20th Anniversary of the Wisdom Council
Jim Rough
Hello DF’ers!
Yesterday marked a 20th anniversary …. On the night of May 9, 1993 I experienced an epiphany where I “got it” how all the world’s problems are interrelated, how they are caused by our “System,” and how to fix the System. To me the fix is a "silver bullet” — the fix that solves all problems. You can hear people say all the time … “We’ve got to be creative. But there is no silver bullet.” Wrong! If we are to be creative then of course we’ve got to hold open the prospect of finding that kind of breakthrough. (Sorry for the bullet metaphor but I can’t think of anything better.)
This event changed my life. Before, I was a facilitator and teacher of facilitation helping organizations improve their functioning. Afterwards, I was a passionate advocate of a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to implement the “Wisdom Council,” and a teacher of seminars in “Dynamic Facilitation.”
The first big experiment with the Wisdom Council came ten years later in 2003 in the Rogue Valley of Oregon thanks to Jean Rough, DeAnna Martin, Tom Atlee, Adin Rogovin, Elliot Shuford, Joseph McCormick, and many more who aren’t part of this listserve. Joseph created a 22-minute movie documentary about the experiment, “Democracy in America,” which I’ve been showing ever since.
That experience was a revelation … the Wisdom Council works without an Amendment! It turns out that the “magic sauce” to transform The System and spark a legitimate “We the People” isn’t the U.S. Constitution. It is “choice-creating.” So with this revelation there two big opportunities: (#1) theoretically we (you and I) can use the Wisdom Council to transform the Global System without needing the blessing of those in power. (See “How to save the world … fast and easy.”) Plus (#2) governments and other organizations can use the Wisdom Council to involve mainstream citizens, break up the special interest battling, overcome money-in-politics, and solve difficult public issues.
In the last six years Manfred Hellrigl, Director of the Office of Future Related Issues in Vorarlberg Austria, started encouraging mayors of cities in the state of Vorarlberg to use the Wisdom Council when facing difficult public issues. Many did and the process was so successful that the state government started using it to help elected officials in Parliament overcome their battles. Recently, the governor and all four political parties enacted the Wisdom Council into their Constitution. The change to the Constitution isn’t readily obvious. Ostensibly it just says that the state is dedicated to “participative democracy” as well as to the referenda process, which was already there. But three resolutions explain how “participative democracy” will be pursued: 1) There will be two statewide Wisdom Councils each year on topics chosen by government. The governor chooses one and the parties take turns choosing the other. 2) The citizens can also spark a state-sponsored Wisdom Council by submitting 1000 signatures on any topic. (This could be the silver bullet!) 3) Government will respond officially to points that the Wisdom Councils raise.
So Vorarlberg now has a way for the citizens to determine and frame problems, spark a creative collaborative conversation on the issue, develop thoughtful perspectives that are widely accepted and provide responsible leadership to government on what to do. It’s an experiment in democracy just getting under way that may demonstrate how the people of the U.S. or the people of the world can solve our most pressing issues.
States in Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere in Austria are interested too. (See the recent article in the Vienna News “Vienna could be Bregenz: Is the direct democracy model in Vorarlberg a model for Austria?”) And use of the Wisdom Council process is growing rapidly. It has also been used in conferences, schools, housing projects, and interfaith gatherings. There’s been a regional Wisdom Council among Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria and even a national Wisdom Council on agricultural policy. Helsinki Finland tried their first Wisdom Council a few weeks ago on the topic of street parking and bike lanes. And the city of Manchester England is funding two city-wide Wisdom Councils this year.
The Wisdom Council hasn’t found much traction yet in the United States. Government leaders here are under too much pressure to cut back. For example, in March 2012 the state government of Vorarlberg sponsored a conference in a beautiful mountain setting that was free to anyone in the world working with the Wisdom Council(!). I don’t think governments in the U.S. can make that kind of investment in the future. We don’t have an “Office of Future Related Issues” or a “Department of Life” like they do.
But for the United States ordinary citizens can convene Wisdom Councils. We don’t need to wait for government. A few people can start the ball rolling by inviting a diverse collection of people from the community to participate in the “Dynamic Facilitation and the Wisdom Council” seminar. Those people will “get it” and feel motivated to begin the new public conversation.
Twenty years ago the Wisdom Council came into being, not so much as a new tool for government, but as a strategy by which to transform the underlying System of our society. That dream is still alive thanks to many of you and your efforts.
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Jim Rough
Dynamic Facilitation Associates. | 360-385-7118 | j...@dynamicfacilitation.com | 
Tom Shannon
Hi all and especially to you Jim.
Twenty years of service and the conversation gathers strength in far away places.
Thank you for what you stand for and your generosity in sharing it.
I was sharing today DF and WC at a local permaculture course and how a local biodiversity project was benefiting from your teachings and insights around facilitation.
