Rethinking Governance Together

            We may be the best of friends, but it appears that we are too often also our worst enemies.

            It seems to me that we may not be to blame, but that we are responsible.

            Some of my rethinking of our situation follows below. If this work seems to lack some organization it may be because it reflects the state of my thought. However, it is my intention to be both honest and thoughtful. This is how I see it just now.

            We can come to understand what it means to "aim high" and that which it means to aim high enough.

            I believe that we are capable, and that together we can do enough well enough. I believe that we can better understand the nature of our language. We may be more aware of the importance of our words. We can help one another to improve our understanding the value of our words and our language.

            At the risk of sounding too academic I say that the quality of our understanding of the nature of culture in general and of our own culture in particular can be very useful to us.

            We can learn and help one-another to learn.

            We can come to better understand each other's meanings.

            Much of of that which we can do, we can do by ourselves, but it is often better done together.

            Much of our important learning depends on our words. This can be a problem because what a word means to one person often has a somewhat different meaning to another. For example, when one person calls another a "liberal" she may mean that person wastes money, while when he calls a person that he may mean that the person called liberal is happy to let other people be as they are. Others may use the word in very different ways. So, it can be useful to find out what an another sees as the meaning of our word. That seems to suggest that we may benefit by talking we mean and listening carefully to what the other means.

            For example, when I hear the the term "illegal immigrants" I may think of criminals. Another hearing the term may think of your great grandparents.

            As another example, when I hear the word "organized" used to describe people, I may think of a group empowering itself. Another may think of  crime. Even the word "power" suggests or implies different things to different people at different times in different places. Maybe we need to talk a bit more about the other guy's meanings or to listen a bit more to his understandings. 

            In governance and all of life we may benefit by practicing to think for our selves. We could also benefit by learning to think together and probably would.

            It is not difficult to see that words can be problematic. "Government" for some, means those other guys who are referred to as them. They seem to forget that even they themselves often practice government in governing the details of their personal lives. Some others forget that "republic" implies that we are responsible for our governance and others forget that "democracy" implies that we are the government. 

            By our talk, listening and speaking, we can help one another and each other to be less confused or mistaken by our words and perhaps to be more illuminated by them. 

            Some say that "information is power.'' Some say that information is more beneficial when it is contemplated to better reveal its meaning  and so that we may better understand its value.

            We can begin much just by the practice of giving ourselves good information. By that practice we give ourselves a good chance to gain more power to act in beneficial ways.

            Most of us agree that education is important, but do not keep aware that we are each responsible for our learning and that our learning results in our ongoing education. Many have believed that we are each responsible for our learning and education, but that it is OK to receive some help.

            Some say that the bliss of ignorance may lead us toward sickness and death. Some say that it may also lead to slavery and madness!

            I believe that we are each responsible for our own education. I believe that we are helped by our natural curiosity and urge to develop and grow. Some of us are helped by our God and our friends. Many of us believe that it is to help our children, our youth, and each other to learn the useful, the good, and the beautiful.

            All that we learn and know comes from the past. What you learned yesterday is history. We are very much our history. How to build a house is history. Your favorite song is history. Our culture is history. Some say all that is remembered from the past is history. All that we have learned is history. History is important. A lot of history is still in books. Some of our history has been made into stories. 

            We know very little of the future. However, from what we learn from our memory of past experience we can make some help guess about the future. Our understanding of our past has helped develop useful beliefs. With awareness and contemplation we can improve our understandings.

            We know that what we know of songs and love comes from the past and from our contemplation of our memories of the past. Our good ideas come from the past. It's good to remember that our bad ideas come mostly from the past. Our culture is from the past. That which we remember and and contemplate of the past is our history. Our history plus experience we do not remember nor contemplated is our culture. All that we know is history.

        As we know most of our history is in our books. Your reading of some of those books can be a source of power for you. You can learn to judge the value, usefulness, and truthfulness those books. That's good because a significant number of them have been written by liars and manipulators. Others have been poorly translated or interpreted.

