SV: Testing and Close and closeness

Fri Apr 25 15:27:25 PDT 2003

Harrison  Wrote:
“For ourselves, how do we open our personal space so that in this present
moment we can be fully here -- fully alive? And for our neighbors,
colleagues, clients and friends, how can we open that communal space so
breath (and meaningful conversation) becomes a possibility? Opening this
sort of space is rather different, I think, from filling the air with trite
platitudes and the power of positive thinking. It goes to a deeper place.”

I am thinking that what if I just could live the principles and the law  -
always think that I am meeting the right people, that whatever happens is
the right thing, that when it’s starts its starts and when its over it is
and if I don’t like it – take my feet to where I better would like to be. It
looks so easy but it’s so difficult just for one to live, to “walk the talk”
in every days life.  But there where it has to start isn’t it – if we all
start right where we are I am sure that it will make a different because
through my behaviour I will affect others. As a tiny example I hade a
conversation to day with my very best friend and we where talking about that
she should spend here time where she wanted to spend it and not where she
thought she was supposed to because of traditions, expectations etc. If she
had went to where she was supposed to and not wanted to – it would have
shown through negative energy.
So I think that one way to open my personal space is to live the principles
and the law, although I will have to deal with fears (my own as well as
others), breaking “behaviour rules”, and most important finding my own
truth.
And in my ongoing work of trying to find that, (my truth and needs), I just
stumbled over the English word close. To close the door, to close the space.
But if you put some more letters to the word it has the total opposite
meaning – closeness – to be close to another person, to be close to one an
other.  It was when a person said to me “you must look for closeness” and I
keep on thinking on the meaning of “closing something” instead of what she
really mean (to be close to someone), that I started to think about it.  I
don’t know but in a way there must be a meaning with that. If I take same
words for close and closeness in Swedish there is nothing similar at all.
That some two cents or two öre thoughts late at night.
All the best
Eva

Bästa hälsningar

Eva P Svensson
............................................................................
............

EPS Human Invest AB
"Verksamhetsutveckling genom människor"
Anåsbergsvägen 22
S-439 34  ONSALA
Tel & Fax 0300-615 05
Mobil 0706 - 89 85 50
eva at epshumaninvest.se

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]För Harrison Owen
Skickat: den 24 april 2003 23:37
Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Ämne: Re: Testing

At 06:44 PM 4/24/2003 +0200, Eva P Svensson wrote:

So quiet - just have to test that I'm still connected to you all!

The silence is in fact deafening. And particularly noticeable for this
group. When silences come I find the reasons are usually three: a) Nothing
to say. b) Nothing need be said. c) What could, or should, be said takes
people to a place they don't want to go. I vote for c)

The events of the past month are, indeed, a little overwhelming. The US
invades Iraq, SARS breaks out. And now North Korea threatens to do a nuclear
demonstration -- whatever that might mean. Sufficient to take your breath
away. Forget about talking. And the prospects for the immediate future are
hardly encouraging. Speaking just for myself, I can say that at such times,
space becomes claustrophobically small. And my daily activities verge on the
irrelevant. Silence. Very quiet.

It is quite possible that we are really in the midst of very, very, deep
doo-doo, from which there is no easy or obvious escape. Under the
circumstances it is always nice to have somebody to beat on and blame.
George the Shrub comes immediately to mind. But regardless of what he did do
that he shouldn't have -- or didn't do and should have, the situation is
probably well beyond him. From where I sit, he remains what he has always
been -- an embarrassment. As Birgitt might be tempted to say -- We have a
lot of Dead Moose.

And yet in such moments, there is the possibility of enormous learning. For
ourselves, how do we open our personal space so that in this present moment
we can be fully here -- fully alive? And for our neighbors, colleagues,
clients and friends, how can we open that communal space so breath (and
meaningful conversation) becomes a possibility? Opening this sort of space
is rather different, I think, from filling the air with trite platitudes and
the power of positive thinking. It goes to a deeper place.

Slightly less than a year ago, I was privileged to work with a group of
Palestinians and Israelis in Rome. Relatively speaking, the world at that
point (compared to the present moment) seemed almost idyllic -- but for
those coming from The Middle East it appeared something other than a rose
garden. And in their presence, I could only share something of the brittle
fatalism reflected in the forced smiles, and nervous laughter with which we
began our gathering. Knowing full well that I could never be fully where
they were, I nevertheless felt compelled to share my own vulnerability -- In
my opening of the circle on that first day I said something like..."I had
come because I cared for my friends in Palestine and Israel, and also for
myself and my children. And although the people in that circle may feel
themselves isolated and alone in their own private Hell with their own
agonizing story, that story was also the story of our world. Like it or not
they were in the hot crucible of the future of humankind. The future of all
of us is being created in that strange place known as the Holy Land, even as
it has been for millennia. So I cared, but I was also on the edge of despair
or beyond. I could not think of any way out. The issues were so deep and
intractable that movement appeared denied. Space was closed. But still I
came, and still I cared – as I presumed was true for each of them as well."

My learning during those days in Rome was profound. It became startling
clear that neither I, nor any single person there, had the wisdom, courage,
strength or perseverance to get us where we needed to go. But none of us
were called upon to do that -- we all were -- and all rose to the challenge.
In that rich space which contained all of our hopes, fears, frustrations and
anxieties, we collectively found a collegiality which included and
transcended them all.  Needless to say, we did not bring peace to The Middle
East, but we surely experienced peace in that moment. And that was a moment
we will never forget.

So maybe it is time to break our silence here on good old OSLIST -- share
what we are, and what we are learning.

Harrison

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

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