KOSMOSThe Journal for Global Citizens Creating the New Civilization

REFLECTIVE APPROACHES TO SOCIAL ACTIVISMPhotography by Jasmine Rossi | 21st Century Spirituality

The Commons | Transformational Leaders | Global Citizenshipfall | winter 2012$10 US | $11 Canada

Our first article (Kosmos, Spring / Summer 2012) gave an overviewof the new human capacity we are starting to articulate —that wecall Collective Presencing, the purpose of which is to allow us to sys-tematically achieve collective wisdom. We described the two distinctphases that we see unfolding as a collection of individuals learns tobecome a collective capable of employing this capacity on behalf ofthe whole: firstly, becoming a circle of presence, then becoming acircle of creation.

This second article describes in more detail what it takes to becomea circle of presence. What is the groundwork that individuals mustdo, through collective practice, in order to come into presence to-gether as a collective container for a ‘circle being?’ And what is thejourney like that brings us there?

In the first article, we saw that this first phase is a process of deep-ening and widening alignment that brings the individual mem-bers of the circle into an embodiment of their own authenticselves (deepening), on the one hand, and into a growing aware-ness of complexity and interrelatedness (widening), on the other.

We can liken the process of deepening to learning to hold amelody in order to be able to sing harmoniously in a choir. Inthe steps towards building a circle of presence, the individual islearning to discern what is authentic and what is learned andadaptive behaviour. Paradoxically, the way to do this is by learn-ing to hear the melodies of others in the circle. We can discoverour unique gifts only in interaction with others. When eachmember of the circle is grounded in their own authentic voice,then comes the practice of choral improvisation—learning tosense and ride the shifting patterns of the whole.

The process of widening takes us through the self and then be-yond, in expanding waves through the other, the group and thefield of future potential. Each of these stages of widening bothrequires and teaches distinct capacities, which are the main focusof this article. It is important to recognise that all these capacitiescan be learned: we feel that this learning is a crucial task for hu-manity at the dawn of the new epoch.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE SELF—Developing the capacity for sub-tle sensing to live an authentic life.

We live our lives in the realm of experience. In the manifest,everyday world, we tend to narrow this down to what we can ex-perience with our physical senses to see, hear, smell, taste andtouch. But as we journey deeper through the Self, we uncover amuch wider spectrum of increasing subtlety. We notice that ourexperiences also include ideas, beliefs and emotions. Seeing this,

in turn, involves consciousness and awareness—the capacity toreflect on our experiences and witness what is happening within.Harder to discern are the subtle perceptions—the hunches, intu-itions and inner promptings that guide our steps along life’s path,if we but listen.

In all of this, the body is primordial. All experience (includingreminiscence and dreaming of the future) happens in real time,through the body. Our subtle impressions, while they might notregister with our gross physical senses, nevertheless have an un-deniable impact on the material plane, and they are felt in thebody before they become present to the mind. Indeed, it takes aconscious act of will to direct the attention towards them andallow their messages to percolate through into consciousness.

If we are to dance gracefully with complexity and uncertainty, weneed to develop the capacity to sense the subtle dimensions inourselves, in others and in the environment. We need to learnsystematically to notice shifts in energy, vitality, life force, so thatwe can follow the signals showing us where life wants to flow.

As we develop our capacity for subtle sensing, great discernmentis needed. Are we actually sensing something from the future ora prompting from the soul, or is it just wishful thinking or emo-tional projection? The physical body is both a storehouse of oldmemories and an exquisite receptor of information from the fieldaround us. If we are to discern between what is old stuff and whatis really here and now, we must become deep listeners.

So how does one go about developing this capacity? Many peoplethink it’s a gift: you either have it or you don’t. But in reality, it isan inherent part of what it is to be human, and it can be learned.The journey involves:

• withdrawing from our default way of seeing —taking a dis-tance from matter itself, taking a wider view with a softer focusso that we can start to notice what is happening in relationshipsand energy exchange. We must learn to treat the information thatcomes to us from seeing, feeling, hearing and intuiting as equallyvalid and complementary to the information provided by thinking.

• slowing down—it takes time to let our subtle sensing reach ourconsciousness. This can require an intentional change of life—orwork style—away from the rat race and towards something morerestful and closer to nature.

