What is an underlying question that gives form
to your work or interest in this field?
What is the most effective way you have found to describe
your work & play in the field of self-organized, non-hierarchal,
Collective Wisdom group work; how do you explain what you are about
to others, how do you attract others from traditional groups and how
do you generate a satisfying personal community around you that reflects
this heart wisdom in your local area that can change the world?
What is your personal experience of collective
wisdom in groups?
A. We have and do facilitate Learning Circles with adults
and older adults. (A learning circle is where the participants interact
around a circle, on a question or topic, based on their personal life
experiences. Mostly these Learning Circles are held at the North Carolina
Center for Creative Retirement at the University of North Carolina where
we are both facilitators and life-long learners.)
B. We have and do facilitate Open Space events.
C. We have and do organize and champion self-organized,
non-hierarchal, Collective Wisdom groups around wisdom that arises from
the hearts of the group members interacting with each other.
D. Peter has been a board of trustees member at the Center
for Creative Living in Asheville.
E. We have been hierarchical facilitators of Emissaries
of Divine Light small groups in the past, and have evolved away from
hierarchy.
What is it about the work in this field that excites
you and connects you to your own deepest self?
As noted in “Centered on the Edge:” surprise,
mystery, storytelling, love, connectedness, listening deeply, holding
the space, trusting intuition, non-attachment, not knowing, non-judgment,
art, music, sound, movement, whole-body sensing, symbolism, metaphor
and discernment are all principles that we resonate
with on a deep level.
It is clear to us that the wisdom
contained in “Centered …” is the exact wisdom that
will inform us as we find new ways to move through the new millennium.
What excited us most is the discovery that others like you understand
what we have known intuitively and we no longer need to go into long
and convoluted explanations about what we are sensing. We now have a
short hand way to explain it to others! Yea!
Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot of
what brought you to this work.
For nearly fifteen years we have
been excited by being at the edge of small group work working with ideas
of collective and shared facilitation similar to that described in “Centered
on the Edge.” Early on we marketed “Management by Responsibility.”
The most challenging thing we have run up against was explaining to
others what we saw as the next step in humanity’s conscious evolution.
In 1986 George Leonard, a Look magazine editor and “New Age”
proponent, wrote a small book entitled “Education and Ecstasy”
that whetted Peter’s appetite for something new and useful. It
was about having been brought up to sit quietly in rows in school as
a child, been attentive to the pronouncements of others in our youth
and sitting in audiences, churches and seminars as adults -- listening
to others talk AT US – and urgently wanting something more participatory,
self-organizing and experiential!
Harrison Owen’s Open Space as a technology and
as a way of life began to provide some satisfaction. Finding “Centered
on the Edge” has been a wonderful, deeply satisfying gift because
it helps us both know that others are thinking this way as well as providing
a “text” for our Learning Circles to sink their teeth into.
We have recently initiated a small alternative Sunday celebration based
on the principles of love and other from “Centered on the Edge.”
That this has come through the Fetzer institute
has special meaning for us: Several years back, when we lived in Birmingham
Michigan we had a small metaphysical exploration group of about 25 people
one evening and John Fetzer knocked on our door and came to be with
us. We saw his long, black limo and he put his finger to his lips as
to say "keep it quiet." John joined the group in avid conversation,
sitting next to a garbage collector friend and fellow explorer, who
he got into deep conversation with. What a delight John Fetzer was that
evening! Thanks John for your institute!
How would you like to be available to others in
this field?
We are open to be contacted on our published connections
or willing to join on line or participate in conference calls etc. Our
contribution would be based on our over 20 years of experience in this
area and our willingness to think "out of the box." We are
willing to spend some of our time to further the overall process.
