improving how they understand and respond to the world. “When individuals understand the
power of offering their story and are open to the worldview stories of others, they no longer focus attention on differences and limitations,” says Petersen. “They realize that everyone has their own truth. “WE’s transformative learning experiences draw from the heart and soul of individuals, rather than stuffi ng heads with ideas and perspectives, which serves them well as they embody and apply these tools and practices in their daily lives.”
She cites a particularly powerful moment for a group of young people she worked with. “A student was killed in a drive-by shooting two weeks before their certifi cation. The transformative moment came when they said that their new awareness and capacity for compassion and understanding would not allow them to seek revenge. Instead, they chose to save lives in their communities using their new skills.”
World Café Like OST, the World Café, co-created by Brown and David Isaacs, of Burnsville, North Carolina, creates a transformative learning environment for individuals of all ages. Its primary principles are: set the context, create hospitable space, explore questions that matter, encourage everyone’s contributions, connect diverse perspectives, listen together for patterns and insights and share collective discoveries. Webs of conversation created around actual or occasionally virtual tables resemble those found in coffeehouses. “Conversation is a core meaning- making process, and people get to experience how the collective intelligence of a small or large group can become apparent,” says Brown. After several rounds of conversation on one or more topics, participants offer their harvest of key insights, learning and opportunities for action with the full group gathered to refl ect together on their discoveries.
“World Café provides an
environment in which you are comfortably drawn forward by the questions you are asking together. When enough diversity is present, varied perspectives are offered and people feel listened to and free to make their contribution,” observes Brown. What participants learn in this setting creates the climate of conditions that support the kinds of transformations that can changes lives. Brown remarks, “When it happens to me, I feel like my brain cells have been rearranged. I know something in the collective, as well as the individual, has been evoked, so that something never before imagined becomes present and available.” Transformative learning has been compared to a sea journey without landmarks. Adventurous individuals that are open to traversing its highly engaging processes can emerge as autonomous thinkers, capable of contributing fresh, new ideas that just might transform the world we live in.
Linda Sechrist is a senior staff writer for Natural Awakenings. Visit ItsAllAbout
We.com for the recorded interviews.
24 Central Florida natural awakenings
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