[Oe List ...] ToP Methods

Sun Oct 18 22:49:09 CDT 2009

The Art Form Conversation that many of us still use (and substitute for the
Basic Discussion Method when using theTop methods) is still very effective
at eliciting the latent wisdom taught in RS-I. I renamed the process,
calling it Guided Dialogue. I have attempted to describe it below. Would
love your feedback, especially from those of you who are still actively
leading these kind of conversations. It' long, but I'm unable to attach
documents to this listserve. So for those not interested, just delete it!!!
Jean 
  _____  

Guided Dialogue: A Way of Accelerating Collective Consciousness

Jean Watts

Over many generations, mystics, philosophers, and change agents describe the
wholeness of the universe where no 'thing' or movement exists in isolation.
Then Einstein and today's quantum physicists proved that all is energy. The
human being is capable of processing torrents of vibrations flooding in from
our environment creating thought forms.  They can decide where to direct
these thought forms. "The human mind is like a radio dial that can tune in
to different stations.  Wherever we direct our thoughts, energy follows in
the form of words and actions." [Seifer, (2009) p.35] The human mind clothes
subtle thought forms with denser substance and brings them into the physical
world as images, words, and action.  Today more and more human beings
realize that no thing or human exists or acts independently of the whole.
Their experience of interconnectedness and dependence lead them to seek ways
to connect their insights and wisdom to the way they act within their
organizations and societies. 

This is birthing a shift of consciousness. Upon reflection, people realize
that with this shift, new values, beliefs, and assumptions have emerged. As
individuals within organizations change to manifest this shift, their
organizations also shift to reflect a new collective understanding.  Leaders
are becoming increasingly clear that they cannot address their
organization's operational and organizational issues without addressing its
underlying values, assumptions, and beliefs that are sustaining it.   It is
within this context that clients ask me to facilitate planning and training
events or to assist them in solving conflicts or in organization
transformation.

Within every organization, I find that individuals reeling from stress and
burn-out from an overemphasis on their engagement and pursuit of material
things are now searching inside themselves for ways to share their insights,
feelings, hopes, and assumptions with others.  Those tired of the corruption
and power plays are seeing new ways to bring order and meaning into their
communities and workplaces.  Those frustrated with traditional ways of
thinking and acting are aspiring to find new ways to advance and choose
among the overwhelming possibilities for effective engagement.   Those
overwhelmed by the economic and emotional costs of caring are searching for
guiding principles, system based strategies and integrative structures to
deal with the rapid changes and resulting chaos.  

In addition, scientists are aligning spirituality with physics. Leaders in
every sector are realizing that a new style and form of leadership that
benefits their organization while benefiting all human beings is required.
Among all the possible group dialogue methodologies, I have found "Guided
Dialogue," to be the most effective in assisting individuals and groups in
these transitions.  It creates the opportunity to shift naturally.

The Guided Dialogue process evolved from the Art Form Method which was
developed by the Ecumenical Institute in the 1950's to enable groups to
experience expanded levels of consciousness.  By asking a series of open
ended questions the facilitator was able to provide an environment for
participants to engage individually in self reflection while in a group.  A
piece of art, a video or a written text was originally used to initiate the
conversation.  

The Art Form Method required four stages or levels and was based on the
assumption that "the self is a relation which in relating itself to itself,
and willing itself to be itself, grounds itself transparently in the power
that posits it." [Kierkegaard (p.147). In other words, the Self exists in
relationships.  It experiences these relationships.  It attaches meanings
and interpretations to these interpretations, and makes decisions about
them.  And it connects and integrates these relations, experiences,
interpretations, and decisions. The theory was graphically explained with
the following image:

Self exists in

relationships 

Objective

   Level

This method was described in detail in The Art of Formative Questioning: A
Way to Foster Self-Disclosure by Dr. John Kloepfer, a faculty member of the
[1]Ecumenical Institute as process that provides an environment for two
modes of self reflection: introspection and transcendent self-presence.  In
this context, introspection involves standing outside your self and
analyzing your thoughts, feelings, sensations, or actions. In this process,
self is experienced as separate from the world. Transcendent self-presence
is standing outside of one's self and observing one's self as connected to
the whole universe.   (Watts, Miller, Kloepfer, p4)  The self and the world
are experienced as a single reality. (Wilber,1981, p 158).  

