Dealing with Group Impacts

We can see the impact of using past solution frameworks when we teach classes in different cycles and see how each class can deepen in ways the previous classes could not. The full manifestation of this technique can only occur when we have a significant group size. Otherwise the morphogenic field created is not rich enough to contain the full discussion. This means that in smaller groups, under 12 individuals, it will take the facilitators more energy and they will have to use more of their own resourcefulness to direct the CNG so that people can take away a complete and fulfilling experience. We also recommend, that in smaller groups, there is more emphasis in inviting people to share their own experiences so that individuals can go directly to the areas in themselves where there are challenges and make the adjustments they need to function more effectively. 

With larger groups, it will take less of the facilitator’s energy to direct the flow of the energy in the CNG. The big issue is where to put energetic attention in the room to facilitate what needs to come out in the process. For example, we might experience various parts of the room lighting up or generating movement, which means that we need to call on the people in that area to bring them into the center of the process. Wherever there is a dead or fixed energetic space is where we need to improve the circulation, which usually is best accomplished by placing our energy in that area and circulating it to the other areas of the room. The maxim is that thought follows energy. The reverse can also be true. Sometimes there are places in the group that are stuck or feel difficult. Our goal is to uplift and this by naming the obstacle that it relates to so these areas can be released from their existing confines. Sometimes there may be individuals breaking down or crying, which is a natural response to the shifts they are experiencing. Our goal is to be inclusive and yet not patronize them in any way. We can be empathetic but not sympathetic, which is a form of judgment.

Ultimately, we want to be able to find and have individuals embody whatever solution they settle upon. This means bringing the process into their bodies before the group discussion ends, and making sure that it is alignment with their own intentions. We accomplish this by having people speak about what they have learned and what they will do moving forward. On the content level we want others to be aware of the options and the investment required for each choice. The most important level is context, where others take responsibility for their own choices so their actions, thoughts and passion can be completely in alignment.
Learning to share our Content is what provides opportunities for leadership in creative projects. We need to be able to conceive how to make a difference on an individual level so that we can invite others to make a difference. We also have to use our innate skills to bring out the best in others by seeing who they are and what they may substantially contribute. When we do this, a greater clarity of purpose emerges and others follow our lead. The more we accept our Creative Nature, the more we can differentiate between the illusion and Creative Promise. We learn to do more with less and to only do what is necessary to bring about the least destructive outcome. Meditation can help develop the intuitive discrimination necessary for surgically precise choices. We need to remove our attention from illusion to affirm what is real. What is left is the best possible set of choices.

The benefit of this process is that unexpected possibilities will emerge that will have a chance of magnetically attracting the best outcomes. Commonplace assumptions and predictions will be overturned in the process. While it is easy to fall into the trap of believing we know the answers, this experience really is an indication of Subjectification. As long as we operate from fixed Beliefs, we are unconsciously sabotaging our own creative future. This is because it limits our Growth and recognition of what is possible. Some people feel comfortable when they have Beliefs because they do not have to exercise their sense of inquiry and on a higher level (their own Creative Nature). Since we are by nature, thinking beings, why not use this ability to bring about the changes we want. Sharing our thinking becomes the real shortcut to co-creative vibrancy and the discovery of mutual Truths. When the time is right, change will emerge and manifest.

The power of Attraction empowers us personally and empowers those around us with our reflected abundance when we act in service to the world. Attraction occurs when we are creatively actualized. The more actualized we are, the more likely we are to see ourselves as stewards of the resources to which we have been entrusted. The key issue is to empower the greater good by determining how to best use the available resources to deepen and enrich what we already have. This process requires Wisdom, Aliveness and Awareness. It also encourages us to take responsibility for the power of our creative thinking by not fixating on thoughts that will not improve matters. We need to learn how to practice right thinking so that our actions mirror our intentions. Otherwise, creative distractions like cursing, anger, malice, irritation, entitlement and fear, empower the weeds in our garden.

The best way to work out thorny problems is to start with acknowledging what you trust and what your vision is. The more we affirm, not only our personal truths, but how these are similar to the other people in the process, the more we can get into alignment where mutual expressions become more useful and powerful. This top-down approach allows us to work from our Motives to our Attractions to our Skills and then allows us to engage whichever of our Personality problems are in the way. It is not useful to talk about Personality Fears and Desires before we talk about the bigger picture of Love, Light and Life energy. Otherwise, our Personality reactions will trigger the Personality reactions of others and we will soon be stalemated and locked in a no way out situation. It is better by far to work from acknowledgements rather than any form of criticism. The small issues do not matter as long as the larger, centralizing issues are attended to. This all comes back to telling the truth about what makes us whole. When we cannot achieve this wholeness, nothing can be solved.

Our Truth-telling needs to be personally integrated before we can effectively represent our Truth to a group. Being present with our Truth means having no Positions or Attachments to a predetermined outcome. When this occurs we can facilitate a larger conversation with others so they can autonomously respond and make conscious choices. This is where Personality Integration (which serves our Creative Nature) is required. Common Neutral Ground is a critical resource for sensing when there are incongruities within our self and others. We need to learn how to resolve our contradictions internally before we deal with the contradictions of others in the group. Intuitive Discrimination is a necessary skill to navigate between where we are and also where others are operating. This Skill teaches us how to acknowledge all possibilities so we do not react and fall into pre-defined judgments. These judgments are just old thought habits, where we falsely assume things have not changed. It is not so much that we need to push others to awaken to our view of the situation, but that we want to support others in examining how they may be blindsided by certain circumstances and old thought patterns. This takes an ability to recognize where we have group alignment and where we do not.

The sixth level of embodying a CNG is where we come to understand the transpersonal nature of Knowing by unifying our Content. In this situation, we discover there is no limit to how we can use Thoughts and Emotions to create new possibilities. We start to experience how powerful our Thoughts and Emotions are and become able to read the Thoughts and Emotions of others. Sometimes this even emerges as a form of Telepathy. For most individuals, it is first experienced as alignment of purpose that allows us to think together and in lock step with each other. The real importance of this process is that it takes us beyond our personal concerns and we become more committed to universal types of discoveries. When we reach this level of Knowing, many people outside of our CNG consider us geniuses. This is because they cannot understand that Thoughts are not linear or sequential, but form-and pattern-based. This means the more we meditate on certain symbols, the more we get in touch with our ability to modify or re-create cosmic principles.

One way to build our sense of connection to the universe is to explore energetic connections with other people over large distances. For example, we can meditate and ground our energy so that we can make ourselves available to higher Thoughts, perhaps of Goodwill, connection or abundance between individuals at a set time. We might be amazed at the degree to which, in a CNG, we can tune in and experience other people’s Thoughts. What we are learning to do is to use the CNG as a space where we can hold our minds steady allowing us to be receptive to any energy we wish. It is also a great way to experience how everyone is interconnected on many levels. In the Alice Bailey work, found at www.lucistrust.org, one of the service projects is called Triangles. This is a great way to be connected to others at a fixed time of day, every day across the globe.

The irony of group interactions is that many individuals attempt to use personal principles to impose their standards on a group. This has unexpected and negative consequences. Until groups become familiar with the defensive distortions of Objectification, Subjectification and Idealization, there is little capacity to make sustained progress. The result is that we have ebbs and flows, forward and backward, in society in terms of cultural development. This results in fears being stimulated by change, desires getting high-jacked by principled advocates and everyone getting lost in Idealization patterns. It is a wonder we agree on anything. The real issue is that without conscious growth and development, this is unlikely to change soon. Everyone has to become more embodied in their own experiential Modalities to grasp differences in perspective in order to accurately understand what they mean.

Solving these problems in a group requires clear communication and an understanding of why certain issues are not being resolved. Without an appreciation of each individual’s Communication Process, we have no way of integrating their contribution. The sequence of our Communication Process reflects our priorities for how we communicate. A Think, Feel, Act individual prioritizes the Content or detail first, then the Context or big picture second, then the Intent or what needs to get done. This is entirely different from a Feel, Act, Think, who first seeks the Context or big picture, then focuses on the Intent (testing different actions) before thinking about the details and reviewing what worked. This means we need to be flexible in harvesting the various ways of knowing so that they can be unified into a more simultaneous expression. What we need to realize is that each individual will be doing their process and exploring their own results before they are able to present it to their partner or a larger group. The only way we avoid this is by having a group with the same Communication Process sequence.

Pregnant Duration releases us from defensive distortions so we can examine what Beauty, Truth and Goodness can manifest in any circumstance. Pregnant Duration is the ability to become so engrossed in a problem or resolution process that we do not realize how much time has lapsed. We can either experience time as expanding when we take a few minutes and feel we have focused on our problem for an hour, or where we focus for three hours, thinking it was only a matter of minutes. The key issue is that we have shifted into an alternate timeframe, where the problem can be addressed outside of its current time limitations. Meaning that the way we think of the problem shifts in significant ways when we are in this process. This way we can access it fully and figure out what we are going to do before we shift back into our normal operating reality.

Resolving conflict requires seeing different ways to bring others into alignment. The more conscious an individual is, the more interested they will be in seeing their self-limiting beliefs. Taking ownership of our issues allows our partners and communities to move forward and make progress. We want to affirm the kinds of alignments we share with our partners and communities so this progress can be enhanced. The way to accomplish this is to hear everyone so we can appropriately place their contributions in relationship to the larger picture. While it is useful not to seek credit for what we do, it is nice to be part of a group that honors its members by recognizing how their differences and similarities make our contributions possible. The best way to make decisions is by allowing everyone to engage a process and understand it to the degree needed to feel aligned with it. This is what we call Process Option Alignment. This is the indication that we are operating on Level 6. Opening up to conscious interactions and group-empowered decision-making can best occur with Common Neutral Ground principles and practices.

Greater sharing is the result of more unified thinking. When we see ourselves in others, it makes us more compassionate and willing to make sure they have what they need. Humanity itself is at a choice point regarding its future. Are we willing to be more inclusive, and find common ground with others, or will we become extinct, arguing over the possession of resources? What we need is a larger context, such as seeing the earth from space, where we acknowledge ourselves as one world. This requires being willing to talk about how we can work together to solve problems, allowing us to learn to work within the world to preserve the balance necessary to sustain us. What we are struggling with is how to come into a natural alignment with each other and the planet. To deny these possibilities is to guarantee our extinction. Cooperative sharing is our way out of this dilemma.

When we are creating a CNG to facilitate group decision-making, we need to use the Spacious Presence that we learned in the previous level to provide room for people to get their own answers. Most importantly, we should not be afraid that those having different answers could derail us. No. What is most likely to happen at this level is that we will come up with blended solutions that will redefine the problem in a new way, allowing everyone to be seen. What we are really dealing with here is that we need to be able to accept the differences and uncomfortable similarities with others and still produce a result. It is also crystal clear that we do not want to have a compromised solution. This means that we have to be Co-Creative and bring out new ways of seeing the process so no one feels that we are just creating a less viable, middle-ground solution.