Meeting Joseph Jaworski in de Rode Hoed

October 10 we came together in de Rode Hoed to meet Joseph Jaworski and to launch the Dutch translation of his new book Source. In Dutch it is called: ‘Oorsprong.’ My book ‘I am back-with love’ is hugely inspired by Joseph and was presented to the Dutch market. It was a special meeting to me. Around 300 participants, wonderful intimate atmosphere, many new contacts for everybody and innovative participation by the audience. Joseph felt deeply touched by the appreciation he got from all of you.

To work with pianist Marc van Roon and tap dancer Marije Nie was an experiment and will be continued. The depth of presence that artists bring to a meeting is remarkable. It was all improvisation and we only rehearsed an hour before the meeting (after we had talked it through extensively at my home the week before). I immediately got tears in my eyes when I watched them playing and connecting together. These people are connected to ‘Source.’ Together.

So what happened? Sietske Klooster prepared a very warm welcome with the Knowmads students. I shared my own story, written in ‘I am back’ for the first time in such an audience. That was new and a bit hard because there was little warming up beforehand. The idea was to set the conditions for a more intimate atmosphere by sharing a personal story beforehand. We got that ‘intimate field.’ Mission accomplished. The audience was invited to have a dialogue in pairs about ‘What journey brings you here,’ and we had a debriefing in popcorn style. Joseph had taken the stage by then and shared with us why he felt urged to write ‘Source,’ and what path he travelled since writing ‘Synchronicity’and ‘Presence.’ Disappointment with the results of a few projects was one of the key drivers for him to write Source. Next to that is his ongoing curiosity what makes change happen. He felt hugely inspired by great scientists the past years and wants to advocate a different worldview. The first version of his book was 650 pages.

Key for him is that in the application of the U process the development of the facilitator and the group is not enough emphasized. Chapter 17: ‘The inner state” is the most important chapter in his book, he shared with me beforehand. I had come to that conclusion myself when reading it (see the post about the book in this blog). Joseph preferred to have a real dialogue on stage instead of giving a long lecture, so we did. It was fun to do, although it gave me some nerves beforehand. We didn’t prepare the questions, they had to arise in the moment. We talked about his Qi Gong practice (every morning, jet lag or tiredness do not interfere), to live a disciplined life, the sometimes mechanical and linear way of applying the U process and that we are often too busy to trust our insights. He shared that he needed 7 years before he dared to let go of his law firm. To live and work from Source needs a lot of courage.

Over the break everybody was asked to come up with a question. Erik (my colleague from UNOO) designed a great process to select the questions that were in the room. Many could be answered already by people’s neighbor, due to synchronicity. The ones that were left were voted on by standing up. We answered questions like: ‘What answers would you like to have had at twenty? How is the relation between ‘Source’ and goal setting? How is Source related to organizational development? How is Source related to a sustainable world?’ and ‘What are we waiting for?’

The publisher of Christofoor handed over the first book ‘Oorsprong’ to Joseph. Then we had another surprise for him: Many people from the audience had send in a letter, pictures or poem in which they shared how the books of Joseph had impacted them. We bundled them in a book and asked Hanaa (medical student who co-organized a summer school last summer) to hand it out. Tears were shed and many in the audience couldn’t keep it dry.

Marc and Marije closed the meeting by letting us sing and dance together. Co-organizers UNOO, Cordes, VanVieren and Iona offered the drinks and bites.

Here you can download the booklet with the contributions of the audience that we with our colleague Jouk van Dam composed : ‘Working and living from Source.’ Book for Joseph

For more info and reactions: https://www.facebook.com/Crossingthetippingpoint

More pictures to be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/73831213@N06/sets/72157631757608144/