• practicing sensing in everyday life—learning to stop and ask,moment by moment, ‘What am I called to do next?’ and to staystill until a clear prompting comes through.

collective presencing series – part two

The Circle of Presence: Building the Capacity for Authentic Collective Wisdom

by Ria Baeck and Helen Titchen Beeth

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• training the body to act as a container to hold the energies offeeling, thinking, chaos and wisdom, on behalf of the whole. Dis-ciplines that train the body/spirit complex include aikido, tai chi,yoga, dance, dynamic meditation and many more.

Developing this capacity for subtle sensing allows us to see whatis actually happening in and around us without judgement, open-ing up to the fullness of experience at all levels. As our field ofperception expands, we learn to embrace the subtler layers of ourexperience, witness and suspend our habitual emotional reac-tions, and take full responsibility for our feelings, perspectivesand actions. This emotional maturity allows us to relax more fullyinto relationship with others, sharing feelings without interpre-tation and knowing ourselves to be intimately linked to and heldby a greater whole. As we learn to own the deepest parts of our-selves, there is congruence between our speech, actions and deep-est feelings. The beauty of our essence shines through. Once Ihonour my deepest self, the only possible next step is to live myself to its fullest potential.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE OTHER—Developing the capacity to in-tegrate shadow and enter into authentic relationship.

Unless we can be flexible in dealing with life, we cannot be fullypresent. As soon as a vulnerable spot is touched in our interac-tions with others, our defense mechanisms kick in. We are stuckacting out our survival patterns—which formed long before wewere consciously acting in the world. These patterns are so deeplyingrained that we experience them as part of our personality: theyare how we handle conflict and protect our vulnerabilities fromothers. We all have different patterns, but they all have one thingin common: they prevent us from relating in a healthy way withthe other. Before you can relate authentically to another, you mustfirst deal with your own inflexibility and heal the unconsciousparts of your personality.

The ‘shadow’ is that part of us which, from our earliest childhood,was not allowed to live in the full light and so retreated into theshade. By the time we are grown, we are convinced it is the otherwho carries the shadow, not us. What we have disowned now sitsso thoroughly in our blind spot that we quite unconsciously proj-ect it onto the other, where it looks completely real. Our task isto take back our projection and re-integrate the disowned part itrepresents. Often we first greet it with guilt or shame. It takescourage and sensitivity to open up and remember it as part ofourselves; when we do, we encounter the hurt child who needs

space, attention and recognition. These shadow parts—the thingsabout ourselves we want to hide—are essential to our true au-thenticity. They hold the gift of who we are; a gift we can bring tothe world only when we are fully present; a gift without which wecannot live up to our fullest potential.

Having realised that my inflexibility and charged emotions aremy own, there is a huge release of energy: there is no more needto fight, discuss, blame, hold back. I am finally free to embark onthe journey towards authentic relationship. I can open my heartto others and see them as they are—no more and no less: ashuman beings with their own unique wounding and gifts.

The core practices here are:

As we embrace true relationship with the other, our sense of sep-arateness diminishes. Our experience of ourselves as a flow ex-pands as we learn to hold both the other and ourselves in fullfocus at the same time. This relational field needs to be masteredbefore we can live, love and respect on a group level, just as weneed practice at the group level before we can start to live togetherin real emergence.

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• deep, clean listening—listening to the other with full attention,beyond, behind, between the spoken words. Simply witnessingand being present to what the other has to share without givingadvice or seeking to fix.

• suspending judgement and prejudice—seeing my own beliefsand ideas as only one small part of reality.

• looking beneath the surface to discern the essential authenticself of the other, recognising what lies underneath their person-ality, wounds, shadows and survival patterns.

• staying open when emotionally triggered—transcending themechanism of projection to honour the other even as her wordsignite my anger or my fear.

• voicing disturbance—witnessing what is going on between theother and me, sharing my emotional charge in order to integrateit and to deepen our heart connection in service of the whole.

• embracing diversity—recognising and fostering the differentways of sharing and expressing in a group.

• impersonal love—being free from attachment, judgement, re-quirements or expectations; holding and letting life unfold.

photography | helen titchen beeth

JOURNEY THROUGH THE GROUP—Developing the capacity tohold a collective field.

