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empathic listening
August 2008 
Skillful means for presencing the future of "we"
Posted on Feb 21st, 2007
by 
Duri
Duri
In a beautiful summary of a shamanic practice that we all have capacity to develop, Venita wrote in her blog:
Empathic listening at its best is, indeed, a healing practice that is needed in the world, at a larger scale, more than ever. There's a hold of obsolete structures on the social body, obsolete structures of thinking, relating, working and organizing. There's also the liberation from those structures, as we presence our highest potential, individual and collective.
Presencing is calling for more in us than even our deep empathy. When I wlk with the "other," any other, I can't prevent myself from sensing into the amazing flowers unfolding from the buds that he/she is. Holding them in their highest potential and visualizing it, as lovers picture the Beloved's face, we are creating the future, by laying grooves of new potential.
Otto Scharmer calls this "generative listening, or listening from the emerging field of the future. This level of listening requires us to access our open heart and open will—our capacity to connect to the highest future possibility that wants to emerge."
We can start practicing generative listening in any of our relationship but for those of us new to this pratice, it may be easier to start with a close friend or family.
If the other is interested as much in your well-being as you are in hers, then you discover generative dialogue, and with it, what is that which wants to come into being through your relationship. Walk with the world as your lover and enjoy your being and becoming together.
Clearly, there's much more to see into, as we explore the question: what are the skillful means for presencing the future of "we," at increasing scale? Would you be interested in that inquiry? (If there was enough Zaadsters saying yes, we could form an action-learning set and maybe, invite Helen as our action-learning coach.) A good place to start would be reading and commenting on the Intro chapter of Scharmer's forthcoming book, Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges. The Social Technology of Presencing," which you can download from his website.
Breathing awareness into and through one's own entire physical and subtle body/mind/emotion/energy field. And through that openness, the “other” can be sensed or felt, especially if that “other” is also open. Then there is a feeling of what it is like to be that person. How it feels to be and walk in the world as that person. Where the physical holding is in the musculature of the other, how that holding shifts the skeletal structure, how the holding stops the breath from circulating to expand, contract and take up space. How all of this holding stops various emotions or freedom of expression and how these various blockages lead to a cluster of psychological processes (including chakra imbalances) and behavioral interactions that interfere with relationships and life effectiveness in general.
In being with someone like this (with their permission), it is then possible to begin reflecting awareness back to help this person see the contractions as well as the amazing qualities of who they are.
Empathic listening at its best is, indeed, a healing practice that is needed in the world, at a larger scale, more than ever. There's a hold of obsolete structures on the social body, obsolete structures of thinking, relating, working and organizing. There's also the liberation from those structures, as we presence our highest potential, individual and collective.
Presencing is calling for more in us than even our deep empathy. When I wlk with the "other," any other, I can't prevent myself from sensing into the amazing flowers unfolding from the buds that he/she is. Holding them in their highest potential and visualizing it, as lovers picture the Beloved's face, we are creating the future, by laying grooves of new potential.
Otto Scharmer calls this "generative listening, or listening from the emerging field of the future. This level of listening requires us to access our open heart and open will—our capacity to connect to the highest future possibility that wants to emerge."
We can start practicing generative listening in any of our relationship but for those of us new to this pratice, it may be easier to start with a close friend or family.
If the other is interested as much in your well-being as you are in hers, then you discover generative dialogue, and with it, what is that which wants to come into being through your relationship. Walk with the world as your lover and enjoy your being and becoming together.
Clearly, there's much more to see into, as we explore the question: what are the skillful means for presencing the future of "we," at increasing scale? Would you be interested in that inquiry? (If there was enough Zaadsters saying yes, we could form an action-learning set and maybe, invite Helen as our action-learning coach.) A good place to start would be reading and commenting on the Intro chapter of Scharmer's forthcoming book, Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges. The Social Technology of Presencing," which you can download from his website.
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Presence was one of the best books I read last year; I had no idea Scharmer was woroking on his own book about Theory U. Thank you for the link; the rest of the articles of his site look as tempting.
But to answer your question … yes, I'd be very interested in that inquiry. I'd be even more interested in the practice, which, to my mind, is what Zaadz is all about. :)
Dear Siona,
> Presence was one of the best books I read last year
If you liked Presence, you will probably enjoy Theory U, too. If you download its two chapters from Scharmer's site, they will probably tell you whether you want to get the whole book. Don't take my word for it because I am by biased by being trained by him and the wisdom and purity of his intention to integrate science, spirituality, and social transformation, which I fully share.
> yes, I'd be very interested in that inquiry.
Excellent! If 4 or 5 more Zaadsters will show up, maybe we can open a pod? What do you think?
> I'd be even more interested in the practice,
Ditto. From where I stand, best inquiry is action inquiry, where practice can serve as both its source and validation context.
> which, to my mind, is what Zaadz is all about. :)
I can clearly see that if I think of presencing as a metaphor. However, it is also a rigorous methodology, or as Otto calls it sometimes, a “social technology of freedom,” and it's that aspect, from which Zaadz could derive some strategic business advantage. In my view, it's not growing as fast as it could, and I would like to see that changing. One of these days, I may talk with Brian about all this, if he is interested…
it is sooo utterly encouring watching the emergence as it is unfolding from the 'between-us' - the 'lebendige wirkend Mitte' (living 'actuating/working/effective' (hard to translate in this context) middle) as Martin Buber calls it.
thank you for sharing, and surely let me know if there is a pod an / or other activity encouriging each other to explore this way further…
The difficulty about being the coach in an action learning set is that you may not jump in and get immersed in the content!! But it is a role I will gladly play if it serves a useful purpose. However, I sense that the quality and complexity of the consciousness of the individuals participating in the inquiry will be such that they are able already to engage in double, if not triple-loop learning without the help of a coach, and that we can all play that role as and when we see the need.
So I'll leap into content straight away and share a practice that I use for developing the openness to presence the other in the way Venita described.
When I became a mother, I realised that if I could look at every person I meet with the same eyes I used to look at my babies, I could become a good person. And so that became my practice and it has been instrumental in the opening up to 'the other' - essentially (ideally) everyone I meet. Whenever I have difficulty in staying open - especially with those 'precious teachers' who get me in contraction - I imagine how they were as children, and from there I can sense directly into their highest potential much more easily than I can in the adult.