report from "How can I practice peace?" in Chicago
Ted Ernst
ted at chicagohumanist.org
Sun Jun 23 17:52:39 PDT 2002
I was indeed sleeping, but here's my story.
I met Michael Herman last November and was immediately drawn to open space.
He helped me draft my invitation (posted her previously) for a one-day, free
event entitled "How can I practice peace?" I sent the invitation to my
personal email address book (which includes friends of friends from me
"replying to all" when I get those chain letters) of over 2,000 as well as
spamming dozens of listservs here in Chicago for peace groups, lefty groups,
religious groups, ethnic groups, etc.
I kept it free because I hate to handle money and I hate being expected to
provide more than I have to. In spite of this, about 40 people registered
(they had to register to get a return email with the address of the event).
I published 9am as the start time, and about 9:35 I started to wonder at
what time I decide that the right people are in fact assembled and it's time
to start. I had a circle of 45 chairs and only about 8 or 9 people in
attendance. They seemed to be conversing quite well and enjoying themselves
so I didn't feel pressure to get going sooner than I wanted to, but I did
wonder about these principles of when it starts is the right time and
whoever comes is the right people.
At about 10 minutes to 10, I started ringing the bells softly and given that
there were so few people, they gathered relatively quickly for the opening.
As I was walking the circle another man came in and sat down. When I
invited people to post their topics, the first person to approach the center
took his paper and marker back to his seat, thus setting a precedent that
most others followed. I hadn't seen that happen before in the other open
spaces I've been in. This time seemed to drag on forever. I wasn't
anxious, but was actively patient while I waited for people to stand up to
announce their topics and then approach the wall.
The first person to approach the wall was the gentleman who came in late and
when I asked him to announce his name and topic he said, "It's right there
on the paper." "Breathe," I reminded myself, while I let go of controlling
anything. Others soon followed putting their topics on the wall and they
were more cooperative sharing their names and topics. Two more people
entered the room during this topic-posting process and jumped right in after
greeting everyone individually.
One woman asked me if she could arrange the topics by time on the wall. I
took this opportunity to share with her two answers to be used for any
question. :-) "Great, why don't you take care of that?" and "What would you
LIKE to do?" While she started that I offered that while she was doing
that, I couldn't guarantee that conveners wouldn't change their times slots
as they perused the agenda for the day. Finally this agenda setting seemed
finished and I opened up the marketplace and left the building (coming
around back inside through a different door, staying out of the main room).
When I finally made it back to the wall, I noticed 4 topics in the first
time-slot, two of which had been combined. I looked again and saw all 12
people in one smaller circle (no other sessions met). Interesting. I'd
never seen that before in the other small open spaces I'd been to. Oh well,
"The only thing that could have!" I picked up coffee cups and wandered
about a bit, in and out of the main room. I did notice at one point that
the man who didn't want to say his name out loud had written "cancelled" on
his topic and had decided to leave entirely. Oh well.
Eventually I felt comfortable enough to sit in on the conversation to
listen. Lunch was scheduled for 11:30, immediately after the first session,
and people were invited to visit neighborhood establishments (I'd said this
in my confirmation email, but forgotten to mention it that day). While
someone did ask if anyone was hungry shortly after 11:30, the group didn't
break up until somewhat closer to 12.
At lunchtime another participant showed up and I brought him up to speed on
what was going on. 3 sessions were scheduled in the afternoon with either 1
or 2 topics per session. Again, I stayed out of the way for the start of
the first session, but soon felt it was okay for me to sit in (I love to
talk and this topic is very dear to me, but somehow I did not feel any need
to speak in the session). Curiously, the group decided to stay together for
all 3 after-lunch sessions as they had in the morning session. They talked
about all the topics, deciding together that they all flowed together and
that it was fine to just go from one to another, without regard to time or
place. They certainly used the law of two feet to smoke or get coffee or
use the restroom or whatever, even spontaneously taking breaks as necessary,
but the main conversation never really stopped all afternoon.
