Open appreciatve community cafe world building inquiry space AND stories

[Glory Ressler]

Allow me to tell a personal story about my experience with Peck's community
building process and how that 'muddles' right into my experience of
Appreciative Inquiry, World Cafe, Story/Conversations/Dialogue and OST...

    It was a cold, grey December morning in 1992 and I was taking part in
one of Peck's trainings in community building...     The group was filled
with psychotherapists serving many sorts of grief and trauma needs in the
country - the healers. Until this point, they had been all 'professional' -
somewhat removed and aloof, although certainly caring and genuine.
    We were being challenged, as a group, to go through the silence (which
contains the pain and the conflict) to the point of 'real community' - where
we actually shared deeply and profoundly with one another.
    All of a sudden, stories of their personal pain, trauma, violence and
incest came pouring out... I was overwhelmed... I too have my own stories to
tell. I drove home unsure how I could face another day of training. It
seemed as if, as a species, we were unable to commune (be together in
community) in any life-affirming way... so much suffering. And then
something truly shocking happened...
    I returned home to the news that I was pregnant... How could this be? I
felt as though I couldn't contain so much life and death, hope and despair,
in the same moment... I looked into this abyss and truly wondered whether I
wanted to support the emergence of more life into this miserable, wailing
existence...
    And then the choice became clear. I could 'choose' (take responsibility
for) building on the beauty, potential and possibility or for reacting
against the fear and pain.
    Avalon is 11 years old today and she is the greatest gift I've ever been
given - along with the strongest motivator.

So - how does it all muddle together?
~ AI brings me to that moment of choice - what shall I look into? Pursue?
Build on the best or...?
~ World Cafe has taught me to attend to diversity of experiences and
intimacy in sharing...
~ OST takes me through the circle to that chaos-filled silence and
challenges me to choose / take responsibility based on my passion...
~ The above, for me are all about stories/conversations/dialogue... this is
the common vehicle.
~ Community (Peck's model I experienced plus others...) underlies it all
because the central question of our time, for me, is how will we choose to
'be' together in community? To co-create our world?

With love and blessings,
Glory

Michael Herman wrote:
>>more and more we are in this open appreciative cafe world inquiry space<<

Masud Sheikh wrote:
>>Michael & other friends:
Has anyone thought of putting M. Scott Peck's "Community Building" process
into the muddle in the middle? In which case, it could become: "Open
appreciatve community cafe world building inquiry space"

I, for one would be greatly interested in hearing about Scotty's "Community
Building" and HO's "Open Space" talked about in the in- between muddle
Masud<<<

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