New Gaze - New World

Féline, Gabriel and Hymène

Day 4

I am Olivia - I am aware of my blindness, I never took into account the signs, sometimes obvious, that were presented to me. And too often, focused on what I had to say, I didn't really listen to what my friends, my colleagues, my children really had to say. So, today, I am very worried, because, for the moment, I have only practised two tools, presence and synchronicity, and I wonder what will be left of me after the six remaining tools...". Olivia accompanied her speech with a pout that made the whole circle laugh.

Liam had commented, "The more different the one who leaves here is from the one who entered, the greater the impact on the world."

"My name is Arthur - it seems to me that the tools I receive give me new keys to read the world I live in. But reading the world is one thing, making it change is another, will I also receive tools to change this world?" 

 Saida smiled. "It's a very good reading you're doing, Arthur. Of the eight tools we are going to give you, on the face of it, six are more for reading and understanding the world and events. The last two tools are intended to intervene in this world. But you must not stop at a simplistic view. You must also integrate the more subtle dimensions of each of these tools. For example, when you practice presence, you put your interlocutor in confidence, he feels listened to, heard. Don't you think that by practising presence, your interlocutor will also be more inclined to hear you and perhaps to act when the time comes? So presence, which we perceive first of all as a listening tool, is also a tool that will count when it comes to taking action, but you will discover all this for yourself in your practice. 

These tools form a coherent whole and I don't think they should be confined to one role or another. You will realise with use that their use will become more and more natural and their boundaries will become more and more permeable to finally form a base. 

The foundation of the new man and woman you are becoming. 

 That day, the talking circle had been joyful, the eagerness and enthusiasm to put the last two tools into practice was palpable. Questions of stewardship concerning blankets, the cold of the night or the location of the toilets had completely disappeared to give way to deep reflections, to real awareness. It was clear that doors were opening for most of the trainees, they were beginning to glimpse a whole potential of understanding that was previously inaccessible and unexplored. 

 During the evening meal, in the discussions around the fire, it was the method of forming groups for the next day's walk that was on the menu, some imagining the most improbable scenarios and others taking bets. 

So, the next morning, everyone was wondering who would win their bet, had anyone found the method that would be used by Aziz? 

 Everyone was waiting. Aziz was not fooled by this and he took a malicious pleasure in maintaining the suspense, he listened to the trainees' proposals, falsely pretending to think... Finally, with undisguised pleasure, Aziz had formed two lines. The men were lined up from the oldest to the youngest on the right. The women from the youngest to the oldest on the left. He then formed the groups of three by taking alternately in each row a man, then a woman, then a man and so on. So that each group of three consisted of one man and two women or one woman and two men with a variety of ages.

Aziz seemed very proud of his idea and told the trainees that he expected more inventiveness from them for the next day. 

The trainees were dismayed, no one had imagined such a ploy. 

 During the briefing, each group had been given a topic and the instruction had been that everyone should express their opinion on this topic. If there were 3 identical opinions in the group, one of the members would play the role of the tenth man and express a different opinion, he or she would try to rally the other two to his or her cause by reasoned and argued questioning. If there were two similar opinions and a third different opinion, one of those who had a similar opinion would play the role of the tenth man. That is, he would have to put his conviction aside and try to win the other two over to his side through the same debate and reasoned questioning. At the end of the exercise, the group had to write a joint statement in response to the topic they had been given.