Monday morning: Opening of the Moving the Edge gathering

Actually we started our gathering in silence, something like ten minutes. Looking from a hindsight, I think this was very powerful!

We shared our 'arriving stories', what brought us to sit here in this circle? How did we arrive here physically?

Then a break.

Then a deeper inquiry: 

Our gathering in Denmark is about: 

An adventurous inquiry

into the role of collective intelligence

in moving the edge of evolution.

The question that we contemplated and replied to was:

What is the role of collective intelligence in moving the edge of my evolution?

Here's the collection of our answers that we shared in the circle:

The role of our collective intelligence in my "moving the edge of evolution" is:
- Giving me nineteen people's experiences and thoughts/feelings during the four days – and after.
- Weaving threads of relation to nineteen people and their webs.
- Helping giving me direction both in business and in private.
- Supporting my little contribution of moving the edge for humanity.
- Expanding my "living on the edge" experience and insight dramatically, compared to before.
- Showing me to make contributions to mean something to the other team members.
- Seed and fertilize my interest and attraction to the area of CI and "moving the edge".
……………………………………
The role of collective intelligence in moving the edge of my personal evolution is to help my body and heart to realize in a profound way that fear is nothing to be afraid of.
……………………………………
My revolution is:
Overthrowing the government of the mind, as collective intelligence interrupts the mind when it runs away with itself.
What is the role of collective intelligence in moving my edge? – Expanding the power of being by inhibiting the power of mind thereby expanding the power of the mind that is constantly informed by being – to interrupt and make compassionate my dialectical categories.
……………………………………
When I am with you all, I am smarter.
When I am with you all, I see my fears more easily.
You are the listening that generates the best of me coming forward.
Being in this circle with you is a doorway to my becoming.
I love you.
I love the possibilities because of you all.
…………………………………
Collective intelligence
is a means
to live collective consciousness
- a conscious way for me/us
to connect with what naturally
wants to happen through me/us.
……………………………………
Giving up the resistance to and the conviction that I need to do it on my own.
Feels like I've reached my edge.
In order to create I need to co-create.
Letting go of resistance always creates a space.
Welcoming others in my space (the space of my awareness).
Allowing myself to be changed.
Feels like surrendering.
Need to dissolve the idea of isolation.
……………………………………
CI is the ultimate loss of my controle and ownership of the process.
It calls me to give, let go of anything but interest.
……………………………………
Giving up the story I tell myself about me (and others).
Letting go of my personal story/my identity.
Stop the isolation – trust the now.
……………………………………
The edge of my evolution is deepening and cultivating my understanding that everything and everyone is expressions of the same life, to understand that I'm not separate from you
……………………………………
To move into the unknown
To move beyond the personal
To be fully present, here, now
……………………………………
Collective intelligence is helping us realizing that all is in one, and one is in all – with the purpose of letting heart and spirit being the master, and ego being the servant.
……………………………………
What are the collective and social practices to engage collective intelligence in service of evolution of a conscious civilization that can now be named and called into being?
……………………………………
What is the role of collective intelligence in moving the edge of my personal evolution?
SHARING
- Challenging or deepening my ideas or concepts of what reality is. For example personality based limitations like "I am stupid" or " The world is Evil" can be altered. Visions can expand in togetherness: 1+1=3.
- Support "I like what I hear you say and want to add this".
- Clarity "When I hear you, this is what I see".
- Inspiration "Now, I have never heard anything like it and I love it!"
- Friendship, Destroying the illusion that I am the only seeker in the world, the illusion of loneliness.
- Networking, Expanding my field of vision, more opportunities for jobs, play, friendship, creativity, love, and growth.
……………………………………
Sharing my inner beauty.
Daring to be wrong in public.
Standing up for my truth.
Living in trust and laugh at/with my doubts together with friends.
FUN: It's more fun sharing the journey with friends.
RISK: Being in the moment, step by step, not knowing.
TRUST: Deep listening, taking time to listen.
……………………………………
To make me aware of when my ego is leading. To interrupt me in order for me to redefine myself.
To support me/any individual to speak from the heart, openly and without fear. To inspire me with a sense of trust to express myself fully.
To create and promote a continuously developing CI-network where I can easily be a part.
To create channels of communication with the "rest" of the world and reach out to others.
…………………

I hope someone will find the time and the effort to search for and describe the common themes, the patterns that are woven into this... 

The Invitation

Moving The Edge

An adventurous inquiry
into the role
of collective intelligence
in moving the edge of evolution


This gathering is intended to support the emergence of a field of collective intelligence - a field where the practices, insights, principles, collegial networks etc. of collective intelligence can be evolved in ways that have not happened so far.

If you feel called by this invitation, then you are invited.

The gathering will take place March 20-23, 2006, Aarhus, Denmark.


The costs are on a "company of friends"-basis: Everyone takes care of their own costs for room and food. No one is paid for what they do to help the gathering happen.  Costs, including food, will be € 514 (approx. $ 605) for double room and € 637 (approx. $ 749) for single room. 

REGISTER NOW. It is likely that you don’t have to think about it; probably you know it by now if you would like to be part of the gathering. The sooner you respond to this invitation the more you contribute to make this gathering happen. 

