What is Dialogue?

It’s easy to believe that communicating with one another is as natural as talking. We  have discussions with our bosses… Conversations with colleagues… Brainstorming sessions at team meetings… 

Yet misunderstanding abounds. Why?

When we are in conversation, we often discover that we have a different sentiment, observation, opinion or idea, which can cause the exchange to become heated - perhaps even toxic – and concluding with either a frustrating stalemate or the competitive sense that we were right, and the other was wrong. 

Enter Dialogue…

Dialogue is a practice which allows people with diverse perspectives to examine topics that are important to them, in an atmosphere in which all parties feel safe and respected no matter how great their differences or points of view. 

It is possible for people who strongly disagree with one another’s views to have an opportunity to learn from one another without feeling forced to either protect or change opinions. The practice of Dialogue helps us to seek mutual understanding and harmony through seeing all others as legitimate and why its “quantum father”, Dr. David Bohm, labelled it with a capital ‘D’.

Not just a conversation

The history of Dialogue is important. In ancient Greece, Socrates used Dialogue as his main teaching method, creating deeply special relationships between him and his students. Socrates taught in an emergent way - through a series of conversations. Using inquiry, Socrates asked his students endless questions, each intended to challenge an assumption, opinion, or belief embedded in the student’s prior answer until the student eventually uncovered his truth and reason for being.

Most people believe they are engaging in Dialogue whenever they engage in conversation. But they are not. Socrates knew this and so did Dr. Bohm. 

From its Greek origin, “Dialogos”, the definition of Dialogue is ‘meaning through relationship’. Like a stream that flows between different banks, meaning flows among, through and between people. These banks represent different points of view. The practice of Dialogue is not to analyse or win an argument or even to exchange opinion, but rather to listen and suspend to gain new perspective. By intentionally holding space for differences to be made known without defending them, each person is participating - partaking of the whole meaning of the conversation and at the same time, taking part in it. 

This is why Dialogue is so much more than conversation. 

The power of transformation

At its deepest essence, Dialogue is about relationship. My relationship with myself. My relationship with others. My relationship with the Universe. To sum it up in one word, Dialogue is about ‘consciousness’.
 

It is recognising and understanding what is deep inside ourselves and our approach to others, by being conscious about how we are participating in any interaction along with the acknowledgement that what happens on the inside of us creates what happens on the outside. 

Imagine what could emerge if we were to radically shift our attitudes from knowing to wonderment… From having the answers, to curiosity and inquiry. From power to reverence. Inequality to equality.
 

The practice of Dialogue creates these possibilities and why we believe it to be essential in transforming our world. 

Dialogue opens up what seems to be closed. It offers future perspectives and creates new realities. A platform, a way of living, a mindset that stimulates and ignites the emergence of a new reality.