Copyright 2002
Wilderness Drum, Inc.
All rights reserved

Carrying Council in the Wilderness
Steve Beyer

Introduction Cultures of Speaking The Conventions of Council The Four Intentions Council Guidelines The Uses of Council Council Roles Variations of Council Community Building in Council Coercion Why Council Works References

The Uses of Council

There are, clearly, and especially in a wilderness setting, circumstances under which it makes sense not to use council. These are precisely those occasions on which an autocratic leadership style is called for, such as sudden emergencies or disasters. But, apart from that, council can be used for just about every form of group communication. Decisionmaking, dispute resolution, teambuilding, itinerary planning, distribution of chores, review of the events of the day – for all of these, council provides a format of respectful speaking and listening which spills over into all other areas of group life, from personal interactions to sharing the stories of our lives around a campfire. The ultimate goal is for council to become a spiritual practice, for all participants to become carriers of council in their daily lives, so that every human interaction takes place in the sacred space and time of council.

But we must be practical. How do you get a council session going? One way is to ask each participant in turn to give an internal weather report on his or her current status – for example, “I’m looking forward to today’s hike, but I’m a little worried about the river crossing, so I may need some help on that. I’d say that, for me, it’s basically clear skies with a few scattered clouds.” Another way might be to tell a story and solicit responses from the participants. In the appendix is The Tale of the Stream, a story that has been used to start many council sessions, along with some questions the facilitator might propose for each participant to answer. Similarly, participants can be asked to talk about the personal items they have placed on the altar, and express their history, significance, and symbolism.

The topic for a particular council can be proposed ahead of time and known by the participants. This topic can be put forward by the facilitator at the start of the council, or topics may be understood as part of a regularly convened council. For example, it may be understood that morning council is the time to discuss questions regarding the day’s route and task assignments, and evening council is the time to discuss problems that arose during the day’s hike. Often a topic emerges from the initial check-in or weather report; there may, in fact, be no particular topic at all, but rather the participants simply put before the group whatever is on their minds. It can happen, too, that topics change, sometimes in surprising directions. It is part of the art of council facilitation – of what the Ojai tradition calls reading the field – to know when to keep the council on track and when to let it move in new directions.

Devising council topics for particular purposes is a creative and satisfying part of being a council facilitator. Here is an example, planned for use at a retreat in rural Wisconsin, for families who were unused to council, who did not know each other, and whose only connection was that each family had a child attending the sponsoring Montessori school. Here are the topics:

• The facilitator briefly introduces council, the four intentions, and the guidelines; there is an introductory round, to get everyone used to the format, where the participants speak briefly about a safe topic – what attracts them to the Montessori method.
   
• Then each family goes together into the woods and finds a natural object – leaf, feather, stone, abandoned bird’s nest – which, to them, symbolizes their family.
   
• The council reconvenes, each family places the object in the center of the circle, and each, in turn, takes the talking stick and explains the symbolism to the group.
   
• Then, on the next round, each family is asked to present to the group the process by which the object was chosen: Was there a family discussion? Did Dad pick it and everyone else go along? Was everyone equally interested in picking an appropriate object? Was this process typical of how family decisions are usually made? The goal here is not to compare and condemn family decisionmaking practices, but rather, first, to bring forward the variety of ways in which families make decisions and, second, to make families aware of just how they do, in fact, make their family decisions.

Appendix: The Tale of the Stream

Once upon a time, there was a frigid mountain stream. As it descended the mountain it loved to play, tumbling down waterfalls, speeding through rapids, ambling through meadows and resting in cold mountain lakes, but as it descended it gradually forgot where it had come from.

Time passed and one day it found itself at the foot of the mountain and before it lay a vast expanse of desert. It had never seen a desert before and was bit intimidated but it carried on as before and hurtled itself against the sand. It did not travel far before it realized that it was surely disappearing into the sand.  It was, however, convinced that its destiny was to cross the desert. Just then it heard a soft voice from the Sands beneath it. “The Wind travels across the desert, and so can you.” “Yes, but the Wind can fly, and I have no wings,” replied the Stream. “Rise up and let the Wind carry you,” said the Sands. “But how is that possible?” asked the Stream. “By allowing yourself to be absorbed by the Wind,” replied the Sands. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” said the Stream. “After all, I’m a stream used to wandering over the land like a snake and snakes don’t fly. And besides, how can I be sure that I’ll become a stream again? Can’t I just stay as I am?” “That is not possible,” said the Sands. “You will either disappear or become a quagmire. You must trust in the Wind. It will carry you over the desert to the mountains where you will fall as rain and become a stream once again.”

On hearing these words, the Stream had a dim recollection  of once being held in the arms of the Wind. It then realized that this was the necessary – not the obvious – thing to do. So the Stream raised its vapor into the welcoming arms of the Wind and was gently carried along over the desert and high up into the roof of a mountain many, many miles away.

The Stream was learning, but the Sands had seen it day after day, because they extend all the way from the bed of the Stream to the foot of the mountains. It is due to this knowledge that it is said that the Journey of the Stream of Life is written in the Sands.

Questions

• Where are you on your journey right now?
• What part of you has become submerged?
• Tell a story about a time when you made the crossing.

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