Officer K

Imagine power and identity inhabiting spiral patterns. When a nameable role inhabits a person (I am a Cop), Officer K becomes fixated in the center of an orbital identity complex. Around her, influenced by shared gravitational fields in related circles, orbit the Activist, the Criminal, the Citizen, the Suspect, the Chief, etc. She is supported by the known and powerful aspects of her role but can also be undermined, manipulated, and drained of energy (burned out) in predictable ways using those same familiar pathways.

Part of training "law enforcement" might then necessarily involve challenging Officer K not to fixate but at least be able to layer her inhabiting of her role, first making roles available that are related by category. She is then also a peace officer, law enforcer, professional partner of other legal officers, beat walker, armed guardian of order, public protector, criminal investigator, first responder and apprehender, crime preventer, traffic regulator, and public records maintener. Beyond this she is a citizen, mother, daughter, etc.

Each of these layers gives her flexibility and options into which she may shift to do her job more effectively and put it aside as much as is possible at the end of the day.

The visual metaphor might be that, staying within the pull of the core power identity (Cop), it is useful to distance one's Self from the Role sufficiently to be able to grab the outer orbit of another related Role and swing into its gravity as necessary for effective use of options, emotional and physical survival, and general flourishing in a world where many ways of being are required for peace to be truly possible.

Digging up The Process Arts

collecting bits in as much chronological order as possible:

In 1997 I founded Beamish Process Arts Consultancy, also using the name "Beamish Corps": suggesting

People need people to function well. Since the demise of the village it has become necessary to purposefully construct community from what is at hand, getting better at it as we go, learning from those who have gone before. Like any other art form, but not limited to the personal experience of the visual or performing arts, this can be learned and taught and refined such that the making of relationships itself is recognized and valued as a next, core, human growth necessity. The core elements to crafting good relationships at the individual, group, and collective level are universally recognizable, accessible, learnable, and developing as we speak. This shift in culture is what I call the development of The Process Arts.

The Council (Board) began formation in 1998 working with and beyond the following words:

PA to denote practices which encourage growth in:
-compassionate awareness of our feelings, fantasies thoughts and any other innner phenomena
-compassionate awareness of the life around us and the state of the world as a whole.
-ability to act effectively in the light of these awarenesses including:
-ability to resolve conflict to the satisfaction of all concerned
-ability to cocreate realities which are of benefit to ourselves and our world

The ability to experience conflict in a way that is not destructive.

PA dojo develop process artists

The shift from either\or to both\and ... and from judgment to curiousity. encourage growth in:
-compassionate awareness of our feelings, fantasies, thoughts
-ability to cocreate realities which are of benefit to ourselves and our world. The ability to experience conflict in a way that is not destructive. The art of asking questions and listening.

The shift from “either/or to both/and” thinking... as well as the shift from judgment to curiosity, both of which encourage growth in the ability to experience conflict in ways that are creative instead of destructive.

A conscious form of an engagement into understanding a present state of being in the world.

Accepting the very deep root into prehistory as a reflection of the need to find a new way to

Process Arts is a conscious form of engagement that nourishes the shift from either/or to both/and __ from judgment to curiosity. It reframes the experience of conflict in ways that are creative not destructive.

Process Arts is a new name for an old practice, which has been been going on forever. It’s a modern expression of the old ways that have deep roots into prehistory.

The Process Arts are comprehensive disciplines that involve the experience of radical inclusivity. Examples include facilitation, mediation, the building of Community, and peacemaking. Especially qualified to be considered Process Arts are those that guide human beings toward the celebration of life and provide a context for the survival and blossoming of culture. Familiar trades and services may appear unexpectedly potent and necessary with the added dimension of being practiced as a Process Art.

