Come early for nibbles and drinks – stay for collective wisdom.

“Most of us have experienced the power present in a collective field – moments in which we were deeply attuned with another, times in which we worked with a team to accomplish something we hadn’t thought possible, occasions in which a deep well of shared meaning suddenly opened in the center of a circle whose participants had been engaged in intense conflict. Many of us have been deeply nourished by long-term engagement with a circle of friends, a network of colleagues, or a high-functioning company dedicated to more than the bottom line. A growing number have felt the joy and excitement of discovering the latent knowledge and wisdom in a community through a “world café” or related conversation-based process.”

“In a world that so often seems chaotic, out of control, and beyond our capacity to influence, such experiences remind us of our essential belonging and support our creative engagement with others and world. They are important touchstones in our quest to create lives rich in meaning and work that contributes to the well-being of larger wholes – our families, communities, and even the wider web of life that sustains us all. Often characterized by synchronicity, flow, intimacy, and a sense of “coming home,” they help us see that personal awakening and our cultivation of collective capacities are not at odds but intertwined, each quickening the other.”

“They also serve as harbingers of the higher collective potentials that characterize the groups, organizations, and other “social bodies” we form, when we organize, collaborate, and act with a conscious commitment to each person’s freedom, the centrality of right relationship, co-creative inquiry in the service of shared aims, and transformative learning.”

“Are these experiences simply happy accidents, or are there ways we can more reliably evoke them?”
—————-from the reading: Archetypal Practices for Collective Wisdom

We will be exploring the practices that are offered in the readings. These papers are interesting in that they summarize a great deal of work and they offer their own frameworks. In doing so, they will help us to more easily explore the “we” space with some common tools for a while and possibly experience their benefits.

These two papers are available here on the site, so please have a look at these in preparation. We will also be doing at least one group exercise to get warmed up. Please feel free to bring any other group practices (such as team-building exercises) that you enjoy or can recommend. The group will also determine spontaneously what group practices it wants to explore.

Papers:
We Techniques: PRACTICES FOR PREPARING AND OPENING
Please have a look at this short document and see the ways in which people prepare for and conduct themselves as they participate in this phenomenon; how they form and hold the intent for healing and wholeness in service of the collective.

Archetypal Practices for Collective Wisdom: Timeless Ways of Evolving Personal and Collective Capacity
This is a longer and more complex document that is worth looking over.