From Monastery to Participatory Democracy with Andy Paice

Show notes

In this episode, Julia and Andy covered: • Participatory democracy is about a deeper level of democracy .e.g Citizen’s assembly to listen to diverse voices and find common solutions • Danger of spiritual bypassing when engaged in spiritual practices at the expense of everyday relationships in society • ‘Deep democracy’ tries to draw inner voices into democratic process as microcosm of outer world • Talking in circle ‘until the obvious arises’ leads to real solutions • Facilitator balances aim of meeting with making people comfortable to take part • Appreciative enquiry to use imagination through crafts or drawing so that people have chance to express themselves through different methods • Dynamic facilitation to reflect back what you’ve heard and to create a safe space where creative solutions can emerge rather than fighting about different opinions • Diversity in facilitators to match diversity of participants and to ensure that there isn’t a power imbalance • Parliament as opposite of circle holding – paradigms that current society build on makes collaboration harder

Andy’s Website: andypaice.net

Information on Citizens Assemblies

UK Participation organisations that Andy works for: Shared Future CIC MutualGain Involve UK

The US non profit Andy is involved with: Co-Intelligence Institute

Andy’s writing on participatory democracy: The holistic paradigm as Demoracy’s evolutionary frontier

Facilitation methods mentioned: Dynamic Facilitation Arnold Mindell’s Deep Democracy Appreciative Inquiry Andy’s mentors: Tom Atlee Rosa Zubizarreta

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Music credit: Fabio Venuti