Using the Arts in Generative Dialogue

One idea I had to help move the conversation to generative dialogue is the use of non-linear language in the dialogue. Visual art and poetry seem appropriate - it's not necessary to use regular words to communicate ideas.

My Process similiar to the Course's Process

Originally I thought I would be able to come up with a better course design for my own online course, to create an environment which generative dialogue could arise, but it turns out some of the ideas Olen used for our class would be best for my course.

Specifically, the use of a blog and having students meet offline, ie the coacher/coachee pair. The use of a blog forces the student to reflect (Field Three) and the one-on-one conversation makes the course more personable and let's the students talk and move into other fields.

Generative Dialoge - Tell students or not?

The final research project is turning out to be a huge deal. Over the weekend, I had to tell myself to stop researching new material, and stick with what I have. I can't keep on reading new material; I have to use what I have and start writing more.

Part of my final project is to create a model, or guidelines, to implement generative dialogue in my own online class. The question I have is this: Should I tell the students what I am trying to accomplish or do not tell them?

Telling them would probably be better, so they would know where the conversation is going. But my course isn't on generative dialogue, and I don't want to focus on that, but on the output, or results, of the dialogue process. Perhaps just a quick overview of the four stages of the dialogue process would be sufficient.

I don't really know if the online conversation can evolve to the Forth Field of generative dialogue. My only real hope is to get to the bottom of the U. That would make me happy.

Basye Coaching Call

I'm learning so much from Basye. Personally, she's a pretty cool lady.

In a previous call with her, we talked about a few good ideas about communication, which I immediately implemented the next day. The most important thing she taught me is awareness toward what other's are saying, being more sensitive to what I say and how it might be perceived by others.

My original notes:

• Look at the world you created right now.
• Sensitivity to the conversation? In tune to what people say, sensitive to violent communication. Questioning assumptions. Sensitive and bring people / alert people to when they are becoming insensitive.
• Marshall B Rosenberg --> nonviolent communication. Not Sarcasm.
• How people communicate as not to hurt feelings. How to move forward.
• Interactivity, not one-way.
• "Facilitating growth of people." Facilitate growth. Nonviolent Communication Guides by Marshall B. Rosenberg

In a conversation last Sunday evening, we talked about effective and appropriate conversation and how politeness and power gets in the way of effective conversation.

My notes from that conversation:

• Effective and appropriate, politenesses gets in the way? Powerplace prevents dialog and people stay in politeness power.
• Not appropriate. Communication competences which common in communication books.
• Internal attribution, external attribution. Negative expections attribution.

Practice

"Practices like presencing or suspension can be demanding to learn at first, but when you begin to make progress they can be highly transformative. So the rewards for learning these skills are great and some things take ongoing practice, patient study and further inquiry to learn about."
--Olen Gunnlaugson

I have a hard time tying to put theory into practice, at least in my profession life as an instructional designers and my personal life. However, it is fairly easy for my to put theory into practice in my practice of art.

The whole idea of practice is exciting, yet speaks of a long, difficult journey. Practice makes alive the ideas of generative dialogue, and to live your life to your ideals and philosophy can lead to a meaningful life.

Practice isn't something you do for a few hours, but over your lifetime. Practice must include some sort of desired outcome and the ability to reflect on what you are doing. The problem with generative dialogue is it's a one-way practice. I practice it with non-practitioners. It's like being a Christian in Iraq.

Olen Gunnlaugson also mentioned, in the same email, that "it helps a great deal to explore doing this on one's own first." With this in mind, I probably should worry too much about other people. Center myself first, then encourage other people. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong thing. Center myself should be first. Find and realize my practice. Help people, but don't force. It sounds silly to tell myself, you are not at my level, nor in my generative dialogue space, so we can't talk. Would the Dali Lama say that? I don't think so.

I'm really weak with practice, except with art making. Ceramics is the perfect blend of thought, action and reflection. Each time I throw a pot, I'm at the right level, but always pushing to achieve more.

Diamond Sutra

Roko Sherry Chayat, who is the abbot of the Zen Center in Syracuse, writes

Despite what the Buddha says in the Diamond Sutra--"There is no formula for supreme enlightenment"--we long for some guidelines, some diagram, yes, a formula for quick success. We want what our teachers have, and we want them to give it to us without delay. And therein lies the problem in at least two of its guises: we think there is something to have; and we think it's good to get something for nothing--when, in fact, this practice of ours requires giving everything for nothing!

Wow. Just like this class, we (or at least I) want some formula for generative dialogue, yet we can only get guidelines that possibility create the proper environment for discourse to happen.

The best thing we can do is start a practice of generative dialogue in our lives, reflecting on what we want to accomplish with our practice. We can use Olen's guidance as that, not as rules but suggestions to our practice. And that's all we can really expect, since each of us has a unique perspective of life, we cannot expect to use predefined rules, but rather to find our own rules.

The application of generative dialogue leads to a creative life, not unlike the artist, musician or mathematician. Instead of a canvas, a saxophone or calculus, the dialogue artist uses dialogue to create new ideas and concepts.

Interpertation

Interpreting what a person says, or reframing the conversation so it makes sense to you, is a barrier to listening to what the other person says. Instead of listening to what they are saying, we attempt to hear what we want to hear, rather then what is being said.

The biggest danger is once we pushed our template onto the other person, we think we know what they are saying, and we stop listening. I found myself interpreting someone today, and being interpreting by someone else. It wasn't happy once I realized this was happening.

Bruce Charlton said something interesting over at http://hedweb.com/bgcharlton/peak.html:

Consciousness is so compulsive a storyteller as to be a master confabulator - consciousness will always invent a story in terms of cause and effect relations, even when it has no idea what is going on, and available data is inadequate or contradictory.

He has identified what we call downloading. Our mind fills in the missing pieces, which we then accept as truth, but really is an untruth.

I was at the Naval Base in San Diego, but I did manage to find some time on the weekend to sit on some cliffs facing the Pacific Ocean. It was high tide, and the water was slamming into the base of the cliffs where I was sitting at, about eight feet below me. Occasionally, the water would rise and topple over the edge of the cliff, spraying me with salt water. I could also feel the ground "bump" me, when a strong wave directly hit the rocks below me.

I didn't read the coaching assignment yet, but I lost all sense of self. I'm always awed by the power of the sea, and this time was no exception. It wasn't me anymore, but just the raw energy of the ocean, crashing into a wall of rocks.

Who am I? I don't know, or perhaps, I don't want to know. Facing the truth may be more difficult then accepting the current falsehoods of my life. Yet, I can't keep the truth from peeking out, looking at me like a puppy dog trustingly looks at it's master.

The true nature of the self isn't attached to a lifestyle or thing. Once you understand your nature it can be fully realized in a variety of ways. There are certain things you are naturally drawn to, but like the mathematician who can apply his math to many subject areas, once you understand your nature, you can apply it to many areas of your life. Creativity is not just for the artist.

So what do I want to do? I don't know, things are always unfolding, emerging from the background noise. I have taken some paths which were not fruitful, and I'm constantly striving to stay on-the-path. Downloading other people's ideas is a way to stray far. A career can also take you away from your true nature.

I have many options to explore, and many options which I would like to explore, but shouldn't. These options fool me into thinking this is me, but they are like devils dancing around as angels. They laugh at my expense.

My nature? I know much math, engineering and science, but these might be false paths. I'm drawn to the humanities, throwing clay pots on a wheel not as a pastime, but as a lifeline. But there's something else there, using technology with, not against, the humanities. Technologies used as an extension of the human psyche, not as an example of clever left-brained thinking.