Early perspectives on Moving the Edge

These documents represent the perspectives of some of the conveners of the gathering. They were all published as part of the invitation.

Questions for reflection posted before the gathering

As 'Moving The Edge' is already happening now, we - the convening team - decided to post some questions for reflection, and the answers that we came up with. More answers will be posted in the days to come.

What is ‘Moving The Edge’ for you?

• Right now it is an event to be convened and hosted, but this is really only a part of a bigger picture, where "Moving The Edge" could be the name for many peoples intended cooperation and community as they are living and working out of an evolutionary perspective.
• It is something I am longing for to be part of happening.
• This is a possibility to make something extraordinary happen, that can have transformative powers on the individual as well on the collective.
• The leading edge of evolution IS moving, by itself, unfolding through time, whatever we do or don't do, with ourselves as part of it. "Moving the edge", to me, means that we are becoming conscious elements of that moving edge. Our conscious intentions and actions influence the healthy evolution of the whole in ways that include humanity evolving far into the future, rather than going extinct within decades or centuries. In this process, the co-creative dance of evolving consciousness and evolving social systems makes evolution, itself, increasingly conscious.
• I don't know and I'm very curious about it
• The same as described by someone above in the sentences starting "The leading edge of evolution IS moving..." In addition to that, social evolution is not just moving by itself but through the tension between the dominant, capitalist mode of production (supported by a repressive division of labor) and the more dynamic, faster-moving evolution of its forces of production, including humankind's collective intellect and intelligence enabled by the Web. Moving the edge, in that context, means to me facilitating the emergence of a movement with a higher collective intelligence and consciousness capable to meet the challenges we inherited from the obsolete, 20th century modes of governance, commerce, and other social institutions.

In what walks or works of life do you experience the potential of collective intelligence unfolding?

• In my daily life, I have dedicated my life to move consciousness further. In everything I do, I look for consciousness to evolve.
• I think the short answer is, that CI has potential for unfolding in any walk of life
• The potential for collective intelligence exists in all facets and at all levels of human existence (and, indeed, of life itself). The realm that calls me most strongly is governance -- both creating collectively intelligent and wise political and government structures and processes, AND catalyzing cultures and systems that support collectively intelligent, widely distributed, organically emerging and evolving forms of self-governance in communities and networks.
• In all walks of life I look for it in.
• Ditto, and especially in groups that balance autonomy with communion, recognize their deep inter-relatedness, such as people thinking and acting from an egoless, authentic self, and to some extent, in open source and peer-2-peer co-creativity.

What does it mean to you to walk the talk in the context of moving the edge?

• Right now - that convening and hosting the gathering is done in a way that by it self is engaging collective intelligence, and moving all the edges I am able to recognize.
• To practice my ability to be present and be at service.
• To live up to the highest I know in every moment and be more interested in what I don’t know than what I already know.
• "Walk the talk" includes, in my sense of it, two things. First, it means exercising a personal practice (and group practices) for sensing into what wants to emerge or how things are ripening or opening for positive evolution. This requires (among other things) re-viewing problems, dangers and degradations as evolutionary opportunities rather than merely irritants or evils to get rid of. Second, "walking the talk" means taking action (with as much awareness as we can muster) to support shifts in the minds and hearts of key players and in the design and functioning of key systems, translating emerging disturbances into powerful questions that carry people into evolutionary action.
• To match my inner knowing with my outwards action
• Many things, but one that is most frequently missed in transformational circles: making ourselves available, indiviudally and collectively, to get all the leverage that collaborative technologies provide to power up positive initiatives

How do you see this gathering supporting the emergence of a field of collective intelligence?

• First and foremost by participants being clear about the nature of this gathering. It is not a course, not a training event, but we are all there to be present and to put ourselves in service of the larger context of the gathering
• By meeting each other
• This is a gathering were everybody is invited to bring out their real passion and interest for something extraordinary to happen in the field of collective intelligence - on the highest level possible. And I think that might have the power for us to discover a new way and context for our way we work and live our lives. Why? Because, the context of this gathering is to move the edges, not to confirm the old! That is what I hope this gathering will bring forth.
• The phrase "collective intelligence" and its variants are surfacing in diverse fields -- organizational development, conflict resolution, intelligence gathering, deliberative democracy, spiritual development, biology, sports, music, computer networking, and more. At the edges of each field, people are discovering colleagues in neighboring fields. I distinctly sense diverse streams of theory and practice converging. If we can create a space where the people and ideas from these diverse fields can discover each other and interact in ways that follow their existing energy and support the emergence of new insights, relationships, and projects, we will accelerate this great confluence where the diverse fields discover themselves as subsets of a larger field. The synergies they will then be able to create could make that new field a palpable power for wisdom in the world, of the world, and for the world, forever.
• I do not not see it, I feel it happening in my own body. I know that there will be a very diverse group of human beings gathered, which will bring many perspectives to see from anew. And since this is about entering an exploration together, where nobody knows the answers, nothing will truly emerge unless we tap into a field of collective consciousness and intelligence.
• Its bect chance to do so will be an event design that is not focused on the event itself but on its potential for the momentum that it can create for what may evolve from it. It would be an experience design, where we would all have a chance to experience the power of collective intelligence, our nascent friendships, and the longing for more...