            Still are reading can lead to our doing well. We can learn to bake an apple pie from a cookbook. It's all history.

            For most of the history of the USA we have been responsible for the schooling of our children and youth and doing completing that responsibility at a local level. For the last several generations many of us in many school districts have not been carrying out that responsibility very well. We have not adapted well.

            

            We have not understood our responsibility well for generations. We had very good reasons for neglecting our duties, but that ignorance and neglect was not good for us. I must add that there remained some good schooling and some good advances in methods, but they didn't get shared widely enough

              Soon after the schooling began in the USA, we formed schoolboards with parents and other interested citizens. Those schoolboadrs were formed in local districts close to home. For good reasons after a time many parents and others did not show up to keep them running well. In the beginning, we decided together what was to be taught and how it was to be learned. The story of US education is long and somewhat convoluted. Still I can say that local interest and cash fell short in many school districts especially in larger cities. School officials and other citizens sought help at the county and state level and finally at the federal level. They got help. That help had strings attached. Finally this help from afar often did little to help students or teachers.

            To this day many school districts suffer from ignorance of governance by local citizens.

            Government in republics is up to we the people. Seems we need to learn more about governance. Governance in republics with some intention of being democracy is not just our responsibility it must be us ourselves who govern.We have not leaned to be a democratic republic and we seem nearly unable to maintain a republic. I think this calls for some talking over. I think we need to listen to one another a lot and begin to decide what it is we are ready do. We could forget this experiment or even forget bring a we. I think our situation is worth a lot more dialogue and some coherent activity.

            I think that very many of us are capable of  useful co-opperation. We can practice that co-operation at a local level and a bit beyond right now. 

            Many agree that truth is important. It seems that honesty is an important part of truth. We can be honest and intend to tell the truth. Some, have call a propagation of a falsehood a source of insanity. I believe that enough of us can be honest enough to be a capable we.

            We can help each other to move towards reality, honesty, and truth and be better off for doing so. Does it help to say that truth is true no matter who believes it? Truth seems more of orientation than  destination. 

            We can learn the nature of social responsibility, how to recognize appropriate facts, how to co-operate to better effect. Let's consider how we shall do so.

            Today there are many parents whose parents went to schools not actively supported by their parents. In what condition are the schools of the children of those parents? We can learn and we have a lot to learn.

            We are not to blame, but if we are not responsible for our governance, who is?

        

            It seems that we have not practiced enough self governance for too many decades. When we are not responsible for our governance, who is? Nobody? Someone really nice? 

            As us we can do it, we can govern us.

            It will take some dialogue practice to make us a good enough us.

          Thanks for reading!

                                                                                        rcs   

                 

         

  

About What a Dialogue is Not and More of What It Is About.

The dialogue practice is not:

~ a place to make a particular point or idea prevail.

~ a debate or discussion.

~ a game to win or lose.

The dialog practice is a way:

~ to peace and good will

~ to see our words as gifts to others.

~ to keep a flow of meaning  moving among us.

~ to and activity which helps us to be us.

~ through the meaning of each word.

~ to an honest supportive activity.

~ to greater awareness and enhanced consciousness.

~ to develop new listening and speaking skills.

~ to practice effective communication.

~ to preservation, growth, and creation of culture.

~ of  making a healthy, effective society more probable.

~ to develop proficiency in a new language. 

~ to meet, know, and understand new and interesting persons.

~ of putting honest thoughts on the table where we can look them over and begin to find their meaning.

~ of being heard.

~ of finding pleasure in speaking up.

~ to understanding among us and within us.

~ to exchange views and opinions,.

~ to satisfying relationship.

~ to share experience.

~ to more effective communication outside the group.  

According to David Bohm, dialogue practice is:

~ participating in a flow of meaning between us, through us, and among us.

~ an activity out of which emerges new and renewed understanding.

~ an activity which helps us to be us. 

