Dialogue's
Magic:
Arabs
& Jews waking up in small, growing circles
Sunday, 02 October 2011
"Out beyond
ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies
down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language,
even the phrase 'each other' doesn't make any sense."
~ Jalal
al-Din Rumi
Muslim Sufi mystic (1207-1273)
Talk was of an "Arab Spring."
Today there is a larger Middle East and global
awakening in this -- The Citizens' Century.
It is described in the new, surprisingly
visionary July 2011 novel, RISE -- http://www.olivecommunications.net/content.asp?id=100128&langid=1
An emerging people's movement of Jews and Arabs
is insisting on a sustainable future together.
- - - - - - -
January 2011, Israeli Nurete
Brenner defined the primary action of face-to-face engagement as the first,
foundational step -- the entry point -- to social and thus political change.
Brenner is an extraordinary Jewish Israeli hands-on
relationship builder, wife, mother, scholar.
She helps us understand how change begins in small,
intimate, safe circles.
DOWNLOAD her manuscript:
THE
FIELD BEYOND WRONGDOING AND RIGHTDOING:
A
Study of Arab-Jewish Grassroots Dialogue Groups in the United States
By Nurete
L. Brenner
E-mail: Nurete@hotmail.com
http://traubman.igc.org/theses.htm#brenner
THE ABSENCE
OF DIALOGUE
October 2011, the abyss between the Arabs and Jews is described by
activist-academic Brenner.
Unresolved global and Middle East conflicts have one
common quality -- lack of human contact, abysmal communication, and thus
ignorance, fear, and blame.
Even inside Israel, almost no Jews or Palestinians
have ever met the "other" in any depth.
Yet something new is happening.
Peace
is Catching: Dialogue in Your Community
Nurete Brenner, PhD - 02 October 2,
2011
http://nlbrenner.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/peace-is-catching-dialogue-in-your-community/
THE MAGIC
OF DIALOGUE
What happens and how to begin a life of ending
war, creating authentic coexistence, collaboration, sustainable community is
described by Brenner.
Dialogue - when truly practiced is a powerful activity
in which the very nature of consciousness is touched.
When the energy found in this new consciousness is
linked directly to any change agenda, transformations never thought possible
are suddenly evident.
The many Arab-Jewish dialogue groups that have sprung
up throughout the United States are testament to the power of dialogue.
The personal experience of dialogue is often described
using words like profound, mysterious, peak experience.
For a dialogic experience to feel complete, it must be
both an ending and a beginning, it must reframe our past and precipitate a new
opening, a profound connection, a shift.
Many would like to experience this new
consciousness created by dialogue but are unsure how to create it.
The successful Arab-Jewish dialogue groups follow
an arc of progression.
The beginning action is sitting with the enemy and
listening to and telling personal stories.
At this stage, the dialogue group itself is the
action and it is exciting just to be meeting.
The next stage is the development of trust and the
sense of what psychologists would call safety in the group.
The intimacy and ability to share deepens.
Then come perception changes or the shift that occurs
within the group and for each member as an individual.
Finally, the group begins to look outside itself,
taking in the community and involving new people.
Thus there's a natural progression to the activism
stage.
Traditional activism is not the ultimate goal of these
groups, but community outreach -- expanding the circle of relationships -- is
often the natural outgrowth of a successful group.
READ Nurete's
complete instructional document:
The
Magic of a Dialogue Group
Nurete Brenner
June 24, 2011
http://nlbrenner.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/the-magic-of-a-dialogue-group/
In Holy Land Streets
ARABS AND JEWS AT
1,000 ROUND TABLES
FROM TENTS TO CIRCLES:
1,000 Round Tables, 10,000
Israelis Discuss Change and Social Justice
Saturday, 10 September 2011 -
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Tel Aviv - Jaffo, Israel
http://www.facebook.com/1000Tables?sk=app_160430850678443
1000 Table World Cafe Throughout Israel
Saturday, 10 September 2011 -
21:00
1,000 Tables
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Tel Aviv - Jaffo, Israel
10 September 2010
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.269244033093347.72642.121474277870324
In New York
COMMUNICATING WELL,
CLOSING THE DISTANCE
September 2011 in New York, THE DIALOGUE PROJECT -- http://www.thedialogueproject.org
-- continued in its 11th year successfully helping previously-alienated
citizens to finally engage well.
A model for observant citizens in the U.S., Middle
East, and globally, the New Yorkers "are about people listening to
narratives they never heard about each other.
READ and appreciate how authentically and well
they listen, communicate, and become closer.
Meanwhile,
In Yonkers, Israelis, Palestinians Meet
The Jewish Week - New York -
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/meanwhile_yonkers_israelis_palestinians_meet
SEE VIDEO of two exemplars of THE DIALOGUE PROJECT:
Americans
with stakes in Palestine bid
Two New Yorkers
with direct ties to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
CNN -- September 24, 2011 --
3 min video
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/09/24/candiotti-americans-invested-in-bid.cnn
- - - - -
These and hundreds of other success stories are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm