Learnings, insights and reflections from the CIPI Salons

The following is a digest of email exchanges with reflections following CIPI Salons. The digest is brought into an anonymous form, focussing on points of insights. The latest reflections are in the top of this document.

Reflections following the CIPI Salon Dec 16, 2006 (10 participants):

How I saw it, the main topics were:
Perspective – also the ‘collective intelligence’-perspective
Anger
Caring for each other

Regarding the perspective of collective intelligence:
Is the ‘collective intelligence’ in play during our meetings?
If so - how does it ‘teach’ us?
My answer:
I find it is very much in play, and it teaches us by using us as the instruments that we are – through our: thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and energy sensations. How? Because we have different stories in our past, we experience things differently, we look upon things differently and we react differently to the things which are going on during our meeting. By making ourselves available - by being present and alert together during the CIPI-meeting - we create a space together where all the varieties can be visible, which each of us is carrying. In this way we can observe that topics, feelings and ways of thinking can be different from our own perspective. In this way, our own ‘blind spots’ become visible. That means our old patterns – ways of thinking and reacting – consciously and unconsciously. By seeing ourselves more clearly – we get the possibility to choose to cling to or to let go - and new possibilities in life become visible and available. This is how we – during CIPI-gatherings - unfold topics to a much more advanced level than each of us can provide by ourselves. Because we have chosen to be communicative mirrors for each other – projection takes place but gets the possibility to be seen and dissolved. This is how I see that the ‘field in the middle’ – the collective intelligence – teaches us.

Regarding anger:
Anger - as a subject for this particular meeting - became visible. It felt good for me to take the step from the level on which things was very much going on between us - to see anger as a topic, which the ‘collective intelligence’ was teaching us about at that point.

Caring for each other:
The way our caring for each other unfolded at our last CIPI-meeting - after our formal meeting time had come to an end - was fantastic for me. Love was very much present. I left with the sensation of being full and complete.

Reflections following the CIPI Salon Nov 18, 2006 (9 participants):

I feel comfortable with those who feel like confronting themselves with the inner changes or movements Finn's illness katalyzes.

Today I realized the deep implication of living in the moment and I felt very touch by it as I understood that this IS life. That I am not waiting for something to change, for something to improve or something to be over with. This is it, it hit me, and tears ran into my eyes and along with that a feeling of release entered my body.
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Sharing this Saturday with you was a very beautiful experience for me. What touches me: This way of meeting each other makes me feel so safe, that I allow myself to experience full self acceptance – which is rare for me. When we meet in the morning, all present were for me new faces. And yet I just had this wonderful feeling of being part of a group. I find the way that we meet each other is rare and very valuable.

In the beginning we shared our personal feelings and thoughts about Finn’s condition. I felt that this sharing changed my inner condition. It went from chock and uneasiness to being able to contain what is there. I experienced that this sharing changed the space and made us come together.

During the day people came and went. I was touched that both you Tina and you Martin came and shared with the group in this present situation with Finn being so ill. It gave me a good feeling inside that each person took responsibility for where it was the most important place to be here and now. It was wonderful for me to share the whole day with people present. I left with at feeling of being at ease with everything. The next day my body felt warm and full – I had the feeling of having nurtured something deep inside.

With everything else this day gave me those insights – something I already knew in my head but which reached me on at different level:

To see the body as a source of wisdom on the same level as the mind – that the body has wisdom which supplements the mind and which is of a different nature – wisdom it is necessary to listen to in order to keep balance in life and to look into a bigger potential.

I have only meet Finn during the retreat. What I know of him is not ‘the person’ but a person who lives his perspective – wholeheartedly being available for humanity giving fully what he has realised. I experience myself living into a bigger perspective only now and then. Often I let my personality and old patterns keep me away from this possibility. I was hid by the knowing that living into a bigger perspective is something I want to do each moment in life. The two very important perspectives which calls me right now is: 1) To be fully authentic with everyone I’m with – and – 2) In each moment to be present to unfold the wisdom of my body and to consult this wisdom in each thing I do.  
 