As a member of a dialogue practice group it is good to remember that it is to your benefit and the benefit of others:

~ to maintain your group a as a place of safety and satisfaction.

~ to be aware that it is your responsibility to take care of yourself and to support the integrity of the group.

~ to know that your growing awareness of the meanings and understandings flowing through your group are important.

            Thank  you for reading. You can interact here by using the "comments" section below. You may find it useful to review the many posts and short essays here to make sure you are not missing anything which may prove valuable to you.

                                                                                RCS

     

Beginnning to Practice: The Dialogue Is Easy Enough

                Let's say that an important purpose of this dialogue practice group is to practice the use of oral English and skill in the dialogue is secondary.

                  You can start with people and a place. It's best that the people have some knowledge of what The Dialogue is about and some interest in the practice. It's best that the place be neutral and fairly free of interruption.

                Once the the people are in the place they aught to know that they need to form a neat circle of chairs, with a chair for each person. The circle is important and  should be close to forming a true circle.

                Before being seated they need to prepare by having a table, a basket, a stick, scissors, paper and pens or paper. The table need not be very large. The basket can be a bit smaller than a basketball and is best that it have a cover. Should be smooth and comfortable to hold and be big enough for all to see. The scissors is used to cut the paper in to pieces of equal sizes and which are large enough to have a good size English word clearly written on them. It's best that the paper pieces be cut so as to form a square.

                People help each other to write one word which interests them at the moment on one piece of paper. After a word is written on a paper, that paper is folded twice and placed in the basket.

                All this done the participants take a seat in their nicely formed circle. It's best the the chairs of that circle be of nearly equal size and nature. It's best if the number of participants be between about 16 and 39. A pilot group of participants may be of as few as seven persons. Forty persons is usually too many for an effective practice group. If more than forty interested persons are interested in the practice, a new group should be formed. It is best that the new group include at least three participants of the original group.

                For this session this practice is closed for the duration of this practice.

                Participants in the group may include native English speakers. It may also include persons with practical no experience with the the language, but believe themselves so interested in the language that they intend to attend practices weekly for many months. A wide variety of participants is usually and aid to the effectiveness of the practice group. 

                We are now just about ready to begin a practice. The persons with the least ability with the language should be given a bit of practice say "My name is ___________ . whatever name she {0r he| chooses to use and also to practice saying "I pass." All are ready, willing, and able to begin the practice.

                Then basket of words is in the hands of a participant. It is shaken for luck and fairness and is opened to person to the left who takes out one paper and gives it to the person on his left. That person is holding the talking stick. He takes the paper and is able to read the word. All are ready to listen to him. He says, "My name is __________" and "The word is ________." several participants recognize the word. He says "I pass" and passes the talking stick and the word to the next person.

                All listen, ready to hear, and perhaps, to understand.

                There is more to hear for those are ready to read  more. 

Search This Blog

Dialogue With RCS: Blog search

           For readers who are not familiar with the many search options available to them here, I will begin to review some of them.

            It seems that blogs are so out of fashion that few remember how they may be fashioned. For example this blog is of three columns. I have used the central column as the place up to 400 essays or posts.

                An important function of the columns to the left and right of the central column is to offer you apps to help you find the essays which interest you. They are largely made up of search apps. However, they also contain other helpful apps.

             Let me begin with the column to your left on the main view of the page. On all of my blogs the this left hand column begins with the app which allows you to select the language in which to choose to read the post you select.

                Other apps you will find in this column may have a different order on each of the associated blogs. For example the next app might be "Associated Blog Sites to visit." To be transported to the one which interests you and be transported to it. The next app may be "Popular Posts." There you can find the names of up to four posts others have been finding interesting. Each name will be follow by a few words about it. click on that name and that post will appear. Next you may come to a title that reads "Pages." Click on one of the listings there and be taken to another page where you can find posts much like this one or different.

                The last listing in this column will usually be "Blog Archive." This can be a very useful app for you. Use it to become familiar with the essays and other posts available on this blog site. You will see a list of years and months. Click on one and you will taken to all of the posts published in that period. All are interesting and usually contain some hard to find YouTube videos which YouTube allows me to show.