The Process Arts are conscious forms of engagement that nourish the systemic shift from “either/or” judgment to “both/and” curiosity. One result is in the reframing of conflict in ways that are creative. Another is in the determination that every individual has specific, often immediate, needs and that all voices must have an opportunity to be heard with care lest we fall so far apart that we cannot come together when our children are in need. This holding of needs and careful hearing requires preparation and the creation of specific expectations.
Beamish Process Arts exists to introduce these ways of approaching our individual and collective needs, to develop our own Process as our “product”, to ask those already practicing radical inclusivity under various banners to include themselves in a common, enduring expression of this work, and to include our selves in the world to create a common, conscious expectation that the life expression of every creature is precious and necessary to our collective survival. We prepare for local empowerment to move into social harmony.

Our incorporated as Beamish Process Arts was recognized in July of 2001 using the following language:

This corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. It is organized under the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law for charitable purposes. The specific and primary purposes for which this corporation is organized are to provide educational and charitable assistance to the general public by organizing, developing and advancing the work of individuals and institutions who place a clear and evident value on compassionate inclusivity, respect for all aspects of life, and the practice of Process Arts. We provide and support educational and charitable outreach through the integration of process-oriented disciplines including both local and global community building, mediation, facilitation, and peace making.

The primary objectives and purposes of this corporation shall be:

To provide educational and charitable assistance to the general public in the following ways:

(a) To organize, advance, and assist in the developing work of individuals and groups meeting at least one of the following criteria:

• the evident, consistent, systemic practice of compassionate inclusivity, i.e. the compassionate discipline of creatively experiencing circumstance, whatever is present, in such a way that individuals are free and empowered to make the best imaginable choices in support of all aspects of life;

• an evident respect for all aspects of life and habits to support same, including but not limited to a dedicated practice of Working Consensus or another compassionate, inclusive, co-creative form;

• the regular experience of a Process Art, i.e. a creative practice or discipline of compassion geared to habituate human beings to a global expectation of co-creation and shared power and leadership geared toward sustainable life practices

(b) To encourage the cross-pollination and conscious integration of process-oriented disciplines. These include, but are by no means limited to both local and global community building, mediation, facilitation, and peace making. This co-creation will be developed through the formation of partnerships with both public and private groups, as well as individuals.

(c) To create working models of Compassionate Inclusivity and practice the Process Arts through:

• formal and informal consultation, instruction, guidance, and mentoring

• events, demonstrations, programs, and performances

• the co-creation of both Community and Retreat Centers

• the co-creation of infrastructural elements specifically geared to support Community and the growth of the Process Arts, examples of which include, but are not limited to, facility and event administration, internet content design and support, publication, composition, networking, and promotion in support of our non-profit purposes as provided in California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law.

I heard of potentially related work by Stewart Cubley (below) in 1999, and was excited to know at least part of the principles stated above were in play in his use of the term. I didn't at the time and don't now flatter myself that he is familiar with my work, especially since his interpretation involves inner development through the process of making literal, visual art.

Michele Cassou and/or Stewart Cubley claim service mark for the phrase "The Painting Experience." At some point, at least he began to refer to what they do using the term Process Arts. The current version of the processarts.com website shows

The Painting Experience

Since its founding in 1976, the Painting Experience has touched the lives of thousands of people by enabling them to explore the creative process in an atmosphere of respect and non-judgment.
The ever-widening circle of friends who have benefited from The Painting Experience programs form a vital and diverse community of culturally creative people committed to personal growth and to making a difference in the world. We are actively searching out ways in which to support the potential that exists for true transformation, and we are open to your suggestions.

In November of 1999 Stewart Cubley began his processarts.com website to promote his guidance of people "to explore the creative process through expressive painting."

from the earliest version of procesarts.com

The Painting Experience^SM method approaches the expressive arts in a way that is a radical departure from the traditional product oriented focus of painting instruction. Instead of perceiving art as something to learn or improve, it views the act of creation to be the deepest point of contact with our essential self - an environment where the process of facing the unknown color, form and image becomes a vehicle for entering into the mystery of one's own being, a tool for liberation and awakening.

