near Diest, Belgium We have begun, and now concluded our first day here at Heerlijckyt, snugged in with 26 mates investigating all sorts of questions about the Art of Hosting as it is manifest and practiced here in Europe, as well as elsewhere in the world. We spent much of the day experimenting with sensing the collective field, using a combination of methods including a long and juicy opening circle (during which Toke asked the questions “what called you here? What has called us here? and what might we accomplish together?”). This circle was carefully harvested for larger themes. From …
Bekkevoort, Belgium Arrived here last night in preparation for the first gathering of Art of Hosting practioners in Europe, the first Art of Hosting on the Art of Hosting. I’m staying with my friend Ria Baeck, in a small converted stable on an old farm in the countryside outside of Brussels. Tom Hurley joined us this morning from San Francisco (he’s sleeping right now) and Toke, Monica, George Por, Maria Scordialos and Sarah Whitely and others are all arriving this afternoon. Tomorrow we start in a learning centre about 15 minutes away from here called Heerlijckyt. The flight from Vancouver, …
Casaubon’s Book: Food Preservation and Democracy A nice long blog post on what shifts might come if we ate locally, and grew our own food. (tags: food democracy) IFC Environment – Good Practice Documents A handbook on stakeholder engagment, primarily private sector (tags: consultation engagement) Anecdote: Sensemaking Archives A great set of musings on storytelling and sensemaking that relates closely to the work we are doing on the art of harvesting. (tags: stories artofharvesting) Book Excerpt: The Assault on Reason | TIME Al Gore answers Robert Byrd’s question: “Why do reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished …
Some short notes about various things: Friends of mine in Estonia have started the White Tulip movement to bring peace to a deep seated ethnic conflict that is flaring up there at the moment. In the Ukraine, the 15th annual OpenSpaceonOpenSpace has just concluded and the photos are online. I was reflecting on how much easier it is to harvest from these gatherings now than it was when they began, or even six years ago when we hosted OSonOS in Vancouver. I haven’t plugged Redwire Magazine for a while. Redwire is published by indigenous youth in Vancouver, and it captures …
I’m back from Bella Coola, and reflecting on the remarkable three days of learning and Open Space we did there. Saturday, we held a small community Open Space gathering around the issue of what the community needs to do to prepare for assuming full responsibility over child and family services. This is a provocative question in the Nuxalk Nation. The Nation is a strong and independent community and putting children and families in the centre of any conversation brings heart, passion and commitment. We had a small group of people present for our Open Space. 20 people began the day …