Reading Club: First Reading

Thank you for creating this container. I could spend a few hours a week reading a book and reflecting on it. I like putting aside a few hours a week to reading a book and I also like listening to audio books while I drive and work around the house. Compared to Robert I am a very slow reader but I absorb more quickly when I listen to audiobooks. I could meet once a month to discuss a book.

I remember that in Synagogue there are segments where everyone reads (the same text) to themselves. That is what is happening when you see the men swaying back and forth and the space is filled with a mumbling sound. But there is a technique used to move everyone along together. The person leading the prayer (I'm not sure it's a Rabbi, I think there is another role there) will once in a while chant out loud a sentence and that signals to everyone where the group is and that is how the reading converges. If you are slower and have not yet reached the chanted phrase you know you need to scan forward a bit quicker.

For me, reading is a dynamic process with changing rhythms. Especially if it is a text that I engage with deeply. Sometimes the space in my life changes. Sometimes the text requires more or less space. And so, my thinking was to not place a schedule on this. I imagined the collective reading coordinated dynamically via a discord channel:

1. The "Rabbi" facilitator of the reading will indicate starting a segment in the reading journey by pointing to a scope-of-content (eg: page range, chapters, etc.) and a time-range (eg: one week, two weeks, one month, etc.).

2. The "Rabbi" facilitator can give a sign half-way into the reading ... as a kind of pulse for the group.

3. The "Rabbi" facilitator gives a sign when the segment is over.

4. Participants can reply to these orientation signals with signals about their progress. This can be a thumbs-up or a comment. It can be a request for more time.

5. In response to the signals from participants the "Rabbi" facilitator can ... facilitate ... move on to the next segment, extend the current segment, adjust the scope and time of the next segment to better match the rhythm of the group, etc.

Expanded conversation/reflections take place on a dedicated Loomio thread. So far this is all asynchronous!

Synchronous gatherings are on demand. Whenever someone in the group feels a desire to speak, to converse or to hear others, they can propose a gathering (with an upcoming sandbox time as the default preference).

In addition I imagined another async experiment. It originally arose as an experiment in losing individual identity and experiencing collective identity. It is a shared (Etherpad) online document where participatory writing takes place. Anyone can do anything, add, modify, delete ... write coherent parapgrahs, sporadic thoughts, poetry ... whatever WITHOUT any personal identification. In a crew like ours we will probably be able to identify some of the contents just based on writing styles. But the point is to drop ownership of words/paragraphs ... to tend collectively to the wholeness of this document ... whatever it is.

The general format works for me but I don't wish to adopt the synagogue metaphor. Given the books nature maybe we immerse ourselves in that context instead? Easy riders with pit stops setting the pace instead? I can imagine that our riding experience could be informed, tailored and adapted from the narrative as we go?

Responding to:

It originally arose as an experiment in losing individual identity and experiencing collective identity.

I'm wary of the terminology (I don't wish to identify as an individual or group), but the idea of playing with stigmergic writing and dropping ownership is fine with me (Chatham house rule?). Anyway, once (re)setup we can pretty easily use Obsidian for the purposes outlined.

I tend to read in bursts and will dedicate some time each week to read, so I think the monthly review tempo @Jennifer Damashek proposed fits well. Though what @Ronen Hirsch proposed is interesting to know about, I think I agree with @Josh Fairhead that I don’t feel it would be helpful to me and instead might inhibit me reading ahead if I get into the book and just want to absorb more and enjoy it at my pace. But I don’t want to inhibit the collective process or its unfolding either, since I think I’m finding it harder than it should be to shift into this social dynamic.

I think I agree with @Josh Fairhead that I don’t feel it would be helpful to me and instead might inhibit me reading ahead if I get into the book and just want to absorb more and enjoy it at my pace

To be clear this is not what I meant Robert. I just don't like the religious metaphor. I don't mind trying the pace setting thing though, but I don't know if I'll adhere to it either (no imperatives in this space anyway right?).

However, if we go with Zen as a book I really think embracing its narrative could be a good way of designing a collective experience/adventure. I'm typically very resistant to narratives (such as books of faith) and for the largest part don't trust them at all. Zen is something very different for me, I've had experience with it and trust the words and author.

For once I'm actually open to playing narrative make-believe using this specific book as a framework that may allow the emergence of a more engrossing adventure/experience. Something like a LARP (Live Action Role Playing) if you catch my drift?

Is "I am very resistant to narratives" not a narrative? ;-)

#turtles; it's a meta-narrative. Narratives being pretty inescapable.

Let me rephrase @Toni Blanco: "I am often resistant to narratives of a transcendental modality, especially deceptive ones".

Just for the record, I am often attracted by narratives of a trascendental modality (as long as they are symbolic and not literal) 😂

"In our traditional systems of Law we remember, however, that everyone is an idiot from time to time. Punishment is harsh and swift, but afterwards there is no criminal record, no grudge against the transgressor. Perpetrators are only criminals until they are punished, and then they may be respected again and begin afresh to make a positive contribution to the group. In this way, people will not lie and shift blame or avoid punishment by twisting rules to escape accountability. They can look forward to a clean slate and therefore be willing and equal participants in their own punishment and transformation. which is a learning process more than anything else."

Tyson Yunkaporta - Sand Talk

I am offering this book as another candidate for the reading club ... I am just getting started with it and it is, at least in my mind, overflowing with relevant and poignant conversations!

It also feels like an answer to my wish for indigenous guidance, possibly a candidate for sharing the GP with that intention?

I feel that I resonate much more with this proposal!