modified open space

[Michael Herman]

hello everyone,

been catching up with this thread with interest.  thanks for your
question, birgitt.  it's fun to see so many people together here.  i was
just remembering what uwe said yesterday (in my time) about open space
being harrison's simple packaging of what so many others have talked
about before him, and thought i'd send something along here...

in light of uwe's comments, harrison's books seem same as any other
books, and by extension, the words "open space" seem not different from
the boxes of an org chart or a budget calling for $4.23 earnings per
share in the fourth quarter.  we all have our own experiences with each,
some deeply spiritual, some more technical and mechanistic, but in the
end, the meaning of "open space" must dissolve with all other structures
in the open space of everyday.  and, like every other simplification
and/or manifestation of spirit, must be rediscovered everytime we sit
with another human being, regardless of and including everywhere that
they or we have been.

seems to me that whether in an open space event or in everyday open
space, we can only be really present in one place at any one moment.
so, we have to be fully present here (wherever and with whomever that is
now) and trust that everything that is going on elsewhere will work out
when we get (fully present) there. so easy to say! ha!  my "bubbles"
piece that some have seen and others can view at the gosi and osi-usa
websites is my latest method at differentiating the technology and the
spirit of open space.   blowing bubbles is a simple, yet robust,
metaphor for what it means to breathe our life into magnificent,
physical, yet impermanent, structures.

can we ever create a permanent collective container to hold that which
dissolves all collective containers?  seems safer to carry the powder in
our pockets and mix up a fresh batch each morning!  like others have
already said, i think the powder is our personal understanding of the
principles and law.

best for now, michael