In the Practice of Interbeing

The willingness to be changed

On January 29th, we hosted an open Bohmian-style Dialogue, "In the Practice of Interbeing". What unfolded in our dialogue was not something we did, but something we allowed ourselves to be inside of.

Again and again, the conversation returned to a willingness — a willingness to stay, to be moved, to be changed. Not as an intention, but as a lived experience. Several noticed how readiness itself became part of the inquiry: When am I ready to speak? What happens if I don’t rush it? What if being changed happens simply by listening?

There were moments when words seemed almost secondary. Tears moved freely — not as something to be explained or tended to, but as a natural expression of what was alive in the room. No one tried to stop them. No one tried to fix them. They belonged, just like everything else.

Darkness was welcomed without being named as a problem. Some spoke of discovering how much light lives within what we often avoid. Others noticed sensations — heat in the body, a kind of inner alchemy — as listening itself became transformative. One voice shared how their sense of reality gently bent through hearing another speak. Another waited, unsure of when readiness would arrive, only to discover that each sharing had already changed them.

At one point, a simple noticing landed: perhaps this is also about letting the body do what it wants.

What became clear is that inter-being is not an idea we reach. It is something that reveals itself when we slow down enough to stay with what is here — including uncertainty, tenderness, ancestral memory, and the parts of ourselves we often feel we must leave behind in order to feel safe.

As one reflection reminded us, drawing from Rilke: we are not asked to seek answers, but to live the questions — and trust that answers may arrive quietly, without announcement.

This dialogue did not resolve anything.
What it offered was something more subtle: a shared sensing of what becomes possible when nothing is excluded, when listening itself is allowed to do the work.

For those who were there — may this stir a gentle remembering.
For those who weren’t — consider this an open invitation, not to understand, but to step closer.

Inter-being is not something we master.
It is something we practice — moment by moment, together.