In Western society, where the focus is on the individual, we findit hard to imagine subordinating our individual interests to thewell-being of the group and to its purpose. In the context of col-lective presencing, this subordination entails neither submergingthe individual identity nor conforming to a group norm. Rather,it is simply the next step in our development, from dependent orover independent to inter-dependent; a recognition that we can-not attain our highest potential without the group, and that thegroup needs our full potential in order to attain its highest pur-pose. We recognise that if any element of the group holds back,then the whole system is holding back. In this context, leadershiprotates or is assumed by the collective. We are all leaders. We par-ticipate fully and share overall responsibility.

Once every member is participating fully, each can relax anddeepen their trust in the group as a whole. I can open to the groupas a community that takes care of me in those areas where I amnot the expert. I can follow the suggestions of others who havemore expertise or experience than I do. Only when we learn toact out of our unique, authentic self can we experience the fullholding of the group. Allowing oneself to be held by the group isas important as offering one’s contribution, but this can often bechallenging for individuals used to leading, coaching or facilitat-ing others. Paradoxically, though, it is often when one memberof the group takes a risk—showing some vulnerability—that thecollective really shows up.

We saw in the previous section some of the unconscious dynam-ics that go on in an interaction between just two people. Multiplythat by (n x (n-1) to get a feeling of what is at play in a group.Opening into the inner realms of the collective means not onlyreleasing our judgements and projections on individuals, but alsoawakening to the deeply held shared assumptions and mentalmodels of the group which, because they are shared, stay under-ground out of sight. This shared culture both creates our sense ofbelonging and limits our vision and understanding. If a group canstep beyond these invisible boundaries, new ways of thinking,acting and creating will unfold.

Above and beyond the interpersonal dynamics and shared beliefs,each group operates within a subtle energetic field that is aboutneither entity nor process, you nor me, purpose nor path. It isneither particle nor wave—rather, it is both. It is the subtle, struc-turing mesh of our combined potentials—a web of invisible

strands holding a collective potential that has never yet seen the light of day. Harnessing the potentials contained in the group’sfield is one of the core capacities of a Circle of Presence, and itneeds some explaining.

Looking more deeply into the subtle phenomena that lie beyondand beneath the 3-dimensional world of our everyday sensoryexperience, we discern the realms of Spirit and Source. Thesetwo are like the first couple that emerged from the One at thedawn of creation—the first paradox that spawned all the others:light/darkness, yin/yang, inner/outer, masculine/feminine. Whenwe disengage from our immediate experience in order to witness,think and reflect upon it, we are moving towards Spirit—therealm of consciousness and awareness. When we drop down intoour bodies, away from words and concepts into the world of‘night consciousness,’ of subtle energies, sensing and deep innerknowing, we are moving towards Source—the realm of unmani-fest potential.

The practice par excellence for connecting with Source is ‘holdingspace’ for potential to manifest—and that makes it a core practicein a Circle of Presence. It is what good parents do for their chil-dren, and what good facilitators do when hosting conversationsand change processes in groups. It should also be a core compe-tency in leadership teams required to deal with complexity anduncertainty. Perhaps the greatest challenge in this subtle work isits invisibility: there is no way to observe it being done and noscientifically accepted way to demonstrate its impact. Simply put,it involves connecting, through the body, with the unmanifest po-tential of whatever is being held—be it a person, a group, a placeor a project. To hold space is to open the body and the subtlesenses into conscious connection with the subtle energy of pres-ent potential in service of what wants to or can become manifest.It demands emptiness and deep inner stillness to embrace thispotential without any attachment to a particular outcome, onlyholding a diffuse intention for the good of the whole. Holdingspace is an inherently feminine practice, which women instinc-tively recognise, as they have a natural tendency to hold space forpeople, places and projects, just as they hold space in their bodiesfor unborn babies, unconditionally, without knowing what thebaby will be like once it is born.

But holding space on its own is not sufficient to midwife the unfolding of potential into actual manifestation. Some struc-turing energy is also needed, a more focused holding of intention. Paradoxically, though, if that intention is in any way closed or

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fixed, there is no room for the birth of the new. So the practice

associated with connecting with Spirit is ‘staying in inquiry’ sothat inspiration can show up. The full depth of potential can be-come accessible for manifestation and action only when we arecrystal clear about the intention or purpose we are serving. Justas the ship with the highest mast needs the deepest keel, so thehigher the purpose we serve, the deeper the source we can tapinto. When we hold space for potential to manifest, while simul-taneously keeping our inquiry open for inspiration and innova-tion to show up, these two distinct practices can merge into aco-creative act that allows emergence to happen.

