Dialogue Practice One

 I am kind of starting in the middle of this dialogue practice stuff because I do not know where the beginning is. Come to think of it, I believe that there is no end to it either. Is there and end to the practice of medicine?  Maybe, but so far, when the career of one doctor ends another doctor continues the practice. 

The practice of medicine is important. By reading on you may discover that many consider the practice of dialogue more important than that of medicine.  The practice of dialogue is certainly serious.  It is also interesting and fun.

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Plunging right into a serious part of  dialogue practice I can say the following:
After a time of dialoguing we can better understand how a certain opinion or assumption of another participant has come to be held. That's serious isn't it? Have you never thought to yourself, "How can that person have such a belief or opinion!?"

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Dialogues of the kind I have been speaking of Have been called Dialogue For Peace, Magic Table Dialogue, Fair Fighting dialogue, and just plain Dialogue Practice.  I have thought of calling it Dialogue For the Creation and Preservation of Culture, but have not done so until just now. This practice has also been call a Listing Practice.

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I have been writing these bits about dialogue as though we were the dialogue practitioners and plan to continue doing so.

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We will bring our assumptions to our dialogue for peace practice group for it is impossible not to bring them. Those assumptions will come up.  Our purpose  is not to judge them, not to suppress them, not to believe them or to disbelieve them.
Our purpose is not to see them as good or bad. Our purpose is to listen for them, to hear them, to recognize them, and to accept  their  existence.

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There are lots of rules for good dialogue practice, but not much enforcement of those rules. One may take them as very valuable suggestions. 

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The idea in our practice group is not to change anyone's mind.
The aim is try to see  what each assumption means. The purpose is to understand the experience which gives a particular assumption it's birth and which supports it 

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So we are here coming to see that dialogue practice entails a listening practice of a group of listeners. One person talks for a bit and gets to be well heard. Than another talks and is well heard. We all become better listeners. Some  have mistakenly thought that a dialogue practice is only for and between two persons. In our dialogues there are many great listeners who all listen to one person at a time.  You can be that person who is well listened to and well heard.