"The act of bringing forth from within that which makes up our inner life, and giving it birth through color, form and image tranforms the creator in the act of creating. In this dynamic meeting between inner and out, and open flow is established that renews our fundamental response to the world"
Stewart Cubley, Founder

Cubley uses the following language in an invitation to one of his retreats:
First time students find these weekend workshops an excellent introduction to the principles of the Process Arts as outlined in the book Life, Paint & Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression. Continuing students find an opportunity to deepen their practice, to gain new insights into their process and to work within a supportive, stimulating community.

Though Cassou is listed in the copyright of the book she and Cubley are both credited for writing, Life, Paint & Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression, she does not appear in the staff listing on the processarts.com website and now calls what she does "Creativity Without Limits - Point Zero Painting."

Processwork

Another path , called Processwork, with a different name and scope but many parallels pre-dates me by decades. Again, I am abashed to admit that I didn't know Arnold and Amy Mindell existed until a Council member brought them to my attention in the late nineties, leading me to read Leader as Martial Artist. Though fascinated with that approach I have only attended a few workshops by Lane Arye and had not read either Mindell widely until the latter part of my graduate program.

John Abbe writes about the Process Arts in the following terms (many of which are links to his website):

The process arts include things such as FaciliTation?, MediTation and CommunityOrganizing?NonviolentCommunication, OpenSpace, WikiWiki). Even more than a list of particular processes though, process arts is an awarenessis one particular way, and one could do it any number of other ways. That's analogous to PerlLanguage's motto - There More Than One Way To Do It! (and name-brand practices/theories/networks such as that however one is doing something, that

This could apply to any field - cooking, sky-diving, etc., but we use it mostly for fields primarily about humans. There are differences and similarities in process artistry across scales - intra-individual, couples & groups, families, neighborhoods, tribes, towns, cities, regions, continents, globally.

Some relevant resources:

• 
  http://del.icio.us/tag/processarts (if you use DelIcioUs or other tag-enabled systems, please tag anything else relevant you find!)

• 
  NcddWiki - see NcddWiki:ParticipatoryPractices

• 
  The Quickening of America (the working title was The Arts of Democracy), by Frances Moore Lappe and Paul Martin Du Bois BookSense:1555426050

• 
  The Change Handbook: Group Methods for Shaping the Future, Tom Devane and Peggy Holman BookSense:1576750582 (a new edition is on it's way, and Peggy recently published a relevant scholarly article)

• 
  CenterForGroupLearning

• 
  I predict SunirShah's facilitation wiki will be a great resource if he gets it going

• 
  CoIntelligenceInstitute

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MyPractices

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This movement/field/concept has been emerging as a significant phenomenon certainly in recent decades, or even centuries - consider the scientific method and amendable constitutions. One can even take the perspective that it is as old as "modern" human consciousness, behind the explosion of variety of tool use that took place ~50-100,000 years ago. See ConsciousnessIsOurOxygenChallenge.

BrandonWilliamsCraig? (http://bdwc.net ) coined this term in 1996. His Beamish Process Arts Consultancy became the Beamish Process Arts (501c3) community (http://www.beamish.org ) and then Association Building Community (http://abcglobal.net ).

My website currently (20060303) shows:

1. Human cultures are shifting toward tending the way of interaction at least as attentively as the products that result. How is becoming consciously as important as What we make. Examples of this trend, the language for which originated in the new "Psychology" of the 20th Century, include coaching, the wide use of outside-system consultants and facilitators, mediation, therapy, etc.

2. Conscious and unarticulated methods are becoming more and more prevalent which assist in this shift and contribute to building Communities Of Understanding which are capable of dealing with the complexity of contemporary abstract systems only because many people are working together on how they work together. Examples include Processwork (Mindell), Quaker Meeting, Focusing (Gendlin), Organizational Development, Council Circles (indigenous), Non-violent Communication (Rosenberg), mythography (Doty), Group Therapy, Community Building (Peck), many forms of martial and performing arts, etc. A fine place to begin expanding this list for yourself might be here.