What is the "edge"?

The following excerpt about the various, socially relevant meaning of the "edge" is borrowed from "Connecting Globalization & Innovation: Some Contrarian Perspectives" by John Hagel and John Seely Brown (PDF) presented at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland January 25 – 30, 2006, so it has an economic context to it but I think some of what they say can also be applied to the broader evolutionary context.

The edge is becoming the core. We recently wrote a book on The Only Sustainable Edge
because edges – on many levels – are becoming more important:

· Edge in the sense of strategic advantage
o Traditional sources of advantage are eroding and we all face the challenge of
identifying new sources of advantage that can sustain superior performance.

· Edge in the sense of peripheries
o Peripheries, while often relatively marginal in terms of current revenue
generation, represent centers of innovation because they provide early visibility
into new needs and new capabilities. These peripheries can take many different
forms, whether it is the edges of our existing institutions, geographic edges like
emerging economies or demographic edges represented by younger generations
bringing new needs and behaviors to markets around the world.

· Edge in the sense of boundaries
o Boundaries become fertile areas for innovation because they provide
opportunities for people with different experiences, beliefs and needs to
encounter each other.

· Edge in the sense of performance limits
o Innovation provides the catalyst to push the performance limits of institutions.

What will happen, how will it happen?

Moving The Edge will depend on all of us!


Arrival will be during Sunday March 19th, and we will convene after breakfast at 9 am Monday morning. We close Thursday March 23rd at 4 pm.

In between will be an adventurous inquiry. The convening team will serve as hosts of the process for as long as it is needed, including hosting the opening session. We will also offer a simple structure for the days to support the flow of the gathering. Most likely the guiding structure will be Open Space.

There will be a grand hall, and a number of smaller rooms and locations available for us.

We expect people of all walks of life and work, having in common to feel called by this invitation to inquire into the role of collective intelligence in moving the edge of evolution.

So we expect, and intend to support, the emergence of a field of collective intelligence, and we further expect that the unfolding of the content and process of the gathering will be the result of how we engage with this field of collective intelligence, rather than the result of any individuals hosting, lecturing or other more commonly seen conference activity.

We expect to discover new ways of being together and to be part of evolving practices, insights, principles, collegial networks etc. of collective intelligence that have not happened so far.

It is likely that we will build on the experiences some of the convening team had in a gathering called The Kaleidoscope Café retreat, which happened in Sept. last year in the south of England and the Evolutionary Salon, held early Jan. on Whidbey Island near Seattle.

We sense that we are building - even through different gatherings with most of them different participants - a collective capacity to think, live and act as a real collective that is at the same time conscious of itself. Up to now, the convening team is experiencing this - with all the uncertainties and questions that are inevitable. We engaged ourselves in this experiment and we hope you will join us!

The story behind moving the edge

A tale of continuing exploration, connectedness, emergence and inclusiveness

One stream of the story began in May 2004 where two Danish business consultants got together for a cup of coffee at a habour-side restaurant in Aarhus, to explore what new ways of leading they felt were emerging in the field of collective intelligence.

They quickly included colleagues in the exploration of what this might look like and the potential it might hold. This led to a series of inquiries where it became clear that the common ground of the participants was a readiness to live their practices in every aspect of life.

From this an initiative named Collective Intelligence Practitioners Initiative (CIPI) was formed. CIPI came to life to attract other consultants who worked consciously with collective intelligence in their practices. With the CIPI initiative more people joined in. After two small gatherings it became obvious that collective intelligence practitioners come from a much broader field than just consultancy. Amongst the participants were a chef, a deejay and a sports-coach, who all brought in new perspectives on how collective intelligence could manifest itself.

Suddenly food, music and physical training made everybody see the vast potential in bringing people from all walks of life together to explore what's possible when they start to notice each other and share their experiences. At this point the idea of holding an International CIPI Festival emerged as a clear vision. A convening team was founded to clarify the idea and carry it out. Again more people were included expanding the team internationally. Among those joining the convening team were three from another group that had been meeting by phone for a year exploring "convening the field of Collective Intelligence" -- and our two efforts have merged like a confluence of purpose. So it seems this is an idea whose time has come.

What you see on this website is the result of the convening team's exploration of the purpose, the idea, the working-principles, the name of the gathering and so forth. None of the participants from the beginning till now, had any idea about what their exploration would bring, so they have stayed open to whatever emerged while trusting there is a deeper meaning where none was clear at first.

Close of convening team

This meeting is making a cermony or ritual to honor and close the work of MTE in March. We share this perspective to mindfully acknowledge and close what happened. Then with that intention, I notice we jumped into talking about writing articles for evolutionary news, adding CIPI to nexus, upgrading nexus, moving the edge as movement.  Cannot talk about what happened, jump right into what is moving forward.   Maybe that IS the ritual.  Things from Mte can actualize, but it is always when looking forward that the experience actualizes again, when thinking about the next step.

