Open

[Terrie Conway]

Don and Esther - see Laurel's story for how spoon bending works - it should
give you the idea.  I do not really know why this works - I only have some
theories based somewhat on the idea of the power of our intention to affect
sub-atomic particles and on my studies of the mind-body connection via
various energy therapies.

I was intrigued by the idea that  "If you were to magnify an atom such that
you could see its nucleus the space around it would be the size of a
football field".  And the idea that at the subatomic level we are all
connected because those atoms were always moving and interacting with
everything around us such that "We are not just in the room, we are of the
room."

I was also intrigued by the idea I first read in Meg Wheatley's book that
subatomic particles are separated by vast distances, so much so that an atom
is 99.99 percent empty and that everything we touch, including our bodies,
is composed of these empty atoms" and that matter can affect each other at a
distance.  (i.e. if you separate two paired electrons - no matter the
distance, at the moment one is measured for its spin - e.g.vertical axis -
the second electron will instantaneously display a vertical, but opposite
spin.)

So when I learned spoon bending - I began to think that maybe it was just
quantum physics in action.  I was told that spoon bending was a
demonstration of Psychokinesis - the power of your mind to have a noticeable
effect on physical objects.  The woman I leaned it from (Marla Brucker)
taught us by having us build energy in the room, focus our intention on the
spoon to bend and then yelling bend while simultaneously letting go.  And it
worked.

But I wanted to see if my quantum ideas worked and if this could be done in
other ways.  So I experimented as Laurel described, with using the energy
from the audience at a concert (the applause!! part), using the energy
generated by recorded music - both ideas worked!  But I wanted to be able to
affect the spoon in a more quiet way (cause I saw this as a metaphor for
what we create in our lives).  So, I tried using some energy therapy and
meditation related techniques like holding my intention while "breathing in"
the energy of the earth and the universe and breathing out the intention
through my heart and my hands which were holding the spoon and then letting
go.  Again it worked!  - no yelling, no loud music just drawing from the
energy around me and imagining the spoon bending.

I realized that some people (like Meg's daughter) would be afraid of their
power.  So when I added this to my workshops I decided to work into it
slowly by having them first feel their own and other people's energy field,
learn more about the mind-body connection and how to use the power of their
mind to improve their physical performance on some simple tasks.  I show
them how to use a pendulum by tapping into intuition or intention and more.
Most are amazed at what they can do, simply and easily and it makes it
easier to take the next step and bend the spoon.  The discussions in my
workshops are rich and amazing.  I also love what people do with their new
found power as they then work through visualizations to set intentions for
their lives and work.  The follow-up feedback I get from people is also
amazing and gives me great hope!

Anyway - this is a very long response and I still have not explained how to
do this.  My fear is you will try this based on the above and it won't work
for you and then you will think I am a nut or a flake or something.  My
other fear is you will try this and it will work and that you will be
afraid, and think I am some sort of witch or something.  My preference is to
show and explain this in person - I have never had anyone just try it based
on my written explanation.  The whole point of all this is - I think - the
metaphor for our lives and the implications for our Open Space Facilitation.

With love and respect
Terrie

----- Original Message -----
From: Don Ferretti <dferrett at placer.ca.gov>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 8:50 AM
Subject: Open


> Terrie,
>
> You are the first person I have communicated with who actually can bend a
spoon by letting go. I have read Wheatley's books. I understand how Open
Space demonstrates the order of chaos. I have put into practice these
thoughts as I approach my work and life and I thought I was doing pretty
good but now I you open another realm I thought was only reserved for a very
small percentage of people on earth.  I would like to learn more.
>
> Don
>
> >>> Terrie Conway <terrieconway at home.com> 12/04/00 09:27PM >>>
> Don - if you are referring to my recent post on how I learned the power of
> "letting go" - yes 95 to 99% of we humans can tap into a relaxed state
> (Alpha and Theta) to set intention in order to cause the metal of a spoon
to
> go soft enough to be able to bend, twist, or wrap it around itself.  I
have
> been "teaching" several mind-body exercises including spoon bending
> (psychokenesis) as a way of helping people tap into the power of their
> intention and to create the life/work they want/love.  I was inspired and
> helped by the work of Margaret Wheatley re: Chaos Theory, Quantum Physics,
> sub-atomic particles, action at a distance and morphic fields.  I think
Open
> Space is another demonstration of these phenomena in action at the humanly
> observable level.
>
> Terrie
>
> -
>
> *
> *
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>From  Thu Dec  7 18:10:51 2000
Message-Id: <THU.7.DEC.2000.181051.0700.>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 18:10:51 -0700
Reply-To: bjpeters at amug.org
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: BJ Peters <bjpeters at amug.org>
Subject: Seeking Input/Advice/Learning from Your Experience
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
 x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"
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Dear OST Colleagues-- I have a potential family owned and operated
client in the construction industry (specifically in the concrete
business) who has experienced significant growth in the past few years.
They are experiencing record volume (to the extent that the owners are
considering dropping some of their backlog, which is at an all-time
high) and record low profit margins. They have historically taken a
divisional approach to how work is done: each crew and foreman does one
piece of the work, either preparation, or rebar, or laying concrete,
etc. There is no one person that manages the entire job and with whom
the customer can interface. This leads to a lot of fingerprinting rather
than joint ownership of the entire project and good customer service.
And the owners may not be choosing the right jobs to give their
attention to.

The owners are identical twin brothers who sometimes have intense
disagreements and who don't spend a lot of time together. There are 3
other "professionals" involved, a controller, an estimator/bidder type,
and my contact, a brother-in-law to the owner who oversees operations.
My contact acts as coach and mentor to his brother-in-law to a large
extent, and as advisor to the others to a limited extent. There are 6
supervisors - most Anglo Americans. There are 6 foremen - most Latin
Americans. Almost all of the 40 crew workers are Latin Americans for
whom English is a distant second language, and most have no more than a
9th or 10th grade education.

My contact believes that unless there is some systemic change in the way
work happens and is managed, the business will continue to suffer. He
also believes it would be beneficial to have everyone in the system
participate in determining how things might be done differently, and he
has experienced good ideas coming from the crew workers informally. He
has read Harrison's User's Guide and believes in the idea of open space,
which is why he approached me in the first place. He has some real
concern, however, about the willingness and ability of these crew
workers - who have minimal formal education, who have limited command of
English, who come from a different ethnic environment, who work in an
industry known for its "macho", hierarchical "do what you're told"
culture - to step to the center of the circle in which sit their peers
and "bosses" and write and post a topic.

While I don't share his level of concern, because I have always seen the
process work, I told him I would use this rich resource, the OSLIST, to
ask for advice and counsel. So I pose the following:

-  How have you successfully used open space with groups that share the
factors described above?
-  What, if any, do you see as the level of risk in doing open space
with this particular group?
-  What might we need to do differently to accommodate the unique
characteristics of this group?
-  Does this seems like a situation where open space would work?

There are definitely other things I see that need to be addressed in
this situation before deciding that open space would be appropriate.
However, addressing those other issues will need to happen only if the
concerns that are foreground for my contact now are answered so that he
can achieve a greater level of comfort.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart - in advance - for your
guidance. --BJ

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