Rising to the occasion of these times

[tomatlee]

At the 2002 NCDD conference I was stunned to find that I, who considered myself to have been in "this field" for over a decade, knew only seven people out of the 220 attendees. I met people from many strands of dialogue and deliberation work -- diversity work, conflict resolution, facilitation, deliberative democracy, organizational development, spiritual dialogue, community revitalization, dialogic arts and performance, dialogue-related social sciences, groupware and networking technologies and more. My mind was properly boggled.

I got infected with a possibility virus: These folks -- us -- if we got our act together -- could make it possible for the people of the U.S. (and world) to participate effectively in co-creating a civilization that made sense. And, since many of us are supposed experts in getting acts together, it seemed there might be hope.

I couldn't resist the vision of us all as an emerging movement that could make a gigantic difference. I saw NCDD as an open, friendly space for insights, dreams and projects to wake up, stretch, and get out in the world -- and stay in touch with each other. The NCDD conference was the most intensive opportunity for that awakening and motion.

So I plan to be there this year, learn a lot, share some of the things I know, and stimulate some dialogue about our role in the fate of the earth -- because I believe that role is potentially very profound. In fact, I believe that our civilization will only make it through the next century with the kind of collective intelligence and wisdom that tends to arise in the midst of high quality dialogue and deliberation. It doesn't get more profound than that.
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Tom Atlee, The Co-Intelligence Institute
co-intelligence.org, taoofdemocracy.com
The Tao of Democracy