Open Space awakening at a Venezuelan campus

Love it!! I think that the Venezuelan Society issue is  we just heard what we have to say, we don't listen what the other has to say.
vdebate.

http://icai-members.org/gm-windswaves/ww-2013-august/21-venezuelan-edge-think.htm
Open Space awakening at a Venezuelan campus 
By Teresa Sosa Vegas

An adventure awaits in Venezuela, a place of extensive biodiversity with breath-taking views of lush green mountains, the Orinoco River delta and waterfalls. Caracas sits in a valley surrounded by mountains but close to the emerald Caribbean. 

Southeast of the city centre is the tranquil University Simon Bolivar (USB). You stroll past coconut trees and arrive at the food court where you can review your schedule, discuss classes or interact with students. You sit and drink freshly squeezed guava or mango, or a café espresso called “marroncito”. The place captivates the senses with its colours, aromas and vibrant and fresh environment. For me this is a perfect place to teach.

According to Christopher Columbus and even Venezuelans this is a land of grace. But this is hard to find and appreciate during times of political unrest. I often hear that students are difficult and that political factions create tensions. 

The stress, frustrations and boiling passions make it a challenge to teach. But as I look up, I spy a flock of noisy colourful parakeets flitting among the trees, reminding me to breathe slowly the cool refreshing air. Teaching: First quarter. I come from “the field” – I was brought in because academics know theory but few know how it applies to the world. The concern at USB was that our students, mostly engineers preparing for high-tech professions with some in social sciences and humanities, are good in theory but lack insight and practical competencies, skills, tools and know-how needed in a work environment. 

My studies in the United States gave me first-hand experience of a culture fused with the Protestant work ethic. In France, I observed how rationality, culture - and gourmet eating were valued. In Germany, it was obvious that clarity of thought, organization and depth research were prized along with the spirit of being able to wonder. I explored everything from philosophy, business practices, psychology, culture and social sciences, to Buddhism, mystery schools and ritualistic drumming, and worked with the Institute of Cultural Affairs on several occasions. 

I travelled extensively, meeting great minds and everyday people. I knew training and coaching but formal teaching and tutoring require a different form. Now I had entered a high-tech engineering university caught up in political and social unrest created by an old paradigm mind-set, one that is lineal, mechanistic, reductionist, causal and deterministic. 

How would I transfer my findings from the field to this context and introduce “edge” thinking to political science students? 

How would I help them become more informed, effective and innovative leaders? 

How would I help them deal with the future? 

Venezuela is driven by its past, by a foundational myth rooted in military leader Simon Bolivar’s dream of “la Gran Colombia” (the unity of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela). Historians say Venezuela is stuck in its past. Before it can revision its future, it must deal with the past and present emotionally, politically, socially and collectively. 

My experience taught me change is incremental. So my approach was relational. I made students sit with those whom they either did not like or who were of a different political persuasion. I hoped the need to deal with another human being personally would outweigh the demand of ideologies. I incorporated mindful awareness exercises and related that to examples of an idea put in practice. 

This approach was viewed by some faculty with scepticism. However, the breathing, silence and stillness helped ground the students in a way that made them calm and relaxed. Over time, their body postures changed. They were also more open and trusting towards those they had previously seen as enemies. I had them list on a big sheet of paper the topics each person wanted to talk about, their motivations, and what they wanted to learn. 

They posted these on the walls. Using the “Open Space” technique, I made them sit in circles and present what they had written. One rule - they had to sit next to someone they did not know and talk about it that person and then present it to the whole circle. I brought a warm thermos of café and delicious cakes to share. 

As I looked at their issues, I realized that conflict was a recurrent theme. I proposed a simple ToP exercise for the next class, to assign priorities in the context of the class for the quarter. What was unexpected was that half the students were using concepts from the Marxist school of thought. During the last 16 years, the government has been restructuring society and its institutions towards a so-called “New XXI century socialism” and “Bolivarian state”. 

There were two opposing ideas - democratic-socialist and communist. The level of confusion struck me. I used the “The Art of Focused Conversation” tool and used it to teach sociology. Through these participatory-reflective methods, they were able to process what was going on in their lives, move through crisis, pool their wisdom and create a new understanding. They forgot their differences in class, worked through their contradictions, and the tension of the opposing ideas began to dissipate. Students encountered the humanness of each other and connected with Western philosophical principles as I introduced Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and brought to them a thought-provoking analysis of Karl Marx. 

Bringing myth and metaphor, concepts and theory together was enriching, paving the way for mutual understanding and respect. As I used ICA techniques such as ToP, Focused Conversation, Open Space and Innovative Leadership, theory came alive. By the end of the quarter we were learning, relearning and unlearning together. 

I introduced Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and 4Quadrants to look at the evolution of consciousness and the difference between collective and individual consciousness. This was a fascinating experience for students, one that brought new meaning to their studies, opened new horizons and called forth courage and an openness to the other. 

They began to see the other where before they had seen only themselves. 

To create change, the individual has to gain back its power. Once empowered, she or he can move from a collectivistic society to one that honours individuality, respects the feminine and finds gratification in merit. This is a challenge. Self-esteem and sense of self-worth evolved among students. They began to look at their life purpose by exploring the deeper knowledge they had of themselves. My students no longer need to “buy themselves out” of a conflict, nor repress or deny it. 

They can move towards recognising differences and set an open space for dialogue over opposing views. Venezuela is a collectivist culture that buys conflict in order not to deal with it. By acknowledging this cultural conditioning, the students were able to understand, trust the process and accept the tension of opposing political views. 

My year and a half of teaching post-graduate students in Political Science involved provoking a personal awakening - helping them move from an “external locus of control” (where there is no control over their lives because everything that happens comes from outside) to an “internal locus of control”. It involved helping them find meaning and purpose as conscious individuals in control of their destiny. 

When a professor is inspired by the Socrates quote “Know thyself” and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s ideas about what it means to be human, the student awakens and learning becomes a life experience. 

Teilhard wrote, “Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity…we shall harness the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” 

Unless we find this fire and use it to burn away everything that blocks the changes needed to transform ourselves and society, it will die out slowly without notice. It is time to wake up and be aware in our thoughts and actions. 

Professor Teresa Sosa Vegas, Soc., M.S.W, teaches at the Graduate School of Political Science, University Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela