#00055 Ank's Solocast : The Lao Tzu Dinner Party In 7 Easy Steps

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">(with apologies to the estate of Lao Tzu…)</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I think we're coming to the conclusion of a cycle here. The first solocast I did this quarter was about this notion of the Teal Society.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The second got into the similarities between two seemingly different tools or worldviews: Loving One’s Enemies and The Scientific Method, both of which I think we're going to need to assimilate into the core of being if we want to get to this Teal Society thing</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And the third was about accountability and community.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What I'm trying to do here is draw a sense of dependency between grand goals, being exposed to different points of view, and the power of community. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And this is where I share one of my favorite patterns for building community:</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Dinner Party</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And if you follow my logic, the Dinner Party now has a mythic status and a revolutionary role.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Because it's through the Dinner Party, when done correctly, that we build community, and it's through community that we tighten our links of accountability and expose ourselves to contradictory viewpoints in a relational container, so we can't just throw them out as idiotic or capital Wrong, because they came from someone we love. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So here's some concrete steps on doing my version of the Lao Tzu dinner party.</span></p> <p> </p> <ol> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Plant the idea in advance. (come at 6, we'll eat at 7:30)</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Have a loose plan (sand at low tide)</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ask everyone to b