There are several possible answers to this question.
The Blobs fall into the most open question category. The more open the question, the
greater the range of answers. For example, the question, “Which Blob is the happiest?”
will provide a rich discussion, provided the leader affirms each answer in the positive.
A leader who contradicts a member of the group with expressions such as, “I’m not sure
I agree,” or “It’s patently obvious that you are unable to read body language,” will soon
find many in the group stop sharing.
There are no correct answers, indeed, not even answers which we might have previously called answers at all.
In the Blobs the key tool is the question and the openness of the person leading the session/ conversation. The Blobs have no words or tags to define which the correct
behaviour is, or which Blob is the ‘answer’.
The Blob pictures are a way to talk.
One person might describe a Blob with glowing colours, whilst another might find their
behaviour oppressive or even abhorrent. The Blobs are not moral agents.
For some this may seem rather difficult to accept. We all like areas of life where there
are black and white answers. There are many areas though where we aren’t dealing with
clear-cut right and wrong. Dealing with the soul is a journey of understanding. For some
of us our souls are ‘similar to the majority of the population’ and we tend to feel we fit
into most situations. For some people, there is a general sense of being different, of being wrong, of rubbing others up the wrong way.
The Blobs give permission to those who feel unusual to express their differences, to
recognise who they are, and to be seen and understood perhaps even for the very first
time.
The key to using the Blobs is to see that they are a way to begin a conversation.
If the chat moves on from the pictures then they have achieved their aim. For many
people sharing what is within their heart is the greatest challenge for they do not wish to
be laid too open and vulnerable for others to take advantage of. In talking with people
who use the Blobs, they are often a starting point of communication with the least able
to talk. One trainer Ian spoke to threw a Blob Tree at someone who had climbed up onto
Blob YMCA Training Manual
Growth does not reside in a place called comfortable