Turning to One Another

05/19/2005

Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Margaret J. Wheatley has written a stimulating and unique book, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc, 2002). She wrote this book in the belief that "we can change the world if we start listening to one another again... Simple, thruthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well."

These are a few of the questions Wheatley offers as conversation starters: Do I feel a vocation to be fully human? What is my faith in the future? What am I willing to notice in the world? What is the relationship I want with the earth?

Here is an excerpt from Turning to One Another:

"It is not easy to begin talking to one another again. We stay silent and apart for many reasons. Some of us never have been invited to share our ideas and opinions. From early school days and now as adults, we've been instructed to be quiet so others can tell us what to think. Others of us are accustomed to meetings to discuss ideas, but then these sessions degenerate into people shouting, or stomping out angrily, or taking over control of the agenda. These experiences have left us feeling hesitant to speak, and frightened of each other.

"But good conversation is very different from those bad meetings. It is a much older and more reliable way for humans to think together. Before there were meetings, planning processes, or any other techniques, there was conversation -- people sitting around interested in each other, talking together. When we think about beginning a conversation, we can take courage from the fact that this is a process we all know how to do. We are reawakening an ancient practice, a way of being together that all humans remember. A colleague in Denmark stated it perfectly: 'It remembers me what it is to be human.'"

For perspectives on conversations with children, check out the Beginnings Workshop, "Talking." at: http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0624

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