Worldwork 2011 

Tracking the Dreaming Landscape Beyond the Continental Divide: A Practice in Deep Democracy

www.worldwork.org

The Global Process Institute presents an International Conference on environmental, social and political issues

April 13 - 19, 2011 • Denver, Colorado, USA

Worldwork uses the awareness tools of Deep Democracy for small or large group conflicts, team building, community crisis intervention and facilitation of forums for human rights dialogue. 2011 in Denver marks the 20th Anniversary of Worldwork.

"Deep Democracy is our sense that the world is here to help us to become our entire selves, and that we are here to help the world become whole."
Arnold Mindell, founder of Process Oriented Psychology (aka Process Work)

Denver, known as the "Queen City of the Plains" and "The Mile-Hi City" sits at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, marker of the Continental Divide.

Historically Denver has attracted a diverse population given its crossroad location at the center of the US. The surrounding landscape hosts an extreme geography, from sand dunes to over 500 mountain peaks between 13-14,000 feet.

The earth memories here hold dreams from the 80' long, 80 ton Brachiosaurus dinosaur, to indigenous tribes, to gold and silver miners, to the pain of land grabs and immigration wars. The spirit of the "Old West" reigns with all its ecstasy and terror. We are a ripe bed to host the 20th anniversary of Worldwork. More about Worldwork

Click here to download a pdf of the conference flyer which includes a registration form

Join us for a Pre-Conference training workshop

with Arny & Amy Mindell, in Denver, Colorado

April 8, 2011 1:00 pm – April 10, 2011 5:00 pm, before the Worldwork conference:

THE POWER THAT MOVES YOU: For 1-World Leaders -

A 2nd Training; Processwork and Spiritual Traditions Get all the Details about THE POWER THAT MOVES YOU

Join us for a Post-Conference training workshop

with Drs.  Max & Ellen Schupbach:

April 20 + 21: Worldwork Stategies for Stakeholder Organizations -

Process-oriented Leadership Development for Change Managers and Leaders.

For more info and registration:   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Worldwork and the Politics of “Dreaming” or Why “Dreaming” is Crucial for World Process

By Amy Mindell, November 2007

From the website www.aamindell.net

What Is Worldwork?

Worldwork is that aspect of process work that focuses on small- and large-group work, organizational work, and open city forums. Arny began developing worldwork in Switzerland in the 1980s when he realized that working with individuals and couples was often insufficient to deal with the larger social and community field in which we live. Therefore, he started to explore the way in which process-oriented concepts he had developed until that point for working with individuals, couples, and families, could also be applied to working with small and large groups. Over the years, he has expanded the theory and practice of worldwork. Worldwork has been practiced in many parts of the world and applied to such realms as community building, organizational development, diversity awareness in schools and universities, police training, and severe conflict situations. The practice and philosophy of worldwork combines aspects of many disciplines, including physics, psychology, spiritual traditions, and art. It is a crossdisciplinary approach that, as Arny states, helps to connect “transpersonal experiences with mundane reality, spiritual service and political activity, Eastern selflessness and Western rationalism, dreamwork and bodywork.”2

Worldwork, like all of process work, is based on the idea that the process of each individual, relationship, and group contains its own inherent wisdom. When we use awareness to follow and unfold the unique process of each person or community, that wisdom reveals itself most fully. Therefore, even in the most intractable conflicts, there is a great deal of meaning and wisdom, hidden within what otherwise might seem like intolerable events.

