Drop Off in Numbers

[Peg Holman]

Whether called "passion overload" or "freedom shock", I think there is a
capacity building that OS invites.  A strong analogy that comes to mind are
the stories I have read about the number of Holocaust survivors who died
within weeks of being freed.  Many died from being given a normal meal to
eat for the first time in years.  Their stomachs didn't have the capacity to
hold the meal most of us take for granted.  When people have been operating
without for so long, for some, it takes time to hold what is their
birthright.

Peg Holman


----- Original Message -----
From: "Birgitt Bolton" <birgitt at worldchat.com>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Friday, December 17, 1999 5:46 PM
Subject: Re: Drop Off in Numbers


> I am interested in  the new words that have entered our story of Open
Space.
> The words of "passion overload". It is a concept that I can't quite grasp.
> Seems to me that as humans we have limitless capacity for passion, love,
> joy, bliss, compassion.... And that these are some of the greatest gifts
of
> Spirit for us and with us. When we experience ever increasing amounts of
> passion, love, joy, bliss, compassion...I see the angels dancing in glee.
>
> So, I wonder if we have accepted just a little too easily this concept
that
> "passion overload" is why a drop off in numbers occurs. I think there are
> many and varied reasons, not least of which is that when adults are free
to
> behave as adults, they go into freedom shock and face the fullness of
being
> accountable for their learning, behaviours, experiences... and somewhere
in
> the Open Space experience they get that this is so and that there are no
> "they" to blame, no victims. I have read much  about humans getting locked
> into victim and/or dependent mentality and they have been conditioned to
> this by many of our school systems and much of our corporate world.
>
> Seems like the Open Space experience blows the doors off of this one, and
> that the good news is that Open Space works and the bad news is that Open
> Space works. And that life will never be exactly the same after people in
> Open Space have demonstrated to others their inner greatness.
>
> For me, I don't believe we have "passion overload". It would be a lesser
> world if this was really possible.
>
> Birgitt
>
> Birgitt Bolton
> www.openspacetechnology.com
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