Joseph Mathews, Dean of the Ecumenical Institute, gave a concrete
understanding of the experience of shifting from introspection to
transcendent self-presence in a lecture given in 1965 in New Orleans.

In spite of the pain and suffering of life, Life is good just as it is..

In spite of my bag of neuroses, fears, and faults, I am received..

In spite of all the tragedy and mistakes in the past, the past is approved..

In spite of all the pain, problems, and crises, the future is open and ALL
IS POSSIBLE 

The faculty of the Ecumenical Institute used the Art Form Method in their
Seminars to provide an opportunity for the participants to experience a
sense of wonder and openness to this latent wisdom and to elicit inner
knowledge. It was also used to generate and evoke creative ideas, responses,
and initiatives that integrated the diverse perspectives and talents of all
individuals for the benefit of all. 

The Guided Dialogue process works well whether the participants know each
other or do not.  It works well with participants from diverse backgrounds
with multiple perspectives or with well-established or homogeneous groups.
It follows the natural way every human being receives information through
their physical senses, has an automatic (usually unconscious) or intuitive
or emotional response, interprets both simultaneously, and integrates them
into a thought form, word, or action.   Participation in the process allows
for a harmonious integration of the body, emotions, and mind.  

The facilitator provides an environment of profound respect for everyone to
participate naturally in the conversation.  By 'participation,' I mean both
the opportunity to partake of (listen) or to take part in (contribute
vocally to) the dialogue. [Bohn, 1997, p47).  

In The Guided Dialogue process the facilitator guides the participants
through the following progression of four interactive but distinctive levels
of reflection:

1. Objective

2. Responsive

3. Interpretive

4. Depth

This four level process allows the group to see the inner meaning of events
and circumstances, look for their hidden causes and significance, see the
whole rather than the parts, and perceive the subtle connections between
what appears physically to be separate. When the inner wisdom is integrated
with the concrete mind, the participants become conscious of their inner
knowledge on the plane of everyday living.   

The group facilitator begins the conversation with a very brief introduction
that presents the topic, reason for the conversation, and timeframe. The
topic of the conversation may be a shared event, video clip, a piece of
written material, an art form, or a simple concept or idea. 

OBJECTIVE LEVEL

  At the Objective Level, the facilitator gets the participants' to focus on
the topic by asking questions which just require the physical senses to
answer the questions or where objective information that can be communicated
spontaneously. These questions are easy to answer and require brief answers.
Thus, if the group is small, all participants can easily and naturally
immediately engage in the conversation. The simpler and more direct the
questions, the easier it is to draw the participants beyond their initial
resistance.  When it is important that each participant speak, this is the
only level at which the facilitator might request an answer from every
participant. 

Sample Objective Questions

TEXT

What words immediately stood out?

Exactly what did the author say?

VIDEO

What scenes do you remember?

What sounds did your hear?

VISUAL ART

What objects do you notice?

What colors did you see?

CONCEPT or IDEA

What other words do you associate with this?

What other words can you use to describe this?

EVENT

What stands out?

What did we do today?

It is important that the facilitator ask the questions in a non-threatening
manner that expects multiple responses.  When the participants observe that
the facilitator is willing to accept answers to these initial questions, it
builds an atmosphere of trust and affirmative openness.  This invites
participation. The facilitator's authenticity and integrity become obvious
to the group when the facilitator is consciously aware of the intent of the
question and the form of an answer. It is important to note that no one
comes to the conversation with an empty mind.  Each participant's mind is
not like a shovel, dumping one load of matter before taking up another.
Rather each participant is always creating a unique set of thoughts, so
moving too quickly into the Responsive Level will leave some participants in
their own little worlds.

