on dialogue

so today i worked with a group of colleagues on dialogue - from David Bohm's marvelous book.
Principles of "Bohm Dialogue" are:
1. The group agrees that no group-level decisions will be made in the conversation. "...In the dialogue group we are not going to decide what to do about anything. This is crucial. Otherwise we are not free. We must have an empty space where we are not obliged to anything, nor to come to any conclusions, nor to say anything or not say anything. It's open and free" (Bohm, "On Dialogue", p.18-19.)"
2. Each individual agrees to suspend judgement in the conversation. (Specifically, if the individual hears an idea he doesn't like, he does not attack that idea.) "...people in any group will bring to it assumptions, and as the group continues meeting, those assumptions will come up. What is called for is to suspend those assumptions, so that you neither carry them out nor suppress them. You don't believe them, nor do you disbelieve them; you don't judge them as good or bad...(Bohm, "On Dialogue", p. 22.)"
3. As these individuals "suspend judgement" they also simultaneously are as honest and transparent as possible. (Specifically, if the individual has a "good idea" that he might otherwise hold back from the group because it is too controversial, he will share that idea in this conversation.)
4. Individuals in the conversation try to build on other individuals' ideas in the conversation. (The group often comes up with ideas that are far beyond what any of the individuals thought possible before the conversation began.)

A few observations from our discussions - literal thought and participatory thought -
'consider the organisation of any sort of contemporary bureaucracy or hierarchy. In such an organisation, people are treated as objects. They have to do this and this and this and be related in that way. Literal thought knowls the person by his function, whatever you call him, a worker, a banker, this or that. That sets up the social hierarchy - people are isolated from each other and the participation is very limited.' (p107)
Move however to participatory thought and our connection steps up a gear as we begin to combine on ideas and interests and we begin to hear each other and see through someone else's eyes the issues they are trying to convey. The further we engage in this particpatory thought the more the possibility for understanding emergent issues - we move away from merely sharing information, and functioning in a safe zone of transfer of information, and we move into new ways of seeing together.
I will come back to it later!