I didn't have a watch so didn't know when the mythical 4:00 was going to
arrive, and we'd have our closing, but at some point, it felt as if I needed
to be out of the conversation so I would better know when the "when it's
over" time had arrived. It wasn't too much longer when a bunch of people
came out of the main room to do whatever they needed to do and one of them
told me she saw the "poof" of the group breaking up.
People had left at various points throughout the day so only 6 were left for
the closing. I passed around my bells and asked for learnings or growings
or futures or whatever. Everyone had pretty deep things to say, and it
seemed that all really enjoyed their time together and hoped to continue
being more peaceful every day and sharing that with others.
I'm curious about this happening of no break-out sessions. I haven't read
too many open space stories, but I don't think I've seen this one mentioned.
Have others seen this as well?
I now hope to engage yesterday's participants in a process of determining if
and how a future event could be held. I would like to invite them into the
invitation process for next time, hopefully thus crafting an invitation that
appeals to more impassioned people.
It feels good to have experienced this "whatever happens is the only thing
that could have" for an event that was driven basically by me. I look
forward to bringing together others to drive going forward.
peace,
ted
___
Humanize the Earth! http://www.chicagohumanist.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Herman" <mherman at GLOBALCHICAGO.NET>
> i do hope this means that there is a story on it's way.
>
> it's almost one a.m. here in chicago. i hope ted is sleeping.
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>From Sun Jun 23 19:03:39 2002
Message-Id: <SUN.23.JUN.2002.190339.0700.>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 19:03:39 -0700
Reply-To: bjp1 at cox.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: BJ Peters <bjp1 at cox.net>
Subject: Re: report from "How can I practice peace?" in Chicago
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Ted-- Thanks for sharing your wonderful adventure holding open space. It
sounds like it was exactly right for everyone. As to your question, I have
frequently seen groups decide to all stay together and combine topics or
to make sure all topics were discussed. It's their space, after all. . .<br>
<br>
BJ Peters<br>
<br>
Ted Ernst wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:026d01c21b19$83df7f70$6b283a41 at S0026976057">
<pre wrap="">I was indeed sleeping, but here's my story.<br><br>I met Michael Herman last November and was immediately drawn to open space.<br>He helped me draft my invitation (posted her previously) for a one-day, free<br>event entitled "How can I practice peace?" I sent the invitation to my<br>personal email address book (which includes friends of friends from me<br>"replying to all" when I get those chain letters) of over 2,000 as well as<br>spamming dozens of listservs here in Chicago for peace groups, lefty groups,<br>religious groups, ethnic groups, etc.<br><br>I kept it free because I hate to handle money and I hate being expected to<br>provide more than I have to. In spite of this, about 40 people registered<br>(they had to register to get a return email with the address of the event).<br>I published 9am as the start time, and about 9:35 I started to wonder at<br>what time I decide that the right people are in fact assembled and it's time<br>to start. I had a cir
cle of 45 chairs and only about 8 or 9 people in<br>attendance. They seemed to be conversing quite well and enjoying themselves<br>so I didn't feel pressure to get going sooner than I wanted to, but I did<br>wonder about these principles of when it starts is the right time and<br>whoever comes is the right people.<br><br>At about 10 minutes to 10, I started ringing the bells softly and given that<br>there were so few people, they gathered relatively quickly for the opening.<br>As I was walking the circle another man came in and sat down. When I<br>invited people to post their topics, the first person to approach the center<br>took his paper and marker back to his seat, thus setting a precedent that<br>most others followed. I hadn't seen that happen before in the other open<br>spaces I've been in. This time seemed to drag on forever. I wasn't<br>anxious, but was actively patient while I waited for people to stand up to<br>announce their topics and then approach the wall.<
br><br>The first person to approach the wall was the gentleman who came in late and<br>when I asked him to announce his name and topic he said, "It's right there<br>on the paper." "Breathe," I reminded myself, while I let go of controlling<br>anything. Others soon followed putting their topics on the wall and they<br>were more cooperative sharing their names and topics. Two more people<br>entered the room during this topic-posting process and jumped right in after<br>greeting everyone individually.<br><br>One woman asked me if she could arrange the topics by time on the wall. I<br>took this opportunity to share with her two answers to be used for any<br>question. :-) "Great, why don't you take care of that?" and "What would you<br>LIKE to do?" While she started that I offered that while she was doing<br>that, I couldn't guarantee that conveners wouldn't change their times slots<br>as they perused the agenda for the day. Finally this agenda setting seemed<br>finished an