The questions move gradually from the objective to subjective.  There are
three stages or movements within both the Responsive and the Interpretive
Level.

RESPONSIVE LEVEL

 Responsive Level questions request participants to use their imagination
and to share emotional reactions.  In this context, 'imagination' is
understood to be a creation of the connection or perception of a
relationship that is not explicit in the dialogue's topic. Imagination
requires the use of the right brain. When imaginative questions are not
asked, the opportunity for collective consciousness to be experienced is
lost.  Aristotle said "the soul never thinks without an image."  Kenneth
Boulding (1956) claimed that a person uses images to filter and perceive
information and experiences.  He called these "operational images."  They
can be unconscious, subconscious or conscious.  They are the current
integrative residues of information and knowledge possessed by the person.
They govern one's responses and behavior.  A person grows or changes as his
or her images change.  The process of learning, change, or growth is an
interaction between this operating image and a shift of consciousness
(pp3-18) [The Image]  

Because imagination is the action of the mind that produces a new idea or
insight, conversations that have not included imaginative questions lack
creativity and innovation.

First Movement

The facilitator transits slowing from Level One to Level Two with a simple
question that requires an immediate response but includes some reflection.
For instance, if the topic for discussion is a video clip or piece of
literature, the facilitator might ask, "Which words or phrases occurred
repeatedly through the video or text?"   This question issimilar to an
objective question asked in the first level, "What words or phrases do you
recall?"  but it requires more awareness. 

When the facilitator senses that the participants are now focusing on the
topic, it is time to shift to the next stage.  The facilitator then asks an
imaginative question, like "Was this event more like eating a peanut butter
sandwich or an ice cream sandwich?"  These questions catch participants off
guard as they are asked to imagine what is physically not there. This
enables them to respond naturally and emotional sensitivities surface in
addition to cognitive awareness of the topic because the responses are
followed by the why.  A response might be something like, "It was more like
a peanut butter sandwich because it had both substance and was fun,"
revealing the participant's emotional sensitivities to the event.  Or if the
topic was a poem or piece of text, a question such as "What color did you
see while listening to or reading it?"  One participant might answer "blue"
since it was calming or peaceful while another might answer "yellow" since
it was insightful or revealing, etc. 

It is important that the facilitator move quite quickly through this stage
to prevent the participants' from losing their focus on the topic.  So once
several participants have spontaneously responded to the first movement
questions, the facilitator moves to the second movement.

Second Movement

In the second movement the facilitator directly asks the participants to
share their emotional feeling toward the topic.  Since it is not easy for
some participants to share their emotions or feelings with a group of people
they do not know well, a good first question with this movement might be
"What emotions did you see expressed in the video or text or event, and
where?" This question is further removed from the objective or descriptive
data of the topic itself, but requires the participants to use their
imagination, and reveals the underlying assumptions that they are making.
The questions then shift directly from the objective data to the subjective
responses of the participants. "What emotions did the video or text evoke in
you? What part of the event did you enjoy or like best? Dislike or found
challenging? Surprised you? Disturbed you?" Etc. These questions are
intended to be pivotal, moving the topic and the group's discussion of it to
the personal or inner life of the participants.  Most participants become
more absorbed in the conversation at this point and forget fatigue, boredom
or self-preoccupation.

Third Movement

When the facilitator notices that some of the participants have freely
shared their emotional reactions to the topic, he or she sets up the
transition into the Interpretive Level.  Just hearing others in the group
express what each of them is experiencing gives courage or "en-courages" the
others to acknowledge and explore it further themselves.  Regardless of the
initial interest or disinterest of the participants in the topic itself,
they have a vested interest in their emotions and reactions that these
questions evoke and are looking into themselves to find the answers. Since
hearing others expressing their feelings helps break down reluctance to
acknowledge and share emotions, it is not necessary to spend a lot of time
with these questions. In fact if too much time is spent at this level, some
participants may get caught up in the wonder of their own response or
absorbed in the power of their emotional involvement with the topic,
preventing them from listening to the other participants in the group.

