We waited, some 7,000 of us, in the blazing but thankfully not too hot sunshine, perched on rough stone steps at Berkeley’s Greek Theater: old, young, Buddhist monks, professors, seekers, and the curious. The Dalai Lama came tittupping out, cheerful as always. He slipped off his sensible shoes, tucked his legs up on the chair, and had a chat with 600 dozen of us, breathlessly waiting to be enlightened. Peace through compassion was the theme. He punctuated his gentle observations with a joyful, deep chested laugh, guffawing in delight at his own fractured English and the gentle corrections of his rather nervous translator aide. His compassion extended to himself and his own foibles. At the end he took a few pre-approved questions. The highlight was a question asking His Holiness’s views on the role of the Internet in global fracturing or togetherness. That glorious laugh rang out, “Oh, I don’t know about that…maybe you all have the answers.”
How often our need to appear knowing gets in the way of learning. The Dalai Lama’s fulsome, almost extravagant joy in admitting to ignorance was the greatest lesson of that long, physically uncomfortable afternoon. When we release our need to appear to have the answers, we are free to rely on others, to support our knowledge with theirs, and to create a larger knowing that belongs to no one.
At the Idea Hive, we struggle sometimes to describe systemic thinking and the tools we use to draw out the best ideas that can grow when people meet on a level playing field and with open minds. Perhaps all we really need to say is, “We’re here to rejoice in the ‘I don’t know, but maybe you do.’ ”
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Here’s the trailer for an amazing, and sometimes hilarious, documentary, Dalai Lama Renaissance. A moving and very human story as 40 people grapple with big questions, a strange place…and human dynamics.
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