Deep Democracy

Worldwork is based on Arny's concept of "deep democracy." Deep democracy is both a philosophy and a method. The philosophy recognizes that every group has a consensual reality (i.e., a set of assumptions, beliefs, and perceptions that is viewed by the majority as real) as well as another dreaming reality or dimension that is ordinarily unseen yet lies behind the known consensual reality. This dreaming dimension includes all of the deep feelings and dreams hidden within our more overt communication. Without training, groups tend to focus only upon that with which they identify and consent to as real and will miss other important aspects of communication. The method of deep democracy focuses on the ability of the facilitator to use her or his awareness to notice, value, and follow all of the people and parts of a given group in consensus reality as well as noticing and valuing the more dreamlike expressions and feelings of a group. Therefore, deep democracy brings power and attention to us, the people, as in ordinary democracy, and at the same time heightens our power of awareness to notice and flow with the various levels of consciousness that arise in communication. Only when all dimensions of reality are recognized and acknowledged does the wisdom of the group emerge.

Three Levels of Awareness

In Deep Democracy there are three levels of awareness. The first is "Consensus Reality" and the second two levels are part of the dreaming dimension of community life, called "Dreamland" and the "Essence."

The Consensus Reality Level of worldwork focuses on the concerns, conflicts, and people involved in a particular issue, the history, the facts, the rank differences involved, real social change, etc.

The Dreamland Level of worldwork reveals that a group is a bunch of people but it is also a field with a particular atmosphere. When we are in a group we can feel the atmosphere; it feels tense, lighthearted, heavy, etc. Within that field we find all of the unexpressed beliefs, feelings, attitudes, moods, and hopes that lie behind our consensual discussions. In addition, the field or atmosphere of a group is filled with various parts or polarities that are in relationship or tension with one another. The various positions, parts, and sides of an issue that seem static in consensus reality (that is, belonging to particular individuals and groups) are roles in Dreamland that are shared; they belong in some way to everyone involved. Therefore, as we enter Dreamland, each side of an issue, each position and feeling, does not only belong to a given individual or group but can be represented by various people. As the roles become more fluid (i.e., not rigidly affixed to particular individuals, groups, etc.), they begin to transform. A good facilitator also notices the way in which people switch roles consciously or unconsciously during any process. By bringing awareness to this shifting of the field, the group process has the chance to deepen and unfold. In addition a facilitator will help to notice ghost roles—those people, events, or things that are spoken about in a group but that no one is directly representing. I will say much more about Dreamland below.

The Essence Level refers to the deepest, subtlest feelings, visions, and dreams behind any given feeling, role, or part of a group. When someone is able to get down to the essence level, it frequently touches everyone, bringing a sense of oneness that resonates and unifies the group atmosphere, at least for that moment in time. In our most recent work, the deep essence of a group can also be understood and experienced as the common "earth" of a group, the spot on earth with which a group most identifies. Arny calls this the group's Process Mind.

The Dreamland and Essence levels are nonconsensual realities in the sense that the group has not consented upon their existence, yet the moods and dreams behind these dreaming realms strongly influence the group atmosphere and interaction.

A Revolution in Consciousness

A Worldwork facilitator attempts to follow and bring awareness to the flow of a group's experience as events move between various levels, issues, and individuals as well as between roles and the deepest feelings involved. By following the natural process of the group, new resolutions, meaning, and awareness arise. For some of us, the idea that there are various realities might seem strange. However, modern physics tells us about the existence of different realities, that is, the Newtonian and the Quantum realities. Arny compares these realities in physics to the different dimensions of worldwork:

The Dreaming is to everyday reality as the quantum world is to the Newtonian reality. The Dreaming shakes our certainty that life is composed of real people in fixed bodies. To truly understand, appreciate, and even love the community you are working for, you need to sense it not only as a fact composed of real people, but as a Dreaming essence that evolves into the changing roles, timespirits, and people.

Consensus-oriented discussions can be powerful and crucial in the development of practical social action. And the ability to debate with one another is a precious gift of democracy. At the same time, a good facilitator knows that it is important to open up as well to the dreaming aspect of community because, while real outer solutions can be very important, if they repress background (hidden) feelings that are present – that is, those feelings not normally represented during meetings and negotiation, such as greed, hopelessness, fear, desperation, gossip, etc.—whatever solution is reached is likely to be sabotaged or will not hold for long.