So the next question might be one of these: "Which character in the video do
you most identify with? What lines in the text have you found yourself
saying?  Which phrases most resonate with you?" These questions begin to
disclose to the participants' facets of their inner self that they may not
have been previously conscious of.

INTERPRETIVE LEVEL

  Interpretive Level questions catalyze the sharing of experiential
knowledge and personal decisions or resolves.  The participants are asked to
interpret the topic of discussion by relating it to the world and to their
own lived experience. The questions asked begin to probe for relationships,
self-evaluation, and levels of meaning.  The answers to these questions
require the cognitive capacities of the participants' left brains.  The
questions now seem more about the participants' lives rather than the topic
itself. They elicit deeper reflection, require interpretation, and reveal
implications for one's own life. The participants begin to make connections
to their own lives by identifying with other participants' comments and
through self-reflection. It is the interpretive questions that initiate
collective consciousness as they begin the process of integration which
requires the use of the participants' noetic or intellectual capacities. 

This level does not require as many different questions as do earlier
levels, but usually takes more time because they are not so easily answered.

First Movement

The latter questions of the Responsive Level focus on the personal
relationships and responses to the topic.  The Interpretive Level questions
shift the focus of attention to the larger context of the whole text, video,
event, object, or topic.  The first questions asked at this level are, "What
is or did really happening here?" or "What is this really about?"  These
questions require that the participants shift from the shared imaginative
and concrete personal interior worlds of feelings and intuition to the more
abstract world of ideas.  As the minds of the participants' synthesize this
dynamic interplay of polarities between the inner and outer worlds, meanings
begin to unfold.  As the participants' answers begin to reflect some facet
of human existence, the facilitator moves to the next stage to ask where
they see or locate it in time and space.

Second Movement

Questions such as: "Where do you see this taking place in the world today?"
What is this about?" "What implications does this reveal?'" What changes (in
general) are being called for?" begin to take the conversation to a deeper
level.  The "this" of the question is determined by the responses to the
first questions of this level.  The context of the "world today" is
intentionally inclusive, in order to move the sphere of thought beyond the
individual realm and put distance between participants and the meaning where
they can be more rationally objective.  The answers are related to other
people, but reveal the underlying assumptions the participants are making
about them.  However, the participants are rarely aware that these
assumptions come from their underlying values and beliefs based on their
life experiences.

Third Movement

The final questions of the Interpretive Level focus on increasingly concrete
and personal applications for the meaning of the topic.  The facilitator
might ask, for example, "Where do you see this taking place around you - in
your city, neighborhood, place of work, or family?"  This moves the
discussion still further toward the specific and concrete, and applies it to
the actual life of the people the participants know.  Eventually, questions
such as "How is it taking place in your own life?" What decisions are being
required of you?" "What have you learned?" "What will you do differently
now?"  These questions are particularly helpful for those participants who
are reluctant or do not frequently look within, but who easily exteriorize
ideas and prefer to intellectualize concepts.  

Through the Interpretive Level of the process, the reflection required
becomes increasingly more personal.  As others in the group share their
responses to these questions, several things begin to happen.  The process
of identifying with others in the group through shared feelings and
experiences deepens and intensifies.  As people share how the particular
realities and dynamics being discussed operate in their own lives, their own
private thoughts and experiences are validated, and the group gains courage
to share still further. Deeper levels of care, compatibility, and compassion
are shared.  A sense of community frequently emerges.  These dynamics of
shared self-disclosure with others and private self-reflection require time
as well as sensitivity and skill on the part of the facilitator to hold the
space so the specific meaning and implications can emerge within each
participant.  Without this, the participants cannot experience a new level
of understanding or collective consciousness.

