people coming and going at OS

Christopher Kloth kloth at tmn.com
Tue Dec 29 18:09:19 PST 1998


Oliver,

I think you are asking the right questions about who has the passion and
willing to accept reponsibility with respect to the issue.  Today the one
part of your question I am willing to share my perspective on is related
to the opening...and I would be curious to have others respond so I can
benefit from other perspectives.

I will make an assumption that you have done, or will do, the kind of
pre-work that assures that a real issue of importance to a legitimately
intedependent group has been identified and that a sufficiently large
cross section of the group has been identfied and considered in
determining the issue as well as the dates and location(s) of the event.

For me it is essential that people who intend to participate in any of
the session participate in the opening.  This is especially true for
groups with little or know experience in Open Space.

>From the perspective of affirming the process, this is where the
container is created and the shared responsibility for what will go on in
the container comes to life.  It is what makes the law of two feet more
than just an excuse to walk into groups and dump my load on them and then
walk out.

>From the very judgemental perspective of someone who has been spending
far too much time with my Jewish and Christian families since Chanuka
began (Dec.11) and continuing through my parents' departure (an hour ago)
from their first Christmas visit to Ohio in many years, my view is: if
your sense of passion and personal responsibility does not lead you to
play well with others for two days, you are not likely to play well
afterward...so don't disrupt the process for those who are willing and
able to commit.  I get very irritable when people, family or open space
participants, ask me to "catch them up" or explain the whole process
again when they show up or ask me what they should do.

[Help, let me escape into the frozen solitude of Ohio's Hocking Hills for
a few days to renew my commitment to being more than a child or sibling!]

Once the container is formed people can, will and must do what they will
do...but the rest of the group is more empowered to sustain itself while
people use their two feet.

Was denken sie?

Oliver Schrader wrote:

> Hello!
>
> I`m rather new in this list, just having participated in my first
> OS.

> So I will organize an OS soon, but in preparing this event I stumbled
> over
> the question, whether somebody who wants to come, has to commit
> himself for the whole time (in this case two days, in an volunteers
> organization, with about 80 to 120 people possibly being interested
> enough).
>
> As I understand the opening proces is a very important
> happening of coming together and opening the space. So how about
> people who (think they) can't stay all the time, either coming late
> or leaving early? How to integrate them in the proces? Do the
> principles of openspace also apply to OS as a whole, or is it
> necessary that everybody or at least a vast mayority commit
> themselves to be present the whole time, or at least at the
> beginning?
>
> Oliver Schrader, Vienna



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