In an effort to sort out a few things concerning the nature of spiritual traditions in the current world, I’ve started a short series of blogs. They are a bit random. And, they are a bit organized. You are welcome along for the ride.
The world is a wee bit different. That should not come as a surprise. What comes as a surprise is how much of our thinking and presumptions have not been updated to take into account these differences.
Seems to me that the age of disciples is over. I know this is more than a bit of an overstatement. But, it does drive the mind in the correct direction to start with this simple notion: the age of disciples is over.
This means that a teacher/mentor does not have an extended time with individuals. Yes, you might have until the semester is over, or until the end of the weekend when the workshop is over. But, that’s pretty much it. There isn’t anything like a long term contract between teacher and student.
The spiritual evolution biz is starting to resemble the “gig” economy. One has until the end of the current gig. Then there is a renegotiation and perhaps a new gig is scheduled — or perhaps not.
That means that as a teacher/mentor one needs to package training differently than it might have been in the past. It is not possible to start something now with confidence that in X amount of time the next phase of the training can be implemented. No each step of the training needs to be a complete package. This doesn’t mean that a student/learner will move the full length of the path. Rather it means that each step needs to be complete.
In designing a simulation for a workshop, often it is convenient to give a morning exercise that will generate/expose a problem. The exercise will bring to the light an otherwise buried or quiet issue. Then, after lunch, the afternoon exercise will reveal a solution for that problem.
Once upon a time, it was possible to break this into a Saturday (stir up the trouble) session and a Sunday (resolve the problem) session. Forget about that. Not it’s pretty much required to do it all in one day.
And, there is yet another important safety measure. Instead of starting into the morning session with the exercise you might like to do, it is totally necessary to do something pretty darn safe. Doesn’t matter what. Just something to give the participants a little flavor of what is coming during the day. Then you have a 20 minute break. Invite the participants to go get coffee while the room is reset for the wonder, special, wizbang, great session to come. This gives the participants a perfect opportunity to leave.
After the break, one can sort of, mostly, perhaps with a little confidence assume that the remaining participants will stay for the full workshop. At this point, I’ve even told folks that they can get a full refund if they leave now (before the first session). And, if they decide they want a refund later in the day I will only give it to them IF they say for both the morning and afternoon sessions.
Sounds like a lot of work. But, this is the kind of measures required to mostly guarantee that a participant will be there for the whole shebang. This of course is not required if the sessions are redesigned to resolve before finishing.
That’s great. It is totally possible to design exercises and sessions that resolve within the time-frame given for that exercise. However, there are somethings that cannot be transmitted in that format. My advice is simply don’t transmit that content. At least not until you have some reasonable expectation that the participant will be around for the full process.
This becomes a form of “gig” teaching.