A First Step From Rome

[Harrison Owen]

One of the conference organizers wrote briefly about the return from Rome.
Seems like something may actually have gotten started.

Despite the worries and difficulties of our return trip to Israel (the
invasion of Israel into Ramallah, the intense search and security checks of
our patient Palestinian friends at the airport) the comraderie and
friendship remained. I travelled back on the bus with the Palestinians from
the airport to Jerusalem and they had their first meeting to decide what
their next steps would be. They wanted to do it immediately in case there
would be difficulties getting together in the near future.
All the people I have spoken to since our return feel blessed that we had
the opportunity to be together.

The experience in Rome provides an opportunity for deep learning about this
thing we call Open Space, and possibly an even deeper learning about
possible pathways to peace. Since my time 10 years ago in South Africa, it
has been clear to me that OS has enormous power for what we might call
conflict resolution, but it is a resolution that does not eliminate
conflict. If anything the conflict is magnified, but space is provided so
that the conflict, and the energy it contains, may become a positive force.
All of this takes place without any carefully crafted process or procedure.
In a most remarkable way, it seems to happen all by itself. Which leads me
to the conclusion that the apparent magic has nothing to do with Open Space
Technology, and everything to do with the power of self-organization. All
we do in Open Space is to create the conditions under which a completely
natural process can start or re-start. If true, this is really good news,
for it would mean that we already have at our disposal the "tools"
necessary for peace. We have only to be fully what we are. Thoughts?

Harrison




Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

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