                The right hand column usually begins with a search app, perhaps with the  title "Search This Site." There is a little window in which you may enter a word or phrase and then click on the word "Search." Try it and see what happens.

                I will leave this little post here for a few weeks and then move it to "Pages." You are now on the home page.

                This is a good place from which to comment.

                                                                                rcs

 

 

What is Intergroup Dialogue?

              

Dialogue With RCS: Possibilities and benefits of dialogue; a beginning.       An introduction to what a dialogue insn't and about what it is.                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 The dialogue can take us to interesting places like collaborative action. It may first take us to understanding and appropriate trust. It can take us beyond our practice group to a better understanding of the the important people in my life and beyond. We get to a better understanding of where another person is "coming from" with greater ease. We come to understand the experiences different from ourselves. Dialogue is done together and the co-operation can be wonderful. The dialogue points us to new possibilities.

                                                                                    rcs

We Can Share Meaning

 Dialogue With RCS: Listen for Meaning and Understanding; it's about you.

                Now is a good time to listen to learn and to be heard and understood. Now may also be a good time to be more clearly aware of improving our listening skills. It is a time to listen with purpose of gaining new understanding rather than to be ready to accept or reject. The time seems right to be less ready with our own defense and to be more ready to get the meaning of and to understand that which we hear.

                Effective co-operation is becoming more important than it has been for some time. Effective co-operation is a step toward organizing for our mutual good. The paragraph above points to a way toward more effective co-operation.

                You can probably imagine why this is a good time to be aware of the importents of being ready to practice our skills of co-operation. Some are beginning to say that the time is rapidly approaching when we most be able to co-operate well with persons not well known by us! They say that it may take all of us together to adapt successfully to climate change. But there are other reasons. We are responsible for our economy and governance. When we haven't understood the persons available for co-operation with us, we are less able to co-operate well. The practice of appropriate dialogue skills can help us to deal more effectively with the happenings and doings today.

                It seems that we lack something very important in our relationships. We seem to lack enough mutual understandings and meanings. We do not share enough meaning and understanding.  Suffering this lack is not mandatory. We can share enough and get enough meaning and understanding through certain practices.

                Among these practices is listening, listening with the purpose of really understanding. We can listen with the purpose of getting the the meaning of that which is being said. In this process it is fair to ask a question to aid our understanding. It takes practice to do this well. In the listening I write of, it is best to spend less time preparing your response and more time getting at the other's meaning. When it is difficult for me not to be preparing a response instead of listening to find the meaning of what is being said, I have found that it is possible to prepare a friendly question to help me to better understand that which has just been said. We are better served when we make it our purpose to understand.

                Our purpose to understand is served when we do what we can to understand that which the speaker is trying to express. We want to understand what she really means to say. She wants us to understand and we want to get her meaning.

                To aid that process, it is a good practice to arrange to have a useful place to hear and to be heard. We know we are serious about our intention to hear be heard and to understand and to be understood. 

                We have begun to speak of doings and practices which help us to have well functioning and satisfying nations, countries, marriages, towns, businesses, counties, societies, states, clubs, friendships and human relationships in general. There are more practices to become familiar with. They are not difficult, but they do take practice.

                We have heard it said that we have a problem with communication. We have heard less about the nature of the problem. We certainly have not common to a shared understanding of our difficulty. I haven't  heard a discussion of the nature of the nature of the problem yet this month. Part of the problem may be that many have not gotten a useful positive reaction to their efforts at important talk so the engage in less important talk. They may not have been understood or perhaps have not understood others and maybe a hundred other things. So they do something more satisfying. A natural action, but a dangerous one. The usual result is no important talk then no important action. With the help of a dialogue practice group many have done better. With the right practice our important talk can become more properly effective. Our less important talk could become more important and more fun.

