More on The Law

[Birgitt Williams]

Ralph,
thank you for your kind words. It is a small world. Walking in with Ward who
was assisting Carleton and I, finding Carleton Adams and Chris Weaver and
Ralph, all good colleagues and friends in Open Space and (and on this list)
at the event. Smiling faces, good comraderie and a good showing for Open
Space Technology at the Institute for Servant Leadership, and I think that
is a great partnering. I felt grateful to you all and felt the silent
support throughout the opening, winks and all.Thank you.

I wish to acknowledge Carleton Adams on this list for bringing Open Space
Technology to the Institute and for such a stunning job of putting it all
together, including Thomas Berry as a speaker---a wise wise man known to
many of you.

Birgitt

Birgitt Williams
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Ralph
Copleman
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 5:18 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: More on The Law


Hi,

Funny things happen on the road to certainty.

Over this past weekend, I was in some open space.  I've been opening the
damn stuff a lot lately, but being IN it, now that's a rarer treat for me.
It was a one-and-a-half day gig, and the facilitator, to my great delight,
was Birgitt Williams.  And the brief tale I want to tell goes like this...

Birgitt was doing her thing at the start, opening the space, and she came to
the part about the Law of ­ what?  I expected her to say "Law of Mobility",
but she said "Law of Two Feet", turning as she said it, to give me this big,
semi-conspiratorial smile.  I winked back in acknowledgement.  There was no
one in the room of about 80 or so who was using a wheelchair, no one to be
offended by the absence of reference to the "otherwise abled" etc..  Birgitt
went on to explain how the Law works, etc. and as she then turned her
attention to the next aspect of things, the woman next to me, a stranger,
whispered to me, "I guess it's too bad for amputees."  She was making a tiny
joke at the expense of open space, no harm done.  But I was surprised that
someone had chosen to comment on the issue.

I guess people notice what you say.

Best bit in the opening was Birgitt's explanation of the obverse side of
"When it's over, it's over."  She said that if your formal time period is
coming to an end, and you find you're only about five minutes away from
producing world peace, please DON'T STOP.

(I suppose we all handle these opening chores a little differently, and I
find lately I digress from my "script" more and more and treat the time as a
bit of open-space-within-structure.  I say different things; I move
differently...  I have this notion that the whole opening can be done solely
and completely with gestures.  Thought I might try that sometime, although I
don't know why.  Sure would be a switch for a guy who loves the sound of his
own voice.)

Birgitt was absolutely on top of her game, of course.  She can open space
around me any time, any where she wants.


--
Ralph Copleman
http://www.earthdreams.net
609-895-1629