Novosibirsk

[Birgitt Williams]

These words were sung for the group in the closing circle of our Working With Open Space Technology training in Novosibirsk this evening  by Marina Tyasto, so beautifully done. The song was sung first in Russian and then in English. There were tears in the circle.

In Open Space we weave a web
To give each other hand of help
But how to connect the heart of each
Through Russia and United States
Had always many different gaps
Together we can build a friendship bridge

Come together who you are ever
conflicts all we’ll solve forever
And all our hearts will give a new light birth
With the spirals and the networking
We send love to make it working
Peace and Harmony live always
On the Earth!

I give thanks to Elena Marchuk for pulling this training event together. Elena, who many of you have met on the list, and others have met in person, is an incredible woman with great courage and a huge heart. She is one of the leaders in this city of 1 ½ million people that is moving forward with a new vision for the development of people and community. Her vision includes freedom, democracy, solution focus, and co-creating. She shares her knowledge wherever she goes and wherever she has the opportunity. And even if she doesn’t have the opportunity she makes the opportunity. She is a determined woman. And she is not alone. I had the privilege of working with 16 such leaders for four days in this capital city of Siberia.

We had a mix of ages in the group, a mix of viewpoints and life perspectives. Great diversity and great discussions. Each person present has many many connections including the connections through Rotary Clubs, the women’s leadership movement and various associations, the youth leadership movement and various associations, regional and city governments, and the Chamber of Commerce.

The training program, Working With Open Space Technology, was a backdrop for the rich rich discussions of how the universe works, humans as self organizing within the right frameworks, Spirit/God/Creator, Open Space Technology and Reiki (six of us in the room actively work with Reiki), sacred sites and ceremonies, living in Open Space, higher consciousness, leaders with Open Space Technology and Open Space Organizations needing higher consciousness, assisting others to develop higher consciousness….

We spoke of the Open Space Organization and holding up the vision for this to be the conscious way of organizations. Living and working with Open Minds and Open Hearts.
The location of our training housed  the Open Society offices.

Reality in Novosibirsk includes shortages, sometimes no heat, sometimes no water or hot water, sometimes difficulty in getting basics such as milk. And reality includes the old ways visible on the street, and the new ways visible on the street. A city in transition. This city is the capital of Siberia and in the actual center of Russia. It was originally a small town built on the river. And in the late 50’s, the most intelligent of all scientists were moved here (I think this was Kruschev’s vision) to form a think tank of brilliant minds who could connect between disciplines. There knowledge was never used for business or industry so both business and industry are not technologically advanced here. Rather, it was used for the military. And this area had a strong military presence. Government support for both scientists and military no longer is a fact of life here. Former government workers are now among the lowest paid workers in Russia, with salaries of about $70 a month.

And it continues to amaze me against this backdrop, what actually took place in our training, and what the vision is that these people work with to the future.

And the group developed their initial work for an Open Space Technology website in Russian with people assigned to do the work of building this. They intend to build and keep a database of all Open Space Technology facilitators in Russia. They intend to create an organization for supporting each other, helping each other to develop in their work with Open Space Technology and in the development as persons.

For me, my heart was full much of the time with the wonder that I was witnessing and being part of. It was the first time that I led a training session that required translation of the whole session, translation happening every sentence or two. Marina did an excellent job with this. Elena filmed the session. The translation time and the change of pacing even Opening the Space was interesting. The difference in cultures posed fascinating learning for all of us as we worked to understand. By the end of day two, people were communicating to me through the translator that there was communication happening between us at the heart level, the soul level that did not need words. This continued as deep heart connections were made. By day three, people who had only a limited number of English words (I speak no Russian) came and spoke to me in one to one visits, working hard to make themselves understood. They had important things to communicate. We resorted to lots of gestures, and many!
!
 many long and deep hugs. Conveying what we could not with words.

One participant said that the training program and the way it was done confirmed for her what she had always believed—that natural processes were the way and that the many methods and techniques she had learned were not necessary.

And another said that a window had been opened to his soul.

We all expressed gratitude to each other, gratitude to Harrison’s creation of Open Space Technology, and gratitude to our Creator.

I explained that I always pass my bells around the circle for people to use for the closing, in the most selfish way. I said to the group that I have a life in which I am always having to let go of many people with whom I have a deep heart connection, most of whom I am unlikely to see again, and that by passing the bells around, I know that each such person has held these bells and that whenever I ring them, I ring them in remembrance to all who have touched them and are doing good work around the world.

I will not forget this group of beautiful people. They are courageous leaders. And they  represent a turning point in my own life that is huge. I will ring my bells for them and all others who have held them. Including my family who I am often geographically distant from.  This week, Ward is in Istanbul, my young people Rachel and David are in Alberta, Canada, and my other young people Laura and Aaron are in Ontario, Canada. All of them have provided the support and encouragement for me to do this work and as I am sitting here tonight, heading to meet Koos de Heer in Amsterdam tomorrow morning, I am thinking with deep gratitude to my family who has Opened so much Space to let me be me and to give up time with me to allow me to BE in the world.  I could not do this without this love and support behind me.

Blessings,
Birgitt Williams
June 6, 2001

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