Gad Circle [2.0]

The Gad Circle [2.0]

The Gad Circle starts with introductions, and the goal of creating belonging, participation, and a safe place for people to express themselves.  As we listen to others express their viewpoints there is a natural enrichment that happens.  The "Ground Rules" for a Gad Circle [1.0] seek to create a context conducive for this to take place.

It is hoped that the discussion group grows to a place where others in the group can be invited to challenge our views and understandings.  Challenging and being challenged in the things we believe can be a very stressful process.  It is not something that I see happening very often around me - especially in a crowd of strangers.  Canadians don't like to disagree.  Disagreement can easily be taken personally - "You don't like me because you don't agree with my opinions."  or "I'm less of a person because I was wrong."

For this reason, a Gad Circle [2.0] needs to be approached with a degree of caution and care.  We need to cradle the deep values we and others hold.  Our deeply held values need a sticker: Handle with Care.  On the other hand, because our human perspective is limited we have much to gain from having an open posture - listening to learn and open to being wrong.

This level of discussion seeks to break open our assumptions.  We can reach a level of maturity that sees that others might be right, and we are able to question and be questioned.

That's the pre-amble.  The new "ground rules" for the Gad Circle [2.0] expands on earlier principles.

Here are David's top 12 [2.0].  

Here are 12 Principles for Gad Circle [2.0] members to follow (some might call them the rules of engagement).  They take the principles of Gad Circle [1.0] and deepen them based on the perspective of Gadamer.

1) Mutual respect involves taking the perspective of others seriously, letting them challenge you.  

2) Equality of person impacts everything we do.  For this reason it is valuable to give people equal opportunity to speak.  This point does not say that all views are equal.  Some views might prove to be deeper, more coherent, or more true.

3) Diversity of person, culture, invites us to work to bridge the gap between perspectives being shared.  At times one must move beyond their assumptions (also called their pre-judgements), and work to understand what a person means from their perspective.  At this level of sharing we also want to move beyond coexisting and collecting various view points - toward interacting, cross-pollinating, enriching and diversifying one another.  There might be instances when the different horizons (the perspectives we share) can experience a fusion - where the truthfulness of another perspective fuses together with our perspective.

4) To be human is to be limited in perspective.  This level of sharing brings us to the limits of our perspective and potentially expands them.  There are several ways our perspective is limited.  We only see a small slice of the world.  We have a small individual, human view of the world around us.  We are also limited by our past experience, upbringing, culture, traditions etc. which creates different expectations, priorities, or warnings regarding the people and ideas we interact with.  As we are aware of our roots, we can get a better understanding of the fruit produced in our life.

5) We listen in order to understand.  Sometimes we will need to restrain or even fight ourselves from jumping to hasty conclusions.  We will need to work to move beyond an initial 'gut' reaction to hear more clearly what is being said.  The goal is to understand well enough to validate what you are hearing (the other person says: "Yes, you understand me completely").  This is the process of looking beyond our pre-judging to what the actual other is actually saying.  This corrects and revises our pre-judging to be better in line with reality.

6) We are open to learn and be wrong.  We accept vulnerability and being questioned by others.  We're open to having our views enlarged.  This is risky.  We might leave the coffee shop with a new perspective!

7) Don't try to win an argument or fight others, but don't shy away from tension, challenge, difficult questions.  "Challenge ideas honestly, but don't treat people as enemies."  This goes along with the need to cradle deep values.  When someone deeply holds a value, faith, or belief - we need to demonstrate extra care and compassion - especially when questioning these things.

8) Make 'I' statements from your perspective.  Share experience without pointing a finger judgmentally.  At the same time, seek to move the conversation from expressing your private views toward contributing to a more shared perspective.

9) Think about how you share something, not just what you share.  Healthy postures demonstrate humility, openness, and compassion.

10) Learn to listen and learn to speak.  Both of these sides of a conversation are essential.  They build a dialogue, discourse, and perhaps synergy or a dialectic

11) You have a valuable perspective and voice (don't underestimate yourself).  Your voice may reveal something that the rest can't see yet.

12) Let the subject matter and shared conversation lead.  Don't be afraid to lose yourself in the back-and-forth play of a shared, evolving conversation.