After lunch I did some kitchen work when the group was ready to get together again. Two people came and told me to come and join now. I wanted to complete the kitchen work first but felt a big pressure because people wanted me to join now. I left the kitchen and joined the group and shared how I felt. Martin said that it was my responsibility to chose how to react to peoples requests. Then I got: instead of making their request into a big pressure on myself – I could also just reply: “I would like to finish before I join you – and I feel fully connected being in the kitchen”. What an easy possibility! It also felt good to let go of what I had in mind and to join you all in the living room – because I shared how I felt. Both choices were fine - sharing made the uneasiness disappear.
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It became clear to me that the middle *really* is our teacher. Although I missed Finn, I couldn't see that anything was missing. I felt part of an open and adventurous inquiry where practices, insights and principles of collective intelligence were evolving. I felt as if I were in the playing ground.
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I discover more and more that intelligence and advice is not only in the head but in the body as well, and not only in the body but the world as well.

I have heard a story of an Indian who walked backwards and rode his horse sitting backward in order to know and see what others did not see – maybe the true structure behind everything, perhaps just another structure behind everything. They called this ‘crazy wisdom’ – wisdom is also in those other places where we did not think it was.

Stay directly focused on the target and trust that nothing is wrong, sometimes we check out to be able to see things from the outside, sometimes to be able to check in again from another place. Nothing is wrong.

We do not know all the sources we have for intelligence around us, and we can just trust that it follows us.

I do not know why I write this since I was not there yesterday. But I guess I was part of the field anyway.
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Its now the day after CIPI and here is some afterglows from our beautifull gathering. 

BODY - much more body. A couple of people expressed in words a kind of restlessnes in the body. Questions to that: Am I the right place right now? what is this restlesness trying to communicate? Can I trust this circle enough to relaxe into it now when Finn is not here?

The longing to let go of any idea/form that dosn't come out of the moment. For example the CIRCLE:

I can be present AND work in the kitchen, I can be present AND lay on my stomach, I can be present AND hold your hand.

To be able to be present with what is, I may have to streach, go for a walk, shout out loud, go pee or eat something. The BODY talks, sometimes it demands in loud letters and sometimes with a whisper. Also I know we can use our body as a kind of escape, a way out of an unpleasent/ uneasy sensation or feeling.

Reflections following the CIPI Salon Oct 21, 2006 (9 participants):

It makes an important difference to me if we are gathered 1) in order to use our collective intelligence to delve deeply into important issues, while in the process learning about how CI works or 2) if we are gathered with the purpose of letting a field of CI become aware of itself, being open for going into specific issues.

I can't see why one couldn't keep an adventurous and very open perspective while undertaking this. AND it certainly helps me stay in the openness when I know that (in principle at least) anything can happen when we gather. I get a sense of safety when I think about getting together to inquire into specific topics, while I sense more excitement when I don't know what will happen. Chances here are certainly better for me to be at my openest and most adventurous.

I like to see these as complementary and essential activities, parts of one whole, enhancing each other. And for me, one of them certainly is more challenging than the other.
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It seems to me that by inquiring into a specific topic or issue deeply enough that we also connect to the field of intelligence  allows us to discover how collective intelligence actually works. The learning comes through the doing.  Why should the inquiry into specific issues become somehow less adventurous?

I think the role of reflecting on our experience, then, allows us to see the principles and practices that are emerging.  In playing football, one learns how to play more effectively.  The key element here seems to be the interest to listen or look deeply enough to sense the field of intelligence in the midst and let it reshape the substance of mind and heart which is commonly called insight.

To my current perspective, the inquiry into issues or themes, etc. (including collective intelligence!) and inquiring into the nature of collective intelligence are complemetary and essential activities, much like the double helix of DNA, allowing each to have a relationship with the other, thereby enhancing both....both parts of one whole.
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One thing became clear to me at the last salon: What we are doing differs from engaging a field of collective intelligence to inquire into a specific issue. Keeping the inquiry very open and in that sense adventurous, letting the field of collective intelligence be aware of itself, is a different, very challenging - and very important - undertaking. This does actually evolve practices, insights, principles, etc. of collective intelligence in ways that have not happened so far. Kind of blows my mind.

Reflections following the CIPI Salon Sept 23, 2006 (16 participants):

When I can be present with my body, letting it move when it wants to move, I feel more whole and more able to lean in and take part.

There are definitely things that are good to do at a CIPI meeting, and things that are not good to do.  But when I have a vision for doing something better than what is going on at any given moment,  I need to take action to change the way things are going – not by initiating a discussion on that and on what we should do instead, but by taking the initiative to do whatever I think is better. If this insight comes from the middle, and if I act from the middle, the group will follow.

