My work/play is shifting cultures toward more power-with ways of seeing, doing and being. How can we help everyone to realize our freedom, fully develop our trust, and manifest what we have to offer, individually and collectively? What do we do from there? One way i do this is by inviting self-awareness of the entire movement of Process Arts, connecting its various networks, communities, perspectives and fields: facilitators, geeks, and many others engaged in particular processes and this general culture shift anywhere in the world. I don't have a favorite process at the moment, but am currently living in community, use consensus at home and Occupy, and am working on a project using Open Space and World Cafe amng others. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a more-or-less constant presence in my life (at this point as the language through which I most easily talk about supporting the power-with shift within and between individuals. Sometimes I even join in meditation.
I'm most hopeful when i see experimentation with and imagine further application of Citizen Deliberative Council (especially Wisdom Council), and local initiatives such as the Citizen Initiative Review). I also see experimenting with economic systems as critical (Arthur Brock is the most inspiring person i know working in this area, focusing on the wide variety of qualities that different currencies can have, to better model real value flows).
Would like to learn more about: Appreciative Inquiry, Provocative Coaching, Positive Deviance, Enneagram. What else should I explore?
My website: ourpla.net
Miscellaneous stuff by Tom Atlee:
Nonviolence, Consensus, Anarchy and Democracy are all pretty much the same thing. If you bug me about it i might write about this some more. bug bug bug bug!
Also interested in evolutionary dynamics
Some practices that bring me hope: silence, Go Meta, Suspend Assumptions, and anything thet helps people realize that the way they see the world is just one of many "stories" - not that all stories are equally valuable, i think some are more in touch with reality than others.
Oh, and awareness of Group Dynamics. I can't say enough about that one. Something i wrote for cgl.org :
Why the focus on groups?
Groups include families, classrooms, workplaces, back-fence get-togethers, bar scenes, gamers, net-chatters, many religious traditions, legislatures...they are everywhere. We spend much of our lives in groups. Groups are important.
There are many useful perspectives on the psychology of groups, and many experiences that an individual or group can go through to learn about groups. Of course, any time you spend with a group you're learning something about groups, but usually it's on a level we don't think about, and sometimes we're just repeating habitual patterns (withdrawal from conflict, assigning blame to a scapegoat, etc.). We all can learn from having some conscious experience with groups. Anyone can learn to pay attention to the dynamics in a group to help us understand how we are in the group and possibly what we can do to help ourselves and the group itself work* better, and to help us understand other groups. The first skills involved are usually listening
There are many organizations studying and/or offering training in a particular group theory or practice. We are dedicated to introducing people to a wide array of them, because we believe that every situation may require a different set of skills and experience. If all you have is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. We want people to have broad experience to draw from in whatever situation, and in figuring out what kind of guidance a group might need.
* Well, not just how they work, but also how they play, live, fight, begin, break up, and evolve, and even achieve a pleasantly functional dynamic. We also try to understand and teach how individuals can participate more effectively and self-satisfyingly in the various groups that they find themselves in.
