The-October-gathering-that-became-a-CIPI-Retreat conference calls

Reports of the conf.calls of the convening team

Finn – Jan – Ria
August 9, 2006

We re-activate after holiday. Martin couldn’t make it, we will include him next time.

Check-in:
Finn: connect now; feeling the MtE-field - will be in the venue in a few days - warming up the field at the site. End of Aug. World Café Stewards in US: another specialised arena of this whole field of CI. For me these two processes are more noisy in my head: taking more time for work and preparing and closer in time.

Ria: MtE was not away during vacation, it was in my awareness, but I have an Art of Hosting training and a workshop in September coming up; a lot of my attention is going there. will send out invitation for art of hosting, and then attention is free for MtE in the coming days. I have sent part of Finn’s article to participants in shadow workshop.

Jan: MtE is on my mind quite a lot, but have been absorbed in family and working on the house. MtE has moved to Holland, we have had the first CIPI like meeting. We were not talking about network but on the inquiry itself - doing it without making decision on process - but it turned out that we engaged an "inquiry from the middle".

Questions for now:
How to make the call louder and clearer?
Who to address the 3 areas?
The invitation as process

Invitation as process
Right now: number of participants = 8.
8-9 persons that Jan know is interested but have not signed up.

Invitation is a process - not just sending out an email and waiting for the response, but engage in conversations like you will engage in mte itself.
We tend to be mechanical to invite. What we need: spreading the word; sending again + engaging with the specific topics.
We want those to be there who feel called. We don't know who they are. We have to listen and then follow up.

Around Sept 10th, Finn has to sign the contract with the venue. People who respond later are not supporting the process. Asking to commit is asking for the field; not for us personally. Not committing is mostly self-concern.

A balance to find: Make the call loud and some hesitance to become pushy. We don't want to push; but those who have interest to ask for their commitment. It is also about us being bold!!
It is about supporting the field - not about doing something pleasant. We can name that more clearly.

How to make the call louder and clearer?
Different channels:
- lot of friends in the WC gathering: Finn will mention MtE as an opportunity to take the work further.
- how can we use OpenBC? Jan is in process of finding out
- collective wisdom initiative - are we on there? Jan follow up
- spirit and business - an organization with a website: Jan
- Centre human emergence in Holland
- placing an add in WIE - finn looks into it

the website: needs more pictures! something like a pictures-slides show that can show the story.
can Ralph add pictures and graphics to the site
making the font bigger? add blank lines?
Martin L.?
Do we know how many visitors we have on the site? ask Martin E.

How to address the 3 areas?
• The possible roles of business as seen from an evolutionary perspective
• Our planetary home

• Practices for integrated life
Are there people who are outstanding in the different areas? and how to engage or connect with them?
One name within each area as a strategy

We start the contemplation about these questions. We can share on emails. Maybe to find a name with recognition in these fields that could be like a vehicle to continue the process.

using their networks as well; amplyfing the call!

This is also about being bold!

asking the recommenders their answer to this question

Actions:
adding this chat to the blog of convening Finn
+ posting the notes on ENexus Ria.

Agreement for next calls: to go deeper with the different areas

Check-out:
we seem to be competent; we know what we are doing!

very grateful to work together in this way: silence, nobody’s ego is taking time or space; efficient in one hour!

I was waiting to get it started again after the holiday: I’m excited!

August 17, 2006
Finn, Jan, Ria, Martin E. (only listening and typing)

Bringing light and life to the field.

Silence.

Check-in:
Finn: this is connecting and touching on the same field: consciousness and business: retreat and two conversations. We are more growing into sustaining the field in between the calls. Overwhelmed and very happy about it.

Martin: okay, i've given up on the technical (others can’t hear him). I feel immediately connected to you, it's lovely to listen to you. Andri has pushed me in my wheel chair to come here, through a lovely evening

Ria: meeting with george and lieven this morning- integrating business and spirituality - meeting with a client - new to him, but it IS in the direction of MTE
Concerning the three topics (and thinking of lead-names): I am still pondering the second and third theme; not much text on the web about it yet.

Jan: busy with the same things as in the previous call: starting CIPI Holland. Meeting with 20 people who are spreading the word. What happens in holland is part of the ongoing inquiry of MtE.

What happened in CIPI Holland so far?
One meeting: not working on the network, but the intention with the inquiry. Next meeting in September, invitation went out this week.

We are mte convening team. We can inspire the people of cipi holland to inspiring people to come to mte october and the october meeting will inspire people to come to cipi holland
Don't wait for others to do the inspiring work, go for it!

The convening work:
the word is spreading:
- CHE and SOL Holland
- our website: 309 humans, definitely unique visitors!
- CWI is OK now;
- next week, world cafe stewardship gathering, word will spread there
- invitations went out to Jean-Francois; to Spirit in Business: no reply yet.