When things are hard or disinteresting is the time to really lean in.
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The conflicts or the nature of the exploration of the practices of collective intelligence are still sitting in my body. So there is a connection between the two - the collective and the body, which was one of the subjects that was argued and disagreed upon. To me there was no real closure of the disagreement, and we did not reach a higher perspective on the matter this time around. But as I said in the circle I see that we tested our practices for engaging the collective in our interaction on the edge - no matter if we disagree or agree, and this is a way of facing everything and holding nothing back.

Then I see that there is something in taking positions, or just notice that they arise out of the disagreements. I was personally provoked by something being attributed to the feminine and lacking in the masculine, as I felt that those concepts are boxes that limit what I can do. AND I create those boxes myself, and I jump onto a position in that created conflict. The positions are what we talked about as already-knowing, which is not-really -listening. In several instances of the CIPI I was not able to see positions present themselves and not jump onto them - I was caught in patterns, which to me is acting in a historic relationship and not in what is here now.
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Some really meaningful conversations and inquiries were actually happening in small groups in the lunch break. And from the lunch a question arose that for me still is relevant: How can we embrace change?

For me collective intelligence can work through my mind, body or heart separately, but it can also work at all three levels at the same time. The last way is where I've had the strongest experiences.
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I was deeply inspired by our last meeting. Challenge and inspiration became very closely linked. The opposites we touched provoked a growth of what seems important to me. I experienced stronger and clearer something important to me - because a very different view or opinion was present. This situation holds a lot of energy, a chance to share/use this energy if we don't identify with the opinions/opposites - both is possible - even at the same time!  

I realize that we are creating our common future every second of our life.

As we stepped outside and sat in the yard, I felt exposed/ unsecure. Suddenly experiencing different kinds of concepts on our group from "outside". I realize that to me the room we sit in gives an important contribution in "holding" our bodies, as again our body/mind "holds" our field. Suddenly I had to hold both the field and our "room" with my body. Curiously, there was also a focus on the body shortly after we where seated outside.
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I specially think that the component of the body is interesting. How can we share the bodily sensations that we naturally feel when engaged in the field? I don't think that we can ignore or suppress the impulse to act or move and new research tells us that the mind and body is one and can't be divided. We relate to each other and understand ideas through the body.

But the question is how to integrate the body intelligence in our research without disturbing the focus of our gathering.
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I suggest the following 4 basic "practices"
 a. Listen and pay attention

 b. Participate with the intention of giving to the whole and deepening the inquiry

 c. Be simple and real

 d. The process is more important than what I personally think or feel
I suggest they be the only practices we use in the context of our collective inquiry of consciousness. My experience of them is that their understanding deepens and changes with time. They form a whole (that include and transcends most of other practices) that enables us to go very deep into what 'the field' actually is or wants.
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Please be the change you want to see. Please stop wanting and addressing lacks in how we work in CIPI - there are no lacks - I see potentials to expand and grow. If you feel something is missing I argue that it is you holding back. Put it in the middle - all your knowledge.

The inquiry I think we are engaged into is not in the present yet, but on the brink of creation whenever we meet. We do not know anything about it. We have experiences and we have already gained a few insights into what seems to work and what actions have created 'noise' in our interactions and in our ability to engage a field of collective intelligence in the past. These experiences have been of the manifest as well - experiences in time. However, I cannot from my position in time judge whether some form of inquiry; dancing, shouting, picking my nose, starring into the wind, walking backwards - will be of relevance the next time we meet.

The only thing I can say is that 'already knowing' sucks. And that not letting go of issues (attachment) sucks.

Here is what I think I know,
- Stand on the edge (yours, ours, time, knowledge, body, spirit, soul, heart, form, future, vision etc.)
- Participate from what you don't know - from the edge of your knowledge - where it is a true exploration to you as pushing your part of the edge.
- Do not hold back
- Do not address the lacking of others - be the change you want to see, maybe the field agrees, maybe it does not - then let go of an idea of the past
- do not talk about talking - TALK - DO - BE

The purpose of CIPI to me is to BE a circle exploring collective intelligence and how to handle it. We do this today. I use CIPI to grow in capacity, ability and knowledge of collective intelligence. I use CIPI to ask questions and learn from the enlightened middle - the teacher composite of us all. As I grow in capacity CIPI grows in capacity - as an upward spiral. I hold that none of us knows where this spiral is going.

