DIALOGUE (aka Bohmian Dialogue)
a we-space, presencing practice
The Dialogue is a shared contemplative practice, a shared mindfulness. Participants explore what’s arising in the moment within a “We” made up of others doing the same. The guidelines we use give a sense of the practice. They emphasize personal responsibility and respect and invite participants to be co-holders of the common space.
The origins of this practice
David Bohm was an early generation nuclear physicist whose interest in the unified field led him to explore how the field might be experienced in unified consciousness. Since the field is unified, he imagined, it must be there as well, in what he called the implicate order – the inner world as opposed to the explicate (outer) order. Bohm hosted Dialogues in which participants could drop down below the habitual assumptions that block blocked the experience of the underlying unity.
Blohm didn’t have a set of guidelines for accomplishing the Dialogue; he just launched in. Tom Yeomans, recently the author of Holy Fire: The Process of Soul Awakening, together with an early Dialogue group of his own, created the guidelines we use in about 1995. They’re a effective container building and you are welcome to use them yourself, with attribution.
I, Andrew, have been in a local dialogue group for 10 or so years and has offered it online as well.
Sign up here to receive notifications of Dialogues.
An online practice session January 21 at 1pm Eastern and a course in Dialogue later if people wish it.
“I highly recommend this exploration and experience, based on being on 2 or 3 previous calls!! Wonderful people, wonderful experience. Highly expansive AND a good learning more about what it’s like to be in ‘shared mindfulness.’” (Alia Aurami, Enlivening Edge)
Another participant wrote,“I found it quite insightful, warm, welcoming and comforting. . . . . As a newbie I felt safe and welcome in the space. With appreciation …”
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SIMPLE PRESENCING PRACTICE
This is a simple and sometimes very profound practice for two. Presencing invites us to share our inner experience, whatever it is, right now in the moment – for short timed periods with another. We use the question, “What are you experiencing now?”
Although made for two, Presencing can be practiced in a group that alternates between breaking out into twos and coming back into the larger group to reflect.
Sometime the practice can be scary or triggering because we may not feel safe sharing what we’re experiencing now and so feel on the spot. (It’s certainly happened to me.) It can also open a deep non-dual connection that persist for days. Speaking to our experience, right now in the emerging moment, is something we hardly ever do; we have to give up control to do it.
This practice is a great leveler. We can’t control what will come up when we’re just sharing our experience and so we’re just like our Presencing partner, another ordinary human having an experience,
Indicate your interest here and I’ll let you know of practice opportunities.
“Though, I’m a lover of Truth and have a daily spiritual practice, the interaction with Andrew has exponentially provided a sense of presence that lingers even after our short dialogue. It’s helped me to be grounded in Presence with my personal relationships as well as a consultant and facilitator. Chiara Borello, Organizaional Consultant.”
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work with Peter Block’s 6 conversations
- foundational, deep, elegant, clarifying, energizing
- powerful and personal questions are asked in small groups of 3 or 4 after which small groups come together and reflect on what struck them, what meaning they’re assigning
- deeply respectful to individual responsibility in that there’s no fixing, advising, helping or cheering up
- depth of participation is always voluntary, up to you
- the work makes vital distinctions that can help your work with any project,
- can be done together with members of a project or learned with people you don’t know yet
- you can take with you as you go.
- connects you with others at the level of direct experience beyond text, analysis, beliefs – woo-hoo!
- members can make friends and connections that powerfully influence their lives
- has a learning component “baked in,” for example the distinction between what needs fixing vs what’s possible, the distinction between taking ownership and assigning blame, between coming from deficiency vs gift.These distinctions are part of the structure and experiential, not a separate teaching.
- can be applied to an outside project or practiced here. Gives practical experience doing it. .
- there are six conversations followed by a look at what you want to do next
- Andrew is an experienced leader of this process having offered it in the context of activism, re-imagining organizations,start-up, men, and art of hosting over hundreds of hours.
New group starts in the New Year. Indicate interest here.