Developing Strategies for Diverse Groups Seeking Authentic Common Ground and Forging Consensus

Understanding And Embracing Diversity: Building Bridges For Consensus

In today’s increasingly interconnected and multicultural world, it is essential to develop strategies that enable diverse groups to find common ground and forge consensus. Understanding and embracing diversity is crucial in this process, as it allows us to appreciate the richness of different perspectives, experiences, and values. To build bridges for consensus, it is important to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard and respected.

This involves actively listening to one another without judgment, valuing diverse opinions, and promoting open dialogue. By fostering a culture of empathy and understanding, we can bridge gaps between individuals from various backgrounds. Additionally, acknowledging the complexity of diversity requires recognizing intersectionality – how different identities intersect within individuals – which can influence their viewpoints. By considering these intersecting identities such as race, gender, sexuality, or socioeconomic status when seeking consensus, we can better understand the unique challenges faced by each group.

Effective Communication Techniques For Bridging Differences

When seeking common ground and consensus among diverse groups, effective communication becomes paramount. To bridge differences and foster understanding, it is crucial to employ specific techniques that promote open dialogue and mutual respect. Firstly, active listening plays a vital role in effective communication. This involves attentively hearing others’ perspectives without interruption or judgment. By truly understanding their viewpoints, individuals can find commonalities and build upon them.

Additionally, employing empathy allows individuals to see beyond their own experiences and understand the emotions and motivations of others. This technique promotes a sense of connection and fosters an environment where diverse perspectives are valued. Furthermore, using inclusive language is essential in bridging differences. By avoiding exclusive terminology or assumptions, individuals can create an atmosphere of inclusivity that encourages everyone’s participation.

Lastly, practicing patience and staying open-minded are key to successfully navigating disagreements.

Finding Common Ground: Collaborative Strategies For Consensus Building

In a world marked by diversity, finding common ground among individuals or groups with varying perspectives can be challenging. However, employing collaborative strategies can help forge consensus and create a shared understanding. One effective approach is active listening. By truly hearing and understanding others’ viewpoints, we can identify areas of agreement and build upon them. Additionally, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and respected is crucial.

Encouraging open dialogue allows for the exchange of ideas and promotes mutual understanding. Furthermore, employing compromise as a strategy can help bridge gaps between differing opinions. By seeking middle-ground solutions that incorporate elements from all sides, we can move towards consensus without sacrificing individual values. Finally, building trust through transparency and accountability is vital in creating an atmosphere conducive to consensus building.

 References

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One thing is certain. When it comes to protecting our children, there are no easy answers. Sure, we could do a better job of flagging those that are correctly or incorrectly perceived as a danger to themselves and others. Although the powers that be would likely do so with the kind of coercive labeling that may outcast them for life. We could arm our teachers and administrators. That is until such time as one of them, holding a gun, is shot by a uniformed and adrenaline charged police force bursting into a chaotic active shooter situation. Then, of course, there’s always the solution of making it more difficult to obtain guns, as if someone blocked from buying one won’t be able to 3D print one.

We could home school our kids. But just how do we do that without depriving them of healthy socialization challenges? And, on that point, just what is a “healthy” socialization challenge? Our schools clearly have other problems. There are the mean kids whose chief delight is bullying the most awkward, socially challenged, or vulnerable of their peers. There are teachers that are fond of saying “There is no such thing as a stupid question.” Then, a small percentage of these very same teachers give condescending answers in ways that embarrass or shame a student before their classmates.

There are parents, so marginalized through a lack of education, a loss of legal standing, or some other impediment to participation, that they fail their kids in ways not thoroughly understood. There is a counterfeit wisdom that pervades the judiciaries, the legislatures, and the executive mansions. It is one that angers our youth while also offending the finely tuned hypocrisy detector that is an integral part of the critical thinking skillset essential to the process of education. We have taught our children well. And we can be assured that, when they call BS, it is because the Emperor has no clothes and that the prostituting politician is a BS artist first and foremost.

