Meditation and Open Space

Harrison Owen owenhh at mindspring.com
Fri Nov 23 05:53:23 PST 2001


At 10:25 AM 11/22/01 -0900, Julie wrote:
>Yesterday I came across this quote from Carl Jung:
>
>"The art of letting things happen, action through non-action, letting go
>of oneself, as taught by Meister Eckhart, became for me the key opening
>the door to the way.  We must be able to let things happen in the
>psyche.  For us, this actually is an art of which few people know
>anything.  Consciousness is forever interfering...."
>
>This seems to resonate well with what you are saying, Harrison.
>
>It seems to me that your thinking about things is also very similar to a
>style of mediation called Transformative Mediation.  In most styles of
>mediation, the mediator is encouraged to let go of the content of the
>discussion, but in varying degrees to lead in (control) the process of how
>the discussion will unfold.  In Transformative Mediation, the mediator is
>encouraged to follow rather than lead in both the content and process of
>the discussion.  The role of the mediator practicing Transformative
>Mediation is to support empowerment of each individual and recognition of
>the relationship.  In other words, to support each individual
>(empowerment) and to also support the relationship (recognition).  With
>just this bit of presence, support and encouragement, many people who have
>been unable to resolve their differences find a way to do so.
>
>Perhaps there is a continuum here...... how to be helpful with individuals
>experiencing internal conflict (psychology), how to be helpful with small
>groups experiencing external conflict (mediation), and how to be helpful
>with large groups experiencing external conflict/need for problem-solving
>(facilitation).  Within each of these sets, we have many choices..... many
>ways of practicing psychology, mediation, and facilitation.
>
>If we are interested in looking at choices that are infused with certain
>characteristics, like spirit, or letting go, or self-determination, or
>openness, or whatever it is we're trying to express, then we can look for
>how those values are being expressed at other places on the continuum, and
>then we have the opportunity to transfer knowledge across
>disciplines.  Maybe we can consciously engage in the fractal dance.

Julie -- the points you are making here are most important I think. For a
long time it has been obvious that for the facilitator of Open Space, it is
much more about "being" than "doing." Obviously there is not long training
for the participants, and the opening remarks typically take 15-20 min. and
things go from there -- The powers of rational cognition which are utilized
in so many of our other activities take a clear second place to other
powers which we all posses, but which many find weird, strange and
uncomfortable.   For me, the essential task is that of "creating and
holding space," which can be effectively accomplished to the extent that we
are "totally present and absolutely invisible." Obviously, nobody achieves
"total presence and absolute invisibility", but that is a goal to be
strived for. There are, of course, a number of ways that one might go about
this, but for me my practice of meditation is central. When we move from
the  open space of an event to the ongoing open space of our lives, I think
the same principles hold, and suddenly the esoteric (as we used to think
about it) and the everyday shake hands. Not to bad.

Harrison


Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-469-9269
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh

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