                There is lots of talk which can be very difficult. One kind that can difficult is when the subject is not easy and we really can't figure out where the ones we are talking with "are coming from." Sometimes it can seem like madness that they could hold such an opinion on the issue. There can arrive a situation in which we can't fathom came to that conclusion. And, they, have no idea of why we can't. Then there are the cases in which we haven't understood why "they' do not consider "that" to even be an issue or a problem.

                 That might be a good time to head for home and a good TV program. However, if you all had been in a dialogue practice group you may have had a better chance of figurine things out or of coming to some understanding. And you may have come to understand and respect each other more.

                I have experienced a way of talking that I have called thinking together. The first time I really took note of the experience was in an occasional university seminar group. Lately I have been calling that kind of talk The Dialogue. I discovered that people around the world know about and practice that kind of talk. I have read about it working in very large groups and between two people. My recent experience of it has been in small groups. It seems to be most effective  and satisfying in groups of more than 10 and less than 40.

                 From the 1970s to today, my interest in the dialogue has continued. I read about it. I participated in groups in which the values and skills of the dialogue were prominent. Experiments, studies, and practices dealing with the dialogue came to my attention. I came to have my experiences and understandings of the dialogue validated. I began to read others as they began to work out practical understandings of the practice. I was learning about the practice of a very useful kind of dialogue.

                I found that large corporations were using the dialogue with some success, church  were using it, it was being used between religions, married couples had used it as an alternatve to "fair fighting." it has been used in civic and political groups with success. All are finding that it is a practice that is best practiced. Now there are groups practicing the dialogue for the practice. Group members develop skills and understand in the practice which can be used in settings far from their group. Group members also find more personal satisfactions in their practice. They experience positive personal growth and development and a better understanding of the world of humanity in general.

                The practice of this dialogue is not new, but a new understanding of its value is growing. Persons practicing the dialogue in a group learn methods and skills that can be used in problem solving and in collaborative action. The practice can be used to clarify an issue or work out a strategy. It has value as a way to coherent meaning and understanding. It is a way to maintain effective and satisfying relationships. Some have found it a fun parlor game.

                In these dialogue practice groups I write of an important emphasis is on the individual, individual benefits, equality, power, and value. 

                However, many of the values and benefits are shared among members of a practice group. For an example, an understanding of a shared body of coherent meaning occurs benefits members as a group. Group members come to a better understanding that we all hold certain opinions and assumptions, that some of them are subconscious, that not all are shared, and that our reasons for holding them may differ greatly. The group learns to practice a useful democracy and shared leadership. We find satisfaction in such group activity and enjoy some laughs.

                With this body of shared coherent meaning we are in better position to respect on another and to co-operate with each other. We find it easier to organize collective action. We have enough leadership available to act effectively together without a leader! Some benefits go beyond our expectations, and need to be experienced to be understood. We seem to become supporters, protectors, and creators of culture. The practice moves us closer to mutual understanding and mutual respect. 

                Very briefly from light to heavy here is the way we begin the practice. This is what we do. We sit around and listen to each other in the knowledge that we have some control over topic and time. We take short turns speaking on a topic offed by the group. Everyone listens to you with the intent of understanding. This continues for years as we keep our skills and methods sharp. In the process we sometimes going so far as laying an assumption or opinion of ours on the table where we can all look it over. At another time we could ed up sharing the names of our favorite colors.

                It is the practice that counts. Something like going to the gym twice a week, going through your ballet moves, meditation, or any of the practices we humans have. There are now 31 posts on this blog to help you through what I am trying to get across. There are also five pretty good search apps on the blog to aid your explorations.

                There is also a "comments" section just below where you can ask questions, make suggestions, correct one or more of my many errors, or even comment on the content of a specific post.

                Thank you for reading and your kind visits.

                                                                                rcs.

    

 

  

Her iPhone

Dialogue With RCS: Her iPhone 

                A dear friend of mine has just discovered the beauty of using her phone to use both the left hand column of this blog and  the right hand column of this blog!   !

