SEED PAPER: Investigating the Space of the Invisible

In an interview with Otto Scharmer, Professor Arthur Zajonc explores what it means to access and work with direct perception, both individually and in groups. He takes us through the disillusionment of his early years as a science student, his reevaluation of the very meaning of the word “knowledge” through the work of Goethe and Steiner, and to his current work of creating dialogues between scientists and the Dalai Lama. At the heart of his exploration is developing the capacity to perceive coherence in such a way that the “living field of the phenomenon becomes present.” In groups, this becomes the “co-perception of the Other.” He describes in rich detail the complex mental steps one undergoes in acquiring this skill. Finally he describes how these insights and capacities affect his work with the “invisible” in groups.

SEED PAPER: The Dark Ecstatic and Collective Wisdom

In Centered on the Edge, Arthur Colman introduced the provocative imagery of the ecstatic darkness. In this seed paper, commissioned for the collective wisdom initiative, Colman inquires further into his ideas of the dark ecstatic: How can the ecstatic, which includes the experience of direct revelation, be joined with wisdom, which demands that revelation be linked with a continual process of reflective awareness and discerning judgment? How is the ecstatic linked with creativity and destructiveness? How is it that what gets created in the cauldrons of our collective unconscious leads to both ground breaking insights and unimaginable horrors? For in the ecstatic darkness lies a certain quality of joy and compulsion that obliterates the very social constraints and taboos that allow us to live together. How can we learn to tolerate our whole selves, all human and all potentially transcendent? For everyone who works with groups and social transformation, these questions lie at the heart of our inquiry.

SEED PAPER: What Supports the Emergence of Collective Wisdom?

David LaChapelle discusses in detail certain field phenomena that enhance collective wisdom. For exercises and instructions for practice, see also David's Exploring Essence: Collective Wisdom and Group Experience.

SEED PAPER: Dawning of Free Communities for Collective Wisdom

A thought paper by Arthur Zajonc, Professor of Physics, Amherst College, on evolution in group forms and what might be needed next is part of an on-going effort at Fetzer to articulate more clearly what John Fetzer meant when he spoke of creating "communities of freedom."