A duty to take part?

[Michael Herman]

hi doug...

a few weeks ago i found myself holding a space for a
relatively small group, 15 or 20 people.  a 1.5-day
conference to establish a regional organization.  total
startup, and this happening a long way from my home in chicago.

i kept my mouth shut and mostly disappeared for the first
night, though at moments of structuring talk i was seriously
tempted.

the next day, the group was a bit smaller and still working
on structure.  it was the main work of the meeting.  and i
made a decision to cross this line we make for ourselves
between inside and outside, participating and holding.  i
became an active participant.

the way i rationalized this was that what we were really
talking about was creating this community organization as an
ongoing open invitation.  from this perspective, it's
totally natural that i'd participate.  just as it would be
totally unnatural to go to an event planning meeting and sit
silently by waiting for planning group to invent ost for
themselves.  i'm also involved in creating the chicago
version of same network, so i do know something of the
mission and work of the group.

so did i cross the line or just move it?  hard to say.  what
seems most important in practice is to know what Out really
is, and what In really is.  to know what is offering and
what is responsibility.  to know presence and letting go.
and to be able to choose our place on the many spectrums at
work in any event in consciously and skillfully.

i think i've also just convinced myself that it's more
authentic to be actively choosing moment by moment how much
in or out i will be, rather than always defaulting and
limiting myself to Out.  resting in this moment of choosing
and awareness seems model what we are asking participants to
do... consciously choosing and monitoring their own learning
  (observing/taking in) and contribution (offering and
output).

so i guess i'd say that the Duty is to pay attention and
make our choices carefully.

nice to be back on the list here after a month in nepal.
thanks for the hook, doug.  m





Douglas D. Germann, Sr. wrote:
> Hi--
>
> In _The Paulo Freire Reader_ is a challenging new insight for me into what
> we are about:
>
> This is the new point for me, the facilitator must not withhold what
> knowledge he or she has: has in fact a duty to share, so that the inquiry
> might be carried forward. The facilitator is learner, too. A co-learner, a
> co-facilitator.
>
> Freire (p 221): "Educators cannot refrain from putting forward ideas, nor
> can they refrain either from engaging in discussion with their students on
> the ideas they have put forward. Basically, this has to do with the near
> mystery of the praxis of educators who live out their democratic insights:
> they must affirm themselves without thereby disaffirming their students."
>
> Democratic in this excerpt has for me the same meaning as opening space:
> Whoever comes, Whatever happens, and the unvoiced Whoever speaks has an
> equal claim to being heard.
>
> So what does this say about our trying to stay neutral, to staying out of
> the discussions, to how we understand what it means to "hold space?"
>
> It means I can take part, I might in fact have a duty to take part, but I
> have to be careful that it does not result in people taking me to be the
> authority. So my work needs to be questioning, questioning myself as much
> as concepts, stating through my questioning that I do not have answers, but
> am a seeker with them. There needs to be a way to proceed without shutting
> down the procession! So go slow, interject only little.
>
> Ask questions, in an attitude of exploration. Do not direct, but do say
> what I have seen of the terrain.
>
> What do you think?
>
>                               :-Doug. Germann
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>


--

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 - worldwide open space

...inviting organization into movement

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html