The existence of this convening team that stuck together and came back repeatedly... that actually made MtE happen.  It seems like 20 people's lives was influenced by being together for those 4 days. How it came to be that it was exactly those of us to be convening team, I can't account for that.  For each of us it was about making a choice.  Want to acknowledge that people are making those choices.

The unfoldment of MtE is like an example of what it can mean to be honest to an evolutionary perspective, engaging the work as an unfoldment of what wants to emerge.  One of the values is the presentation of a showcase of a concrete example of that.

The spirit of the MtE event has re-activated itself through the quality of our presence in the call: the closure of that cycle spontaneously turned into co-sensing new openings for moving the edge of the now. It was like the field was listening to itself, one more time, through our voices. At the end, I felt tears in my eyes and decided to keep the focusing statement of Moving the Edge in the center of my attention as I co-initiate new projects and live my life:

     An adventurous inquiry
    into the role
    of collective intelligence
    in moving the edge of evolution

What if convening teams, and other members of every evolutionary initiative, in every sphere of social (or business) life, could rightfully describe the essence of what they do/are as follows?

    An adventurous inquiry
    into the role of
    our collective intelligence
    in moving the edge of evolution

We also adressed the question of what to do with the €521 surplus from the gathering – to cover costs of €1734. We agreed to follow the suggestion: first cover direct site-expenses, then phonemeeting service, then individual phoneconnecting cost, then travel. An easy decision, thanks to Ria. I will take the steps to make it happen like that.

In my mind and heart we have now as a convening team completed this part of a journey – and it seems that there are many “next openings” contained in the completion. One is a cottagehousemeeting June 25-26 of Peter, Martin E, Jan and Finn to inquire into a next Moving The Edge gathering in october 2006. A Women Moving The Edge may be on its way (Ria, Judy and Tina). And in CIPI we continue to support the emergence of a field of collective intelligence amongst us - a field where practices, insights, principles, etc. of collective intelligence can be evolved.

Finn 

Tuesday afternoon: What was this afternoon about?

At two o'clock we sat in the circle again: How do we go from here?

We started talking about process and content. Should we use social technologies as: Open Space; World Café; Listening to the middle; contemplating; …
Or should we elaborate on the treads of the conversation this morning…

Or maybe we have to talk about: For what? before we talk about How?

What is needed now? Maybe more connection; because wisdom comes in relation?

Some tried to combine: A World Café could connect us more AND we can talk around the content of this morning.

What is in the middle right now?
    …. be in the not-knowing …
        this becomes tickling …

Maybe we are making relation with the larger field of Collective Intelligence? What is the relation of us with/as Evolution? Evolution as our highest social potential. How to be a better evolutionary agent?

Something is getting shaped here; the field of Collective Intelligence is using US.
Some principles we can use maybe:
    form follows function; function follows purpose
    purpose – connection – action – results

The community is finding it’s way. The question that is rising: How do we connect? How do we relate?
Maybe the Collective Intelligence way of working is getting to know each other?

Some explanation on ‘The magic in the middle’ – connecting beyond the personal. The magic in the middle, is speaking from and to the middle, the in-between-us.

Somebody spoke about the need to include the body; in body to body connection really new things can emerge. Some stood up and starting to do little movements in silence, behind their chairs.

The tension was building! Some found it juicy! Tension in the middle!
Can we hold the tension? So that something new can be born?
Like the implicit order is trying to unfold…

So, collective intelligence is here; now what?
It is not here, the possibility is here, it might unfold.

Until this point a lot of suggestions were done, hardly any got a response… Our ego’s were bleeding…

What wants to be called into being now?
What can be named now? Naming needs grounding, the gravity and the senses.

We noticed waves of something happening, and sometimes not.
Do we listen deeply?
This tension, this searching; it seems a necessary process, we cannot skip it!
We are not doing democracy; what are we doing?
If we try too hard to be collective intelligence, we won’t get it. What if we try to be just co-stupid for 4 days?

It became clear that we all showed the commitment to hang in!!! The collective confusion is a good way to collective intelligence.

Then we got some explanation on the community building theory of Scott Peck. How we go from pseudo community, to chaos (where we were/are now!), then comes emptying and finally to community.

What would I need to empty myself?
Each one of us wants to do ‘something’, maybe that wants to empty?
The solid idea of purpose is maybe in the way of the collective intelligence?
Collective intelligence seems to be all inclusive: beyond good and wrong.

BREAK

From a hindsight, the energy shifted here; and we came to talk about the difference of the two afternoons.

There was an explanation on the U-curve; probably we are in the co-sensing phase?
Someone was invited to speak from the heart… and we noticed too much male sky-energy was voiced and not enough female grounding. This was named as a longing for listening deeper, to slow down, to build on each other, to listen for the wisdom to come…

Thank you for sharing what is difficult to share…
… belonging…
        …Earth…
I know more than I have words for… and she used her body and  movement to show us … (not being able to share this via this medium).

To become whole again, we have to honour the Sacred Feminine, for the systemic balance.

In one of the preparation conference calls the convening team came across: Holding space for the unfolding of direction. Like the balance of feminine and masculine…

This balance is bloody important and needed; it has to become a felt sense in the body on cell level … and … It is game! The universe doesn’t care!