Some participants who have not developed the skill of thinking
imaginatively, which is learned through meditation and contemplation, may
get locked into a calculative, analytical mode of reflection and find it
difficult to get beyond a superficial or literal level of interpretation.
They tend not to resonate with answers from others who reflect a freer, more
imaginative level of thinking. Their answers to these questions tend to
focus on 'other people' who need this or that or who should be doing this or
that rather than giving personal answers to the questions.

Other participants' fear of risk or change or an unwillingness to move from
the status quo may prevent them from responding to the interpretative
questions.  This fear of change inhibits the creative and imaginative power
of poetic metaphor and analogous thinking required in answering questions at
this level.  Without abstract or poetic metaphors and analogous thinking, it
becomes difficult to move to deeper levels of identification, inquiry,
compassion, and meaning. 

Nevertheless, when the facilitator keeps his or her intent focused on the
group as a whole and stays faithful to the process an ineffable freedom
unfolds which enhances the group's capacity to respond to the inner callings
of their true and deepest nature.

The Institute of Cultural Affairs packaged the First Three Levels as "The
Basic Discussion Method" and teaches it as one of the Technologies of
Participation (ToP) group methodologies.  This adaptation, known within the
group facilitator's world as ORID calls the second level, the Reflective
Level and ends with this last movement within the Interpretive Level,
calling it the Decisional Level. Thus, the acronym "ORID."  When the topic
does not warrant latent wisdom or the intent of the facilitator is not to
provide an environment for collective conscious to emerge or for the
participants to experience the existential dynamic between introspection and
transcendence, the conversation can end here without moving to the Depth
Level.

DEPTH LEVEL

  Depth (or Maieutic) Level questions develop a shared sense of purpose and
meaning by eliciting a sense of wonder and openness to the transcendent
dimension of life. The word "maieutic is taken from the Greek word "maia,"
meaning midwife, which implies that one is bringing forth a 'new self' or a
new interior form (Kloepfer, 1990, p.183).  The questions at this level are
maieutic in the sense that the answers to the questions draw out the latent
ideas or inner wisdom within the participant.  As the awareness of this
latent wisdom emerges, the conversation shifts to the specific meaning and
implications the topic has for the participant's own inner life and self
understanding, creating "a new interior form."  This new form replaces the
disabling negative thought forms, beliefs, or values with positive enabling
ones. Each participant now perceives that what is of real benefit to them
must also be of benefit to all.

Up to this point, the group dialogue has focused on the dynamics or
relationships within the topic, the lived experiences of the members of the
group, their perceptions of the external world, and what is concretely being
called forth in them.  The depth questions move the participant into still
deeper levels of awareness.  The dialogue slows down as the conversation
shifts more into the transcendent self-presence mode of reflection.  In this
mode, the individual's consciousness connects with the inner wisdom of the
other participants.  They become able to disidentify or defocus from
sensations, emotions, and thoughts sufficiently to recognize their
witnessing consciousness (Elgin, 1993, p.132).The significance of the topic,
in light of its "ultimate" meaning or universal horizon of human experience
is brought into focus, as participants collectively discover, discern, and
affirm a deeper self-understanding.  

The facilitator continues to change the nature of the questions at this
level by asking the participants to search within for ever wider horizons of
meaning, including underlying and broadest implications.  Questions such
as," What does this really mean?" "Describe this in other words?" "Is this
true for you?" "Is it true for everyone?" evoke an inner movement to self
consciously take a profound relationship to the topic or open themselves to
the deepest dimensions of their own inner self.  Our higher potential as a
species is our ability to achieve full self-reflective consciousness or
"knowing that we know."  (Elgin,1993, p18). These questions are the most
difficult to phrase.  The facilitator must ask these questions in such a way
as to prevent the participants from returning to abstract or cognitive
reflection on the overall meaning of the topic. The answers to the questions
must be grounded in the concrete lived experience of the participants. 

