Peggy: Interesting. That's not a lens that
I have looked at it through, but as you say that, I can certainly see that kind
of a connection with it.
Rob: And I find that a lot of the ideas that are emerged
have been looked at before from different perspectives in the past too, and it
makes sense. What you're talking about is a way for people to connect with each
other at a deeper level, and why shouldn't that have been described? And it's
probably been described mythically too. *(inaudible)
19:16 ...that whole world, how ancient cultures and even primitive
cultures have understood, because let's face it, if you get an indigenous
cultures there's a connection there that I think is also very powerful where
people, perhaps much more reflectively, go to the place you're describing that
our new technology have brought young people to today. What do you think?
Peggy: I think you're onto something and I
want to actually take it--part of the reason I got into this, was that it struck
me as a birthright to be able to interact with people who are different than
ourselves, and actually have that be creative and productive. And so I really
started exploring this, looking for how to make it as accessible as possible
for people to reach out, whether it's family members who have a gone a
different way or are more conservative.
I talked to many people who have come to the
city, and have left brothers and sisters and parents behind, who live a more
conservative lifestyle, and long to connect or reconnect. And I look at Occupy
in terms of one of the phrases that of course has resonated, is this idea of
"we're the 99%," and in truth and practice, what I've observed is that it seems to be
principally a progressive movement at this point, and one of my hopes is,
because I see people inventing, like the general assembly and mic check--they're
inventing really useful process for convening and being in conversation, and I
hope to see more reaching out to people with different points of view, because
I think there is potential to not just be 99%, but to find room for all as an
ultimate destination. And in the process of doing that, that we actually begin
to development capacity to interact with people that we disagree with, and
recognize that deeper human connection and need for some of the basic human
things, like the desire to contribute, and all wanting a good education for our
children, and a healthy productive life.
Rob: That's interesting, because a Pew poll just came out
that had a directly inverse relationship whether a person is democrat or
republican. Sixty percent are democrats, support OWS, Occupy Wall Street
overall and 21% oppose, whereas for republicans 59% oppose and 21% support. So,
it's a challenge, but I would certainly hope that there could be a way to
bridge that chasm.
Peggy: And for me, one of the ways of
doing that is to ask questions that are large enough that they make room for
people with different points of view, and are attractive enough that, that
they're questions people care enough about, that it brings different people to
the table who don't usually interact. And part of what goes along with that, as
I've been looking for simpler ways of talking about these ideas, one of the
things I've come to are the kinds of actions that make a difference. One is
what I was just saying: ask possibility oriented questions. So, given what's going
on, "What's possible in these circumstances," or "How do we create an economy
that works for all?" Questions that you can't possibly know the answers to, but
have implicit in them an aspiration towards what we want, and then invite a
second action: invite people different from yourself, people with different
perspectives, people who are a part of the larger system ,and bring something
different then you do, which tends to run counter to what we usually do. But it
becomes the source of creative opportunity to bring different perspectives
together, and then the third of this "setting up triumvirate," is be welcoming.
Who and what shows up, know that what they bring, even if it shows up in a form
of disruption, because it looks different than you were expecting, or different
than what you believe, find a way to welcome it, and often that looks like,
rather than getting into a debate, seek to understand what's the deeper human
value underneath whatever it is. And you can do that.
I find myself all the time in situations
where, I'll be listening to people with a conservative prospective for example,
talking about what they care about, whether it's individual freedoms or gun
control or issues that I have very different views on and yet, if I'm willing
to stay with it--I don't have to agree with them--but if I'm willing to
understand what's underneath their story, to have brought them to the beliefs
and attitudes that they have, what I consistently find is, there is ultimately
some human value I can relate to underneath it. And when that begins to happen,
when I can see myself in them, some aspect, then there's the beginning of an
opportunity to find some common ground and move forward together.
Rob: This is the process that you used, in engaging in
emergence to work with.
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