                 She is happy and I am happy, but she has long missed the great utility of being a blog user. She began to use the translate app to change certain posts to German and sending a copy of them to here German speaking friends. I told her that it was OK to send them my URL.

                I imagine that that she is checking the list of post others have found especially interesting to see if there any of them that seemed especially interesting to her.

                Maybe she has found 4 or 5 Associated Blogs that she can get to with a single click. I haven't told her that there are 11 of them available.

                I am pretty sure she has begun to check earlier posts by month and year on "Blog Archive."

                I imagine that you have found the "Search this Blog" where you may search by word or sentence with a click.

                I like the "Labels" best. Check it out. It is in the right had column. You now know that this is a three column blog, right.

                My friend of this note likes scrolling. Me too. I'm not sure that she knows that must blogs may a scroll of only five or six posts when there may be five or six hundred post available. Check it out on this blog or any of my associated blogs. When a scroll stops, check just below the last blog. You can find a place it says either "older posts" or "newer posts." Try clicking on "older posts."

                                                            Richard

Language Practice Group

Dialogue With RCS: Call it a Magic Table Dialogue Group. Call it a Dialogue For Peace group. Call it an English Language Practice Group.

                As an English Language Practice Group it can be easy enough to be practical and productive for a beginning learner; it can be enjoyable enough and culturally enhancing enough for a native speaker of English to keep her coming back; it is a focused practice of listening to, and hearing a variety of individuals speaking English. 

                So our "ELPG" helps a beginning learner to hear the sounds of English as he listens to a variety of speakers say a few sentences on a limited topic. He experiences a focused intensive listening practice. He also has opportunities to choose the topic. When he is taking English class elsewhere to he will see his learning exhilarate.

                This practice group can be of considerable interest to a native speaker. Such an English speaker can learn fun and empowering cultural enhancing rules of Magic Table Dialogue, she can also learn the Dialogue for Peace skills for dealing with and appreciating the assumptions and opinions perhaps very different from her own. She can also make friends with with individuals of a different language and culture than her own.

                The middle ground learner of English can build his own word power by hearing targeted words in context. He also learns hear the English of a variety of speakers rather than just the pronunciation and manner of speaking of the teacher. He will here a number of people speak a given word in their own way. Hearing and listening to this speech for, say, pronunciation and intonation is great language practice. This practice combined with hearing a  single word in a variety of sentences leads the learner into meaning and understanding in context. Practice is the main is the main aim here and listening is the principle practice. He will also get his turn by a very interested group of individual. He will say his few words. He will be listened to closely by the group.

    Our dialogue is not a substitute for other language studies. However, you could learn a valuable practice which serve you for a lifetime.You will experience meaning in dialogue.

What's in it for you?
* You can improve your listening skills.   
* You can practice hearing what is said.
* You can practice using a language other than your own. 
* You can improve your understanding of language and people.
* You will be listened to.
* You will learn to understand a variety of English speakers.
* You will learn to be understood as you speak English.


                                                                by Richard













 

A Democratic Meeting: Hints about it's nature (The people have fogotten that it is about them)

Dialogue With RCS: Meetings and perhaps especially democratic meetings can benefit from the kind of dialogue we have begun to look at.

 

            Here are some hints for recognizing a democratic meeting. Can you see where bits of our dialogue methods are being used. Can you imagine where the needs and purposes of people might be better met through to use of our dialogue skills and methods?

           

             As you look over the hints below you may find it useful to keep in mind that all democracy is participatory and that each democratic meeting can be a powerful learning experience for those attending. Some participants may be making some intrinsic rules for effective and just communication more evident to themselves. That is they may be learning about effective and fair communication through observation. 

 

On to the hints. A meeting is more democratic the more it is: 

~ of, by, and for the participants.

~ free from outside powers.

~ autonomous. 

~ in a neutral place.

~ tending to be inclusive.

~ understood to be an important listening experience.

~ designed to keep leadership roles to a minimum and of wide participation. Take turns.

