OSLIST Digest - 28 Sep 2001 to 29 Sep 2001 (#2001-239)

[michael dobbie]

Hello all,
        this is my first posting after 10 or more
months on this list, thank you for having me here, it
was great to have met many of you at the last OSonOS.

   Who We Are, as an online community of individuals,
is the question I am asking of myself today.

   We have for the most part proposed the Opening of
Space here for the purposes of sharing and comparing
notes in our work as organizational facilitators,
teachers as well as learners...
   ...and yet we also be human beings...
   ...that often very confusing place of being and
existence that still baffles even the most
accomplished amongst us
   ...and thus if we can indeed admit to our 'being
human', having within us elements of wild
contradiction and conflict of purpose, shall we not
also admit the point at which all destruction and war
must find its seed?
   In the light of recent world-shaking-to-the-core
events and their implications upon our own
being-struck-to-the-core, many are being moved to
discussions of some kind of sorting out process.

   And so again, Who/What shall we be about on this
list?
   Where do we draw the line between our human needs
and our professional ones? How much Space do we allow
in this Cyberspace of unlimited, ongoing Space?
  Jeff Aitken seems to have captured some of this
dilemma in his recent words:

*******************************************************
   Date:Fri, 28 Sep 2001 From:Jeff Aitken <ja at svn.net>
   Subject: Re: circle of support

   I struggle with what I wrote. I do not want to
pretend to be a moral arbiter of what is appropriate
for this list. And I do not want to walk away from the
importance of what Sept 11 has opened up in the world,

and what the US has to learn, and offer.

I think I wanted to offer a "mindfulness bell", like
the one that is struck every so often at Plum
Village*, inviting us to return to our breathing for
a moment, and begin again.

This list has a unique purpose, we are a unique
network. What does this time mean for us in
particular?

I will trust what emerges here; I will delete what I
don't choose to read; I will trust my intuition about
what and when to write. It's all good. Carry on!

Jeff

*Community founded by Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.
*******************************************************


   And so I sit here reading recent posts, some of
which anger me (such as Paul Everett's comments below
concerning the Russian sociologist) making me wonder
how far we are going to go.
   So I wonder what it is that needs to be
acknowledged here and what possible guidelines may be
necessary if we wish to push deeper here amongst
ourselves?
   Do we want to make an agreement that conflict and
contention producing comments and discussions (and any
ensuing chaos) is welcomed and may indeed lead to
richer unfoldment as to who it is we are as
professional space holder/group facilitator? That
allowing more of who we are as human beings (and thus
allowing more conflict) is necessary for us to go
deeper in learning from each other here?

   I don't think it's just this group, it's the entire
world that is currently having to re-define it's safe
levels of conversation, it's comfortability with what
might potentially be spoken and brought up.

   Having placed ourselves here in the role of
'organizers', with the task of being "Space-Keepers"
it seems most incumbent upon us to be very clear, to
have clear boundaries as to what and how far it is we
want to go...again, to reiterate...being the
human beings that we are...that there remains within
us an ever present potential of misunderstanding (and
of war and yes destruction and much hurt)...which
require some sort of space holding rules, safe passage
for one and all.
      Thanks everyone,
                 Michael.


PS: I have yet to recognize if there is a moderator
(again, facilitator, space keeper?) on this list or
not, I'm sure there is but I've already forgotten. For
instance it would help me to no end when trying to
read some of the posts on this list if someone could
clarify the policy on some these hugely long (often
other font, HTML? duplicated) emails.
  And what's with some of the replies here, does the
whole post always need to be resent again? Yes I
realize most of you 'creatives' (ie. too damm lazy
types) do not fall under the 'type A' personality that
holds the rest of us in continual guilt and anxiety as
to every word we put out, but could the moderator here
just help this long-post-challenged net critter out
with the current netiquette rules here?


> Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 From: "J. Paul Everett"
<JPESeeker at aol.com> > Subject: Re: Fw: Boris
Kagarlitsky, Moscow Times
>
> Artur;
>
> My comment is that Boris writes trash that isn't
> worth much time.  So, I'll not spend any dignifying
it.  Bill Becker was far too kind.
>
> Paul



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