By contrast, statesmanship demands that the problem solver is precisely focused on mitigating the causes and not just the effects. Joseph Malin’s 1895 poem, The Ambulance Down in the Valley, underscores the kind of shortsightedness that costs lives. There’s no shortage of politicians advocating for the inclusion of anyone, who suffers from any form of mental disharmony, in a database that is designed to operate at the core of, what is in essence, a sophisticated shunning system. These same politicians have not come to grips with the fact that their efforts to gut every promising health care initiative, one that might even chance to include comprehensive mental health services, weakens the fence at the top of the cliff.

During the dark ages human knowledge and most of its derivatives were largely under the control of other retardant forces, at that time operating in the name of an institutionalized church. During the enlightenment, a great humanity began to view the fresh flow of information as trifurcated. Facts, meanings, and values as they are effectively streamed through the complementary intellectual disciplines of science, philosophy, and religion are surprisingly synergistic. It became readily apparent, the technique of isolating one’s self from the totality of objective reality is a dead end.

The Humanist Societies of England, as well as Humanist Manifestos One and Two, defined their value proposition as “Religious Humanism.” The secularization hypothesis denies this provable fact and thereby places its own value proposition on a plane of unreality. It resides at the heart of chaos. The faulty belief, that as societies progress through modernization and rationalization, faith loses its authority in all aspects of social life and governance, relies on revisionist history and a definition of religion that betrays the reality of its etymology as well as the great majority of contemporary use cases.

The term religion stems from the Latin religiō, meaning conscientiousness. Regina Westcott-Wieman, in her 1935 book Normative Psychology of Religion, wrote “The characteristics of religious behavior find their differentia in the basic definition of religion: Religion is devotion to what one holds to be supremely worthful not only for himself but for all human living. As has been pointed out, the two elements which persist and stand out strongly are devotion and supreme value. Where religion is genuine, we shall find these two elements in the functioning relationship between the devotee and his operative situation.”

As the term is used today one can be religious about auditing their bank statement, washing their car, and clipping their toenails. To the secularist and the materialist, religion refers almost exclusively to a stained glass faith. Although, it is only the religion of final value that asks the question “Is there a God? And, if so, what is my relationship with this God?” Whether or not one embraces a religion of final value, religion is the domain of values and the substance of goodness. The religionist advocates something.

The intellectual disciplines feature a triune relationship that is indissolubly linked. This intellectual triad has been knocked off balance, in the minds of some, through the attempted transformation of our society away from close identification and affiliation with religious values. True religion is always personal and always positive. Materialistic counselors that fail to recognize this fact are self-limiting to the point where they can offer very little of value or be, for that matter, truly effective.

The remedies we often depend upon are not only half baked, they are half baked without leavening. They fail to differentiate between gravity laden physical realities and the uplifting value of spiritual realities.   The brain is an electrochemical mechanism. The mind is en-circuited on a higher level. It is a spiritual endowment that precisely interfaces with a healthy material brain. Whether one’s concept of spirituality refers to the collective consciousness of a great humanity, or it places its faith in an approachable God, the Latin term spīritus, refers to an activating and breath imparting force.

When spiritual growth is stunted, maladjustment occurs. Emotional cascades are often the result of rumination which focuses attention upon the symptoms of one’s distress. This may be accompanied by a fixation on the possible causes and consequences, as opposed to the search for a solution. Often one becomes self-loathing or directs their hatred towards others. At this juncture certain cognitive distortions may also come into play such as dwelling on the negatives and disqualifying anything positive. A de-facto preference for faulty perception could result with what psychometrician Renée Grinnell described as leading to systematized delusions constructed to protect the coherence of a single central delusion.

A unified personality is dominated by love and that promotes a fermentation of those things that serve to nourish the soul. A loving person tends to cultivate an appreciation for the enduring value of individual advancement in one’s self as well as one’s friends. The qualities of a spiritual person include loving service, enthusiastic appreciation, enduring peace, forgiving tolerance, sincere fairness, unfailing goodness, courageous loyalty, merciful ministry, unselfish devotion, undying hope, confiding trust, and enlightened honesty.