Thank you all
Tom
New Zealand
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Rosa Zubizarreta
On Sunday, May 12, 2013, Andy Paice wrote:
Hi Jim and fellow DFers from all over the planet!Thanks Jim for sharing this inspiring email celebrating 20 years since your "epiphany."Here in England it feels like we now have a little core team that is working away at getting DF and Wisdom Councils 'out there.' Opportunities to do DFing and to advocate for Wisdom Councils now seem to be popping up everywhere and I really feel the energy and enthusiasm to carry this forward. (Next month it looks like I'll be DFing in Manchester, Totnes and London.)The world is in bad shape but knowing that 'we' solutions aka choice creating exists and that it can be facilitated into existence gives me an immense sense of joy and purpose. I'm now loooking out for opportunities to DF everywhere.On a personal level I've been using the four sheets with the 4 headings (solutions, concerns etc.) to work on my own dificulties when I'm stuck. It makes it so much easier for me to get creative - after a while the answer just appears!Still there is a lot of work that lies ahead. It would be too sad if DF and Wisdom Councils don't get off the ground and actualise the potential they hold. I feel personally responsible in this respect and called to get of my arse and do something!For everyone else who feels similarly - let's make something happen!With love and respect,Andy Paice, London.
P.S Here's a little quote I found from the Peer to Peer philosopher Michel Bauwens that wasn't but could have been written about DF:Imagine a successful meeting of minds: individual ideas are confronted, but also changed in the process, through the free association born of the encounter with other intelligences. Thus eventually a common idea emerges, that has integrated the differences, not subsumed them. The participants do not feel they have made concessions or compromises, but feel that the new common integration is based on their ideas. There has been no minority, which has succumbed to the majority. There has been no "representation," or loss of difference. Such is the true process of peer to peer.
Michel Bauwens from The Next Buddha will be a Collective
On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 6:32 PM, Jim Rough <j...@dynamicfacilitation.com> wrote:
Hello DF’ers!
Yesterday marked a 20th anniversary …. On the night of May 9, 1993 I experienced an epiphany where I “got it” how all the world’s problems are interrelated, how they are caused by our “System,” and how to fix the System. To me the fix is a "silver bullet” — the fix that solves all problems. You can hear people say all the time … “We’ve got to be creative. But there is no silver bullet.” Wrong! If we are to be creative then of course we’ve got to hold open the prospect of finding that kind of breakthrough. (Sorry for the bullet metaphor but I can’t think of anything better.)
This event changed my life. Before, I was a facilitator and teacher of facilitation helping organizations improve their functioning. Afterwards, I was a passionate advocate of a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to implement the “Wisdom Council,” and a teacher of seminars in “Dynamic Facilitation.”
The first big experiment with the Wisdom Council came ten years later in 2003 in the Rogue Valley of Oregon thanks to Jean Rough, DeAnna Martin, Tom Atlee, Adin Rogovin, Elliot Shuford, Joseph McCormick, and many more who aren’t part of this listserve. Joseph created a 22-minute movie documentary about the experiment, “Democracy in America,” which I’ve been showing ever since.
That experience was a revelation … the Wisdom Council works without an Amendment! It turns out that the “magic sauce” to transform The System and spark a legitimate “We the People” isn’t the U.S. Constitution. It is “choice-creating.” So with this revelation there two big opportunities: (#1) theoretically we (you and I) can use the Wisdom Council to transform the Global System without needing the blessing of those in power. (See “How to save the world … fast and easy.”) Plus (#2) governments and other organizations can use the Wisdom Council to involve mainstream citizens, break up the special interest battling, overcome money-in-politics, and solve difficult public issues.
In the last six years Manfred Hellrigl, Director of the Office of Future Related Issues in Vorarlberg Austria, started encouraging mayors of cities in the state of Vorarlberg to use the Wisdom Council when facing difficult public issues. Many did and the process was so successful that the state government started using it to help elected officials in Parliament overcome their battles. Recently, the governor and all four political parties enacted the Wisdom Council into their Constitution. The change to the Constitution isn’t readily obvious. Ostensibly it just says that the state is dedicated to “participative democracy” as well as to the referenda process, which was already there. But three resolutions explain how “participative democracy” will be pursued: 1) There will be two statewide Wisdom Councils each year on topics chosen by government. The governor chooses one and the parties take turns choosing the other. 2) The citizens can also spark a state-sponsored Wisdom Council by submitting 1000 signatures on any topic. (This could be the silver bullet!) 3) Government will respond officially to points that the Wisdom Councils raise.
So Vorarlberg now has a way for the citizens to determine and frame problems, spark a creative collaborative conversation on the issue, develop thoughtful perspectives that are widely accepted and provide responsible leadership to government on what to do. It’s an experiment in democracy just g
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