There are different kinds of conversation. Normally, it is unusual for many people to reach a unified viewpoint. This is because our System structures how we talk and think in ways that are based in judgment rather than creativity. People go back-and-forth agreeing and disagreeing, discussing, debating, deliberating, persuading and voting. So naturally, it’s difficult to reach a unified viewpoint, especially as the number of people increase. . But the Wise Democracy Project sets up particular moments of talking and thinking with a context of heartfelt creativity, where its far easier to face impossible-seeming issues and reach unified viewpoints. In these structured moments of “stepping back” the conversation is in the spirit of choice-creating rather than decision-making. This allows us to continue building toward unified conclusions.
To remain in the context set up by the Founders of our constitutional republic, we remain stuck in a mode of talking and thinking that is limiting. And it’s not what they used. In this formative time they knew that all the delegates and all the states and even all the people had to come to unity for the new System to work. Their conversation was more in the spirit of choice-creating than decision-making. But the System they built for us doesn’t have this provision. We are aimed toward the type of conversation they imagined was ideal … rational debate. The Wise Democracy Project accepts all of these judgment-based forms of talking, but it also adds moments of whole-system choice-creating.
Dynamic Facilitation is a way to reliably evoke choice-creating in each Wisdom Council. So each Wisdom Council will reach unified conclusions. We also have ways to export this quality of thinking into the national conversation so that people start listening to each other and using the diversity of viewpoints to spark shifts and breakthroughs. Surely this is like what happened for millennia with indigenous peoples, where tribal elders would gather in a Kiva, or pass the peace pipe and engage in many ceremonies to assure that everyone come together as one.
In the Wise Democracy Project we randomly select people. This means that each person speaks for him or herself, not for any group. Each person sheds his or her roles and tribal associations and is helped to speak authentically, discovering within what they think. Four charts hold this space so that if one person says something that directly contradicts what is said by another, that’s not a problem. Both are written down separately, maybe as “Data” or a “Concern.” And we keep talking. And at some point, people start seeing patterns in what everyone is saying. And this new seeing is a shift making it easier to achieve unity. In a big Breakthrough, each person can say excitedly, “This is better than what I was thinking … and even what I thought was possible.” And it’s exciting for people to realize that we needed all the ideas that might normally seem “stupid” or “irrelevant” to achieve this Breakthrough.
In the process we aren't trying to get people to agree about the facts or the problem definition ahead of time. No. We are holding the space in a way that breakthroughs and shifts will happen. And there's a progression of these shifts that tell a story of shared progress, like realizing we weren’t working on the right problem, or that some seemingly irrelevant story at lunch made a huge difference. When the Wisdom Council can tell a story of shifts and breakthroughs they essentially invite the audience to continue building this story, which sets up a totally new kind of public discourse … not agree/disagree but creatively improving things.
To remain in the context set up by the Founders of our constitutional republic, we remain stuck in a mode of talking and thinking that is limiting. And it’s not what they used. In this formative time they knew that all the delegates and all the states and even all the people had to come to unity for the new System to work. Their conversation was more in the spirit of choice-creating than decision-making. But the System they built for us doesn’t have this provision. We are aimed toward the type of conversation they imagined was ideal … rational debate. The Wise Democracy Project accepts all of these judgment-based forms of talking, but it also adds moments of whole-system choice-creating.
Dynamic Facilitation is a way to reliably evoke choice-creating in each Wisdom Council. So each Wisdom Council will reach unified conclusions. We also have ways to export this quality of thinking into the national conversation so that people start listening to each other and using the diversity of viewpoints to spark shifts and breakthroughs. Surely this is like what happened for millennia with indigenous peoples, where tribal elders would gather in a Kiva, or pass the peace pipe and engage in many ceremonies to assure that everyone come together as one.
In the Wise Democracy Project we randomly select people. This means that each person speaks for him or herself, not for any group. Each person sheds his or her roles and tribal associations and is helped to speak authentically, discovering within what they think. Four charts hold this space so that if one person says something that directly contradicts what is said by another, that’s not a problem. Both are written down separately, maybe as “Data” or a “Concern.” And we keep talking. And at some point, people start seeing patterns in what everyone is saying. And this new seeing is a shift making it easier to achieve unity. In a big Breakthrough, each person can say excitedly, “This is better than what I was thinking … and even what I thought was possible.” And it’s exciting for people to realize that we needed all the ideas that might normally seem “stupid” or “irrelevant” to achieve this Breakthrough.
In the process we aren't trying to get people to agree about the facts or the problem definition ahead of time. No. We are holding the space in a way that breakthroughs and shifts will happen. And there's a progression of these shifts that tell a story of shared progress, like realizing we weren’t working on the right problem, or that some seemingly irrelevant story at lunch made a huge difference. When the Wisdom Council can tell a story of shifts and breakthroughs they essentially invite the audience to continue building this story, which sets up a totally new kind of public discourse … not agree/disagree but creatively improving things.