The facilitator should provide an environment for moments of silence and
meditative reflection between questions and responses. These moments of
silence during the conversation provide a participant the inner space
necessary for the interaction between solitude and communication.  When the
facilitator is willing to confirm and support each answer to the questions
at this level, each participant is enabled to affirm any truth, even when
painful. This is an important component of transcendent self-presence.  It
relieves guilt and doubt and calms anxiety, thereby empowering each member
to choose to be his or her unique self in the midst of the collective.  Even
the slightest judgmental attitude, particularly on the part of the
facilitator, severely limits the willingness of the participants to risk
becoming aware of their inner selves, must less sharing and exposing it to
others.

The extent to which the group chooses to go into this mode depends upon
numerous factors.  The maturity of the group, its homogeneity, size, mood,
or state of mind, and the skill, sensitivity, and prowess of the facilitator
all play an important part.  It is extremely difficult for many participants
to let go of the need to be in control, and to go beyond the more familiar
and comfortable functional dimension of rational thinking.  As the depth
questions lead the participants to become aware of the transcendent
dimension, they intuit that something new or different is being called
forth.  Fear of the unknown makes it difficult for them to enter into the
experience of awe that is required in this mode. This is not a mechanical,
step-by-step process that is at work, but an open, dynamic one.  No one can
predict or control the extent to which individual or collective
consciousness will occur. Nevertheless, the potential is there for each
individual and/or the group to come to a new, enlivened awareness. As the
inner self is awakened, glimpses of the true Self emerge into the foreground
of consciousness and recognize its connection to all human beings.

The dynamics present in the first three levels of questions - Objective,
Responsive, and Interpretive - plus the first questions at the Depth Level
create a field where a state of transcendent self-presence can emerge.
During the final questions, an individual can be fully aware of the
questions being asked, the other members of the group, and their responses
to the questions while engaging in self-reflection.  Everything is given a
new perspective.  It is like seeing it through a new set of glasses.  Things
that had once seemed fuzzy are brought into focus.  Or it is like relaxing
your focus in a 3D illusion.  Suddenly depth and dimension appear.  One gets
a glimpse of one's true Self, a Self centered not in ego - but as a
transcendent being.  As individuals experience this transcendent
self-presence, the boundaries of time and space seem to disappear.  There is
a sense of wonder and awe as the participants observe the larger picture of
what they themselves have been saying.  This state of awareness opens the
interior world by placing the person in the presence of the all-pervasive
mystery of Being where authentic "selfhood" resides (Kloepfer, 1990, p.
191).  With the experience of collective consciousness, a new interior form
emerges into the foreground of consciousness and recognizes its connection
to all human beings.  

Enabling collective consciousness in groups requires specific facilitation
skills.  Only those facilitators who are well grounded in their own
spiritual nature will succeed in guiding a group through the Depth Level.
Facilitative leadership requires the individual practice of self reflection.
In self reflection, one comes to know the Self.  When this is achieved, one
"knows not only itself but all selves" [Bailey, A. 1925 p.1237.]  With this
knowledge the facilitator manifests an authentic self-presence with the
ability to remain aware of the internal states being manifested in the way
each question is asked. 

An illustration of a facilitator's procedures for a Guided Dialogue on a
song written and sung by Greg Tamblyn on The Grand Design CD, Track 1
follows.

This Guided Dialogue was prepared for the Workshop Sessions of the
Transforming the Legacy Symposium, December 17-19, 2009, Washington DC

The facilitator passes out copies of the song and asks the participants to
read along as Greg Tambyn sings the song.  If time permits, the song is
played again for the group to sing along with Greg.  In conducting the
Guided Dialogue, not all the questions need to be asked.  A facilitator
usually prepares more questions than are actually asked and frequently
reword the questions to fit appropriately into the on going dialogue or to
better accomplish the intent or purpose of that level with the dialogue.  

All These Atoms

You breathe out, I breathe in

We're sharing molecules again.

Oxygen and hydrogen, but

Do you know where your atoms have been?

Parts of me were once in you

Genghis Khan and Hitler too,

Jesus Christ and dinosaurs,

Princes Di and Dinah Shore. 

All these atoms everywhere circle back 

So we can share.