d I opened up the marketplace and left the building (coming<br>around back inside through a different door, staying out of the main room).<br><br>When I finally made it back to the wall, I noticed 4 topics in the first<br>time-slot, two of which had been combined. I looked again and saw all 12<br>people in one smaller circle (no other sessions met). Interesting. I'd<br>never seen that before in the other small open spaces I'd been to. Oh well,<br>"The only thing that could have!" I picked up coffee cups and wandered<br>about a bit, in and out of the main room. I did notice at one point that<br>the man who didn't want to say his name out loud had written "cancelled" on<br>his topic and had decided to leave entirely. Oh well.<br><br>Eventually I felt comfortable enough to sit in on the conversation to<br>listen. Lunch was scheduled for 11:30, immediately after the first session,<br>and people were invited to visit neighborhood establishments (I'd said this<br>in my conf
irmation email, but forgotten to mention it that day). While<br>someone did ask if anyone was hungry shortly after 11:30, the group didn't<br>break up until somewhat closer to 12.<br><br>At lunchtime another participant showed up and I brought him up to speed on<br>what was going on. 3 sessions were scheduled in the afternoon with either 1<br>or 2 topics per session. Again, I stayed out of the way for the start of<br>the first session, but soon felt it was okay for me to sit in (I love to<br>talk and this topic is very dear to me, but somehow I did not feel any need<br>to speak in the session). Curiously, the group decided to stay together for<br>all 3 after-lunch sessions as they had in the morning session. They talked<br>about all the topics, deciding together that they all flowed together and<br>that it was fine to just go from one to another, without regard to time or<br>place. They certainly used the law of two feet to smoke or get coffee or<br>use the restroom or
whatever, even spontaneously taking breaks as necessary,<br>but the main conversation never really stopped all afternoon.<br><br>I didn't have a watch so didn't know when the mythical 4:00 was going to<br>arrive, and we'd have our closing, but at some point, it felt as if I needed<br>to be out of the conversation so I would better know when the "when it's<br>over" time had arrived. It wasn't too much longer when a bunch of people<br>came out of the main room to do whatever they needed to do and one of them<br>told me she saw the "poof" of the group breaking up.<br><br>People had left at various points throughout the day so only 6 were left for<br>the closing. I passed around my bells and asked for learnings or growings<br>or futures or whatever. Everyone had pretty deep things to say, and it<br>seemed that all really enjoyed their time together and hoped to continue<br>being more peaceful every day and sharing that with others.<br><br>I'm curious about this happening of no
break-out sessions. I haven't read<br>too many open space stories, but I don't think I've seen this one mentioned.<br>Have others seen this as well?<br><br>I now hope to engage yesterday's participants in a process of determining if<br>and how a future event could be held. I would like to invite them into the<br>invitation process for next time, hopefully thus crafting an invitation that<br>appeals to more impassioned people.<br><br>It feels good to have experienced this "whatever happens is the only thing<br>that could have" for an event that was driven basically by me. I look<br>forward to bringing together others to drive going forward.<br><br>peace,<br>ted<br><br>___<br>Humanize the Earth! <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.chicagohumanist.org">http://www.chicagohumanist.org</a><br><br>----- Original Message -----<br>From: "Michael Herman" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:mherman at GLOBALCHICAGO.NET"><mherman at GLOBALCHICAGO.NET></a><br>
<br></pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">i do hope this means that there is a story on it's way.<br><br>it's almost one a.m. here in chicago. i hope ted is sleeping.<br></pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!----><br>*<br>*<br>==========================================================<br><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a><br>------------------------------<br>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<br>view the archives of <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu">oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu</a>,<br>Visit:<br><br><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html">http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</a><br><br></pre>
</blockquote>
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