Do you notice the capacities we are building? The difference between discussion and speaking to bring something present; speaking your truth when it is the time to do it.

The group's intelligence is increasing my personal intelligence at incredible speed! This is collective intelligence in action. And what enabled it is the listening (the feminine), the receptivity and to voice it, to reflect it back to the whole (the masculine). Feelings and emotional intelligence (EQ) tend to be more inclusive than the ideas (IQ). Integrative intelligence has to integrate both and this seems to be happening.

Somebody raised his burning question how collective intelligence is related to complexity theory? A kind of answer came about mavens and connectors; and websites as hubs.

Again a voice spoke about the embodiment of this all:

Resonance AND dissonance.

Cooperation AND competition.

Then we closed the circle for that moment, with time for posting here, for meditation, for whatever....

(More tomorrow! European time)


 

All befores, in betweens and afters

We try to use this medium as best as we can to get across some of the dynamics and the evolution of our gathering here at this beautiful centre, near the sea. Some snow is still there; but the sky is totally blue, the sun is shining and we are full of life and energy!

What we see happening is that some topics that were touched upon in Hazelwood last September and/or in Seattle in the second Salon (using body-movement-dancing; connecting with the outside world; embracing the feminine and the masculine) find their way into manifestation over here. Yesterday evening, in the facilitation gathering, we were wondering what seeds we are laying down here, that the next gatherings can bring into manifestation.

So: nobody decided - because we agreed to let the field guide us - but we started dancing and moving. Using our physical bodies we tried to sense the field in between us; to let the-dance-in-between happen.

One of us invited everyone who feels called to co-host the field, together with all the others who are doing it. Hosting the field was named as totally different from hosting 'the group', or this 'association of individuals'; because it is much bigger than that. 

The talking egg (picture) - sorry, no talking stick or stone here - was introduced to give more time and space for speaking from the not-knowing; and (the sound of)  the tibetan boll was asked to be brought in whenever someone felt called to introduce some silence for letting sinck in what was said or for reflection on From where am I listening, speaking, acting? We named these as basic social technologies for collective intelligence to emerge.

I cannot honour all that happened...

voices spoke about total commitment; not to the rules, but beyond that...

people came forward with courage to speak and move from/about their fears...

Collective Intelligence = hoping that the following will speak the next words...

Collective Compassion, Collective Love makes Collective Intelligence possible. 

MOVING the EDGE of LOVE 

and the break happened: nobody suggested it, nobody spoke of it...it just happenned because it had to.

and again music and dance drew us back into the collective field, into the circle: "This is the age of Aquarius!" 

SILENCE

M: "How do we address fear? I think we need to be more ambitous."

T: "My contribution is holding space for love.  ...   This contribution is not wanted in the world. The fear of being outcasted is deep. But I cannot wait for an invitation or a safe room.  ...  It is happening here and it is happening out there; it is not separated." 

MOVING the EDGE of FEAR 

Fear from being excluded;

fear of the (talking) egg; fear of taking the (talking) egg, the will and the wish that the (talking) egg will be given to me, will be shared with me, so I do not take the decision, but accept a gift from someone ready to pass-on, ready to share, a friend of us.

fear and anger = fanger/finger

"The importance of fear is highly overrated. ....   with the willingness to face whatever is there... first it itensifies, then it fades."

Our 'founding fathers' (some are the room today and we honor them being there and having done what they did already to allow us to move the edge), the people who were on the edge in the sixties, were given their proper place and position: they made it possible what we are doing here.  ....  the dawn of Aquarius  .....

G: "Let us learn from the sixties. We missed the internet; the technology and the new tools as an extension for connection. And we didn't have an alliance with science: complexity sciences, chaos theory... we need competences to deal with that."

Some of us talk about mavens and connectors, as stated by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point.

CALL : you are welcome to build with us a bibliography of what you consider are "moving the edge" books.

QUESTION:

              WHAT IS MY CONTRIBUTION IN MOVING THE EDGE?

This IS a CREATIVE question!!!

D: "We are in a process of world making: cosmos and chaos go together in the process of that creation. To bring order out of chaos, we need to move the edge. Fear is a creative force, it heightens the senses and perceptions. I can use my senses for finding the safe pathway through. Fear is a perfect ally. Fear of fear takes you away.   When I'm not afraid of dying, I'm not afraid of living!"

               ARE WE READY OR MOVE TO A WORLD CAFE WITH THIS QUESTION?

M: "What G and D were saying, feeds me tremendously."

SILENCE

G: "Holding this question will lead you. On the one hand is the power of JOY, manifesting in what I love to do; in my talents. On the other hand are the needs of the world. Where the two meet, where they dance together, that's my contribution!"

Wednesday morning: I, U, S: I, You, Us

So, there we were again after lunch.

One suggestion: Let's walk over to the cottage and sit on the veranda in the sun. Nobody spoke, but everybody got up; took coats, picking up the tea and coffee and off we went.

The first theme was about Thomas and Lene's project: to make a video of this gathering (within their new project). A commercial was already voiced: "Don't remove the edge, move the edge!".

