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Developed by Drs Arnold &
Amy Mindell
For more information
www.aamindell.net
A Whole Systems Approach
Deep democracy is the elder’s multidimensional
metaskill (feeling attitude) towards life which
recognizes the equal importance of : consensus
reality issues and concerns (facts, issues,
problems, people) dreamland figures (roles,
ghosts), and the essence (common ground) that
connects everyone.
Consensus Reality
• Measurable ‘agreed on’ concepts
• Roles and responsibilities,
• Rank and power
Dreaming Level
• Unintentional communication signals
• The ‘ elephant in the room’ ghosts
• Projections, fantasies
• Body language, atmosphere, felt
sense
Essence Level
• Inspiration, passion
• Sense of unity & oneness
• Motivational level
• The Tao, or Earth’s intelligence
Worldwork (WW)is both a small and large group process work method that
uses Deep Democracy to address the issues of groups and
organisations of all kinds. To resolve reality problems and enrich
community experience, WW focusses on finding and employing the
power of an organisation or city’s dreamlike background (e.g.
projections, gossip, roles, and creative fantasy). WW facilitators listen to
the land, do inner work, and practice outer communication skills
involving role consciousness, signal and rank awareness to enrich
organizational life. WW has been successfully applied to the analysis
of, and work with, multicultural, multileveled, Aboriginal communities,
universities, small and large international organizations, city hot spots
and world conflict zones.
Eldership (as a feeling attitude) comes from your
deepest self and its direction. This skill involves
Deep Democracy, plus the sense that the world is
your child - interweaving the sense of the equal
importance of individual viewpoints and the grand
mystery behind it all.
The facilitator can frame a discussion by remarking about the
different levels or dimensions people are speaking about e.g. one
person may speak about consensus reality issues and outer
action while someone else is speaking about feelings (dreamland).
Then, someone else might speak about a common ground
(essence) that unites us. This clash of levels can be the source of
conflict itself! The facilitator can frame things by saying that there
are many levels arising simultaneously; one person is talking
about outer action while another is speaking about her feelings.
Ask which direction to focus on while remembering the other
aspects.
Ghost Roles are a part of dreamland.
They refer to those things that are spoken about but not directly
represented by anyone in a given group. Some typical ghosts are:
ancestors who are spoken about but who are no longer present,
the “bad” person who is not in the room, the environment, etc.
Getting into, representing, and expressing the views and thoughts
of ghost roles can be important keys to the process. And it is
important to know that everyone shares these ghost roles.
The concept of roles belongs to the dreamland aspect of group process.
While each role such as “boss”, “worker”, “patient”, “helper” seems to be
located with a given individual or group, it is actually a “time spirit” that
needs to be filled by many of us. In other words, each role is much
great than any one individual or group. And each of us is bigger than
any one role. In other words, people are not roles. They do, however,
often get stuck in a role. A mature and effective group will enable
people to move fluidly between roles.
An edge refers to a moment when someone speaks but is unable to
complete what she or he is saying due to personal reasons or
because of actual or felt group restrictions. It can be very helpful
to ask the person why it is so difficult to speak and, if
circumstances allow, to help the person go over that edge and
complete what she or he is trying to say. Alternatively, the
facilitator can help the person by imagining and going over that
edge for her or him.
A double signal means that someone is conveying one
message that they are identifying with or intending in a
given moment, while simultaneously expressing something
else that is further from their awareness with their words or
body. For example, I might say that I want to relate to you.
That is my intention. However, at the same time I look down
and do not look at you. This is a double signal. It can be
very helpful to focus on double signals, to give the person
time to investigate what that signal is expressing and to
bring that information into the conversation.
A hot spot is an intense moment in which there is a
strong emotional clash between individuals or the
whole group or when something forbidden or intense
happens that causes everyone to become silent or
frozen. When hot spots are not focused on, they are the
source of future escalations. Therefore, it is helpful to
notice hot spots, to slow down, and go deeper into the
feelings of each side of the conflict. Hot spots can be
the doorway to deepening the process.
In Sitting in the Fire, Arny Mindell, the founder
of Process Oriented Psychology, defines,
rank as ‘the sum of a person’s privileges’. He
goes on to say that it is ‘a conscious or
unconscious, social or personal ability or
power arising from culture, community
support, personal psychology and/or spiritual
power’. Whether you earned or inherited
your rank, it organises much of your
communication behaviour.
Social / global rank
• Comes from race, gender, sexual orientation, class religion, education,
health, age etc.
Spiritual rank
• Is independent of culture, family and the world. Comes from having
‘justice on your side’. Also from a connection with something divine and
transcendent that guides you and keeps you centred even in a storm.
It sometimes frees a person from the worries that plague others.
Psychological rank
* Comes from feeling secure and cared for. Also comes from surviving
suffering and coming out stronger and more compassionate. May
come from awareness, self-knowledge, inner work or self-esteem.
• You determine how available you are to relate. You
determine time, place and duration.
• You determine communication style. Tendency is to
be ‘cooled out’, non-emotional, rational and to expect
others to be the same.
• When relationship issues arise, you think it is the
other’s problem. You can’t understand the other and
see them as crazy, illogical, disturbed or angry.
• Tone is detached, objective, condescending,
patronising.
• Sense of superiority, smugness, self-confidence, high
self-esteem.
Besides all of the various rank signals, which express
our often unconscious experience around rank,
revenge is a common means of interaction around
rank differences.
When we are hurt, feel put down or feel that our
status is threatened, revenge becomes a way for us to
hit back, acquire rank or keep the rank we have.
Revenge can be a conscious or unconscious form of
communication.
Because many of us for one reason or
another find it difficult to fully identify with
the rank, power and privilege that we have
in the world, often it will appear indirectly in
our communication signals e.g. our
superior or shaky tone of voice, in the way
we determine our availability to meet with
others, in our body language, etc.
Most of us are unconscious of our rank at one time or another,
particularly when we have higher rank. It is usually those with less
rank, who make those with higher rank aware of their status.
When we are comfortable, we tend to take our high rank for granted and
lose our awareness of how others might feel around us.
This is the case in all kinds of rank situations, whether it be social, global,
spiritual or psychological. When we have a lot of global or social rank
we are often not aware of the privilege and ease we have in the world
and how others with less global rank don’t share this.
When we have a lot of spiritual rank we might not be aware that when we
speak we are so powerful that even those with global or social rank
feel powerless.
It does not appear that we can simply eliminate the concept
and feeling aspects of rank. However, we can be aware of rank
dynamics and use differences of power and privilege for our
mutual growth and learning.
In interaction, rank is really a fluid process asking for our
awareness. The sense of power flips quite rapidly between
people from moment to moment, as different kinds of powers
are processed and experienced.
This kind of fluid awareness around rank is a freedom that we
all might share: it is a freedom that is beyond the definitions of
rank and centres around growth and relationship.