“The reason two antelopes walk together is so that one can blow the dust out of the other one’s eyes." --African Proverb
While there is no one methodology for communal discernment, most efforts draw upon the Ignatian method of seeking interior freedom and detachment from the outcome. To be interiorly free means to overcome or hold lightly the fears, anxieties and wants that might obstruct openness to God’s desires. Detachment from the outcome means to suspend preoccupations or conclusions about what a specific outcome would entail and remain focused on the here and now.
Parallel personal discernment is not the same as communal discernment. Two children playing in the same room may not be playing together. As consciousness shifts back and forth through various options, if the group remains interiorly free and detached from the outcome, they can experience a communal transformation of consciousness that is a group grace.
Caveat: Group grace is not the same as group think in which less influential members concede and collapse their will into that of the dominant group.
Dunn, Ted, Graced Crossroads: Pathways to Deep Change & Transformation, CSS Publications, 2020, pp. 295-305
