OST and the present moment

[Peggy Holman]

Julie,

Your words are such a gift!  When I read your story about the Peacemaker
conference, it took my breath away.  And this message, touches the essence
of what so profoundly draws me to Open Space.  To me, it is an invitation to
be most wholly myself AND be connected in community.  It is this magical
place where something often treated as irreconcilable -- the needs of the
individual and the needs of the collective -- both have space.  Perhaps it
does this so well because it brings us, individually and collectively
totally into the now.

(I seem to recall something about OS and Growing our Now from someone kind
of central to OST...now who wrote that book?  Thank you Harrison!  :-)

Peggy


----- Original Message -----
From: "Julie Smith" <jsmith at MOSQUITONET.COM>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 11:53 AM
Subject: OST and the present moment


> Michael, Judi and Chris started our OST Practice Workshop with the
> question "What is Open Space Technology?"  Many of us in the room had
> just finished the 2-day Becoming A Peacemaker conference, so the
> question gave us an opportunity to reflect upon what that experience
> meant to us.  I had many long minutes to ponder the question as the
> microphone traveled through the hands of the 60-or-so people in the
> room.
>
> It was a bit of an anxious time for me because I wanted to find the
> right words to express my current understanding of OST, AND I knew I
> would be in the middle of that circle in a short time, having been
> invited to open the space for the practice workshop.
>
> As those minutes ticked by, I calmed my anxiety by concentrating on my
> breathing and focusing my mind on the present moment. As I took a long
> slow look around the circle, it suddenly occurred to me that OST invites
> groups of people to collectively enter that state of being in the
> present moment.  I realized the four principles and the one law invite
> acceptance of what exists here and now, and full engagement in the
> present moment.  What I'm reaching for on the individual level, OST
> reaches for on the collective level.  OST is a fractal of the individual
> practice of being in the present moment. Same practice at different
> scales.
>
> That was a significant insight for me because so often I feel the time I
> spend in collective activities, like my job, require levels of planning
> and expectation that draw me away from my individual pursuit of flow and
> living in the moment.  I'm still trying to comprehend the implications
> of that for me.... how OST might help me bring my work life into better
> alignment with my spiritual practice.
>
> This feels like a half-completed thought, and a nice resting place on
> the journey.  The rest will emerge when it's good and ready, I suppose.
> Any help along the way would be most appreciated.
>
> Julie
>
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