Business as Agent of World Benefit Global Forum will take place on the same dates as mte; is probably addressing the theme of business in a different way than we.

cfr. End question of Finn's book: What is the role of business in creating conscious social systems? It is a concrete question we can deal with now!
It is not an abstraction, not in the future, but how can it be done now by us as a group. It is real and now; the question is only How? has to be explored by a collective, it is way beyond for an individual.

The gathering Finn had these three days, made it very real for him.
The participants were people coming from many belief systems.
Acknowledging where they come from, not holding back; all allowed to be there and being in service of the whole. Being and doing is integrated as is inner and outer. This is something that has changed, it was not like this a time ago. That opens the perspective for the practices of integrated life.
Now we are ready to learn from each other, learning more about the integrated life. What are the patterns that can be seen?

Finn has made a great speech on integrated life - but we didn't hear it!!!

We did not include the word 'spiritual' in the theme 'integrated life' for good reasons.

Third topic Earth is our house: is a metaphor - even children understand. The earth as one house, with humanity as the family living in it. It leads to rules about how to live our lives: why do we turn off the lights and do not throw garbage on the street. If we thought of the earth as one house, then it would be easy to understand not to pie in the corner of someone else’s room!

It refers to “systems intelligence” (Helsinki University of Technology) combining engeneering thinking with human sensibility.
http://www.systemsintelligence.tkk.fi/
Apply systems intelligence: everywhere and anytime.

Actions:
The themes have to be unfolded even more to catch life.
Martin still has the ambition of writing more on the topic of an integrated life.
We can set up forums:
- A forum for each theme, great idea. Martin will start them tomorrow.
- + bringing life into the forums. This will also help us clarify our intentions.
- a fourth for the connection between the three; there is much cross pollination. They are not that different at all.

Next Skype call:
thursday 31, 2100 hours

Check-out:
Martin: I feel happy to have finally listened to you. I'm completely crippled these days (only temporary, though), so it was nice to be in touch with you, being crippled with regard to voice

Finn: we can do: 4 listening, 3 talking, one writing. The speed of learning new social technologies is speeding.

Ria: good for the clarification on the topics: life has been kicked into the topics.

Jan: feels exited…

August 31, 2006
Finn, Jan, Ria, Martin E.

Check in
Ria: I won't have much time today, as a guest will arrive at 9.30pm.

Finn: Jetlagged, happy to keep it a short meeting.
What started in Hazelwood - Salon and  MtE: I see patterns more and more. Excited how this gathering has grown in maturity! Regarding MtE: I've always thought that MtE was important, and even more so now! I see the difference between what people say and what they do regarding individual and collective perspective. There is so much to do; and it is timely!

Ria: I haven't digested The World Cafe Stewardship Gathering yet, I have blogged a
lot for it. Slept all the way home. I see collective capacity growing.

Finn: The gathering made me realize the importance
of the art of hosting gathering in october.

Ria: next week I have a workshop using systemic constellations on shadow work. Constellations should be followed by real dialogue - I wonder what will come out of that.

Jan: things are steady and easy. No big things on my mind now. My focus for this conversation is on a few practical things such as Forums on enexus, registration, and getting the invitation out. Have we invited everyone we want to invite? And the forums are not in use yet. We have to start using them.

Getting the invitation out
Finn: Personal contacts is the way to get the invitation out. We can make it happen in the next three weeks. 22 september we need to talk with the venue and adjust numbers. I will send invitaions to the World Cafe Stewardship Gathering participants.

Ria: I will resend to hazelwood, es2 and mte participants with the perspectives from our check in to day.

Jan: I'm working on creating an event on OpenBC. Will look further into it together with Ria

Finn: I will make a strategic marketing plan before the next meeting, in order to get focus and sharpness in the invitation work.

Next conference call
Thursday 7 sept 21.00 pm

Check out
Ria: My guest is coming. Bye.

Jan: I have tried to contact a lot of people - i don't hear anything back. complete silence. awaiting holiday seasons to end. the remarkable silence confuses me

Finn: Is there silence and confusion in you?

Jan: Well, maybe there is silence around the 3 areas of deepening enquiry.

Martin: I'm exited about Finn's marketing strategy plans. I would like to meet and work on them together with you.

Finn: Great - when are we going to meet about it?

Conversation concerning Moving the Edge
Inquiring into the middle between us
7 Sept., Tina, Martin E., Finn.

