Next Generation

[Harrison Owen]

Gabriela -- It is a rare and wonderful morning when you awake to find a thought expressed with such clarity and elegance that you can only sit there in silent appreciation for the thought and the thinker. You provided such a moment for me in your words, "For me, OST has nothing to do with trends. It simply touches the heart of people and because it gives official permission for selforganization. For me its all about "back to the roots and forward to higher consciousness". I 
deeply believe and feel, its all just the beginning - based on millions of evolutionary open space years." And most particularly your last sentence --"back to the roots and forward to higher consciousness".

I have always been clear that OS was and is a Half-way Technology. It has been (and I guess continues to be) very useful as a starting point, but only that. It is rather like training wheels on your bicycle when you were a kid (or the steadying hand of a parent or older sibling) during your first rides. In the moment, but only in that first moment, they (helping hands / training wheels) are most useful, even essential. But the whole point is to "do it all by yourself." And certainly there is little need, and less utility for the design of more and better training wheels -- at least not for you.

Pushing the analogy a bit further -- when riding the bicycle of life, maturity occurs when not only are training wheels a thing of the past -- but even the thought of training wheels is banished, except as a fond memory of something that helped you on your way. And you really fly when there is no thought at all -- a mindless moment. Just being. I suppose you could talk about all this in terms of trusting the process (bicycle/balance), but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. It is more like total union in an organic entity, bicycle/me.

All analogies break somewhere along the line -- or should be broken, and riding the bicycle is no exception. The problem is that there are two (at least) parts -- bicycle and me. In life, I find that it is all a single, constantly changing, always the same, ever evolving, and "already there" organic phenomenon. Call it a Complex Adaptive System, Self-Organization or whatever (and no name really does it), but for sure it is a seamless journey, and we are on it -- with or without permission.

I guess I did have to chuckle a bit, Gabriela, at your attribution to Open Space of the power to "give official permission for self-organization." I know what you meant -- but from where I sit, self-organization doesn't need permission, nor do we need permission to self-organize. Self-Organizing is what we are, along with all the rest of the Cosmos. It does seem, however, that we do need an opportunity to learn, or better, remember this fundamental fact of life, and there is no question that OS does provide that.

Goodness knows where all this is taking us, but I don't think it has much to do with designing better processes (2nd Generation OS, for example) or even your "well designed social architectures." In fact, I don't think it has anything to do with "designing" whatsoever. For me it is rather more like being an appreciative participant in the ongoing evolution of the cosmos. Our part is a small one, but when it comes to the business of design, the total system can take care of that pretty much all by itself. We might be helpful, and for sure we can learn ways in which we as individuals might flow more gracefully and effectively in the great rivers of the cosmos -- whatever all that might mean. And I think we are on the way to finding out.

Thanks for the thoughts, Gabriela!

Harrison  

 


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD  20854
USA
301-365-2093
207-763-3261 (summer)
website www.openspaceworld.com
Personal Website www.ho-image.com

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Gabriela Ender 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 3:34 AM
  Subject: Re: Next Generation


  Hi Holger,

  next generation of OST? Why? The gift and the power of OST its exactly these 
  beautiful easiness. When we want to enable and support selforganization - we 
  have to be role models for "less is more". I think, we facilitators 
  facilitating OST not for us. We do it for the people. Therefore my question 
  would not be "next generation OST", but rather next generation of 
  consciousness. Consciousness in terms of how to include the elegancy of OST 
  into ongoing or planned communication or transformation processes, the 
  consciousness of how to combine complementary methods and resources within 
  in a longer term process (also offline and online) and also the 
  consciousness in terms of what is our role as consultants/facilitators, if 
  we work with OST. If we step into the shoes of the people, we do not need a 
  next generation OST, we need humility for the miracles of OST and a personal 
  inner demand for quality regarding well designed participatory 
  architectures.

  For me, OST has nothing to with trends. It simply touches the heart of 
  people and because it gives official permission for selforganization. For me 
  its all about "back to the roots and forward to higher consciousness". I 
  deeply believe and feel, its all just the beginning - based on millions of 
  evolutionary open space years.

  So far my two morning cents,
  Gabriela


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: "Holger Nauheimer (Change Facilitation)" 
  <holger at CHANGE-FACILITATION.ORG>
  To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
  Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 12:08 AM
  Subject: Next Generation


  Hi everybody,

  you might have seen my discussion inputs to the dropping knowledge
  movement. That brings me to a point I would like to explore, together with
  you. Our network is just starting a project on "Trends in Change
  Facilitation", and the big question is "What's next?", or "Better,
  something next?"

  Being myself an admirer of the power that an OS can unfold (and the
  potential to transform organizations), I am still the old post-post-
  modernist who asks himself: Is OS the end of a development we have just
  embarked on, just in the tiny time span of 20 years, when OS, AI and
  Future Search, and the principles of self-organization were discovered for
  groups, more or less símultanously, and started to move the world - World
  Cafe, as a latecomer 10 years ago - now Otto Scharmer shaking the trees,
  or is it just the beginning, in the sense of "We've only just begun":

  We've only just begun to live,
  White lace and promises
  A kiss for luck and we're on our way.
  And yes, We've just begun.

  Before the rising sun we fly,
  So many roads to choose
  We start our walking and learn to run.
  And yes, We've just begun.

  Sharing horizons that are new to us,
  Watching the signs along the way,
  Talking it over just all of us,
  Working together day to day
  Together.

  And when the evening comes we smile,
  So much of life ahead
  We'll find a place where there's room to grow,
  And yes, We've just begun.

  Words & Music by Paul Williams & Roger Nichols
  (I prefer the cover version of Curtis Mayfield, by the way)

  So, is OS the end of a long road or the start? Will OS be able to address
  all questions of community and organization, and belongingness? Will we
  need and want to experiment with it for a long time to come? Are there
  issues/problems/potential solutions in the Global Village which demand
  other methodologies? Has Open Space Online provided an answer on how to
  further proceed the road? Or which other forms of global interaction will
  we need to develop?

  Is there a right or wrong approach to attempt a healing of the broken
  world?

  Waiting for answers, and for more questions.


  Warm but inpatient regards
  Holger Nauheimer


  Change Facilitation s.r.o.
  http://www.change-facilitation.org
  Global Network for Exploring, Creating, and Celebrating Change.


  Now available:
  The Audio Version of The Change Management Toolbook
  http://www.change-management-toolbook.com/res/audio.html

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