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<P>Apologies if you are getting full up on this topic. I was inspired by
this message from <FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Nancy Glock-Grueneich and
thought it might interest folks on this list. She sent it to
the Story Field Conference site on Sept. 22, 2007. It took me a
while to pass it along....</FONT></P>
<P>Peggy</P>
<P> </P>
<P><STRONG>From Nancy:</STRONG></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I've been reading the exceptionally
well-written reflections on the conference and comparing, on the one hand,
people’s frustration around the lack of structure and/or impatience with
"personal processing" carried on in the scarcity of public space, and on the
other hand, people’s delight with what happened anyhow, the testimonials, if you
will, of what a life transforming experience many people found this conference
to be. And its meaningfulness to even those most frustrated (at least among
those who’ve written so far.)</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <?xml:namespace prefix = o
/><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Getting what we came
for<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">We were invited to come together around four shared
intentions. To come was costly to each in different ways. We took ourselves away
from our work, from people who matter to us, from our homes–and spent money we
may not have much of--to travel long distances, sleep in unfamiliar beds, and
eat strange food.<SPAN> </SPAN>We came because we care deeply about those
intentions and because something was promised, by people we trust.<SPAN>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>So it matters that what motivated us to come, the “contract” inherent in
the invitation, be honored as fully as possible, in the design and in the
implementation. (A conference, like a course of study, is a kind of contract
between those paying the costs of creating the space and those paying the costs
of stepping into that space, with all sharing the risks.) </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">We came with high hopes. Knowing we would be among
admirable peers who shared our intentions, and that we would have more than the
usual amount of time whose use we would largely control, we had good reason to
expect that real work might be accomplished here, solid work that we could build
on.<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The
week was intense and people have reacted powerfully, many asking ourselves, with
some urgency, did we make the best use of our time? And was the promise that
brought us here fulfilled?<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>And if it
was, was that <EM>because</EM> of the process?<SPAN> </SPAN>Or, in spite
of it?<SPAN> </SPAN>What made it fail, where it did? What made it succeed,
where it did? Do we have mutually incompatible needs and expectations, or could
they all be accommodated, maybe next time?</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>And what are
the implications of our answers to these questions for our lives, for this work,
and for StoryField, and for the larger “story field” we seek to
serve?</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Differences<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>We came, many
of us, with stories, insights, creative works, and methods to share. And found
there was not time to give our gifts or have them made use of. We came with
questions that did not get answered. We came with expectations as to products or
plans or agreements that did not come about in the ways we had hoped. And we
were often in conflict as to whether or not we were in fact “making the best use
of time”? </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>We came, each
and everyone of us, to serve the “story field” and yet so many “egos” were
there, or so it seemed to many, that we lost sight of our service to the whole.
But, it did not seem so to me. Indeed, I saw less “ego” there than
maybe I’ve ever seen anywhere.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>At the same
time our very desire to serve, and our sense of urgency, made our differing
views as to what actually would best serve, all the more difficult to handle,
and all the more important. In this work, it is VERY important that we not
dismiss each other, or ourselves, as mere “egos”, but rather continue our
effort to take seriously the concerns those on <EM>all </EM>sides felt. “Hearing
all voices” is not just a matter of principle, or of courtesy. For us to get
this right, and in time, we have no choice but to take each other’s perspectives
very seriously as potential sources of wisdom, as filling in essential pieces.
We know that we are in the fix we are in partly because so many voices have been
shut out for so long.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Getting Out the
Story<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in -0.25in 6pt 0in"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">For some who came, perhaps many, the story needing to be
told is already clear enough, and what is truly urgent, desperately so, is that
that story be gotten out in the world as rapidly as possible with as big an
impact as possible in order to help save the world.<EM>
Period.</EM></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in -0.25in 6pt 0in"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">As we grappled with this need, and the frustration of
those who felt it most, its very intensity was seen by others as itself a
symptom of what was wrong, of what any new story would have to
combat, a symptom of a still unacknowledged, unrepentant tendency towards the
hegemony of the privileged. And yet again, if we do to explain
away the urgent need of many for efficient procedures and concrete
results as but a matter of masculine, white, linear, dominant, and/or "Western"
energy or privilege, we miss the point.<SPAN> </SPAN>The urgency is real,
painfully real.<SPAN> </SPAN>And the need to get the story out all the
more so. And the need for the practical, structured, problem-solving,
design and planning so essential to successfully get
the "new story" out with maximum impact could not be more
compelling.<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in -0.25in 6pt 0in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>That’s what many came to achieve. And it would seem that to do that would
take the conference they thought they were coming to, not the one that actually
happened. To the extent that this is “masculine”, well, so be it: It’s always
been the men who were expected to rush forward in an emergency, to take the
risks and take the orders and lose their lives helping the rest to
survive.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Yet
I—and I am sure all of us, men and women alike—feel this urgency just as much,
and the full weight of what it could mean if we fail.<SPAN>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">So why
didn't we plan, organize ourselves to achieve, and/or demand, a conference
structured to do just get that job done? To get the story out there as quickly,
and as pivotally, and in the most compelling forms, possible? And to make use of
all of the skills, stories, talents, and connections of those who had come
together? <EM>Is that not what we came there to do?