~ is a "teach in" and a learning experience.

~ a time more for understanding and less for decision. (decision is easier where there is understanding first.)

~ less authoritarian and hierarchical and more horizontal and egalitarian. 

~ a time for thinking together. 

~ a time when your comments and and communications are best addressed to the group as a whole.

~ a time to practice good manners and honesty.

 

Here are some happenings that may occur at a meeting whether it is democratic or not: 

~ Politics may be being practiced.

~ Some may be consciously practicing dialogue skills, methods, and techniques.

~ Some are finding that their respect and courtesy are good for them and for others.

~ Others may be increasing their understanding of the vocabulary of the business at hand. 

 

            These hints are less about arrival and more about orientation.

             

            Thank you for reading. Read again on this blog whenever you like.

 

 

                                                                            rcs 

Come to Terms With The Dialogue

Dialogue With RCS: Here are a half a dozen terms I have used to write of our dialogue groups

I have written a few words about each term to remind you of its meanings.

 

Assumptions:

                We have differing experiences and so differing opinions and assumptions.We have differing views because of who we are. We often come to interpret our worlds differently from one another. We develop conscious and unconscious ideas about the ways of the world which are difficult for others to understand until they know more of our experiences.

Defending:

             Without the abundance of shared cultural meanings good dialogue brings, it is unreasonable to expect a peaceful society. Defending our own or another's opinions keeps us from laying out our assumptions were we can all look at them and try to appreciate their meanings  and so keepings from productive and satisfying dialogue we want an need. It is shared deeper meanings we seek. Also defending our assumptions consumes the energy we could better use to achieve a clear understanding  of the assumption of another.

Go-under:

Without good dialogue we are likely to miss opportunities and lose understanding s. We are likely to miss out on good positions, to go under and lose out as individuals, corporations, families, nations, churches, parties. The shared meaning we gain in good dialogue helps us , maintain, grow, and strengthen party, church, nation, family, corporation, and self.

Coherent:

             For many, an important benefit of dialogue practice is experiencing the power of collectively shared meaning. Most ordinary talk in in society may well be called incoherent. Our dialogue practice is designed to promote areas of  coherence in the vastness of misunderstanding. The meanings we share a cohesion of understanding.

Group:

             Fora truly effective dialogue of of sufficient variety of viewpoint A group of between 15 and 40 seems optimal. It is possible to do preparatory work with a dedicated, active organizing group of say nine may be adequate. A long lasting group with regular meetings is called for.

Thinking Together:

Is a frequent result of a dialogue group and ought perhaps be a aim of your group. We learn to stay close to the same page and to carry each other's thoughts forward. Individuals sharing common meanings in a coherent way have power for peace and creativity. Thinking together coherently calls for dialogue sustained  long enough to to share a body of coherent meanings. 

You strengthen culture, create it enjoy it, and pass it on. That's what this dialoging is about.



                                                                    by Richard for you

English Language Practice

Dialogue With RCS: We have called it a Magic Table dialogue group. It could be called a dialogue for peace. It can also be an English language dialogue.

                As an English Language practice group our dialogue is a very productive way to practice any level of English. The beginning learner has a focused, listening practice, a focused hearing practice, important steps to good pronunciation skills.  At the same time the beginner is getting contextual understanding practice.

                This practice group can be of considerable interest to a native speaker of English. Such an English speaker can learn fun, empowering, culture enhancing rules of Magic Table Dialogue. He, or she, can also learn dialogue for peace skills for dealing with and appreciating the assumptions and opinions very different from his own. She can also make friends with individuals of a language and culture from her own.

                A typical learner of English can build his or her word power by hearing targeted words in context. She also learns to hear the pronunciation, enunciation, and accent of a variety of English speakers. She will hear a number of persons each speak a given word in their own way. A learner may choose to listen for, say, pronunciation or she may choose to focus on contextual meaning. Practice is the main aim here.

