The Think-and-Listen
A talk by Tim Jackins at the workshop on the Unified Goal on Climate, in August 2023
Human minds work better when they have the attention of another mind. In RC, we use attention primarily to access the discharge process. Because the discharge process has been mistreated in our society, people usually don’t intentionally and systematically discharge without some extra resource.
With the attention of a counselor, we can not only discharge—our minds can also think much more freely and openly. We can think without getting attention, but a lot of our thinking is secret, and we dismiss a lot of our thinking when we are by ourselves [alone]. I suggest that we occasionally use a part of some Co-Counseling sessions to simply have the counselor listen to our thinking.
We also have a structure for doing this—the Think-and-Listen.
A Think-and-Listen group consists of a small number of people, maybe four or five. The time is divided up evenly among the participants. People have maybe six- or eight-minute turns, or sometimes two five-minute turns, so they can go around twice.
During a person’s turn, they are expected to turn their mind loose [think freely]. We have a guideline to help make it safe for us to do that: nobody gets to talk about what that person said, ever again (without their permission). That person doesn’t have to justify what they said or defend it to anybody. What they say doesn’t have to be considered reasonable, or even rational, or even possible. They get to see what their mind comes up with, unfettered.
Then, it is the next person’s turn. They get to do the same thing, but they can’t refer to what the previous person said. Participants show interest, but they can’t refer to or judge anything that is said.
This is not a discussion of ideas. This is the liberation of each mind. It is interesting. Many of us spend the first part of our turn saying, “I don’t know. I don’t have anything to say. I don’t have any good ideas”—we’ve had to say such things to defend ourselves against past attacks. But often, after about half their turn, the person seems to have ideas, and they get interested in their own thinking.
Our society does not encourage our thinking, thinking out loud, or sharing thoughts. But each of us can think well. Each of us can have good thoughts and wild thoughts. And each of our thinking is interesting and useful. The Think-and-Listen structure is a good way to get it started.
It is liberating to have these opportunities. My experience is that the Think-and-Listen pries up the corners of the rug that’s over our mind, and we continue daring to think afterward.
I suggest that you try using this form, maybe every week. Pick four or five people, perhaps taking into account their time zones, and try a Think-and-Listen together, maybe with three minutes each. Start with just one round. This takes almost no time and little organizing. You just get to show your mind to other people in a circumstance that encourages you to think out loud.
I want us to do a Think-and-Listen about the challenge of the climate emergency. The purpose is not to discharge. However, it is fine to discharge if that helps you think. We aren’t trying to achieve full well-defined solutions. We are hunting for possible solutions, both near and far. To get started, we might ask ourselves things like, “What are the next possible steps in solving the climate emergency?” “Is there a miracle that will solve everything?” And so on.
(Present Time 213, October 2023)