A question of forms (continuing a discussion between Tina and Finn): Is there a hierarchi of forms, moving the edge of the evolution of conscious social systems? Are there things that, e.g., a truly inquiring conversation can do to move this edge that a dance can’t do, even though the dance partners go to their edge in the dance? In emotional, physical, musical work, etc., there is inquiry, and this is a form of inquiry that probably most people have direct access to or engage in. Is there a true hierarchi of forms, or can all forms accomplish the same movement of the edge? If the people engaging in the inquiry are willing to engage the form the choose, can any form then do the work we wish? Is it a false dichotomy to assume these two positions as contradictory? In the inquiry leading to this clarification it became clear that an obstacle in even  addressing the question can be that each of us has invested a lot in the idea that one position is true. It also became clear that if the conversation comes from the perspective of one position being wrong and the other right it can bring up old woundedness. This can make it difficult to engange in the inquiry of what what works now and what can open up the process.

A question of inquiry and holding the perspective of MTE: Due to old experiences from the former gathering the question of whether it is a good idea or not seems repeat a pattern. It seems to be a phase in the process of hosting a MTE gathering. Even though we are open to the possibility that the October gathering of MTE is not real, not something that is meant to be but something that is just in our heads as an automatic follow-up to an important event. Is the October gathering a plan in our heads or is it an inquiry? The moment it becomes a plan that we are carrying through, it loses its quality of attraction among the conveners. Are we in inquiry? The process of making the call be heard is in itself an inquiry. Are we using it well? What needs to clarified in order for us to step into ownership and responsability for inviting to and hosting the gathering?

A question of transparency. Transparency is key. The website needs to reflect where we are in the inquiry, so if there is doubt or insecurity or passion etc., it should be reflected on the website.
A question of logistics and numbers: We are now eight participants. Should we aim at a smaller gathering or should we adjust the venue? We could meet in cottages around Fuglsø and supply the catering ourselves. What is gained/lost by organising differently, thinking differently about it?

Ideas: Getting the fora on Nexus going and inviting specific people to participate in the conversation. Sending the invitation out to new people. Resending an adjusted invitation to people who already got it. What should the adjustment look like? What is the message now? What do we want to communicate? Is the writing style on the website too efficient and confident and cool? Should it radiate more warmth and heart?

Sept. 14, 2006
Jan, Ria, Martin E.

Check-in
Ria and Martin both feel that they haven't had MTE as such a high priority as they thought.

Ria attended a meeting in Switzerland and has decided that embodiment and dancing, i.e., are very important parts of a gathering. Only talking won't do anymore. We need to include non verbal methods to have a more embodied experience. Ria holds this question for our talk tonight: What would we loose by canceling MTE October?

Martin: Really tired these days, trying in many ways to find a job and make a living. MTE is important. It's out of the question for me to cancel, but maybe change the venue - using the cottages at Fuglsø and do our own catering. Would be a very different kind of gathering. I'm in a state of unknowing and really trying to hold this sense of unknowing for a while.

Jan: very tired, in a rollercoaster.

What is the next minimum and elegant step to take?
Jan: MTE has a lot of energy for me but the energy is not moving to DK, but staying in Holland. Feels good for Jan, he needs his energy to be in Holland. Changing the venue is a good option to consider. My energy is kind of out of MTE october. Changing the venue is a good option to consider. I'm is working with the field of MtE; working with Ralph - think, talk and work from a non-dual perspective. The CI is going to the back, and what comes to the front is the awareness. A shift in perspective; busy with the awareness part and the topics we formulated are not on my mind at all now. Busy in Holland to contribute my two cents; I see Ria working in Belgium and Switserland: MtE is spreading very much; it is gaining the collective capacity. Do we need - at this moment - a centralised gathering? In the way we thought about it? So changing the venue is an option, changing the character of the gathering also. Supporting the field of CI: we can still gather and bring each our own stuff and feed each other; and then go back home again. Women MtE: conversations about taking leadership: it pops up in our personal lives also. This field is working on our personal lives; good to move along with it.

Ria: I like this perspective. And there is another aspect: I've come to a point where I need to bring this to the world and make money. Paying for the trip to DK etc. is not possible right now. I'm not sure I will come to DK.

Jan: I can also hardly afford it. Ralph wants to join but can't afford it.

Ria: I like the idea of changing the venue, and I like it when we do experimentation. Changing the venue would givve the gathering more of a festival character. We can make a buffet, taste and get fed.

Martin: There seems to be a pull to change the venue. I'm not sure. The cottages are quite small... if it is cheaper maybe more would like to come.

Jan: BUT: next Friday we need to take a decision; and draw a line. We would need some more people. If it is cheaper Ralph will come; and tomorrow there is CIPI in Holland.

Martin: More of CIPI Denmark will come. We hold the questions: What kind of gathering has life? Do we need the gathering in October? In Denmark the CIPI field is very alive. Meeting once a month + the flow game is going on. We need a longer gathering for ourselves, a gathering where we can meet other people from other fields and get new inspiration in our inquiry.

