From the moment I was introduced to the ‘Teal’ movement it was extremely difficult to understand all I did not understand. Everything mentioned was new, still emerging and without clear structure. Basically the language was unable to properly word what happened. The tools to grasp the evolution had to be developed as part of that process.
These are my sketchnotes from my first visit to the local Teal Community in Antwerp, in April 2016. (I added colour later to make the flow more readable.) We already were conscious that a clear shared language was key. The notes show at least three mentions of that need. The non-dutch readers can recognise this one:
I heard vague descriptions that have become familiar since then. For instance the most common might be ‘resonate’. It is a nice distinction from the rational ‘understand’ and the emotional ‘like’.
Yet I have seen little orchestrated effort in guiding the mostly spontaneous language evolution. I now think that would be helpful. Especially because this systemic level of development offers the opportunity to avoid the ambiguity that can hamper understanding. (Noting that ambiguity has a value of it’s own).
We need clean clear and plain language to express these more integral ways of being. Words to properly describe the mechanisms of the sovereign accountable commons we want to create. Putting it on the docket.
making things visible 