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.

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

Dialogue Groups: First Moves

                 Having read other posts on this blog you may have begun to think that you want to start a a dialogue practice group. You may even have the beginnings of such a group. You may have begun to consider the purpose of such a group. Maybe you have had thoughts of sharing thoughts about the nature of groups in general or about the nature of a dialogue practice group. Or, maybe not. Even so, Let me make some suppositions.

                You may decide to come together with two or more interested persons as the beginnings of a pilot group. You decide when and where to meet and if others ought to be invited.You propose to come together to discuss the nature of your proposed dialogue practice and practice group.                 

                 You do actually meet and decide to meet again! At this second meeting you might decide decide to have a seminar or two about dialogue and dialogue practice. You fix a date. You may decide to invite a couple of more prospective members. Deciding to come together to talk about the dialogue is a big step. You have begun to create a power nexus. If power nexus does not sound right, try energy center. As an aunt of mine used to say, "Beginning is the half of it."

                You can begin to to consider together how you want your dialogue practice group to look. It could be useful to visit a library or go online to do some focused checking  about the nature of dialogue and dialogue practice. A couple of members could volunteer to this and report to the group at the next meeting. Another member could review the info here on this blog.

                It is probably time to set a regular meeting time an place. Certainly at each meeting the time a place of the next meeting ought to be clear to each and every member. The purpose of the next meeting should be known and discussed at the present meeting. In fact the purpose and the nature of your meetings ought to be mentioned at each meeting. Another important action for present meetings perhaps ought to be to outline the look and nature of your intended dialogue practice.

                Those deciding to continue to meet may volunteer to come with recommendations of videos, books, and online resources related to the dialogue and its practice. Others might decide that they can share at a meeting that which they have in mind about the practice. At this point you are on your way to having an effective practice group.

                The next meeting might be about how you will actually practice. It might seem right to discuss how the practice ought to look or feel and of why it ought to look and feel that way. It may be right to recall together that which brings you together. Also some sharing about what it is that keeps your group together, to say what makes it fun and useful.

                Some members may decide that the group is not for them. It may be time for some active recruitment. 

                You can find more about the benefits of the practice in other posts on this blog. The posts are here on this blog for your use. I believe I have recommended a couple of books in posts on this blog. You can find some hints about how to practice on posts here. You can find a few simple and important rules to practice and perhaps a law or two.

                Expect to begin to feel the growth in your common understanding of groups, the dialogue, and of the dialogue practice. You will become ready to develop your actual practice. You will want to continue returning to your common understanding of how to keep your group and practice effective. It may be time to consider your recruitment plans and activities. I suggest that you continue recruiting so long as you have fewer than 30 or 40 active members.

                 I have a plan for the structure of a dialogue practice which I will lay out when their is interest.

                Are you pleased to be sharing thoughts about the dialogue with your group? Are you ready for your group to to begin actual practice? What needs to be done to get to where you want to be?

                I expect to add, on the average, one post a month to this blog. I will post more if specific interests are expressed. So there will be more about methods, goals, benefits, and answers to specific questions. 

                I feel I have rambled on about enough for now. So I will close now with a few words about what the practice is.

                 The practice is a way to meaning, understanding, coherence, peace, and to new skills and satisfactions. Its new, but its old. Others around the world are practicing it. They are practicing, learning, and developing powerful and pleasing new skills and abilities.

                I have not been as clear as I wished and may have raised more questions and been less clear than I hoped to be. Please help me to clarify this post and correct errors. There is a "comments" section below where you can add information, ask questions, make suggestions, and comment. The place to click to open the comments section may read "no comments," click on it anyway.

 

 

                                                    RCS