                Each participant also has opportunities to speak and to be heard. A speaker will have his speech heard by a very interested group of listeners. A speaker will be closely listened to as she expresses herself.

                Our dialogue is not a substitute for your other language studies. It is very appropriate supplementary practice. In learning to speak a language appropriate practice is necessary.


What's in it for you?
~ You can learn dialogue skills and get great productive practice in the use of English.
~ You can improve your listening skills.
~ You can practice hearing and understanding what is said.
~ You can practice using English with a group of persons of importantly similar interests.
~ You can practice using a language other than your own.
~ You can improve your understanding of a people and a culture.
~ You can experience many people listening to you with interest.
~ You can get to know others well in a safe atmosphere. 
~ You can learn to be understood as you speak English.
~ You can learn to be better understood by a variety of English speakers.

I believe that you can come up with other advantages and benefits available to you in our program of practice.



                                                                                    by Richard

 

Find Out More About The Dialogue

 Dialogue With RCS: Its a group of us talking together in a better way

 

            Our dialogue practice is designed to create areas of coherence in the vastness of misunderstanding. Most ordinary talk in our society may be called incoherent.
Often a major benefit of our dialogue practice is to experience the power of collectively shared meaning.

            To learn learn our dialogue takes ongoing practice. This practice we have called The Dialogue, Dialogue For Peace, Magic Table Dialogue. 
 

            The dialogue has rules which call for practice to develop proficiency. The rules need not be rigid, but they do point to correct practice  which is important.

            The first practice may be called a listening practice, but it calls for use of voice, as well as ears and mind.

             A result can be thinking together the dialogue is aimed at thinking together coherently. Thinking together coherently calls for sustained dialogue. Thinking together is both satisfying and the source of a great power. We believe that it is well worth the effort to practice. Thinking together is a learning and growth process. It occurs consciously and also on an unconscious level. It may be expected to take on a renewed honesty. Thinking together is a learning and growth process. It occurs consciously and also on an unconscious level. It may be expected to take on a renewed honesty.

            There were times and places when this kind of talk as common, but these days it is uncommon. I believe that it is urgent that we practice this sort of dialogue now. It is urgent that we practice a more effectively honest communication. By we, I mean everyone willing to practice the dialogue. This "we" is inclusive.

            There is much more to say and make clear about this dialogue, but I may have said enough here for now. There is a good deal more on this blog now and there is more on the way. 

            This blog is designed to be interactive and I am hoping to be reading and responding to your comments about the dialogue soon. Questions and requests count as comments. Check out the "comments' section its just below. Click on the word "comments" or on "no comments."

            Thanks for your visit and for reading.

 

 

                                                                                rcs

 

 

A Dialogue Practice Group

Dialogue With RCS: Your Dialogue Practice Group

                I do not have a dialogue pracice group, but I can still write about them.

                In the kind of dialogue practice I write of there is no agenda in the ordinary sense. The purpose is mostly the practice. The practice is the honest and just sharing of meaning and development of coherence.  The group practices  certain methods and skills for thinking together. So in the practice there are practically no decisions to make. However skills may be honed.

                So, the practice is not without purpose, it is to practice skills and learn rules of effective dialogue. I hope that you will come to see how this mere practice builds and supports our culture even as we listen and speak.

                Over time the practice can evolve and change form. They take forms suggested by names such as Dialogue for Peace and Magic Table Dialogue. What ever the the name the skills stay much the same. I have begun to outline and picture an example of a beginning group in action and hope to continue doing so. The typical group may look leaderless from the outside because leadership is so widely shared. The group doesn't stall because a leader doesn't show up.

                People around the world are practicing a similar dialogue. However, you are unlikely to find an active group near you.  So, to have a group, you may have to participate in making it. You will probably need to speak with another about the dialogue. If the two of you find a third you may have started a group. You can talk it over, maybe discussing what it is a why you are interested, what it means, how you can do it, and like that.
                    

                Take a good look around this blog.

    

                 More to come.


                                                                                    by Richard Sheehan