Open Space ,Self-Organizing Systems, and The Plexus Institute

[John Engle]

harrison,

thank you for the invitation to share our questions.
the ongoing question for me is this:

why is it that in quite a few cultures, at least those
that i am familiar with, human beings are "wired" or
"programmed" in a way which leads us to gravitate
toward centralizing power in organizations, and for
trying to take responsibility for things totally
divorced from our own behavior?

perhaps i am overlooking the many examples where these
tendencies don't occur. just seems that so often that
this is the case. for example, i could be working with
groups of street boys and older boys insisting that
younger ones work with me while they themselves don't,
or literacy teachers who will invest a full day
discussing what the government should do about
literacy, when there is no evidence to suggest that
their suggestions will even be considered...or, a
group of leaders in an NGO (nongovernmental
organization) who are trying to dictate the services
that unpaid volunteers give to the organization...the
list could go on and on.

my question is, where does this come from and why is
it so difficult for us to see the folly in it? ...at
least folly for the well intentioned people. its
totally understandable that people who want to
dominate and exploit would behave in this manner. but
we all watch, wonderful people with good intentions
(including ourselves) frequently gravitate toward
centralizing power in organizations and trying to take
responsibility for things divorced from our own
behavior. seems that these things clog up a fluid and
life-giving self-organizing process.

john


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