If we did not take the opportunity to share it with you, be aware, we have great fun, humour is fueling our tensions or ends them ! Being TOGETHER in laughs is also part of our experience.

Some people were a little worried if they could transmit the energy, the vibration, the subtility of our process before the camera. But from experience the relationship with the cameraman is providing for the connection. Even more: having to say things again, giving it words again is helpful in remembering it on a deeper level. Besides statements and short video's there will be a dialogue between G and B; maybe it is possible to catch the magic in the middle. In our gathering there is gold every 10th minute; and it is this gold, the essence that T wants to show to the world.

And we need to learn to become at ease with camera's, emails, websites etc. Besides 'the talking egg' we use, there is the video egg, the email egg ... and we are all invited to getting used to this technology, because it is a great ally in the work we are doing. And we don't need to be perfect!

This video project will in some way or another be linked with ENexus; all is still under construction.

Then it become too cold and we went inside the cottage.

Time for honouring:

The bigger field, some 7 or 8 people gathering in this same room, 11 months ago, leading to this gathering and here we are! And what will grow from here?

The lineages here together in the room: people who dedicated their life to work with body; from the heart etc. 

A kind of new treshold? Now the fear for each other, the fear for ourselves is at a manageable level. What is holding us back to move in a direction? We don't need to be perfect. 

SILENCE

There is so much power in the work we are doing here. Collective Intelligence in technology is working in Wikipedia and Linux. Collective Intelligence in a group is the flexibility of the minds.

Picking up on an idea of Jean Francois Noubel: a group that wants to release its collective intelligence needs an object link. For us an 'art object' = anything we want to create together that we cannot do alone.

What is the art object we want to create together?

What is our highest potential together?

What is the Higher Will that needs expression trough us?

What wants Collective Intelligence to know about itself?

What is the artful answer ot Collective Intelligence to thrive?

Nice, beautiful, juicy, inviting questions... but the process was more difficult ... a  kind of struggling with our next step ...

Again the feminine and the masculine: How can I be a tool? (feminine) What is the question - the goal - the purpose? (masculine)

The proposal to do a World Café popped up... to strenghten the connections ... to structure the process ... another voice wanted us to stay in the whole group: go together step by step.

SPEAKING AS THE MIDDLE

We entered a new phase: speaking as and in the middle.

"I want to be seen as what I am. I cannot have fears, but shall I be abondoned again; like so many times?

I need a voice; I need a number of voices. Start giving me a voice. I watch you; you open the space for me to speak, and then nothing! Speak for me in this world. I'm in you; I know what to do. Pay attention; give me room. I will provide the rest. I am Sofia, the body wisdom. I'm the skygod ... love and available.

SILENCE

And it went on

You have waken me up. I need something to eat. I'm hungry. How will you treat me?

I want you to communicate from this space, this energy to the world. It is sacred and mundane; All in One.

Without you I have no voice. We are connected. I need you. As we come to know each other, you will voice what we create together. It's only through you that I come alive. Not only are you my voices, but also you are my eyes, my senses and please: Stand up and tell me what are we seeing?

We stood up and told what we saw...

BREAK

Two different voices could be heard...

It is in me, it is in you and it is the same: Life is looking at itself. It is subtle and difficult to grasp. It wants to be seen and I want to be seen as a channel for life.

I feel alienated. I don't feel attracted .. to the middle or ... We are blocking evolution. Evolution wants differentiation and integratioin. From differentiation more integration can happen.

And then, from my perspective, we were lost .... people needed to rest, want a longer break ... others wanted to reflect... We stood in circle, gave hands, stood for some moments in silence and one spoke of gratitude for all of us hanging in ...
 

Wednesday afternoon: Open Space - Sacred Space - Empty Space

The reports so far are only about the so-called 'sessions'. But of course, as most of us know, the really meaningful conversations go on before the sessioins, in the breaks and during lunch, and afterwards, somewhere during the evenings.

Everyday here started with a silent meditation; attended by a lot of the participants. This 'conversation' is definitely of great influence on the field, the container that we hold here together.

The pattern that I see is that what is spoken of in these in-between conversations is trying to manifest itself during the sessions that we are all together. These conversations are like sensing organs for the energies that want to become alive, that want to become manifest. I feel there is a lot more here to write about, but my words, my clear awareness is not grown-up enough yet, to speak about it and make it available for others 'out there'.

The only thing I can see and say now is that we need this kind of structured time - like sitting in the circle - and we need the unstructured time - like the conversations at the breakfast table. And as I'm writing this I feel the longing for a life where all of this is going on in one big flow of movement, reflection, action, eating, dancing, sleeping, talking ...

I feel grateful to be here! 

Thursday: Our last day of Moving the Edge

As our collective journey is unfolding, it becomes more and more difficult to write a report of what happened; at least for me. I would need all the arts of expression to get across all the levels, all the beauty, all the energies that are included in our circle, in the field that we hold together.

After a dancing, moving start; and a welcoming and reflecting on the journey so far, this was exactly the question: What is 'holding the field'? Some answers were given and an advice to learn by osmosis: look at the ones who are doing it and learn from them.

