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

[Michael Herman]

Harrison Owen wrote:

>
> Thanks Glory -- and to all the others who have responded. I have been
> forwarding the stuff to the Plexus folks just so they have some idea
> where our heads are. I will talk to Henri and Curt next week, and
> while I doubt definitive decisions will be made, I will let you know
> what's coming down -- or up. Whatever????
>
> Harrison


hi all, if it's not too late to get in the game here, i'll add a few
thoughts, too.  not sure if they go anywhere helpful or not.  it's quite
a question and quite a discussion already... thanks to all for that.
 and here is what i add...

first, i am reminded of the varela quote that goes something like.. ."if
a living system is unhealthy [or perhaps just immature] then the way to
make it healthier [or perhaps more mature] is to reconnect it with more
of itself.  also, i heard an interview yesterday with architect and
community designer william mcdonough.  among the many wow things he
said, he suggested that commerce could be conducted as healing.   open
space tech started way back as a way to get somethign done.  after some
years adn reflection, some story grew up around that and the talk on
metanet and then this list was about stories and where ost had worked.
 in the last few years, we seem to do more and more about hybrid designs
and connecting to other practices/forms.  and most recently harrison has
introduced this notion of practice of peace, which begins to look into
power.  as i watch us evolve around this little medicine wheel from
doing to reflecting to storying to designing to power(doing again, but
bigger), my guess is that the gift of 'practice of peace' will
ultimately lie in the practice.  if we do it over and over, sooner or
later we screw it up, get surprised, whatever.  in reflecting we find
we're not in charge, find compassion, rest into our passion (suffering)
and capacity to care.  my question here then is what are the
implications of ost as *practice* and as *healing*?

springing from healing, related by etymology and by varela to what might
be called 'wholing'... it seems important that any study would embody (i
love that word, peggy) a state of no separation between those studying
and those being studied.  springing from what glory says, i think it's
essential that ost be studied from *within*.   chris' bit about fractals
reminds me too that we, each of us, walks into the circle and to some
extent embodies open space.  so studying from within open space might
also include studying os *as* open space.  how is it that the topology
of individual consciousness gives shape to the rippling out and also
inviting of other into an expanding organizational consciousness?

related to equality, i think that is perhaps just the outer first step
that allows for the inner experience of 'mutuality' in which we practice
allowing the experience and even existence of other (apparently
separate) beings to be as real to us as our own experiences and
existence is.   i often distinguish with regard to equality that people
are not equal, but their access to the attention of the group, via
posting or announcing, is.  also all are equal in their right to move,
and their responsibility to maximize their own learning and
contributing.  access, space, responsibility is *shared* mutually.  this
is very new for us, i think.  reminds me of a workshop exercise in which
pairs were asked to connect one person's hand to the back of the other
persons heart, and to bring attention to the space where the hand and
back met... THEN speak from the shared space there... speak from the
*we* and not use any "I" or "me" statements at all.  very hard! because
so much you don't know.  so my question is about language and how open
space fosters the development of a shared, mutual language of "we".

and i suppose my last bit would be about this notion of attention.  we
don't make action happen in os.  we don't even do anything to motivate
or otherwise raise the 'energy' of the group.  we only 'invite
attention'.  when it shows up, we direct it and stand back.  what goes
up on the wall is, to me, the mind of the organization.  topics coming
and going on that wall, if maintained over time in ongoing open space,
as clouds in the sky.  but as soon as we seek to study that sky, it's
another outside thing... so we can only, i think study it by watching
what our own individual attention does as we watch the clouds go by.
 and the clouds only clear as individual minds get cleaner, clearer...
so this makes me think that the only way to study what happens in os is
to study the evolutionary effects of os on individual consciousness.
 might be hard to separate from life.  <grin>

m

--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
(312) 280-7838

http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
http://www.openspaceworld.org - open space institute usa

...inviting organization into movement

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