Process Over Product

My grandmother just sent me a heartening article from the Orlando Sentinel that demonstrates that process is becoming as important in U. S. culture as product, perhaps at a mainstream level. The article was about recent college graduates who are deciding to have adventures before entering "the real world." She sent it to me because this is what I have been doing for so long that this is real life to me--I don't have to put it in quotes! The article did operate under the assumption that these young adults would go into the mainstream job market one day, but I suspect that many of them won't. I know from personal experience, that once they get a taste of freedom, it will be difficult to put themselves back in the cage. Not to make anyone who participates in what is called the real world by cultural consensus here in the U.S., meaning the 9 to 5, forty hours a work week, feel bad about what they are doing. I know many people are happy doing this and find fulfillment in their jobs, while also being of use to society. But not everyone is the same, and when your culture tells you you have to be a certain way in order to view yourself as successful, it can be very difficult to follow a different path. Human beings are as diverse as Kinsey's gall wasps--none of us are the same--"the real world" as we know it just doesn't have a place for all our diversity. I find it encouraging that a mainstream newspaper is acknowledging this "taking a year off" as a trend, because this means more and more people are following their dreams, that wild and woolly realm where anything can happen, and always does. The more we experience, the more we grow.

The valueing of process over product is something I learned from working in groups at Earth Activist Training. We were given projects in which we were to re-design sites at the Black Mountain preserve according to permaculture principles. When my group first walked around our site we were pretty overwhelmed. We had only a few days to come up with a design that would be publically presented to the other groups, our esteemed teachers, and the Black Mountain staff. The pressure was on, and over the few days that we worked on these projects, much moaning and bewailing was heard from the groups, much of it from having to work in consensus. In consensus, each member has a voice in the decision of the group as a whole. It is not that the group has to agree with everything, which I thought consensus meant before EAT. A person can block a decision only if she or he has a strong ethical reason for doing so, and should voice her or his concerns early on in the process, instead of waiting until the end, so that the group has the opportunity to come up with alternatives ways to solve that person's issue. If it sounds easy, it is not. There is actually a well-developed protocol to follow when working in consensus that can definitely smooth out the kinks in the process if the facilitator can get everyone to follow it. The facilitator is the person who runs the meeting. It is her or his role to make sure that everyone who wants to be heard gets a chance, in due process, and to bring out the voices who may perhaps be more quiet in the group, also to help figure out how to use the talents of a person who is throwing wrenches in the process, to the best advantage of the group. Here's a list I wrote down at EAT of things a good facilitator should do:
1. show respect for each person in the group
2. experience-reflection-insight (it is the facilitators role to move the group through this process)
3. creating dialogue (facilitator stays neutral)
4. Engage the whole person
5. Recognize injustice and deal with it
6. Bring out the creativity and joy of the group.

Why do we want consensus decision making to be part of the world we want to live in? Hierarchical decision making is much more effective. The problem with hierarchical decision making for me, is that it doesn't allow for the growth of the soul. It is great for getting things done, but I don't think the soul starts to grow until we engage in all the emotions that come up as we work with people to get something done. Some people may not care about the soul's growth. They just want to get that garden design done and move on to the next project. Working in consensus will make you angry. It will make you happy. It might make you cry, but I guarantee you will be more fulfilled by it than if you just did the job and walked on to the next one. That's what happened to me at Earth Activist Training. Sure, I thought my group came up with a great design that I was proud to present to the community, but I was more proud of the things I realized about myself by listening and observing others in the group, even when the things I learned were faults. For the first time ever in a work situation, I was able to let go of worrying about what we were creating, and just enjoy the process. That's called living life to the fullest.

Finally, I just want to comment on something that has been on my mind this week. I saw Michael Jackson, who as most know is being tried for child abuse right now, on TV tonight. He looked like he was being consumed from the inside out. I felt sorry for him, although I imagine many Americans think he is sick and should be punished, even though he has not been declared guilty yet in a court of law. Michael is a sensitive, beautiful person who is absorbing all our shadow energy. This realization was made in conjunction with a conversation I head earlier in the week with a friend about our local "bogey man" here on Block Island. The Times had just run an article annoucing that he had been let out of jail, and that part of his parole was that he could no longer come to Block Island. I'll admit, this man scares me, but I think the level of invective directed at him doesn't take into the consideration that he is a scapegoat for aspects of our society that we don't want to deal with. I am taking a Jungian perspective here--viewing individual traits in people as part of our collective soul. If we revile those who act out these shadow traits, we only feed the shadow, giving it more strength to consume us. Criminals are scapegoats. People who are taking in that shadow energy and bringing it out into the light of day. I am asking you to reach through your fear and have compassion for them. By doing so, you show compassion for yourself. I'm not saying that people who violate the law shouldnt' be brought to justice. I am saying that we should reconsider our motives in agreeing to the laws themselves. This is not something that I see changing quickly, although it could if we let go of the illusion of separateness and perceived ourselves as whole, first on an individual level, then on a societal, spiralling outward to the planetary level, then the galactic, and who knows beyond that. To be honest, I think this is going to happen on a mass level very soon. If you open your hearts through compassion now then you will be ready to make this transition into whatever dimension this experience of unity brings us.