Yesterday F said something about creating a World Café as an opportunity for something else to happen. So: watch out what you are saying, because this is what happened! We were ready for a World Café - at least most of us - tables were brought in, even the flowers, and within minutes we sat on the ground, our attention with what was present now. Some pain, some sadness, a dream ....

It was named as: We are able to go with the change of direction.

Reading again what was spoken yesterday 'as and in the middle'.

I want to be present with what is, and embracing our differences.

I honour your ability of holding pain.

Can we hold (be present to) the pain of the world? 

The quotes from the middle were read again!

Some potential is here and I feel a restlessness to ... a fear of getting trapped in the sadness and the pain... giving it voice, embrace it ... it can happen next to ... now we have a solid ground to arise from.

This called for the consciousness, the sharpness, the strength!
Consciousness doesn't need me, I am a function of consciousness. 

Anger needs to be here! Because it is here! Anger about the airy tone, the new age intonation... I was missing the strength in my voice, I'm afraid of what it can do!

One voice spoke with strength and clarity:
We need the openness, the receptivity and the sharpness, the strenght to create the new world. It needs strenght to hold the pain, to be present with it; not to comfort it.

What if we are the ones that we are waiting for? What if we are the Wisdom Council for the next president of the US? He can only do it if we all live up to our highest potential!

We spoke about a treshold, our fear. I think we have fear of creating! We are the creators! We are God! There is not an old man with a white beard up in the sky! It is us; there is nobody else to do it!

And we cannot do it alone anymore; it needs the collective. 

We were asked again to embrace all the differences: the fluffyness and the sharpness.

The voice to move forward came in different colours:
- Moving the Edge = acting, constructing
- My jungle is business; I want to bridge... we can create more value with this than with 'normal' business. 

Poem:    Love am in us; is in I; are in you.

Poem:    Sign of human unsuccess  
                in a rapture of distress...   

There is a kind of extacy in the pain, when something new is being born. I don't know why it is so hard to talk about; only poets can...

It was not the poet, but the danser, the performer who is in our midts and then the art of movement was shown to us ...

How can we make a dance from there, where your movement ended?

trying to make a leap... the possibility of a leap ... an interest in the highest potential of this group ... I like to see collective intelligence in action...  singing: Moving, moving, moving; let the edges moving ...

Consciousness is sharpness indeed. The specific sharpness is discernment between the pain IN the field and the pain OF the field (when Evolution cannot move). The practice of discernment: am I attached to the result or not? if it is a missed potential?

There are many lines of cooperation already, the web of cooperatioin is here; it is ready to be activated if we want it! Things do happen already!

IT IS TIME TO MOVE!!!

Lunch
 

Pictures of Moving the Edge

On this third day lunchtime was used - without anybody naming it - as the marketplace in Open Space. So now, at 3.2O pm, there is an Open Space happening in Empty Space. It feels as Sacred Space.

I'm at the laptop, writing this to the world; in front of me the guy who is working on uploading the pictures from FLickr. Two young guys went out for a walk; there are three table conversations happening. One as an Open Space session and two as a World Café; they just switched tables; coffee and tea was served in the room...

The edge is moving....

A great question emerged on the wall, from the Open Space session:

What will it take to create a context, a container, for a web of ongoing conversations about moving the edge in our life's work? 

The World Café tables are talking about: What does it mean that Collective Consciousness is looking at itself? 

And then the field was organising us; open space was at work... many things happened ... finally one circle emerged; the cameraman decided to leave his 'stabiliser' and took his video camera in the room. There was really magic happening in the middle! Deep insights, from different lineages, were spoeken and made sense in this meaning making in-betweenness.

The video will be soon online; not edited, just as it was...  

Pictures of Moving the Edge

Thursday: last day of Moving the Edge

I can offer you one snippet of the breakfast conversation. The commitment of a group of people to a shared purpose is very powerful, and – not to forget - it needs to resonate with the larger field.

There was no dancing this morning; the circle formed itself somewhere after nine. Our attention went already to the outside world and What after this gathering? For most of us it became clear that meeting with each other and with the larger community of change agents is a necessary and important step to take. It brought up fears of exposing our full selves into the world. Will we lose some clients? What will people think of us? Words of relief were spoken by someone ‘running for congress’ in the US. Of course his whole history is now exposed to the world; but why bother? I’m an asshole; indeed, but you too! Right? He goes for radical honesty.
We were wondering: Is there a difference between our personal life, our private life, our public life? Some of us spoke of removing the separation between them.
There were some words of wisdom around the Sacred and the Secret; but I don’t remember…

Some people voiced sensing an imbalance and the ones who had not spoken so far were invited to do so. Some imbalances were spoken of and taken into the whole. Not all energies got spoken of and it turned out later that some tension stayed until the afternoon.

The question we started our gathering with, was there again: What is my contribution?
One of us spoke of his project “Dreams for the city of Aarhus”. Can we imagine more projects about citizens dreams of their cities? A city is a very concrete thing for people to relate to, it connects them to something bigger than themselves. The city as the middle…

Related to my posting of yesterday somebody spoke about the importance of recognizing that so many things are going on in the breaks, and in some way or another we pretend it is not. I’m very much wondering what we have to learn from this. Is there something like a natural flow between being in a bigger group and then in a smaller one? Or has it to do with more and less structure; even when our ‘structure’ was pretty much unstructured… maybe that’s not the right thing to say… the structure was not given by some facilitator or host; it was not decided by somebody; but sitting in a circle is a powerful structure… My guess is that we will need to learn about this.