</EM><SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">What Happened
Instead<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Yes,
but then something else happened. Something that the “whole”, the “story field”,
needed even more urgently showed up instead. And we adapted our expectations and
our gifts and our process to it as it emerged. <EM>So, yes, we did what we came
here to do, but in a way different from how we may have expected to do
it.</EM></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN> </SPAN>(This is <EM>not </EM>to say that we
did everything right, by the way. Later and elsewhere, I’ll add my own thoughts
to those of others regarding design, and the framing that may serve us well in
the future. But what I’m saying here now is the more fundamental truth, I
think.)<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Here’s what I
saw happen and now see witnessed in the conference Reflections on this
site and in the present exchange.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><STRONG>First, we discovered, that we actually hadn't
<EM>agreed</EM> on “the” story. </STRONG><SPAN> </SPAN>And that "we" aren't
the only ones needed to write that story.<SPAN> </SPAN>Nor are "we" the
only initiators nor the only carriers of this field. All over the world others
are awakening to the same need and beginning to tell new stories and
to do their part. Whatever aspirations, agendas, or strategic questions we had
brought individually—and however useful these may yet prove to be in the
future—they seem not to have been what “the Field”, “the Whole”, required of
us--and gave to us--in this phase of the work and on Shambala
Mountain.<SPAN> Or, at least not in the form we
anticipated.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in -9pt 6pt 0in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>To
discover the new truths essential to the larger work we aspire to accomplish
together, it seems we had to be broken open, had to be turned to “soup” in our
cocoons, no longer caterpillars, not yet butterflies. We had to discover
each other. We had to go much deeper for our stories, ancient and
emerging.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">And, as
it turned out, we needed to bond more deeply and that through higher energy and
volatility than orderly processes allow for. And then, oh joy of joys, oh reward
for it all, we spontaneously connected, created, committed, and birthed
what we had so much desired—and that could not, simply could not, be
built. Pinocchio can be designed, and carved, and made to move by outside
forces. But never can a living child.<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in -0.25in 6pt 0in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>What
is remarkable, and evidence of the truth of the experience, is how much energy
and action have followed from it, because, I am absolutely convinced, the
commitments made in the end were not the pro-forma kind (those more or less
demanded at the end of any “working conference”) but a spontaneous coming
together of people suddenly finding ourselves with more courage, and our lives
and deepest purposes, energized and entwined.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">I
learned years ago as a teacher, and say now in work such as this, that
<STRONG>we succeed as much, if not more, when our goals are transformed as when
they are met.<SPAN> </SPAN></STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Together we
found ourselves releasing expectations we had brought and letting ourselves
enter fully into something that was very high risk. We’re not naďve. All of us
have experienced all too often how it is that the well-intentioned can breakdown
in chaos, conflict, wasted opportunity, loss of good will and betrayed hopes.
Yet we took the risk.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Not
because we didn’t know any better, and not because we couldn’t get hold of a
runaway process, but because we sort of knew this: That nowhere but at the edge
of chaos does true evolution occur. What hasn’t yet been, what is unknown,
exists only there. And we are its servants. There just isn't any other way to
make a new story or a new world.<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">As I
said in the last circle the last day, such an undertaking is sacred. And it is
only from within the sacred, seriously invoked, acting from reverence and
humility, treating each other with compassion and openness, that such risks can
succeed. That is, I am convinced, what enabled us to live a long week together
at the edge of chaos and emerge with what was truly needed, and far, far more
than we could have dared imagine.<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Either
way, whether described in the language of emergence and chaos theory, as in the
first description above—or in that of spiritual openness to the guidance and
power of forces not seen but felt as in the second description—either way, the
truth of the experience itself holds. Either way, as Michael Dowd would surely
point out, we witness to the same phenomena. Long before electricity was
“understood”, or could be described, its properties were mapped and made use
of—and only then, by taking risks with it!<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Intentions vs.
