Author: Tenneson Woolf

What could real also be?

I have carried this question with me the last four years. Vocally that is. Yet, I think it has lived with me, mostly unknown to me, for the last 30 years.

Four years ago at a weekend dialogue on evolution in groups, with 20 practitioners we began the event by having each of us name an important question or quest for our time together. I hadn’t planned on asking the question I did. I was looking for the simple.

Poof. What could real also be?

From years of germination, life beneath the ground, new life was bursting forth, reaching for the light of day. What could real also be? Yes, that was it.

It was the question I felt a bit scared to ask. A bit embarrassed to ask. Yet, the question that I was well supported to explore. And the one that felt at the core of so many other questions I wanted to explore.

These days I am further committed to this question. It feels like a new chapter is opening. I am finding very good company as I further explore what real could also be. I am learning much.

One of those points of company I find in the writings of Vern Woolf, my father’s brother. From one of his books, The Dance of Life, I read this morning:

“In the dimension from which matter is holographic projection, consciousness has shape and choice is universal. Reality is dynamic, fluid, and responsive. In this dimension of reality, choice is far more subtle and important than meets the normal eye. With the twist of a thought, our reference can shift; holodynes [information systems found in individual and cultural beliefs] take over; sensory screens change; and quicker than thought, our menu of options transforms. A single holodyne can shift our entire field of consciousness. Our field of consciousness is os dynamic it can explode upon us like fireworks, or it can lay dormant in a state of hibernation for years, or generations, as though life itself as stopped.”

What could real also be? I continue to sense it is a whole lot more than most of us learn. A journey I’m committed to.

• Some learnings on resiliency and courage through #AoHBoston: http://bit.ly/fNQnSQ
• Spark (OS list): I use OS because It Moves That Mountain while other human-facilitated approaches don’t work that magic with such simplicity
• Poet, John O’Donohue (sent to me from Jerry Nagel): I would love to live, like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.
• Video harvest of the 3rd Sustainability Summit in Salt Lake City Utah, hosted by colleagues Ben Mates and others: http://bit.ly/fUh2yb
• From Holodynamics what become possible if: What is known to the part is known to the whole. What is known to the whole is known to the part.
• A helpful read from Fr Brian Bainbridge on shifting the culture in a parish, using Open Space as an operating system: http://bit.ly/hY0WqT
• Friend Sarah at NPS OD team on emergence in groups: “Bringing out what we didn’t know we needed, but now can’t live without.”
• RT @dfrieze: “It is in the nature of living systems to be radically indeterminate, to continually construct th… (cont) http://deck.ly/~CRtAy
• 1 of 7 videos on civil disobedience in Utah: Tim DeChristopher’s trial for bidding at illegal BLM auction. http://bit.ly/hqzDBC
• Deborah Frieze on change: small local efforts move through a network of relationships to emerge as large scale change: http://bit.ly/fLFKQO.
• What if… Frequency is core dimension of reality. Tuning to frequency means being able to communicate with the whole. Not just words.
• RT @drz0: RT @sharifkouddous I bump into my cousin Ismail Naguib on Kasr El Nile bridge.He says “the new weapon of choice is the broom”
• RT @drz0: They’re trying to block FB and twitter in Algeria. Dictators pass stupidity to each other, people pass revolution. (@AhmedFatah)
• RT @chriscorrigan: 18 days for Egyptian people to do what has taken USA 8 years to do in Iraq: create democracy. Only people can do that.

A bit more here into the reading that I’m continuing to do in 2011. Allowing myself, inviting myself to read novels. There is a kind of freedom that I’m enjoying in this. And an immense sense of flow. Most of the books I have read in the last several years have been about leadership, organizational design, some on spirituality and psychology. Some on philosophy. All of these have been great. Yet, I recognize that for my own health (and desire for learning and freedom), I’m needing to look away for a bit so that I can even see those things. A bit like the physical phenomenon of looking at a dim star in the night sky, not being able to see it. By looking away it creates a visibility in the periphery of the star.

The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros) — “You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad.” I read this one because my daughter was reading it. Lovely. About voice (“…learn to become the human being you are not ashamed of…”). About activism (“…anger, when used to act non-violently, has power…”). About home (“…home is about creating one’s desired environment…”). I loved even more what my daughter wrote about it for her class assignment. About the “storm of hindrances” that can be part of life. About integrating past to present. The beginnings of her learnings about integrating masculine and feminine and partnering. So many doorways into the learning that is becoming her life and the journey of father / daughter.

I seem to be working more with faith communities. I quite like it. I’ve always loved the immediate connection into issues that matter. With the Disciples of Christ last year, feeling such an appreciation for multiple ministries in the world. Offered by young people, old people, the grays. With the United Church of Christ, now, recreating a conference format for regional minister gatherings. With Catholic nuns, helping to evolved a community center.

I sense the times just call for an approach that is rooted more deeply in the heart and more open to inspiration and intuition.

Below is a book I read recently, a resource and story that I’m happy to dip into. Brian Bainbridge died a few years ago. With appreciation.

The New Parish Priest (Fr. Brian Bainbridge) — Recommended to me by Chris Corrigan for the work that I’m doing with faith communities. This is a short and simple read of shifting the culture in an Australian Catholic parish, using Open Space Technology as an operating system. From looking at the past to looking at the future. From control to shared service and offering. From “what do you want us to do, Father?” to “I’ve noticed this needs attention.” From “your” parish to “our” parish. Many stories of specific projects that began to come from the people of the parish. Nice reflections at the beginning and end on some of the learning of OS.