The law of the two feet (from Open Space technology) – you stay when you can learn or contribute, otherwise you go – was seen as just natural; as the only polite way. There is no other law than being authentic!

Of course reflections were made on our collective experience of the CircleBeing yesterday. The listening and speaking from the middle was named as a divine experience. Showing up with our hopes, struggles, passion and dreams, and showing up for each other will in the end be irresistible; and will create the new world.
This profound experience from yesterday made beliefs in visions and beliefs in trusting the field stronger.

A group photo; our last lunch; a real internet classroom and the last presentations were video taped! Saying goodbye came closer, but we still had two hours to go.
“If this circle was a prototype, what would we be a prototype of?” That question generated a lot of answers.
For simplifying complexity: when the Collective Being is the next level of complexity in humanity, then dealing with complexity becomes simple! Remembering the quote of Einstein: “   “ related with the question of Tom Atlee regarding this gathering. (links)
For a wikipedia co-intelligent democracy.
What if we were a prototype of a school?
I would love if it would be a prototype of government.
It is a prototype for a society of abundance; we have everything.
We are a prototype of a container that can hold everything. It is moving, it is becoming.

If we think of our gathering as a prototype of a system – like DNA – let us articulate precisely how exactly are we a prototype! Invitation to all of us to reflect on ‘something’ of these days; and when we get it together it will be a gift to the world.  Prototyping creation. Prototyping the evolutionary process.

And then a lot of wisdom was spoken!!! I tried to capture it…  We are touching the touch.  We must contact the improvisation of the heart, dancing with gravity, not against.
The essential of this prototype is the relationship with the field and the ability to …. On this site of the threshold, people regress a lot of times into childhood stuff. Whatever level    maturity depends on the relationship with the field; the ability to develop that relationship with    . The complexity now in the world is a result of not doing this! It created a huge mess! The way through it is the relationship with the field, the middle, the center; and this step by step. The relationship with the middle is held at an individual level and sustained by the Circle. The CircleBeing in this incarnation, with exactly these people, will never be there again. But this prototype can take a million of forms!!!
There is nowhere where the field is not, the middle is not.

In this relationship with the middle, it is important to transcend the personal agenda (How do I look like? What will they think of me?) and to be present, to be there in that relationship, in that space. And when we can do that, the magic happens. We each bring our uniqueness and we can take that to any place, we can hold that space.  

We have here experienced people, most of us are meditators, we designed for silence. This brings immediate simplicity, and it comes associative, with what was just spoken. The collective mind is working like a magnet; it is not reasonable, not logic, but associative. Whenever we get to describe this prototype, it will get more attractive!
There is this model of time: linear time, clock time; cyclical time, like the seasons and other cycles; and eternal time, which embodies both. This prototype is the entry into that timeless space that includes all time. Because of that it has access to the other dimensions of time. Going to the silence, the quiet place … comes to a point of shared recognition.


Are there tools for the pre-process, to speed up the going beyond the personal, to make it replicable?
We can translate tool as ‘social practices’, backed up by individual practices. What are they that now can be named? F committed to keep on searching for these social practices, building on the ones he already has – and who all showed up!
the centre
the talking piece
calling into silence
the company of friends
Working from this design criteria of ‘company of friends’, how would you prepare yourself?

How can we make this work more accessible to somebody like me? How can we make it more tasty?
The real invitation was of spirit and heart. This is a way to be a magnet, as a way of connecting. Joy and the desire in participating is one of the qualities of the CircelBeing. To belong here, I had to long to be here.

How will this prototype work with a lot of pressure: time constraints, hostilities, and different opinions?
What are the enabling conditions for it to work better?
This prototype is some kind of creation. We started from scratch and we did it. The emptying was needed, the not-knowing made it started. More tools? Anything will show up anyway. In the near future we might be able to do this with a deadline, in a hostile environment; there we could find out what we can or not.

The tension that was noted in the morning was still there, it created some disturbance, but one of us could see it as dynamic that probably is of the larger field and that it introduced itself, but it needs to be taken care of in a next gathering as this.

One member offered a way for us to take in what we have received and yet lighten our load as we prepare to go our different ways.  In silence we took in and acknowledge the many gifts and knowings received during our time together and imagined them collected in a bowl we created with our hands.  And then as we felt the fullness of the bowl, we released them, lifting and empyting the bowl of our hands quickly into the air (as if into eternity).     

Another beautiful ending unfolded with a little ritual outside under the tree: the women’s circle in the middle, the men’s circle around. There had been a sense of acknowledging and more deeply understanding the feminine during our days together, so this seemed meant to continue in that flow. First women facing the middle, then facing outside and slowly the circles turned giving the right movement, nod, laughter, hug, words to the one in front.  We as embodiements of feminine and masculine energies, seeing and knowing that in one another. 

No doubt, we moved the edge!
of consciousness
of love
of fear
of life!