So now what.

[Artur F. Silva]

At 14:04 17-10-2001, Harrison Owen wrote:

>  For 99.999% of the folks in the circle, it will be your "being" that
> speaks. If you can enter that circle in a state of clear presence -- as
> best as you can -- everything else just moves along. A good translator
> will help, but I find the process so intuitive that even a poor job of
> translation seems to work. You will also find the opportunity to
> experience modes of presence that words ordinarily cover up, and modes of
> perception that our thirst for "the detailed facts" retard. To be a
> little more specific, I find that in order to comprehend what is going on
> it is sometimes helpful to shut your eyes and ears and ask your self "How
> does it smell?" Or," What are the colors?" With a little practice, I
> think you will find that the nose knows -- and the activities of the
> group create fields of colors. I don't mean to be weird, and maybe this
> is all about auras or something -- but all I can tell you is that when I
> consciously operate in these non-verbal channels I feel totally connected
> to what is going on so that I can effectively do my space
> creating/holding function.

There are really a lot of things that I profoundly like in this guy, Harrison.

The first is that he made OST an "open source" kind of method - it is
available in books and sites; one can get them, study them, follow some
training IF and when one feels the need to, and if one thinks that one has
"a good head and a good heart" (and one can eventually be wrong in that
self-appreciation...) one can begin using the method - no trademarks are
involved, no training from Harrison or others is needed, no "certification"
is required. (Exactly like to enter a movement or a church the only
thing that is requested is that one says "I believe" or, even less,
"I want to believe" - the contrary of that is an University - one has to
learn what is taught by the professors and eventually ends "certified"
by the Institution).

So "Open Space" is really OPEN. Harrison walks his talk in a so clear
and genuine way that he doesn't have to claim that he does that. In my
quest for the "foundations" of OST, I have come to the conclusion that
this OPEN nature of OST (not trademarked, I mean) is a "foundation"
even more important then the "theme, circle, board, market place, law,
etc" (not to speak about the so-called "principles" that I still have some
doubts with...)

Second, the fact that he is always available to answer again and again
in a public list (with public Archives), to ALL the questions any one
can have - and frequently to answer to the same questions repeatedly
and always as if it was the first time! This is genuine brotherhood, I think.
Many of us have profited from his experience, always presented as a casual
conversation, has if he has creating nothing and has nothing to teach, except
the experience of having opened the space hundreds of times. This genuine
help to all apprentices, including newcomers with no experience, clearly marks
OST and this list/community - as many others also try to help, and not "give
lessons". (This is the kind of "integrity" I use to call "Ethics"). And it
was after
having seen that during one year, that I decided to order his books, and later
to go to OSonOS in Berlin - where the same willingness to help was present -
but now in real (non-virtual) format.

Third, and that is the reason of this post, I like very much the way he
makes a complex matter look simple. In this case smell and colors - things
anyone can understand - are in the center of the explanation. And then,
"Oh yes, maybe some would prefer to cal this auras". How this is different
(indeed the opposite) to a discourse that would go like that: " first I
have to
explain you what is an *aura* and how to discover the individual auras and the
collective ones... (10 pages of explanations skipped...). Now, if you have
understood that, what you have to do is being very attentive to auras. If you
are not clever or sensible enough to understand auras and spirit, I offer you
two analogies: think about smell or colors. And don't forget that I offer
twice a year a course on "Observing auras - a complementary course to
OST"...

Thanks, Harrison. I think you have taught me more only by "being" than
by the concepts you wrote about... (and I also learned a lot from your
hat - maybe how to be "totally present and yet invisible" - the others only
see the hat ;-)

Artur

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