Acceleration
The increasing speed of societal change and communication.
Core Terms of Event Thinking and the Event Dialogue
The Event Dialogue is the methodological core of Event Thinking: a procedure that turns attention, perception, and resonance into a structured, dialogical process. Instead of asking for causes, the Event Dialogue directs attention to what is showing itself – and to the meaning that can arise from it for individuals, teams, and organizations.
This glossary brings together the terms from the “Glossary of Event Thinking” and the more specific terms of the Event Dialogue from the workbook “The Power of the Event” into a single, alphabetically ordered reference work.
The increasing speed of societal change and communication.
Technological systems for processing and generating information.
The loss of a resonant relationship to the world, to other people, or to oneself.
Focused perception that first makes events visible at all – the basic precondition for any Event Dialogue.
Conscious presence toward present experience, without premature judgment.
The human capacity to reflect on perceptions, thoughts, and feelings.
The ability to actively and responsibly influence developments.
A way of thinking that explains occurrences primarily through cause-and-effect relationships; the historical counterpart to Event Thinking.
The subjective experience of security regarding an interpretation or decision.
A planned or unplanned process of change in individuals, groups, or organizations.
The joint generation of new meanings, solutions, or developments.
A state in which more possibilities exist than can be processed at the same time.
The quality of a statement, idea, or action that allows further communication and development to continue.
The framework conditions within which events acquire meaning.
The shared values, patterns, and meanings of a group or organization.
The inner readiness to explore unknown possibilities.
Change arising through the processing and answering of events.
An open process of shared perception and meaning-making through listening, questioning, and understanding.
A social space in which perception, reflection, and development become possible.
The basic operation of any observation.
Movement and change within a system.
The arising of new properties or patterns that cannot be fully explained by their individual parts.
The ability to trace and understand the perspective and feelings of other people.
Resonant contact between people, ideas, or realities.
A happening that demands attention, gains meaning, and can trigger change – more than a mere occurrence: a moment in which something becomes visible that was previously hidden.
The systematic examination of meaningful events.
Awareness of the role events play in development processes.
The ability to perceive events, allow resonance, and develop orientation from them.
The ability to perceive, understand, and productively use events.
The dialogical core process of Event Thinking: it makes events visible, unfolds their meaning, and carries them into lived practice via the Six-Phase Model. The Event Dialogue replaces the question “Why did this happen?” with the question “What is showing itself here – and what meaning arises from it?”
The linguistic description of an event without premature judgment.
A recurring structure within event processes.
A question that does not primarily seek causes, but directs attention toward visibility, meaning, or possibilities for development. Example: “What is showing itself here?”
The ability to perceive weak signals and meaningful changes at an early stage.
A society that weighs perception, resonance, and meaning-making more heavily than pure cause-and-effect explanations and control.
A context in which events become visible and workable – a space in which new perceptions, meanings, and developments can arise.
The theory and practice of perception, resonance, meaning-making, and response-ability, through which people, organizations, and societies can shape development in a complex world. A way of thinking and a stance that places events, rather than causes, at the center.
The core model of Event Thinking, comprising the dimensions of Perception, Event, Resonance, Meaning, Response, and Development.
Learning through meaningful experience rather than through the transmission of knowledge alone.
Feedback on perceptions, effects, or developments.
An open space of possible developments.
The ability to develop orientation and meaning in complex and uncertain situations.
The conception of a possible future reality.
An early indication of emerging developments.
The ability to respond constructively to coming challenges.
The competence to understand the future as an open space of possibility.
A systematic collection of the central terms of a way of thinking.
The discipline of understanding and interpreting sense and meaning.
The perspectival frame within which events are perceived and interpreted.
The emergence of new ideas, practices, or structures.
Carrying an insight into concrete action and lived practice – the sixth and concluding phase of the Six-Phase Model.
The attribution of meaning to an event.
A disturbance of existing patterns that can enable development.
The shaping of perception, meaning, and response-ability within social systems.
A change in perception, thinking, or action brought about by experience.
A personally significant turning point in the course of a life.
An active form of perception as the foundation of dialogue and resonance.
The interpretive condensation of an event that provides orientation. Meaning does not arise independently of the human being, but in dialogue between person, event, and context.
The process by which meaning and orientation arise.
A view of one's own observations and interpretations.
A story through which people give meaning to events.
The stance of not understanding events exclusively through their causes, but exploring their present meaning and effect.
The active process of perceiving and distinguishing.
The willingness to allow new perceptions and perspectives, without prematurely limiting them through explanations.
The ability to remain capable of action in complex situations.
A fundamental pattern of thinking and perceiving.
A recurring structure of events or processes.
The first dimension of the Event Wheel: conscious contact with what presents itself in the moment, before it is explained or judged.
The philosophical method of describing appearances.
That which shows or reveals itself.
The totality of conceivable future developments.
A possibility for development that has not yet been realized.
The accompaniment of development processes through questions and joint exploration.
That which people experience, perceive, and interpret.
Thinking about perceptions, experiences, and actions.
The ability to cope productively with crises.
The answering relationship between a person and the world – the response of a person, a group, or a system to an event.
A context in which resonance can arise.
A conscious or unconscious reaction to an event, out of which development emerges.
A central competence of Event Thinking: the ability to react to new situations appropriately, reflectively, and responsibly.
The willingness to stand behind one's own responses and decisions.
The conscious engagement with one's own experiences and patterns.
The methodological core model of the Event Dialogue. It leads in six steps from initial perception to lived practice: 1. Perceiving, 2. Naming, 3. Unfolding, 4. Resonating, 5. Condensing, 6. Integrating.
A set of interconnected elements and relationships.
A scientific perspective on complex contexts and interactions.
A profound change in existing patterns.
A period of transition between old and new structures.
The expectation of positive connectivity in relationships and systems.
An event with a lasting transformative effect.
The absence of security regarding future developments.
The process of grasping sense and meaning.
An event that makes hidden dynamics, needs, or development possibilities recognizable.
An early indication of possible future developments.
The way in which people are connected to their environment.