I use these insights to hunt the goals of my mission, outside CIPI in the world of collective ego and stupidity. My mission and CIPI are two separate although intertwined activities. But one is one and the other is the other.
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To me, stating where you are adds to the clarity. Not because it must be interesting in itself,- it is what it is. Mentioning it seems to clear away any unconscious subtle urge to imply on others what I think is "right" myself.
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I feel strongly the resistance to go further in my whole body, to step beyond the emotional and projective system. It´s deeply irritating, and what it means to do so, I don´t know. I try to grasp it with my intellect. I feel this must be the pain of a transition-phase, like two cogwheels trying to fit together, a small one fitting into a much larger cogwheel, this is my image.

The last cipi-gathering I attended (in Egå) has been with me since. The polarity manifested between emotional expressions and "to take it higher", takes me to that edge: what does it mean to take it higher? The trying to avoid or go beyond emotions can be handled in a mental way and thereby come across as prohibitions and restrictions, which cause resistance. Still there might be a need to go deeper into finding a path at that exact point. The question is not whether it´s okay to have or express emotions, but: from where do I ask, and how do I seek to deepen my being.

I suggest that there is a sincere longing in the statement: Let´s take it higher, and that the conflict that arose along with frustration and aggression, is what the edge is about right now. The person splitting from the group might be an expression of this edge. As we have no agenda, how can someone or someone's statement not fit in? I believe we can take it higher and deeper, and that we must go through a great deal of resistance.

Reflections following the CIPI Salon Aug 26, 2006 (3 participants):


We seemed to revolve around two main subjects: Love and Form
 
Form because we were a new form of CIPI. This was the first time that none of the founders of CIPI were present at a meeting, but this posed only a problem as initial hesitation and “are we able to do this?” – and we were.

The fact that we were only three led to a very different feeling than the other CIPI Salons. We talked about the leaning forward and taking the floor and leadership in the larger group was complimented by a leaning back and listening for a while as other took “the floor” and the talking or role of talker wandered around the collective. In this smaller group it seemed that we were more in a more relaxed but pretty persistent leaning-in position. There were not many breaks and as the conversation evolved we picked up each others sentences in an ongoing flow – and sometimes also stopping in silence. This was interesting, deepening and also hard.  
Somehow the leaning-in becomes different when there are so few in a group. But it was interesting that we were able to engage a middle just like in a larger group.
 
Love and Form met in a discussion of creating a space of love. To me this means to create a caring platform in which people / participants could unfold potential. So love becomes the form or the building block

We also shared stories of how collective intelligence emerged in our everyday life and stories came forth, where the other part(s) rejected to lean into it. Somehow it still felt more meaningful to dare bringing the powerful field into action and risk being rejected than to "Play safe".


Reflections following the CIPI Salon July 29, 2006 (12 participants):

1. When I declare an intent to the circle, I should be ready to follow through on it NOW, and be fully responsible for bringing the intent into reality. This practice keeps the dialogue non-abstract and supports the field in-between us. Don't declare intention without being willing to follow it up by action immediately. Speaking your intention without carrying it out in action, creates division between what is now and what you put into focus.
 
2. In the midst of a blissful collective meditative experience, the question "so what are we going to use this for?" penetrated the air. The question resonated deeply in me. YES - meditation and peace is not enough - but should rather be seen as a solid ground for action.
 
3. As the meditative field between us gets deeper, all the fears and concerns seemed to reside into the background. It becomes easier to express oneself and the new expressions deepened the field even more.
 
4. Engaging in a CIPI salon is not necessarily a feel-good experience. However, the meaningfulness in breaking new ground together goes way beyond my fluctuating emotional ups' downs.

5. The more withdrawal you feel from the field, the bigger the need for you to be responsible and take the leadership that closes the gap

6. We speak the whole into being, by adding our pieces of the puzzle if we have any.

7. If there is "pseudo edge" , you can bring back  the authentic edge by noticing it.

8. When the field is coherent, one starts to see with new eyes the reality that is present right now, without filters and layers of fear or judgement.

9. For the field to be coherent one needs to let go of the notion of being an individual in a field and hold the interest and perspective of the field.