Just why do you suppose such a predictable array of positive qualities presents whenever spiritual growth occurs? Could it be that such a maturing individual is exhibiting an affinity for the same golden rule that is embraced by each of the world’s major religions? How would you like to be treated? True wisdom is not dependent upon a stagnant collection of negative injunctions. It is rather, continually refreshed through experiential growth complemented by a series of positive admonitions.

Health, mental health, is always dependent upon continual growth. Such growth may occur independent of intellectual understanding, philosophic acumen, social level, cultural status, or other acquirements. But it must be conversant with reality. Accordingly, growing individuals inevitably seek to align themselves with their highest and best understanding of reality. Such trueing only takes place in light of actual conditions. For only then can an individual become the arbiter of their own destiny and become effective in improving those conditions.

When politicians are focused upon funding their next campaign, they turn their attention to special interests while catering to their every indulgence. A self-serving, money grubbing politician exemplifies all that is wrong within a seriously diseased system of governance. As with any cancer, such interstitial malignancies must be excised if altruistic service, in the form of true statesmanship, is ever to take hold.

As we examine causes and effects, it becomes abundantly clear that there is no positive change in the absence of that spiritual idealism that serves to advance an individual or group from one level of attainment to the next. At the heart of true statesmanship is a fervent desire to serve a greater good. The true leader must be service motivated. The statesman is occupied exclusively with the highest and best interests of a broad constituency. By this means, he or she becomes a remedy for a variety of concerns, an emissary of social uplift, and a leavening that serves to inspire the next generation of leaders.

— by Robert H. Kalk
© 2018 Used by Permission

“Gazing past the planets, looking for total view.”  With this lyric from the popular sixties album To Our Children’s Children’s Children, a Moody Blues tribute band opens a unique celebration of creation spirituality with the Jubilee Community on Wall Street in downtown Asheville. It was earlier this year, on a warm night in late May, that Jubilee hosted the debut performance of The Lost Chord. And the band would sing on. “Wonders of a lifetime, right there before your eyes.”

Mike Parvin attended the Friday night gathering and said “At the end of the concert I found myself standing, applauding and cheering this band.” I then realized that I was also standing, applauding and cheering the sounds and songs of the Moody Blues. This is what a tribute band is for – celebration! Were they good? Yes. Did they succeed? Yes…YES!”

The group performs in and around Asheville carrying a message that resonates with the Jubilants as well as anyone else looking for a brand of spirituality that is a bit more cosmic in scope. To contact the band visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thelostchordmoodybluestribute/

While a Sunday morning celebration within Jubilee’s diverse community draws liberally from the Judeo-Christian scriptures for inspiration, participants might also enjoy insights from the Beatles or Dylan. At times the congregation is held, enraptured, by the sound of a Buddhist bowl. At other times they will engage with a highly versatile house band that offers a little something of everything, from Bach to Zulu. For any newcomer, it quickly becomes apparent the Jubilants are a wildly independent lot. But, when it’s time for celebration they are all in, just as they were admonished to be as the Moody Blues and the Lost Chord sang “Baby there’s no price upon your head, sing it, shout it!”

“Eighty percent of what we do is music” according to Howard Hanger. It was this same Reverend Hanger who, in May of 1984, commenced a gathering of creative people to develop an artistic interpretation of eight “Seeds of Celebration.” The group shared stories, songs, dance, poetry, paintings, and other expressions in a highly interactive, participatory way. From these humble beginnings the Jubilee Community was born.

From the time of its inception, Jubilee has enjoyed the support of area Baptist, Buddhist, Jewish, Methodist, Episcopal, Unitarian-Universalist, and United Church of Christ congregations. It has borrowed from these traditions together with Sufi, Native American and others while fostering a “Creation Spirituality” that honors all of creation as a “Holy Gift.” Among the many affirming messages displayed within Jubilee’s Earth friendly building is the statement that “Diversity of faith enriches our community.”

During the thirteenth century Thomas Aquinas wrote “We can and do relate to the universe as a whole since we are a microcosm of that macrocosm and this relationship “intoxicates” us.” Jubilant’s clearly believe that Aquinas was on to something. While this way of thinking is, perhaps, as old as humanity, it may have been best articulated in text that a scribe in ancient Egypt produced as a legacy for his son. The Instruction of Amenemope dates back to the the Ramesside Period, during which the tribes of Israel first became a unified nation. For anyone who tends to view our universe of universes in a creation spirituality context, there is one line from this text that sort of jumps out at you:

“For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.”