Question: What might help us to support us in our work? a regular getting together is needed, besides the skype calls. Important to connect with a larger field; the different perspectives; the global field.

Check-out
Martin: We are in a difficult situation but we had a good meeting: keeping the field alive and inquiring in a good way.

Jan: I like to be completely open, not attached to a particular form. Inspiring how active the field is; but in a different way then we envisioned it.

Ria: It is sad already. Good that we are open, not attached, trying to sense deeper.

Next call
Monday at 9pm; Thursday 9.45pm, dependig on what Finn is able to.

Sept. 14, 2006
Jan, Ria, Martin E., Finn

Check in
Finn: I have the transsript from the last call. I see something is out of perspective. I have thought, great, then will will get the perspective back in this call.

One thought that stays with me; since the World Cafe Stewardship - if the WC principles apply to all conversations with an evolutionary perspective - How would you then do that? something big and important to that. relating it with the notes of the last call... discreapncies; something is not in perspective.

Martin: feeling of inadequeteness. i am looking for perspective.

Ria: my not feeling totally engaged was in part of not sensing the overall perspective. couldnt sense it in the web site or in the calls

Jan: energy around MTE has a lot to do with things i do in nl theese days. lost touch - didn't feel the necessity of it. I would like to find ways to connect decentralized things.

Discussion around dissolving the convening team
Finn: A large part of the convening team is not prepared to commit to come to Denmark. We are not the convening team of this gathering.

Ria: This is one perspective. Another one is that the convening team is not alligned.

Jan: Same difference.

Finn: We withdraw as convening team. This is my suggestion. Let's open the question on the website, Martin and I. Let's cancel the October 2006 gathering, but let's do an extended cipi gathering on the same dates and place, inviting others to participate, outside of the cipi network. Let's build on the company of friends in the Danish cipi network.Amd everyone who feels called to join, are invited to join.

Ria: What is in the middle between the four of us? The analysis of us not convening the Oct 2006 gathering is one part. And we did say yes to something, the four of us. What was that. Something is not clear.

Finn: there was a lack of clarity

Ria: yes, there is no convening team of this oct gathering. I miss a deeper listening. We said yes, coming out of the March gathering. We wanted to carry something further. An extended cipi meeting is fine with me. But what you do with CIPI in DK is not my business.

Finn: But you are invited

Ria: The alignment was not clear enough for me

Finn: What are we going to do? The results didn't show up.

Jan: there was action, with results but not the expected results. We have results in Holland.

Jan: We need to keep these initiatives together, and maybe the oct gathering is not the vehicle for that.

Finn: We need to rethink the gathering. It is a meeting of a company of friends. And since they are doing the gathering anyway, they can say: come and join us! Rather than organising an inernational gathering. Let's go with the energy of the company of friends and take it from there.

Jan: MTE march had a real spin off.

Finn: My check in was about the overall connectivity of the initiatives in the world. Nexus is not thought to be 'like' world cafe hosting. This is about applying the cafe principles to a larger conversation. The tables etc. will then not be visible, just like it has been for Finn and A. for ten years. I hope cipi hollland and DK will visit each other - stupid not to!

Finn: I will post on nexus tomorrow to start conversations about cipi experiences.

Ria: I'm sad. Afraid that if this falls away, maybe I don't have much opportunity to evolve in that thinking and sensing, maybe I'm jealous that I don't have a cipi network.

Finn: MTE is not going away. It is an ongoing inquiry. This opens the question: How can it take place. Like in March. We would like to see it again, with people committed to inquiry into CI for four days. And maybe it can happen, we just have to adjust numbers and who will be there. It's not a question about leaving MTE.

Jan: It's about that for me too

Finn: How can these inquiries take place in multiple places. This is not about what I want or any individual wants, we want to create the opportunity for this to happen. Someone has to do it.
Question for reflection: Deepening into the perspective: something is unsaid, something is too fast, something no listened to.

Finn: MTE.org could host the ongoing inquiry, existing networks, plans, history, making the history transparent.

Next skype call
Question for next skype call which will be a reflection-call: What can now be listened to, what has now had time to become clear.

Sunday 1 oct. 2100 o'clock.

Check out
Ria: I feel a rest in my self, we will look into what is not said - this gives me inner quiteness

Finn: Relieved because we have changed what we wanted to do into something do-able without struggle. CI is about the possibility humanity has right now. This takes something we don't have yet, something can maybe gained from CI. It should be out of love for the perspective, and not to just follow the plan.

Jan: I feel relief also. Powerful to let go of a form we thougth was the right.

Martin: I'm excited about the clarity right now. Maybe there is also some unclarity in me about going to fast.