Presence
by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers
A review by Colin Whitby
One of the great things about publishing this web site is that I get to meet some wonderful people and they in turn direct me to things that they have found enlightening. When speaking with Liz Morrison she gave me a list of people to see and books to read, and the first book on her list was Presence.
At first sight this book appears to be a long read, with small type and many pages, but don’t be put off by this, it’s very engaging and easy to read and understand. Over the past few weeks I have been dipping in and out of the book and there have been so many insightful moments it has been a challenge to choose one or two to highlight.
The book is written like a conversation between the co-authors, where they explore how energy can shift in a group of people when everyone accesses their still calm place together. The results they have discovered are quite astounding, and whole systems can be changed if this group creative energy is tapped. This fits well with the work that Soleira Green has been doing, which I have been greatly influenced by and have experienced first hand.
One example that stood out for me, bearing in mind much of this issue is about the ‘shift’ in consciousness currently taking place, was the analogy of a prisoner who was released after a lifetime behind bars. He had become so used to life as a prisoner that, although he was now free, the fear of change and the choices that were now possible were just too much for him, and he took his own life rather than live this new life of freedom.
The authors of Presence feel that there are many of us feeling this way, that we are now doing our spiritual work and finding ourselves and our power, only to come back into a world that does not match our new ‘freedoms’. It’s one thing to do the odd meditation, or clear our energy and find our passion, but how do we as individuals, as groups, or as a race, co-create together in such a way that we all manifest a world where we can all live in harmony?
In Presence we share the thoughts of the authors who have considerable experience in guiding groups of people to share their passions and find ways of articulating this process so that we can all tap into this way of working. For me this is the key to everything, we need to learn to move groups of people to work together from the heart, as a natural process rather than being seen as a bit scary ‘group huggy’ kind of thing, and make this part of everyday life.
We see this working in Alan Wilson’s work with children, and with Colin Turner’s work with global corporations, it is happening, and with the evidence provided in the Shift movie, we see how groups of people are working together in brand new ways.
Presence is a great read, full of insights and ‘ah yes’ moments, I would strongly recommend it.
The Magic Of Being
