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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for your comments, Harrison. I have
also experienced this as a genuine (and friendly) open space.</FONT></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Harrison wrote:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>As for the correction (addition) -- I would
have to take some issue with the notion that "discord" has put in it ugly
appearance here on this LIST. Perhaps it will, 'cause we all seem to be pretty
human too. But what I have experienced is a genuine open space in which all four
Ways, Warrior, Visionary, Healer, and Teacher are all showing up right on cue.
There are differences to be sure, and indeed the "system" requires those
differences. Sometimes those differences can be pretty sharp. Healers and
Warriors sometimes have a difficult time understanding each other. As indeed
Teachers and Visionaries often seem to be singing from a different song sheet.
But Viva La Differance! The only time we get in trouble, I think, is when
somebody comes to the conclusion that their Way is the only one. Then the Great
Conversation ceases, and that is the true disaster</EM></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As I read that I started thinking about the value
of the Great Conversation and also the value of finding the Way.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I wonder sometimes whether the Great Conversation
itself sometimes gets defined as the Way, as if the conversation itself is
the point of it all...... </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>while others are
clearly pointing to a belief that there is, indeed, a Way. A one, true,
eternal Way.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, thinking slowly now...... if someone
says... </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>"The only time we get in trouble, I think, is
when somebody comes to the conclusion that their Way is the only one. Then
the Great Conversation ceases, and that is true disaster."</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>...is that an exclusion, a closing of space, to the
idea that there is (or might be) a Way? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Would it be helpful to acknowledge that one of the
reasonable options available to us is to believe there IS a Way?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>....And to acknowledge that for those who believe
there is a Way, the Great Conversation is one of many means, not an end.
It is sometimes a finger pointing at the moon, but never the moon
itself.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>....And disaster is not the ceasing of the Great
Conversation. Disaster is not finding the Way.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, smiling now...... I'm remembering the first day
I joined this list. I was lured into immediate participation by Birgitt's
question (to Kenoli, I think) about the nature of truth. Is it relative,
she asked, or absolute? Are we simply having THAT conversation, over and
over? Have we just renamed things and confused ourselves? Are those
who focus on the value of the Great Conversation our relativists? And
those who value finding the Way our absolutists?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And if so...... perhaps there comes a time when we
recognize we're traveling around the same circle again. I wonder if
there's a way off. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've heard many here say how much they value
diversity, the idea that all our voices are important and need to be
heard. That means a lot when the place we have most recently come
from deliberately excluded some segments of Us. But at some
point we achieve that, don't we? And then what? What happens after
diversity? Is integration next? I'm starting to wonder what
integration might look like.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Julie</FONT> </DIV>
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