Learning Report - ROOTS Forum OS- multi-community citizen's group (longish)

[Wendy Farmer-O'Neil]

Learning Report - ROOTS Forum OS- multi-community citizen's group

 

Well, just home from two days on Saltspring Island at the invitation of
Chris Corrigan who asked a bunch of us Island OSers to join him in opening
space for a multi-island citizen's group concerned with supporting the
governmental body (Islands Trust) that is charged with preserving and
protecting the very special and fragile Gulf Islands that we all call home.
It was an amazing learning opportunity and I want to thank and send
appreciation and hugs to Chris, Beverly, Nancy and Val.  There is no way I
am going to be able to report all of the learning that took place, so I will
limit myself to a couple of highlights and current wonderings that have come
out of this one.  The photos are up at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89394054@N00/sets/1018993/

 

One thing that I have consistently noticed is how the energy in the space
and in the conversations gets deeper (spiralling) as the day progresses.
Chris and I were discussing how this might connect to the emergence of
wisdom.  In thinking about what I know about the developmental continuum
from knowledge to wisdom, it led me back to several teachings from my
meditation tradition.  The first is the progression of learning from book
learning (normal learning) to conversational? learning (student-teacher), to
experiential (self-learning).  Book learning is considered knowledge, which
then is transformed through an intermediary stage (conversational,
mentorship, transmission) (which I think may help to develop analytical
skills, increased focus capacity, depth of engagement, transmitted
experience, and increase subtlety of mind, inquiry skills and so on) to
eventually emerge as self-inquiry/experiential learning which is the path
that eventually leads to the development of the quality of wisdom.  So, I
wonder if as the discussions proceed through the day, participants receive
knowledge, engage in conversation, and then begin self-reflection.  This
connects to the idea of increasing subtlety of mind as a consequence of
prolonged focus.  Conversation can assist us in prolonging our capacity to
focus on an idea by using the energy and attention of others to constantly
return our attention to the task (just as in meditation, one constantly must
return the attention to the practice-training the puppy as some call it).
This process is re-iterative.learn fact, etc from someone, talk about it,
begin to self-reflect on it, learn next thing, talk about it, reflect some
more.and so on.  Spiralling re-iterations.  And there is also something just
hovering on the edge of consciousness for me.something about engagement with
another mind/other minds and the mirror that can create for the self-maybe
deepening or strengthening the impulse to self-reflection. I don't
know.there's something there.good fodder to sit with.

 

Next cool thing was finding fodder for our (Chris and I) continuing
conversation about the Practice Workshop.  So I was noticing what the four
practices look like for participants.  I spent a lot of time in the Newsroom
and noticed again how deep the energy is in there.  Have you noticed that?
Which led me to thinking that report writing is a grounding practice for
participants.  So my current thinking on the quadrants for participants
looks like this.opening- hearing/receiving the invitation; inviting-posting
a topic/choosing to attend/not attend a particular session; holding-hosting
a conversation/participating in a conversation/conference quest,
butterflying; grounding-writing a report, reflective closing circle
question, action planning/commitment to act. 

 

The last thing I want to explore a bit follows on from Lisa Heft's question
at Halifax on what is a space invader.  In having the opportunity to debrief
a challenging opening on day two, Chris reflected to me that the so-called
space invader was actually issuing an invitation to open more space (space
that would/could be inclusive of his needs-or real diversity as Wilber would
probably say).  Which I went on to ponder more-especially why it *feels*
like space is closing when these kinds of things happen.  And something else
that Chris said made me wonder if the closing sensation is actually coming,
not from the 'space-invader' who is usually blamed, but from others in the
room who experience emotional or other constriction (closing) reactions to
the behaviour.  I think that thinking about it in this way will help support
a practice of compassion when these situations arise.  Someone who is
experiencing a strong sensation (fear, anger, frustration, etc) issues an
invitation to the group that causes many in the group to experience a strong
sensation (fear, anger, frustration, annoyance, etc.) to which they may
react by constricting their hearts.  It is much easier to have compassion
for everyone involved when it's framed this way.  And then, as a result,
it's much easier to act from compassion and hold the space strongly and open
more space within it.

 

Oh, and a little quote that I came across the other day that has been
floating through my mind (one day I will write these down as I find them and
then will be able to tell you who said them.)   "When it's no longer
mysterious, it's no longer true."  

 

That's it for this one. 

Love, 

Wendy

 


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