No escaping, yes it's true

Parts of me were once in you.

My whole body smooth and hairy 

Is really very temporary

Every year a new epidermis.

Maybe next year's will be firmer

There's some atom somewhere in Spain

I could use back in my brain

They stay awhile and then they leave, but

They only fit what we conceive

All these atoms everywhere circle back

So we can share

Like some ever changing brew

Parts of me are now in you. 

As hard as it might seem to be,

Parts of you were once a tree

Once a fish in the primal soup

Something's dinner, something's poop.

Fifteen billion years ago

The bang was quite a show

All this time and now here we are

But parts of you were once a star.

All these atoms everywhere circle back

So we can share.

No escaping, yes it's true

Parts of me are now in you.

All these atoms here on earth

Get recycled death to birth.

Like some ever changing brew,

Parts of me are now in you

All these atoms we've collected

Only mean that we're connected.

Since we share what we're made of,

Don't you think that calls for love?

Guided Dialogue on "All These Atoms," a song written by Greg Tamblyn, The
Grand Design CD, Track 1

Existential Aim: Group experiences of collective consciousness

Rational Aim: Demonstrate a Guided Dialogue

Facilitator's Intent for each level

Open up cognitive awareness of the topic

*  Get the participants attention by engaging the physical senses

*  Review words and phrases of the song

*  Invite inclusive participation with easy questions

Invite personal reflective responses to the topic

*  Enable participants to become absorbed in the topic

*  Evoke the use of their imagination

*  Invite participants to share their emotional responses

*  Enable participants to become personally engaged

*  Initiate meditative self-transcendence

Stimulate intellectual faculties of the participants

*  Discuss the purpose and meaning of the song

*  Catalyze the sharing of lived experiences

*  Encourage participants to identify with the song

*  Provide space for participants to get in touch with the truth about
themselves

*  Disclose participation in the transcendent dimension of life

Expand personal horizons of meaning

*  Draw out deeper meanings of being connected

*  Open participants to transcendent self presence

*  Provide space for participants to affirm internal directives

*  Enable participants to experience collective consciousness 

Responsive Level: [7 minutes]                  Imaginal Questions

1. What lines were repeated?

2. What pictures or images did you see?  Describe them. 

3. What emotions were you aware of in others?

4. How did listening to this song make you feel? What emotions were you
aware of within yourself?

5. Which lines did you particularly identify with? 

Interpretive Level: [10 min]     Questions connect song to

1. What do you think the writer of this song                world wanted to
communicate?

2. What does it really mean to say we are connected?

3. Where do you see these connections taking place in the world?  In your
community?

4 When have you experienced this sharing?

Depth Level [10 min]     Questions expose universal

1. What words or phrases could be sub-      meaning

stitued for the word 'love' ?

2. In what ways have you experienced this? 

3. What does this really mean for us?

Closing: Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights.

References

Baley, A. (1925). A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Lucis Publishing Company,.

Beck, D. & Cowan, C. (2003) Spiral dynamics: Mastering values, leadership,
and change. Blackwell Publishing

Bohm, D. (1980). Wholeness and the implicate order. New York: Routledge.

Bohm, D. (1986). On dialogue. New York: Routledge.

Boulding, K. (1956). The image. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press

Elgin, D. (1993). Awakening earth: exploring the evolution of human culture
and consciousness. New York, William Morrow & Company, Inc.

Kant, I. (1950). Critique of pure reason. New York: Humanities Press.

Kiekegaard, S. (1954). Fear and trembling. Garden City, NY: Doubleday &
company, Inc.

Kloepfer, J (1990). The art of formative questioning: A way to foster
self-disclosure. Ann Arbor, MI UMI.

Lehman, R. (1997). Our common work: A new birth of freedom. Kalamazoo, MI
Felzer Institute

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  _____  

[1] Maiertic comes from the Greek word "maieutikos" pertaining to midwifery
or the process of helping a person to bring forth his or her latent
knowledge.

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