Emergence is the manifestation of the truly new that has neverexisted before, where new connections are made that create a newwhole. It requires a degree of chaos, where the structuring comesnot from manmade attempts at control, but from holding a strongenergetic container for the necessary chaos, while staying withthe guiding question and the intent that the emergence is invitedto serve. Some of the ingredients needed to work intentionallywith emergence are deep listening, generative conversation, andthe ability to home in on and distil purpose, hold an intentionand stay for extended periods in open inquiry.

JOURNEY THROUGH FUTURE POTENTIAL—Developing the capacity to sense and act from Source on behalf of the whole.

Here we come to the home stretch of the journey towards the Cir-cle of Presence. The reason for embarking on the journey in thefirst place is to engage co-creatively with the future.

The available free energy in a group that is not stuck in any rep-etition of habitual patterns is available for the work of engagingwith the future. The capacity we develop and practice here is‘sourcing’—sensing into the subtle energetic levels of reality thatlie beneath the plane of manifestation. The process unfolds in thespace between a guiding question and the deepest source. We aresensing into what wants to be born—this is not the same as imag-ining our own ideal future; it is more like sensing which seed isready to sprout. There is no controlling what arises throughsourcing: it can bring access to age-old wisdom or new insights,and the knowing filters into consciousness through the subtlerealms of Kosmos, not through memory or mind.

Like intuition, sourcing is a direct, immediate apprehension ofsomething, through a multi-sensory awareness in combinationwith intellect. Specifically, it involves directing the attention towhat is coming into being. Like Eugene Gendlin’s ‘felt sense,’ it isan “internal aura that encompasses everything you feel and knowabout the given subject at a given time all at once, rather than de-tail by detail.” Specifically, it is a felt sense about an unmanifestpotential, tapping into layers of reality that have not yet come intoform. While sourcing, we are very present to the here and now,

bringing our attention to bear on the unmanifest that is callingto become real, like the artist confronting the empty canvas witha felt sense of what she wants to bring forth, but without knowingwhat the finished work will look like. We speak and act from thatfuture space, as we use our felt sense to guide us to new wisdomand applications that will help us see the opportunities for theemerging new world, instead of the problems and decay associ-ated with the passing of the old.

So what does it feel like to be part of a fully-fledged Circle of Pres-ence? Since the practice has so far mainly been restricted towomen, not surprisingly it has often been described as like givingbirth. Something that is not first formed in the conscious mindseeks entry through our subtle awareness, wanting to be ex-pressed. Some speak of an experience of compulsion like subtlepangs of labour, others evoke the connection with the body—more specifically, the womb. Our role is an active surrenderingto words, language, colour, movement and form. We suspect thatsourcing is easier for women than for men because of the needfor receptivity, staying attuned to the body and open to all thesenses without going into action. Having a womb—an emptyspace designed to receive life—seems to make it easier to receivethese subtle signs that seem to come from life itself.

One thing is certain: experiencing sourcing awakens a longingfor more. As an experience of clarity and presence, it is sublime.Judy Wallace, co-founder of Women Moving the Edge, puts it likethis: “After once touching into speaking from source, I would for-ever want to return there, to that incredible and liberating powerof knowing.” Once knowing this experience, there comes a com-pelling sense of urgency to put this new capacity into service.

If this business of engaging with the future seems far-fetched toyou, that is quite understandable. We know from our experiencethat sourcing from the future, as we have described it here, is pos-sible—but the right conditions have to be in place. What is im-portant is that the practices described here not only enablepractitioners to learn to become present to increasing layers ofdepth and subtlety, they also create the conditions for attainingthe collective wisdom we so desperately need in these complexand turbulent times—both of which are the purpose of the Circleof Presence.

At the culmination of this journey, the group has started buildingan intentional and conscious partnership with the unmanifest po-tential and the future that resonate with the focus of its inquiry.This is where the Circle of Presence can graduate into the Circle ofCreation—which will be the subject of the next article in this series.

To engage with the future is to participate in its unfolding—the very act of bringing our attention to what is emerging,listening deeply for the patterns that are revealing themselvesis a creative force that will influence what is coming intomanifestation in complex ways.