3. Naming and thereby qualifying these "Process Arts" by how they are practiced, rather than who founded/owns them or what they tangibly produce, is a participation in an educational intervention in culture that values this shift at least as deeply as the training in the Liberal Arts modern nations almost universally speak of promoting. Thus process-level education is expected as widely as reading, writing, arithmetic, and their various scientific products, and leaders may be expected to have at least a working familiarity with process-level skills.

In my dissertation Process Arts: Culturopoesis, Healing Friction, and Guardianship of Peace I suggest

Work with cultures is work with the metaphors from which the imaginal and behavioral structures of daily life are built. Shaping image/ideas by which it becomes possible to view the metaphors within these structures has been, at least until the invention of the “spin-doctor” and his ilk, the creative realm of the poet, dramatist, psychotherapist, mediator, and other martial artists who work with and facilitate the abstract conflicts underlying the shape of shared narratives. These roles become more potent the more support they receive but are not necessarily more carefully practiced. Conscious and unconscious process shifts are affected every day by speech writers, authors, personalities, and overtly ideological special interest groups (SIG), which can change everything from how children are educated and the future is shaped to an average citizen’s experience of death and dying, often with imminently predictable and less than salutary consequences. Systems have become so sophisticated with and by these shifts that culture has moved beyond what one mind and heart or even one group can fathom. In a world shaped by alienation and fragmentation an suggestive container for wisdom is arising, resembling fantasies of ancient communities evoked by words like “village” and “tribe” but not based in regression to an earlier stage of development, in which understanding becomes progressively available through purposeful cultivation of shared experience with group behavioral complexities. Building community on purpose, rather than inadvertently by being born and dying within a twenty mile radius, allows for the development of a complex cultural knowledgebase sufficiently sophisticated at both the abstract and experiential levels. This is what I mean by “a community of understanding.”

Embedded within a community of understanding capable of and interested in fathoming the depths involved, poet/artist/facilitators may be able to make the workings of a given culture more beautiful, supportive of life, and enduring. Several examples will be explored herein. When those who choose to work at the process level have what they need in the way of a consciously reflective community, a purposefully cocreative language of image, conscious and structural social support, they are encouraged to work with and through friction and malfunctions in order to be as sophisticated in their applied understanding as is humanly possible.

What is implied here, and already in progress in the world, is the cocreation of an alchemical art form. The form is artful in that it initiates an anamnestic creative cycle of descent and return - an orphic process balancing related ideas while they are in the motions of association. This requires mapping and descending thorough the “gaps in our meanings even as there are meanings in these gaps,” and “respect[ing] … differences while witnessing … affinity[ies]”. I will show how this leads to naming, developing, and sharing widely a global shift toward the purposeful making of culture (“culturopoesis”) through the sophisticated processing of conflict (“healing friction”) that combines leading-edge interpretive mythology and depth psychology as a way of articulating an international educational movement already in progress which I frame in terms of the “Process Arts.”

more from earlier in this blog

One of the lessons being learned by those who are defining and developing the Process Arts, by whatever name, involves what Jung referred to in terms of the "return of the repressed." The voices consigned to "not part of Us" are the ones ideally qualified to help us mature into an interdependent and flexible (read likely to survive) Us. In a room/community of Christians the god and goddessparents will be non-Christian because they are the ones who can ask him if he is perpetuating the best of what is traditional. Only the most perspicacious of an In-group can approach this. I feel strongly that godparents should be those who actually feel moved/called to be in the life of the child, rather than appearing to share a poorly understood mythological system. These are the people who love and know him, who happen to be able to inquire with him deeply, when the time comes, whether he really is living the life he believes Christ requires of him. It is precisely their position on the outside but living in a culturally Christian context which allows them the necessary perspective to sharpen his ongoing internal critique of his own behavior. This is what two centuries of rising dominance has made so difficult for Christianity as a whole.

More to come - here and elsewhere.

This work is licensed by its originator, Brandon WilliamsCraig, under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.