Exploring the Power of Metaphor: A Circle Project Retreat

We sometimes overlook the tools we have at hand, those that are the most potent.

One of those is metaphor. As we've explored learning and organizational culture and story, we've come to appreciate the power of metaphor. Emerson has said, "The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors, because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind."

 We've become enamored of metaphors such as "desire lines" and "dorodango" and want to explore further how the metaphors we use both illuminate and obscure, how they help and how they hinder, both personally and organizationally.

This weekend retreat, "Desire Lines: Exploring the Power of Metaphor," will start that exploration. We'll make use of a beautiful space and place to explore metaphors of those same concepts, applying our learning to the organizational universes and systems in which we find ourselves. Come, join us!

Details follow...

Desire Lines: Exploring the Power of Metaphor

April 13-15, 2007  /  Asheville, NC

We define our personal and professional lives through the metaphors that we use and the metaphors that we reject. What is metaphor? How is meaning made through metaphor? How can knowing our metaphors serve us both personally and in our organizations? In this intensive workshop we will explore accessing a deeper wisdom and expanded perspective through metaphor. We will investigate the power of metaphoric thinking on learning and the use of metaphor as a tool.

Objectives
In this intensive retreat, participants will explore:

• Sense- and meaning-making through metaphor and story
• Symbolic action and rituals of transition
• The loss of metaphor and ritual in modern society
• Impulse and blocked impulse
• Metaphors of ambiguity and marginality
• Liminal and transitional spaces
• The use of metaphor in self and organizational identity formation
• The movement from the known to the unknown
• Metaphors of location (mapping)
• The poetics of accumulation
• Boundaries and horizons
• Desire lines
• Pattern

Activities
We will use:

• Ritual, repetition and pattern
• Story and narrative
• Atlases of experience
• Mapping, Movement, Architecture
• Art, Improvisation
• Masks that reveal and masks that hide
• Space, place, and location
• Past, present, future metaphors
• Metaphors of desire lines and hikaru dorodango
• Finite and Infinite games

Schedule
We will begin at 6pm on Friday, April 13 (check-in will be from 5-6pm), and we will end at 12:30pm on Sunday, April 15^th.

Location
We will meet at the Bend of Ivy Lodge, a beautiful Gathering place nestled on 63 acres of land that slopes gently down to the Ivy River, just 20 minutes north of the unique mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina. Called the "Paris of the South" and the "Santa Fe of the East," Asheville is a special place.

Our location will support our purpose. Imagine 63 acres of quiet serenity down a gravel road, a beautifully restored barn, sleeping rooms that showcase art from around the world and bring people into community, gorgeous wooden beams—add delicious organic vegetarian meals on the porch, sitting areas by the pond and in the covered pavilion, and a remarkable meeting space. You’ll leave TV and email far behind here. Our Lodge will be non-smoking.

As a recent guest at the Lodge wrote, “I was aware of the sacred all around me, from the craftsmanship of your construction, to the beauty of the natural environment, to the love, thoughtfulness, and spiritual qualities of your design of space, to the art and books all around- all of this encouraged quiet connection. Thank you for creating such a place and sharing it with others!" 

We urge participants to stay “on-campus” with us to maximize your experience and build a community of learners. If you are local and would like to go home at night or stay elsewhere, we ask that you plan to participate in all sessions, which end on Friday and Saturday nights at 9pm.

Cost
$650 Tuition and Materials
$250 Housing and meals (shared rooms/baths and organic vegetarian meals)

To register
Fourteen (14) participants can be accepted into this program. Online registration will be coming soon - in the meantime, if you'd like to hold a spot, register, or get more information, please email for information or an application.