Pastor Hanger describes a personal awakening of sorts in this way: “I studied under Margaret Mead. She was an anthropologist.” He goes on to say: “One of the things that turned my head around when I was twenty years old was when she said “Go to any archeological site, anyplace in the world, and one of the first things you will find are sacred artifacts. We’ve always sought to connect with that which we do not understand.”” At that point Hanger recalls that he thought to himself “Yes, yes! That’s it, that’s it, that’s it! Were yearning for that.”

“So that’s really what we try to do at Jubilee We don’t try to give anybody any answers. But, we try to open them up to ask better questions about their life, about life on this planet.” Hanger goes on to say “Music is . . . We all know it’s a social lubricant. But I say it’s a spiritual lubricant too. It gets you out of your set kind of ways of thinking and being. It opens the door to other possibilities.”

“The whole western church is built on music.” Hanger said. “The only reason we have Bach is because he was hired by a church and he had to write all these things. And so, music is crucial, absolutely crucial in Jubilee. Many people are attracted to Jubilee because of the the music. It offers such variety.”

At one point in our interview, Pastor Hanger described the way he came into possession of a Buddhist bowl saying “A guy at Jubilee had a store, called Far Away Place. He told me “I want to give you a Buddhist bowl, but you’ve got to come in and let it pick you.” So I go to his store and he says “Now shut your eyes and I’m going to start playing them and you’ll know when it’s your bowl. You’ll just know that.” So I’m thinking, ok, I can play this game. I close my eyes and he plays fifteen or twenty of them and I’m like, this is not working. I’m getting kind of embarrassed, you know, for him. And he tells me “Just keep on, your bowl may not even be here.”

Hanger continues: “So he gets one, gets one, gets one and then, all of a sudden I said “That’s it!” Well, I don’t know. It sounded like all the other bowls, but there was something about it, the overtones that just, whew! And so, maybe the tone of that just spoke to me, cut through the crowd. That’s the bowl we use on Sunday. I don’t know if it speaks to the other people there, but it gets me there.” He said.

Pastor Hanger is in awe of the musical talent at Jubilee “We have wonderful drummers.” He said. “And there’s something about that drum. I’m a big student of ritual and, as far as we know, our first human ritual was done with drum and dance. That was our first connection to the Spirit world.” Jubilee’s schedule of celebrations is available on their website at www.JubileeCommunity.org and they will host an International Conference on Creation Spirituality in April.

Elsewhere and else-when, on a porch in Pensacola, North Carolina, David Green would play guitar and, along with neighbors and friends, sing “ol’ timey” Gospel hymns. Over the next ten years, the neighborhood gathering grew larger and the sing-a-long became a full-fledged community event in greater Burnsville. When David became the pastor of Grace Methodist in the shadow of Newfound Mountain, he brought his guitar, considerable talent, and a variety of lessons learned to a nearby community center in that rural valley.

Pastor Green told us that one of those lessons learned underscores the value of holding these hymn sings in a neutral place. “The community center allows us to attract people who may not be inclined to cross denominational lines or others who may be reluctant to even enter a church.” He said.

According to those who regularly participate in the Friday evening events that also feature a potluck dinner, the number of area churches represented has now topped out at seventeen while it usually hovers at twelve to fifteen.

Charles Ballew and Sam Smathers joined David in leading the songs a little over a year ago according to the pastor. Charles plays a standup washtub bass of his own making. To change pitch he pulls a crank originally used to draw the shades in a chicken coop. His other hand is free to pluck the single string, that looks a lot like a clothesline, as the old metal washtub resonates, shapes, and amplifies the sound.

Sam plays the lead guitar parts while David plays mostly rhythm as he sings. Pastor Green says that Sam has a real talent for covering most of the pastor’s mistakes while weaving them into something beautiful. “You couldn’t ask for a better complement.” David says.

