So, that we can learn from what we already know collectively. And from that distil unexpected, next steps. Because, no one has the roadmap for transformation. Together, we will discover the way.

BUT HOW DOES COLLECTIVE WISDOM ACTUALLY WORK?

I recently started a training with Rudolf Kampers that consists partly of socratic conversations. Socratic conversations are also about tapping into collective wisdom. And: that collective wisdom lies in the personal experiences of the participants in the conversation.

At the start of a socratic conversation, the group formulates a question to which everyone has a personal experience. Preferably, the question is a a bit philosophical. For example, a recent conversation our group had, was about the question: what is a shared life?

Then, participants talk about a personal experience and the others ask curious questions to get closer to the sweet spot: the part of the story which holds the learning. Because we only had a short conversation, only two of us could share an experience. One participant talked about an event at home with a room mate. And I talked about a conversation I had with my partner Gijs during a walk on the beach.

Gijs and I have been in a relationship for six years now and it’s going very well. But when you’re both in your 50s, don’t live together and both have children from a previous relationship, a relationship is different from when you’re young and step on the ‘relationship escalator’: living together, getting married, having children. Because you have a shared future scenario, you naturally share a common life.

When you are living apart together with no more desire to have children; what then is a common life? Gijs and I discovered on the beach that we both felt the need for a common future scenario: eiher travelling or buying a piece of land or whatever. A shared goal.

This is the personal story I told in the socratic conversation. So, my insight to the question ‘what is a shared life?’ was: having shared visions of the future. The other participant’s insight was: giving space and daring to take space.

Immediately, we also realised that both insights can be nicely translated to society and politics.

• In our society too, ‘communal living’ is: taking space and giving space (though I have them around)
• In our society & politics, too, we have a great need for shared images of the future.

Afterwards, we suddenly understood this on a deeper level. Even in such a short conversation, together you can learn from personal experiences about abstract issues. And, you feel it, which helps to get it.

‘Wow,’ said one participant. ‘I just got smarter in three quarters of an hour.’

Now THAT is collective wisdom in action.