Synthesizing and Catalysing

The morning began with a session held by the core team of Bruna, Isabel, and Raquel, to help participants reflect on and contribute to the story of what they had learned so far in the course. After taking note of all the activities, experiences and moments, Cesar began by leading a workshop on letting go which built on the previous days. Participants worked in pairs to identify and then create physical representations of what they wanted to let go of in their life, in order to make space for new. With music playing, participants worked in silence with markers, paint, glue, and even glitter. Mauricio led a class on polarity management in the afternoon. Using the chart process he proposed, participants could identify a polarity they work within it. 

In the afternoon, Leandro led an experiential exercise about community development. Working in groups of similar Jungian archetypes discovered by Mauricio’s first exercise, the participants had to play the role of an NGO designing an intervention for a problem brought to them by Leandro - playing the role of a community leader. He acted this out with impressive commitment, provoking the participants and testing their ability to act in the moment and address real scenarios. When tasked with trying to solve the stated desire of building a well, the participants needed to dig deeper into underlying issues, working together to create proposals.

When reflecting on the process, participants admitted it was difficult to work with a community leader like Leandro, who even threw gum wrappers on the ground while saying how important climate change is. After a long day of co-working and designing, Cesar invited the participants to remain in silence until the next morning. After dinner the silence began, opening the fire ceremony to let participants offer the papers they had created about what they wanted to let go of into the fire. 

Outcomes

Tangible

Learned and experienced “ The letting go” part of Theory U

Learned about polarity management

Experienced a fire ritual and learn about the importance of fire

Worked in groups to solve a problem and prototype a solution related to community development

Learned about specifics aspects of community development

Experienced silence

Reflected about the challenges of working in a group containing people with the same kind of personalities

Intangible

Gained personal connection through silence

Reflected about group work and the different types of personalities

Faced current assumptions and beliefs about community development

Got prepared to open their minds and hearts for what is emerging

Reflected about the concept and importance of polarities