[Dialogue] FW: A brain flash (from Wayne Nelson)

[John Cock]

I got this from Wayne Nelson today and thought it was well worth passing
around the horn. I like his title -- a full-nelson, that. Also thought it
would be good to chew for the Denver meeting to chew on this weekend. BTW,
do a good job and communicate well (and, David, get that sign-on stuff
worked out;>).

Thanks, Wayne, for your "brain flash" from up yonder,

John


-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Nelson [mailto:wnelson at ica-associates.ca]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 5:11 PM
To: John Cock
Subject: A brain flash

I had a brain flash after reading something in the Globe and Mail the other
day about changing the orientation of governments.

The trend watchers are telling us organizational form is taking new shapes
as hierarchies break down, complexity increases, connectivity is instant,
e.g., managing shifts to guiding and facilitative leadership. No big
surprises - we've all been through enough peering into the future, scenario
building and Jean Houston lectures, etc. , etc., etc., to know all this
stuff.

I think ICA in the US may be positioned to lead all of us into a new world.
There is enough history, momentum and diversity within those related to ICA
in the US to make a leap from seeing itself as an organization with a lot of
screwy "satellite problems" to becoming a highly textured network that is
oriented toward a "big picture" common purpose.

We left common programming when our youngest son - now 26 - was a toddler.
We let go of "the Order" in the same timeframe. Remember when Stuart Hampton
read the Christopher Frye poetry about "the centre cannot hold - affairs
have become soul size," etc.? That was like in 1984.
Prophetic. We became too complex and diverse to maintain anything global or
centralized. 

Since then we have become something truly amazing. I am in awe when I hear
what people are doing around the planet.

In the US, there is a great deal of history, multiple interests, expertise
in a bazillion things, powerful connections, deep impact, and, perhaps most
importantly, a wide variety of forms. We have everything from individuals
doing volunteer work to people working in the historical Christian church to
individual consultants to non-profits to companies and more. They are all,
more or less, operating out of a similar vision for the future and out of
some common understandings. We don't sign our allegiance at the bottom of
some ideological document, but we know we're deeply related.

It's what we used to call an "indicative reality." It's the "en soi" - that
which is. We are a network. The "pour soi" - you can almost see JWM's
gestures - is the relationship we choose to take to what is.

Imagine if ICA in the US had an annual "Networking and Sharing Approaches
That Work" conference. Groups working in similar areas - geography, sectors,
methods, etc.,  could meet and do their stuff. There could be multiple means
of cross fertilization. If I wanted to connect with people trying to run
RS-I in their church basement, I could. If I wanted to get together with
people in independent business, I could. If I wanted to join a group trying
to help government be more responsive to specific needs, I could.  If I
wanted to dance in a circle under the full moon, I could. If I wanted to
become part of something like an "order" again I could. If I wanted to
meditate with the Buddhists, I could.

We don't all have to be any one thing. We can all find our unique way of
being of genuine service and celebrate the diversity and potential that we
have become.

ICA in Australia has been operating that way for some time. Not entirely by
preference, not always willingly. It's not been a paved road, but they are
still there and moving forward in a lot of ways. They've come to terms with
themselves.

I know all (at least some) of the barriers. I know they are significant and
substantial and pretty firmly rooted. I know that there is a great deal of
"healing" required to reach anything close to what I'm talking about.

But, hey, it was a brain flash - not a sermon by any means.

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Wayne Nelson - ICA Associates Inc
416-691-2316 - http://ica-associates.ca