Commitments<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>A wise guide,
a software designer some of you may know named Alan Saxon, said to me, “I no
longer make commitments. I set intentions.” “What”, I asked him, though halfway
sensing the answer already, “is the difference?” The gist of what I understood
him to say, that has stayed with me and informed me since, is something like: “A
<EM>commitment</EM> I try to make happen to the best of my ability, no matter
what, honoring the contract I’ve made, the appointment, the product”. “With an
<EM>intention,</EM> I try only to keep it pure, clean, keep checking that my
ego, my desires to perform, to please, to produce, are not getting in the way. I
stay alert to opportunities as they arise and allow myself even to be “God’s
fool”, to look foolish, and allow my own plans to change in response to whatever
emerges that is in alignment with my intention”.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>We all did
that quite well at Shambala Mountain. And I have no doubt whatsoever that we are
more than competent in doing the former, honoring commitments, wherever
following through on them does in fact best fulfill the intentions. And in fact,
as our actions have already shown since then, we can and
will do the “hard stuff, the practical stuff”, but with far greater
energy and reliability when it comes out of our will, our joy, and as an
extension of our own work—and IF and as long as we see its alignment
with our evolving intentions. At the same time we are learning the
necessity for adjusting obligations, or letting go of them
altogether, whenever demanded by intention.<SPAN>
</SPAN>And we may contrast this with past experience of
acting out of obligation, feeling further burdened and pulled away from our true
work, an experience that signals lack of alignment with our
higher intentions. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><STRONG>If the Storyfield Conference did work after all,
then, was that <EM>“because of”,</EM> or <EM>“in spite of”</EM>, the conference
design? </STRONG><SPAN>And were departures from that design, part of the problem
or part of what made “the magic” happen? We’ll be grappling with these questions
all year, of course, as we plan next year’s conference, and as we pull in other
people, and do many local/regional gatherings and events, all in service of
“the Field”.<SPAN> </SPAN>(And I have me own ideas, of course, as for
example, the need to better convey the differences between
“energy-driven”, “agenda-driven”, “task driven”, and “activity driven”
processes--but all thats for a later discussion elsewhere, that I'll link
to from here when its ready.)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in -0.25in 6pt 0in"><SPAN><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, though, as I came to understand the intentions
of the Conference through its actions, I can see now, looking back, how those
intentions were held to with remarkable clarity and courage in the face of
continuous struggle and uncertainty—not only on the part of the leaders, but of
us all. What seemed to be the original contract was often not well renegotiated
(and we are still seeking a way to do that better)—yet I do believe that the
departures took us way, way beyond what fulfilling that contract might, even at
its best, have accomplished. It made possible the personal transformations, the
emergence of new potential in service of our shared intention, the increase in
our efforts after the conference, and the deepening of our connections--to each
other, to the earth, to the ancestors and to the coming
generations.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in -0.25in 6pt 0in"><SPAN><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><o:p><STRONG><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Living as “agents of conscious
evolution”<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></STRONG></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Tom
Atlee has posed the question, <EM>“What does it mean to be an agent of conscious
evolution?” </EM>What does it feel like? How do our lives change, and our work
and the way we work together, and make decisions, and find our rewards, and
cope?<SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'">Sometimes it
feels like a thrill, hope, adventure, humility, love, a sense of meaning, an
experience of being “met”. Often it feels confusing, scary, complex, out of
control, high risk, like we’ve taken on too many things, and/or that the things
we thought we were taking on, or what they turn out actually to require of us,
are way different than we expected, sometimes more than we can handle. It
means struggling to discern when a departure from plans is a
distraction or a discovery. It means many mistakes, more questions than answers,
frustration with each other and with ourselves. Yet, can there be any other way
to learn what has not been known before, or create what has not existed before?
I don’t think so.</SPAN></P>
<P> </P>
<P><STRONG><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Holding these things in
tension</FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>And yet, again, the frustrations are
real, difficult, sometimes painful. We need to keep working to
hold ourselves and each other in appreciation as we go on with this work.
Inside of ourselves the tension between order and chaos can be very great
indeed, making it all the harder to handle when it flares up between
us. Even so, as we do keep learning how to hold ourselves and each
other in love and respect, we also nurture the very gifts that make
for success. We become ever more able to keep in vibrant interaction the demands
of order, structure, predictability, planning, systematic analysis, etc--and the
gifts that blast us out of what we thought we knew and came to do, into mystery,
new learning, and results we couldn't have dreamed possible. We'll keep
getting better, I believe, at creating spaces that hold these different elements
in fruitful tension, and at nurturing these gifts in each
other, as our new story, one that honors them all, grows from
us.</FONT></P>
<P> </P></DIV>
<DIV>________________________________<BR>Peggy Holman<BR>The Open Circle
Company<BR>15347 SE 49th Place<BR>Bellevue, WA 98006<BR>(425) 746-6274
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.opencirclecompany.com">www.opencirclecompany.com</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to: <BR><A
href="http://www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook">www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook</A>
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get
burnt, is to become <BR>the fire".<BR> -- Drew
Dellinger</DIV></BODY></HTML>
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