Reflections on Truth, Systems and Reality.

[william becker]

It's great to hear from a pragmatist.   I think your insights lean heavily
towards earlier conversations around implementation of results.

it seems to bee looking for meaning/Truth from the OST process is akin to
looking for the meaning of Life, when Life itself is the meaning.

As I understand OST, there can be no explicit expectations.  It's construct
is built on the premis that what is, IS (not to sound like one of our
citizens)- whoever shows up and whatever happens is what is supposed to
happen.

How can we prepare a context for expectations from such an event?  I know
this sounds fatalistic, but isn't the process built on the same concept?

It is interesting that, including me, how we discover a process that is
different that past practices we have used, and overtime we try to deify it.
Our yearning to be linked to the Power Spirit may drive this.

Yet when the Spirit "created" us, s/he may have accepted the fact that
whatever results is what it is supposed to be.  Sure, there are the two
extremes of good and bad, yet maybe that friction, as is the molten heat
within earth, the thing that holds the Spirit's creation together.

I keep saying it, but will again, this dialogue is very stimulating and
gives me pause in my work and personal life.

Thanks to everyone.

Bill Becker
Strategic Business Resources
www.stratbussres.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "J. Paul Everett" <JPESeeker at aol.com>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 11:50 PM
Subject: Reflections on Truth, Systems and Reality.


> Discussion on Truth, OSE’s, Godel, Reality Models
>
> What is “Truth” depends largely on one’s model of reality, I think.  One’s
> model of reality is generally built on the cultural frame one is raised in
as
> well as one’s personal experiences of what works and what doesn’t work, or
> work well enough.  If this is ‘true’, then ‘truth’ is contextual, both as
> to time and geography (space).  (One need only remember Galileo having to
> recant his hypothesis that the earth revolved around the sun in order to
save
> his life to see how powerful organizational ‘truth’ can be in its ‘current
> reality’.)
>
> Further, I think that reality dictates to me, I do not dictate to reality.
> Our task, therefore, is to discover what works, in reality (more on this
in a
> moment).
>
> Godel’s Theorem states that “For any system of integer arithmetic, a
> proposition can be put that can be neither proved or disproved within the
> system.”  Godel’s Theorem is based on paradox, which is a statement that
> makes a statement about itself.  It is itself, it’s own ‘box’.  By
Godelian
> reasoning, therefore, every model of reality is necessarily inconsistent
or
> incomplete or both.  (I am indebted to an article by Prof. Robert Hall in
the
> second quarter 2001 Target magazine of the Association for Manufacturing
> Excellence for provoking and aiding the discussion in this and part of the
> following paragraph.)
>
> And, since there is no way a human can comprehend the whole universe, we
all
> live in a box bounded by our observation, learning and experience---which
may
> become our truth.  The danger is, of course, if it becomes “The Truth”.
>
> My perception of Open Space Technology, itself a model of reality, is that
it
> is a system/process for helping people express themselves in a
> self-organizing way and ‘think outside the box’---the box often being
> corporate or organizational rules, regulations, culture, ‘the way we do
> things around here’---and every organized system has these, even OST.
Godel
> says we can’t self-reference OST in evaluating OST as a system.  We have
to
> begin to think from the outside in----a difficult prospect if we get
caught
> up in truth.
>
> Further, according to discussions held here, there have been Open Space
> Events (OSE’s) that were, in military parlance, “limited successes”.
Maybe
> even failures.  In essence, they didn’t work well enough to meet the needs
of
> the situation---the reality in which they occurred.  This makes one very
> tentative in proclaiming a truth about any given system, even OST.
>
> However, there are some questions we might choose to ask ourselves that
may
> enhance the chances of a “successful” event.  I say "may", because chaos
is
> also part of our reality and we never can be sure we have it in a box.  We
> have already had several valuable contributions from people’s experiences
> that speak to elements of these questions.
>
> 1.  What are the minimum necessary preconditions and context needed to
enable
> an OSE to “work”?
>
> 2.  What might we define as an OSE that “works”?  (Is people going away
> feeling good about the event enough?  Or, is a successful OSE one that has
> needed outcomes as defined by the client system?)
>
> 3.  Is a successful OSE, like truth, contextual?
>
> 4.  Should a successful OSE, at a minimum, create meaning?  That is, make
a
> difference in its own context?  Should these differences be observable,
> concrete, that on which action can be taken?  Or, is an inner change
> sufficient?  Is there a holy grail of an OSE?
>
> Interesting thread of discussion, thank you to all those who are
contributing
> from their own reality which has their truths embedded in it. :)
>
> Sincerely,
>
> J. Paul Everett, Consultant
> World Class Performance
> JPESeeker at aol.com
>
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