There is never a time when we are not a participant in this world. Our mere presence in any place makes us a participant. So rule number one is “there is no outside.”
In fact I think the very idea that we can somehow be separate from what is going on around is is actually a delusion and it causes great problems. It blinds us to our own influence in a field and it actually hides our own gifts and brilliance and denies them from being used as people find their way.
In most indigenous cultures work with, there is no outside. Elders do not stand apart from the groups they are working with. They insert themselves and hold space from within. They are never shy to share what they know, and their awareness of their presence and its power is a gift to the community.
To me this is as it should be. Indigenous science is about discovering the connections between things, rather than isolating something and trying to understand it free from the externalities that tie it to everything else. I think this is why the kind of leadership we all are discovering is most valuable in indigenous communities: it gives us a way of looking at and thinking about the world that encourages us to dive in, connect and put relationships to use. In this way the path of hosting as we are discovering in the AoH community of practice is very different from standard business practices of facilitation and mediation, where the facilitator stands apart from the group and tries not to influence the outcomes. I personally could never understand how that is even possible, let alone the impulse to withhold useful insights and perspectives from a group that is struggling.
At any rate, all I would encourage you to do is admit that you ARE in the field, that the field is influenced by your being there and that your first job is of course to host yourself well, so that with consciousness, you can play a part in the whole that is beneficial and serves the life that wants to emerge in the field. This is not easy, which is why it is an art. And it is a practice of constant, sharpened awareness.
In Anishnaabemowin, the language of Anishnaabe people, the word is Dinewemaganig means “all my relations” or more precisely “I belong to everything.” That is the first principle. From there, leadership takes on a very different face.
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On my way to Hawai’i, the big island to co-host a gathering called Beyond Sustainability: Creating a Community of Leadership based on a Platform of Reverance. This gathering has been several years in the making, and over the last two years I have been deeply involved in the design of the work, finding myself stopping and starting as we find the best way to bring high powered people together to connect existing work, explore indigenous worldviews and creating some coherent results that may positively affect the values that underlie consumer society.
It is a hugely audacious reach that we are trying for with this gathering. A tipping of time and talent and ways of seeing that is intended to create a series of “start lines” towards new directions. If we are successful in doing anything, the results will be quietly influential over a period of years. We need a long view of time and a humble view of reach and we need to also play the balance of love and power that exists in the world to find the openings that will carry the seed of this work.
It has been a long slog getting to this point and the dynamics and energies of raising funds, navigating difference and balancing aspirations have given us some deep insight into what it takes to talk about values shift let alone engage in it.
Tim Merry,Luana Busby-Neff and I will be holding space all week for this, and I’ll try to blog about our experiences as we go, but I suspect my energy won’t be focused in a harvesting direction all the time. Lots of space to hold at many levels, and in many ways, this is one of the most significant facilitation challenges I have ever undertaken. Glad to be working it with good friends who can collectively hold all that may come up.
I feel Kiluea in my bones now, 30 minutes from departing from Vancouver to fly there. Reverance is kicking up in my soul and I am humbled beyond belief to be in the work.
Bless us and wish us luck.
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Most of the indigensous languages of British Columbia are in danger of disappearing. Generations of residential schools, policies of marginalization and adaptation to English speaking society have rendered most of our communities mute in their own tongue. When I work in most places the only language you ordinarily hear is a prayer from and Elder or a conversation between to elderly speakers.
My friend Dustin Rivers is trying to change that. I’ve written before about how he is using an fun and interactive fluency game called Where Are Your Keys? To get people speaking his language, Skwxwu7mesh snichim, the language of the territory in which I live. Last week he took 16 or so kids from our homelearning support centre and taught them some basic conversational Skwxwu7mesh. In a couple of hours, the kids were identifying theings, responding to commands and directions and learning a little about the names and history of our home place.
Now Dustin is set to host a conference in Vancouver on June 5-6 for indigenous language activists from around BC to come and learn about how to use fluency games to get people using these languages so that they don’t die. Everyone is welcome. If you are interested, register and get thee to the gathering. It’s impressive what Dustin is up to and it’s EASY to learn it.
What if languages were saved and reawakened through fun? What better way to dodge the bullet?
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A beautiful extended reflection on the methodology of study in a coast Salish context from author Lee Maracle:
The object of ‘study” from a Salish perspective is to discover another being in itself and for itself with the purpose of engaging it in future relationship that is mutually beneficial and based on principles of fair exchange. We study from the point of view, that there is something unknown to be discovered, that all life contains something cherished, but hidden from us and that if we observe from as many angles of perception that we can rally, engage one another in exchanging observations, and consider the internal dynamics governing the behavior of the being observed from the perspective of its perfect right to be, we will understand it in relationship with ourselves. We do not believe we can fully understand the being under study, but we can come to see it clearly enough to engage it in relationship.
This process is a collective process, requiring many different sets of eyes, many different points of view. This is because if we examine something from one subjective angle [and all human observation and thought is subjective] then we will only understand an aspect of the being under study and we are very likely to engage in huge errors, leap to absurd conclusions based on subjective assumptions and so forth. We engage one another in this process on the presumption that all points of view are valid, but they must be POINTS OF VIEW, not biases. The points of view are accepted. They are never right or wrong, just different. No argument, attempt to persuade one another is useful here and thus we do not need to compete to see who has the best eyes, the clearest vision. The process of discovery requires different points of view, different sets of images, and different perspectives about the being under examination in order for the collective to be able to discuss it’s possible internal dynamics. We first see how it moves, see how it conducts itself, mark its sense of movement, its sense of time and being, we connect its conduct to its own being and then we connect its movement to its desire, its sense of time to its longevity and its behavior to its condition and its history.”
When we do this, we come to see that the end result is a powerful story, a long lasting relationship and this fosters, beauty, hope, heart and song.
via transCanada.ca / Keynote Speakers and Other Participants.
This is a gorgeous inspiration for the power of collective harvesting.
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My friend Dustin Rivers is an inspiration. He’s an autodidact, an artist, a catalyst in his community. I’ve known him for about six years, since he was a young teenager. He has always had a remarkable presence and a strong voice and a deep commitment to the thriving resiliance of Skwxwu7mesh culture and language. Over the years he has been developing a number of his skills, including hosting skills so that he could lead community development efforts.
He recently hooked up with Evan and Willem from Where Are Your Keys? a language fluency game that builds skills using sign language and simple phrases. It’s a powerful learning game, and Dustin saw immediate applications for the Skwxwu7mesh language and he decided to host Evan and Willem and begin the process of waking up the native and ancient language of the territory in which I live.
Here are some links to posts and videos of Dustin at work with friends and family in his community:
- The Skwxwu7mesh Language Project kicks off.
- The game being played.
- Evan and Willem debriefing and thinking about their experiences with Dustin and the community, episode one and two.
- Dustin’s poster inviting folks to the weekly session.