[Oe List ...] Want to discuss consensus?

Tue Mar 2 17:49:45 CST 2010

I think this is an interesting debate. It has produced a heartfelt if  
not altogether thought through meditation of my own...

As we go towards a hung parliament in the UK we are facing a period  
where consensus and collaboration will be precisely the process skills  
that are needed. In almost every other country apart from the USA the  
democratic process is multiparty coalition government. In our two  
party polarisation we watch our politicians stuck into their party  
lines locking horns as if they wete in court in a shockingly wasteful  
display of adversarial stupidity.

As we face the complexity of global financial, ecological, political,  
and resource challenges it will be probably  through conflict but just  
maybe through collaboration that we work out our salvation.

I am weary of the "Reality" TV gameshow approach the personality  
politicians adopt which effectively excludes us from the social  
process other than as consumer - voters.

The situation before us now requires collaboration. I yearn for a  
politician or a party that declares a stand for consensus.

A party that declares that the global financial, ecological,  
political, and resource situation we face is so complex, so critical,  
it is a state of catastrophe in which we all are faced with the choice  
of caring for one another or competing, looting, and fighting with one  
another over broken pieces and depleted resources.

The adventure we face today is so overwhelming it probably cannot be  
won or even survived. However I know which way I want to die. In a  
community of people listening, caring, dancing, chancing, cherishing,  
in a slow, frustrating, exquisite, subtle, elusive, consensual  
community of human relationships Community is still the most  
fascinating dance of all.

I think the tide is turning. We are tired of the adversarial alpha  
male good shepherd rhetoric we once admired and flocked to in our  
herds. Now we know it really is in our hands and we have a choice.  
Consensus, collaboration, trust, listening, understanding, generosity,  
responsibility, and decisions based on love, or conflict, suspicion,  
hostility, hoarding, and decisions based on fear.

I long for a politician to declare "I stand for consensus. If you  
elect me it is because you know I can do nothing for you just that you  
dare to share a dream of a collaborative sharing world where rights  
are what we give rather than fight for. Voting for me is a vote not  
for what you can get but for what you can give and a declaration that  
we are choosing to take up the challenge of this awesome moment  
ourselves"

Wasn't this the language of MLK and Ghandhi?

I see again the scene towards the end of that film where the field is  
full of people who were once slaves declaring "I am Spartacus". Slaves  
no longer to charisma, power, manipulative political forces. The  
complexity of the catastrophe makes it simple. This is the time for  
each to dream and if you let me be in your dream you can be in mine.

Let's dance with Zorba let's sing with don Quixote, let's shout our  
dreams to the empty sky with Thelma and Louise, and work out our  
consensus with diligence.

Consensus is not the abandonment of beliefs. It is the art of human  
being.

Tim Casswell
creativeconnection.co.uk
07956 851 852

On 2 Mar 2010, at 02:43, "Carlos R. Zervigon"  
<carloszervigon at gmail.com> wrote:

> If you are pure in your stance you finally are a group of one that  
> can get nothing done. Stand on your principles and be ineffective.  
> Politics is a healthy science that acknowledges that we live in  
> community and must make decision s as such. Effective and creative  
> leadership helps form consensus on a creative, inclusive, depth and  
> futuristic context but does not bully it’s way through charismatic d 
> emagoguery. Margaret Thatcher was a guardian of the illusionary past 
>  and did not contribute much to a future for the planet. Herman Gree 
> ne however has made his mark many dimensions above Margaret.
>
>
>
> Carlos R. Zervigon, PMP
>
> Zervigon International, Ltd.
>
> 817 Antonine St.
>
> New Orleans, LA  70115  USA
>
> 504 894-9868 Mobile: 504 908-0762
>
> carlos at zervigon.com
>
> http://www.zervigon.com
>
>
>
> From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net]  
> On Behalf Of Herman Greene
> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 11:00 AM
> To: 'Order Ecumenical Community'
> Subject: [Oe List ...] Want to discuss consensus?
>
>
>
> I received this morning meditation today:
>
>
>
> Lord, guard me in my convictions.
>
> "To me consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs,  
> principles, values and policies in search of something in which no  
> one believes, but to which no one objects--the process of avoiding  
> the very issues that have to be solved merely because you cannot get  
> agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought  
> and won under the banner 'I stand for consensus?'" <image001.gif>--  
> Margaret Thatcher in a 1981 speech as reported in The Wall Street  
> Journal
>
>
>
>
>
> _____________________________________________
>
> Herman F. Greene
> 2516 Winningham Drive
> Chapel Hill, NC 27516
> 919-942-4358 (phone and fax)
> hfgreene at mindspring.com
> Skype: hgreene-nc
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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