A Report from the Field -- Very Long

[Harrison Owen]

At 10:28 PM 6/11/2002 -0400, glory wrote:

>I suspect others may have had a first glimpse, of sorts, through your
>story. As I read, I imagined, in you, an even larger openness of heart,
>meaning, passion and spirit than the last time we met in person... Is this
>true?  I think that the story of how OS (and OST) has transformed you (and
>us, as well) may hold key learnings and insights, on multiple levels. It
>starts with the personal experience which, when shared, shapes the
>collective wisdom and forms the field of possibility - no certainties and,
>yet, the potentiality drives the process anyway...

I have to say that the privilege of opening space is one of the most
selfish acts -- certainly for me. Every time, and particularly this time in
Rome, the gifts to me are certainly equal to anything I might have given in
terms of personal clarification and enlargement of my consciousness of who
I truly am. I learn time and time again that when I get out of the way so
that others can be fully themselves, I experience my own fullness.

>Anyway HO, you rang my bell with that story within the open space story
>opening... Oh yeah! Do you think that it helped or altered the process in
>any particular way?

Over the years I have come to believe that the Opening is a very special
moment in which I as facilitator hold the lives of those who have entrusted
their lives to me in my hand. What I say, or more importantly, what I am
makes a real difference. But it is not about writing a speech, which tends
to be a rather rational act. To be sure I find words and phrases passing
through my mind some days before the event, but i don't think I am looking
for the "right" words so much as looking for the right place from which to
speak and be, so that when everything starts I can truly be in The Moment.
It is also about brevity. My presence front and center is surely
contributory at the start, but then I must quickly get out of the way. My
continued presence will close the space. On balance I still feel it to be
true that anybody with a good head and a good heart can "do" and Open
Space. But it will take a lifetime to learn how to do it well. And for me
it has been a very rich lifetime. So is the Opening important? Yes. Would
things work out anyhow if you screwed up somehow? Yes

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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