What happens when you take the tools of dialogue, social artistry, spiral dynamics, presencing, and integral governance, and apply them to civic engagement around the globe? The result is Deep Democracy—an organizing principle based on the transformation of separation to interconnectedness in the civic arena.
What happens when you take the tools of dialogue, social artistry, spiral dynamics, presencing, and integral governance, and apply them to civic engagement around the globe? The result is Deep Democracy—an organizing principle based on the transformation of separation to interconnectedness in the civic arena. At its essence, deep democracy is the inner experience of interconnectedness. Through collective reflection, it leads to collaborative action for sustainable change. I have seen this organizing principle at work among women’s self-help groups in rural India, in an organization of urban squatters in South Africa building their first permanent homes, and among environmentalists and developers planning together a growing U.S. metropolis. I have seen this principle at work in myself.
For the individual, deep democracy is the enfranchisement of self at the level of mind, heart, and spirit: the realization that ‘I count.’ It is the exercise of one’s membership in a larger whole, and the desire to act for the good of the whole. Deep democracy neither privileges the individual nor imposes collective values. It springs from the point of creative tension between individual and community.
In deep democracy, citizenship is conferred by personal engagement. Deep democracy starts with the practice of collective reflection, where one begins to listen to and know the ‘other,’ to see through others’ frames, and to recognize and expand one’s own frame by learning together in community. It moves in a deepening spiral toward collective wisdom, the visioning and presencing of the whole that wants to emerge. Deep democracy the co-creative process of making the invisible visible.
Each of us can become a conscious catalyst of deep democracy. By facilitating collective reflection we become process leaders. We create the container for building trust and shared understanding across difference. We embody the values and attitudes of deep democracy. Through collective reflection we create an intentional path to deep democracy. In each of the situations I referred to—in rural India, a South African squatters’ settlement, and a growing U.S. city—at least one process leader played a crucial role in nurturing the collective reflection that allowed the participants to break through old patterns and connect with others in collaborative action.
So where do we jump in? As process leaders we facilitate collective reflection while we pursue our own inner work that lies at the heart and soul of deep democracy. Let us begin by cultivating just one habit of deep democracy. I propose this one: to smile and listen, to understand the ‘other’ before advocating a position. That alone may be the flap of the butterfly wing that creates the sea change to deep democracy.
Patricia A. Wilson PhD teaches at the University of Texas, Austin.