Bohmian Dialogue
I had the immense privilege to meet the eminent physicist, David Bohm, several times when a mature student at Brockwood Park School in Hampshire. Named by Einstein as one of his two intellectual heirs, (the other was Richard Feynman) Bohm's life-story is too strange for fiction. Some of his story is told in the film Infinite Potential
Apart from his contribution to quantum physics, Bohmian Dialogue was perhaps his most valuable legacy. This is a way of meeting with others regularly over time to drill down into the system of thought which is at the root of conflict, within ourselves and writ large in the world.
In my work I use dialogue in the same way that Bohm used the term - as a flow of meaning. Liberating this flow of meaning in groups is what I see as the aim of a facilitator. A flow so strong that all attempts to capture it with thought and come to some handy conclusion are thwarted. This is also the aim of Bohmian Dialogue. To bring awareness to the pernicious dynamic of selfing and 'thing'ing. Which when brought into the the light, what Bohm called proprioception, has nowhere to hide.
Bohm's proposal on dialogue and his hope for it as a way of helping humanity become more human, can be read here
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
In August and September 2020 I had the pleasure of working with an amazing team of people from every continent to create a new training programme in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Critical Engagement CIC, an organisation created mostly by alumni of the United World Colleges commissioned me to write the handbook for facilitators of the programme.
Reviewing the material for the course, written by leading activists and thinkers in DEI, was so enlightening I signed up to the team that delivered the DEI workshops with Faculty and Students at UWC Changshu in China.
I look forward to continuing to work with Critical Engagement and do my small part in confronting the biases that help justify, maintain and embolden the pernicious, endemic and unnecessary inequality in our societies.