Conversing about..."the right conditions"

[Harrison Owen]

At 01:32 AM 9/10/2003 +0000, Marei wrote:

>But thinking about the future I can ask which conditions are supportive
>and which are not: which make change, development, transformation more
>possible than others?
>If one of the things necessary for differenciation (as I agree with) is a
>nutritious environment - than we can influence the possibilities for
>transformation by sharing nutrition (physically or in other dimensions).
>
>And referring to "wrong" conditions in organisations, the world, our
>heads: Maybe they seem not to be helpful or not fitting anymore or born
>out of anxiousness. But at least they were the "right" conditions at
>another time or place. And in the moment being they are still "right" for
>the organisation or the person and we - judging them - just don't have all
>the insights...
>
>What I decided to try doing is both: totally accept the past and the now -
>but do my share to influence the future (and accept whatever is coming).
>Does that make sense to you?
>
>Marei

At the risk of confounding confusion, I find it most useful to eliminate
the notions of past, present and future, and concentrate on Now. I don't
think this is quite as hard as it sounds, indeed for me it becomes a
blinding flash of the obvious. We all know that the past is "over" and the
future "hasn't happened yet" -- so like it or not -- all we have is Now
(the present). Then the question is -- How big is your Now? Is it big
enough to include everything that we used to call "past" and "future," or
is it just a tiny speck of a moment into which we frantically try a push
everything we want to accomplish???? And if the latter, then we have the
added agony about a past that is no longer available (memories) or deep
anxiety about a future that always just ahead of us (dreams). When I get it
"right" my memories are always with me -- they just get richer and deeper.
And my dreams are not some inaccessible impossibility, but a very present
work in progress. Sometimes, of course, I lose it, space closes and I am
left with a frigid (or hot) moment  so small I can barely turn around, and
my fear becomes almost unbearable. At such a time, I find several deep
breaths not only useful, but essential. My space opens, my now expands --
and life becomes possible, even if the details remain the same.

Sounds pretty exotic and esoteric -- but I think such an expanded Now is
precisely the experience of Open Space. And to the extent that millions of
folks around the world have been there, it can't be all that strange.

Harrison




Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
207-763-3261 (Summer)
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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