The Practice of Peace in a Time of Chaos

[Elena A. Marchuk]

Dear Harrison, 
I would order your book if I could, but meanwhile I'm doing a report about my visit to US in February, when I visited 4 Rotary clubs and made a small (4 hours) OS in Sacramento "Rotary in Russia: looking to the future" (questions and opportunities) (with Lisa Heft presence and great help! thank you dear Lisa!) and have come to writing about Open Space of Rotary.

As you probably know Rotary includes 1,2 mln people from different countries, it is a non-government, non-religious, non-political organization and it was organized in 1905 in Chicago at the time of 'wild' capitalism as we call it, don't know about you, but it looks like that we have a sort of such event like it was at that time in our country NOW, so thinking of social problems, of social non-adapted people, and just ... thinking is a good thing to do, ah?

so Rotary has it's good traditions, and good organization based on the 'rules' of the good organization and we now are, well, not struggling but trying to persuade sometimes that we need Leadership workshop combine with the overall conference of all willing rotarians, as it is difficult sometimes to gather twice in a year and that sort of things. and... to add Open Space - which you know is a very awful without-a-plan-activity, which is frightening all the bosses... so I was honoured to be called a PIONEER in bringing OS in Rotary and I think that Rotary IS the OS organization, which just misses the OS Technology!

one of the objects of Rotary is The Advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

Rotary is an open, worldwide organization with the 4-way test
1/ Is it the truth?
2/ is it fair to all concerned?
3/Will it build goodwill and better friendship?
4/will it be beneficial to all concerned?

I think that  Rotary and OS are just twins in reaching mutual understanding and defining interests of people, otherwise - the Law of Two Feet is working!!!! Rotary just missed OS and now we are more and more working with it!

next Rotary in Russia workshop is supposed to be in S-Petersburg, and not in February, but may be in May - to see white nights of North of Russian West-North, so I hope that we include West European countries in our OS community.

my report is in English and it discribes just our visits and my  thoughts and it is in Russian... sorry, but it really gives me some ideas of the peace and methods you are working with. Im still very sorry that I could not participate in your workshop in Estonia, as I was on my way to it...

best wishes

elena
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Harrison Owen 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 1:26 AM
  Subject: The Practice of Peace in a Time of Chaos


  Dear Friends and Colleagues

          As this dreadful war continues, anger and frustration rise. And worse, if worse is possible, the sense of powerlessness to affect events seemingly now out of control -- increases. True, I cannot change the misguided policies and actions of my president in the moment, but I firmly believe we have the ability to mitigate the disastrous results in the present, and lay the ground work for a more peaceful world in the future. And with that ability comes the responsibility to try. Will we be successful? Who knows, but the alternatives are too awful to contemplate.
          I have attempted to assemble the almost 20 year experience with Open Space Technology as a basis for a practical approach to Peace, which I have called The Practice of Peace. Clearly this is not  THE answer, still less the only answer, but after a minimum of 20,000 "Open Spaces" in some 75 countries around the world, we do have a collective experience which says that destructive conflict can be dealt with creatively, and that Peace, in the deepest sense of that word, can be a present experience, should we choose to make it so. I invite you to make that choice and assay the attempt.
          My colleagues in the Open Space Institutes around the world have joined together in the publication of my latest book. All proceeds, including whatever royalty I might have received, will go towards supporting the development of the knowledge and practice of Open Space. The details follow.

  Harrison



  ********************************************
  From the Open Space Institutes



  It's here. Harrison Owen's most recent book is now available through the Open Space Institutes around the world. Inspired by his Open Space work with Israelis and Palestineans, Harrison reflects: 

  Peace is infinitely more than the cessation of hostilities. And Peacemaking neither starts nor ends at the negotiating table, for the objective is not just a set of treaty terms acceptable to all parties, but rather the renewal of meaningful and productive life for the planet, nations, organizations, and each one of us. The search for peace is critical and universal, and there are approaches available to assist our search and they work. It is called, The Practice of Peace. 

  All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to support the use and practice of Open Space around the world. Harrison has waived all rights to royalties, and others have donated their services. Only direct costs for printing and distribution will be taken from the proceeds. 

  DISCOUNTS are available for large quantity orders or in the case of special needs. If you need this book, and money is a problem, please let us know.

  To Order in the USA

  To order using a credit card (through the U.S.), you can purchase online at https://johnaeverett.com/osiproducts/orderform.html. 
  You may also use a credit card by contacting Shannon Lee Alexander-Everett at mailto:sales at openspaceworld.org or 360-441-1218.
   
  To buy by check in different places in the world, contact: 

    Australia / Brian Bainbridge mailto:briansb at mira.net (AU$20, includes shipping and handling)
    Austria / Eric Kolenaty mailto:e.kolenaty at transformation.at
    Canada /  Raymonde Lemire mailto:raymondelemire at videotron.ca ($25CDN, $8CDN shipping)
         Order form available from the Open Space Institute of Canada at http://www.openspacecanada.org/books.htm
    Denmark, Netherlands / Gerard Muller mailto:gm at openspace.dk
    Germany / Michael M Pannwitz mailto:mmpanne at snafu.de
    Haiti / John Engle mailto:englejohn at hotmail.com (250 Haitian gourdes, shipping 50 Haitian gourdes)
    Israel / Tova Averbuch mailto:averbuch at post.tau.ac.il
    Sweden / Thomas Herrmann mailto:thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
    Taiwan / Gail West mailto:icataiw at ms69.hinet.net
    United States / Peggy Holman or Shannon Lee Alexander-Everett mailto:sales at openspaceworld.org ($20USD, plus $7.85 shipping)

  To see more of the book, visit http://www.openspaceworld.com/intro%20to%20pop.htm.


  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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