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Archive for twcgsd06

Internet as Conduit I

Driving home from the World Café Stewardship Dialogues yesterday, I had the honor of sharing a car and conversation with evolutionary dialogue pioneer George Por, who manages to find the time with everything else he is doing to write a fascinating blog on collective intelligence.

It was one of those conversations where one is almost swooning with the
pleasure of discussing out loud what one’s secret heart most desires.
In this case we were discussing the magic of aligned design – the
conscious use of line and form, light & color, to evoke and
catalyze awareness & a sense of connection between all beings – and
our mutual belief in the power of the internet to convey and awaken
consciousness of & for good.

I am still a bit overwhelmed with the internal resonance of this conversation and my delight in meeting such an aligned soul. For one of my deepest passions is using the internet as a conduit for thoughtful, consciously spirit-filled communication, a vehicle for awakening consciousness & illuminating Beauty in and around us.

This potential drives my desire to work towards evoking what I am calling ‘sacred space’ online. In less exalted terms, I’m motivated by the idea of creating an environment where there is the possibility of solace from the ‘noise’ of the everyday world, a quiet clear place to meet and work with others who share an intention to seed ‘good’ in the world, a place where collective wisdom can emerge and take conscious form.

This vision I have is very different from most of the chaotic information overload we’ve all seen online, although the experience of creating a transformative environment is familiar to many of us from our face-to-face work together.

My contention is that the way to invite sacred space online is not dissimilar to the way we seed it f2f… What’s needed is a clear intention and conscious invitation, a well-designed structure with beauty at the center always, a warm welcome and respect for each person that is drawn to respond to the invitation, and a knowing that each one is meant to be there and has something of value to share.

This whole sphere is something that is only just beginning to be imagined in this medium, and I see those of us who are investigating it as visionary pioneer guides, laying the paths and preparing to lead the way forward by applying what we have learned about all this (the online environment, creating sacred space, building community, etc.) so far.

There is a lot more to be said and done about this subject, and I hope I will be an active part of those conversations and actions, but I offer these musings as part of an ongoing collective conversation. I look forward to what is coming next for us all as Light continues to bounce around between us in cyberspace …

Stewards Dialogue

Marconi2
Right now I am in the beautiful and relaxing Marconi conference center, right on the water in Tomales Bay, West Marin, gathering with long-term hosts and friends of the World Café to explore how to best steward it into the future together.

There is a tremendous energy of cohesiveness engendered by this
gathering of 70+ people from all over the world with participants
coming from all over the US, from Singapore, China, Mexico, Brazil,
Ecuador, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, & Australia. Each
voice is a representative part of the global community of practice
working with this deceptively simple dialogue process.

Today a question came up that I think has resonance for all of us
who work in the field of transformation; “What is the deeper spirit and
practice that would help us connect with other global communities that
also care for the whole?” I wrote about what came from our working of
this question in the collective Stewardship Dialogue blog.