Judy McGargle regularly attends these first Friday of every month sessions. She says she enjoys the banter and the opportunity to sing the hymns she knew as a child and highlighted the interactive nature of the sessions saying “ I love how everyone participates.” Patty Reichstad agreed with that sentiment saying “These are the songs that we grew up with.” She continued “ I grew up in the Catholic Church where we would only sing the first and third verse. Here we sing all of them.” Speaking of those who join from all the different area churches she said “I was impressed by how good they sound together, it’s as if they practiced together.”

Francie Green, David’s wife, added this observation: “ Even though they come from fifteen different churches, they already know most of the songs. The song leader loves old hymns and just has this library in his head of beautiful old hymns, so . . .” When asked about how this event became so successful, she said that “David knew some people from church and the welcome table lunches in Leicester. We had a banner and we put up some flyers. People just started coming.”

Francie continued “We have a great variety of people that come and just worship the Lord. Where else can you go, on a Friday night, and sing praises to God. It just warms your heart. Doug May joined the conversation saying “The people in this little valley are just as friendly and welcoming as can be.” Doug has been participating in these events since they first started. The event is held at 7:00 PM on the first Friday of every month at The Newfound Community Center.

In a world of competing ideas we are each searching for answers. And, there is no shortage of people with good ideas they hope will go viral, folks who sincerely believe their idea is the one whose time has come. Even so, in and around Asheville there are many highly diversified groups like these, composed of people thoroughly jazzed by diversity and what now appears to be a new unification of contrasts, people who seem to value spiritual unity over any form of theological uniformity.

They have brought a powerful contagion into our midst. It is through this enthusiasm (en-theos), that they are truly united as they strive to be ever more responsive to the Divine leading that brings us together. Some will hum along as they find resonance in the cosmos and each other. Some will sway as they share the sound of singing bowls or a washtub bass. Still others will raise their voices heavenward in a full throated expression of gratitude. When all is said and done, it is the common quest of searchers that make us a house undivided for, and far beyond, itself. “I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

In this Cosmic Citizen webcast, hosts Paula, Andre, Christilyn, Derek and their callers explore the truth about The Spirit of Truth.

Part One

Part Two

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An audiovisionary portrayal of the cycle of reality by Troy R. Bishop.

What is the Urantia Book? Why have you never heard of it before? Find out from real students of this life changing book, and hear how its teachings are changing the world we know.

Courage, Character, and Loyalty — Little League Baseball’s Motto, 1939

Peace,
Jim

          PROMINENT

          BOLD

Synonyms: adventurous, audacious, dauntless, forward, high-spirited, stouthearted, valiant

Symbol: youth

Consider the Source

Read between the lines.
Talk slowly but think quickly.
Don’t believe all that you hear.
Silence is sometimes the best answer.
Never interrupt when you are being flattered.

Peace,
Jim

          FOCUSED

Compatible Qualities: determined, motivated

Parental Qualities: disciplined, joyful

Familial Qualities: attentive, thorough

Quote:
Positive Living Skills, Joy and Focus for Everyone

          LISTENER

Comment: A good listener understands not only the words but also the meaning and intent of the speaker. A good listener hears with thoughtful attentiveness because the other person is worthy of respect. A good listener will also try to remember what was said hoping to incorporate the best of it in their own realm of reason.
Consider the Source

This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Author

Peace,
Jim

          TRUE-BLUE

          INNER-DIRECTED

Definition: guided in thought and action primarily by one’s own scale of values as opposed to external norms

Parental Quality: faith

Comment:
     When focusing on the inner realm, you will discover subconscious, conscious, and superconscious. You will know the superconscious by its feel. This is the area from which your higher impulses and a sense of right action emanate. This is what to heed.
Consider the Source

He looked at all his choices and said, What would a good person do, and then did it. But he has now learned something very important about human nature. If you spend your whole life pretending to be good, then you are indistinguishable from a good person. — Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card (1951-)

Extroverted, in this context, would imply a love of others, a willingness to serve, and a kind-hearted outlook. These actions may, and should, result in a recognition of and an appreciation by others of a Distinguished personality.

Peace,
Jim

          EXTROVERTED

Balancing Qualities: courteous, sensitive

          DISTINGUISHED

Consider the Source