Questions For A Democratic Group

Have you considered that the highest authority of your group may be the 'loving' expression of the the will of its participants?

Are you giving abundant consideration to the views of the minorities in your group?

Have you take time to practice consensus building skill?

Have you arranged to be well informed by your members who have special knowledge of the issues under consideration? Tapping that knowledge may provide a useful point of departure.

How do you uncover the the skill sets in your group?

How do you democratically conduct your business meetings?

Democratic Meetings

Here are a few hints on how to create and carry out effective democratic meetings

An effective democratic meeting:

~ must be of, by, and for its participants. It should be as free as possible from the influence of outside powers.

~ ought to be held in a safe place. An important attribute of a safe place is that i provide space which is neutral.

~ ought to be designed and redesigned to meet the needs of the participants

~ may be best when participants first listen well to members with the best dialogue skills and appropriate specialized knowledge

~ has leadership roles and/or officership roles that are kept to a minimum and are widely shared.

~ at the very beginning there ought to be teaching and study time to learn and practice dialogue skills, methods, and techniques; and  also time given to the learning of the vocabulary of the business at hand.

Important notions to consider keeping in mind during the first meetings include:

` address all comments to the group as a whole rather than to an individual,

~ practice respectful good manners,

~ avoid judgmental statements or comments; there are no good or bad opinions, values or statements,

~ listening and understanding are your main purpose,

~ accept that other believe to be true that which they say; they intend to be honest

` speak from your own experience,

~ respect the goodness and equality of each participant.

Dialogue is Important

What are you willing to say about dialogue or about communication in general? Are you willing to suggest definitions for either? Below are thoughts which come to my mind as I consider dialogue today. Questions are thoughts too aren't they?

Shared meaning is the cement that holds society together. Consider meanings. What is the meaning of meaning? What is the meaning of society? What is the state of our mutual understanding of meaning?
Do we agree on what holds meaning for us? How do we share meaning? What are the better ways of sharing meaning? What is the nature of our society?

Have you ever seen members of a group become frustrated as they try to share meaning? Does sharing meaning frighten you? Are you afraid that your assumptions may be revealed and challenged? Others are. They seek a leader or a protector. They may just walk away.

What if a group is so democratic that it has no leader? If the group is very democratic there may be a great deal of equality felt among its members. I seem to be less fearful among those who respect me as an equal. What is the source of equality?

Talk, communication, dialogue seems a principle way of sharing meaning. Democracy seems to be a step toward open speech.

I think that the practice of dialogue skills can support democracy and the sharing of meaning. I believe that I am still willing to accept some frustration in my life in order to support the sharing of meaning through dialogue. There is a reason for dialogue. It is what helps us to to be an us. It is important.

We benefit by keeping in mind how important dialogue is. If we don't, we begin to think and say: What's the point? This is too much trouble, Let's give it up. It's not getting us anywhere.

Dialogue is as important as important as earning money. Without a healthy society money loses its value. Shared meaning holds society together. Dialogue is an effective way to share meaning.

Dialogue is important.

Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now | The Nation

Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now | The Nation

Are we finding one another?

Democratic roots grow deep and spread very wide.

Costa Rica

I haven't been to Costa Rica for a very long time.
I hear that there have been some very big changes.
I don't remember Ticos being fanatic about the law. I do remember them being more law abiding and naturally democratic than most Latin American peoples.
Now I understand that the are helping Taiwanese to break very good Costa Rican laws about shark fishing.
What happened?!