter would encourage this explicitly, and
would include suggestions for how to proceed.
Notice that there is no political message, no reform program, and
nothing that favors the Left over the Right. It's about creating
democracy - and trusting the democratic process to carry things further.
____________________________________________________
--
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"...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the
suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the
Reichstag fire."
- Srdja Trifkovic
There is not a problem with the system.
The system is the problem.
Faith in humanity, not gods, ideologies, or programs.
_____________________________
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