Halifax, Monday 11:44 pm

It has been quite a day and it's only now that I am sitting down to put some thoughts on paper, so to speak.  For those that are sending baggage finding rays out into the universe…keep it up!  Still waiting with hope for my luggage to arrive.

Very lovely opening ceremony for the Institute this morning.  The whole community gathered in a circle and watched while a large deciduous tree, complete with roots was painted with ink on four long scrolls of paper.  We were each given two Post-It notes and asked to write on one note about our roots and on the other something about our branches, our intention.  Then each person placed their root and their branch upon the tree image.  Some people also spoke their root or branch aloud.  When the scrolls were lifted there was a pianist playing music, it was really quite moving.  Every note is like a little jewel upon the tree, sparkling with each person’s gifts to the community.

My notebook is already filling.  Each of the speakers today offered profound and provocative questions from a deeply heartfelt place. 

The breakfast speaker’s question was, “How are you allowing the wisdom of uncertainty to help you step out of your habits and proceed with humility into the future as it is emerging?”  I had never considered that uncertainty embodied a kind of wisdom.  And that maybe those shaky, tender areas that are uncovered when I experience uncertainty might be strengths rather than weaknesses.  The speaker talked about holding fear in one hand and going forward.  It’s a bit counterintuitive to hold fear, as one would the hand of a friend, rather than fighting it.  I am wondering about what I might learn from holding fear this way instead of reacting to it in my habitual way.

 Otto Scharmer, author of, “Theory U:  Leading from the Future as it Emerges” and a professor at the business school at MIT asked, “What are the acupuncture points we need to release support for the emerging future?”  It wasn’t a question for which he had a prepared answer and it is his perspective that some of those pressure points are yet to be discovered.  What appears to be clear is that releasing support has something to do with developing ones capacity for:  Open Heart, Open Mind, and Open Will.  And to have Open Heart one must be able to suspend the voice of judgment.  And to Have Open Mind one must be able to suspend the voice of cynicism.  And to have Open Will one must not be able to suspend the voice of fear.  By suspend I mean to hear those voices for what they are and not be controlled by them but instead to “suspend” them out in front of ones self and look at them from all angles.   Being able to practice suspension develops over time and is fed by the quality of ones curiosity, attentiveness and listening.

And it is Mr. Scharmer’s belief that we not only need to be able to practice in this manner as individuals but more importantly as a collective whole.  It is this collective awareness-based action that will lead to real change for the better in our most intractable social problems.

Tomorrow I head out on a learning journey to meet and talk with citizens of Halifax about their community and their lives.  It will be my opportunity to put into practice what I have up until now only been reading about and listening to.