The story of Deep Democracy begins with a physicist who became a psychologist, leads to post-apartheid South Africa, and reaches into companies, schools, and organizations across the German-speaking world today. Three stations, three people, one idea that kept evolving.

Arnold Mindell—The Founder

Arnold Mindell, born in 1940 in New York, started out as a physicist at MIT. But the natural sciences alone couldn't answer his questions. He switched to psychology, studied at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, and became an analyst. But he didn't stop there either.

What fascinated Mindell was what happens beneath the surface—in individuals, in relationships, in groups. He observed that body symptoms, dreams, and involuntary movements express something that wants to be heard. He called his approach Process-Oriented Psychology, or Process Work for short.

His central idea: Follow the process. The symptom isn't the problem—suppressing it is. Conflict isn't the danger—avoiding it is. Whatever wants to emerge—in the body, in the group, in society—carries a message. Follow it, and you'll find solutions that were invisible before.

In the 1980s, Mindell coined the term Deep Democracy. He was dissatisfied with what democracy meant in practice. Traditional democracy counts votes. But what about the voices that never get loud? The feelings no one expresses? The positions considered unspeakable?

Mindell realized: Democracy needs to go deeper. It must include what lies beneath the surface—the unconscious, the repressed, the marginalized. Only then can groups make truly wise decisions.

Mindell and his wife Amy began working with large groups—in crisis zones, in social conflicts, between hostile parties. They called it World Work. The idea: What works on a small scale works on a large scale too. The principles of Process Work can be applied to organizations, communities, and entire societies.

Myrna and Greg Lewis—From Idea to Toolkit

The story takes a decisive turn in South Africa. In 1990, psychologist Myrna Lewis came to Zurich to study Process Work with Arnold Mindell. There she met Greg Lewis, who would later become her husband. Both returned to South Africa—a country in upheaval.

It was the time between Nelson Mandela's release in 1990 and the first free elections in 1994. Apartheid was officially over, but its structures still ran through every institution, every company, every encounter between people. The question was: How can a society that had been divided for decades come back together?

Myrna and Greg Lewis were called in by Eskom, South Africa's national power utility—at the time a flagship company. The head of a large department with 5,000 employees had abolished all hierarchy levels. Black and white workers were suddenly supposed to collaborate as equals. The result was chaos.

People who had lived for decades in a system of oppression were suddenly expected to work together as equals.

Myrna and Greg Lewis developed their own methodology from Mindell's Process Work and made it practically applicable—even for people without psychological training. They created clear steps, concrete tools, usable formats. Lewis Deep Democracy was born.

The method spread. First within South Africa, then internationally. In 2006, the United Nations included Deep Democracy in their publication "Africa Leads"—as one of eighty African innovations with the potential to change the world.

After Greg Lewis's early death, Myrna Lewis continued developing the method. She structured the training into progressive levels and trained facilitators around the world. Today, Lewis Deep Democracy is present in over twenty countries.

The Path to the German-Speaking World

In 2015, I met Myrna Lewis at a conference in Brussels. I was immediately fascinated—by the clarity of the method, its effectiveness with tension and conflict, the depth it made possible without becoming therapeutic.

In the following years, I trained with Myrna Lewis to become a trainer and facilitator, completed all training levels, and eventually became a Deep Democracy Elder—part of an international circle of experienced practitioners who continue to develop and pass on the method.

I brought Lewis Deep Democracy to the German-speaking world. First through my own practice—in companies, government agencies, schools, and nonprofits. Then through training: I have qualified all currently active German-speaking Deep Democracy trainers.

What convinces me about this method: It combines depth with practicality. You can use it in meetings. You can use it to address conflicts that have been smoldering for years. And you can learn it—step by step, tool by tool.

The Common Thread

The history of Deep Democracy is a story of passing things on. Arnold Mindell developed the theoretical foundations and the term. Myrna and Greg Lewis turned it into a practically applicable methodology, tested under the most extreme conditions. And today it's being used in contexts the founders might never have imagined—in German mid-sized companies, Austrian schools, the World Child Forum in Davos.

The core has remained the same: All voices must be heard—including those that don't get loud. The minority voice often holds the knowledge the group is missing. And conflict isn't a disruption—it's a source of information and change.

What was developed in post-apartheid South Africa to bring together people who had faced each other as enemies for decades also works in team conflicts, organizational development, and anywhere people with different perspectives need to make decisions together.

The method lives on—and keeps evolving. In every training, in every application, in every difficult situation that gets resolved with its help.

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In the next article, you'll learn more about the practical tools of Deep Democracy—how the method works in action.

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