Opening Space for a Closing World

[Chris Corrigan]

Harrison Owen wrote:

  > So I thought to myself, thought I, how to open some more space -
anywhere,
> anyhow, with anyone???? Doing an OS is cool, but surely that represents but
> a tiny fraction of the opportunities available.  So come on Folks (Lurkers
> included) how do we open up some more space? And how are we doing right now.
> Perhaps if we shared we cold give each other some really good ideas.

Lovely images Harrison, the photos AND the words.

When I first started consulting, I took my business model from the model
of the Elder's helper in Ojibway society.  That role basically sees a
person working with an Elder to support her (or him) in any way possible
to ensure that the wisdom in there gets out into the world.  This means
everything from bringing the Elder water, to arranging the teaching
space in a way that is conducive to learning.  It means preparing
medicines, prayers, food and ceremony when we are doing things that work
with Spirit, or invite "manidoo" (Ojibway for both "Spirit" and
"Mystery") into the mix.  I found that "helping" in this sense was an
opening activity, and it set the stage for me to look for other
opportunities to "open" through a consulting practice.

I soon found that in spades when I stumbled upon Open Space in a very
large conference facilitated by Anne Stadler and Chris Carter and
Angeles Arrien in 1995 in Whistler, Canada.  Since then I have been
struck by what Open Space means beyond the facilitation of the OST
meeting.

I started by wondering what it meant to invite more stories into our
lives and our relationships and my first learning was that it extended
connections between me and others.  I discovered by telling my stories
and listening to stories of others, that it never took long for me and
someone else to arrive at a place in which we were connected.  Stories
became an almost magical medicine for me, weaving together people in my
life and extending my connections in the world to many far flung corners.

Then, as I started working with OST, I discovered something very
profound: Elders kept coming to me and saying that this process is the
way our ancestors met.  I knew what they were saying was not about the
circle exclusively, but rather about the quality of the experience and
they way in which OST calls forth the inherent resources we have
available to us RIGHT NOW and invites us to use them well.  That got me
thinking about what has happened to us, both indigenous and others, over
the years that created a situation whereby we had forgotten how to rely
on our own resources.  And I discovered a powerful truth about
colonization as a result: colonization was not only about the imposition
of structure and behaviour on our lives; it was rather about the way our
inner lives were stripped away, be it the inherent truths that come from
our own personal ways of connecting with Spirit and intention, or the
cultural stories and frameworks that supported and continued to invite
this knowledge.

In short, colonization is by definition a closing, and decolonization is
about opening.

Michael Herman then gave me the language to describe the process of
facilitating decolonization, when he used the word "invitation" to
describe a whole practice and approach to facilitation, organizational
development, community development and living.  And since then I have
shamelessly appropriated his mantra and said to people that my work is a
practice of invitation.  Invitation for us to know our own truths,
create and honour our own story, organize our own responses to the world
around us and take responsibility for making the change we want to see.

This is all about opening.

At the same time as all this was happening, I developed my website and
early on integrated my personal life with my professional life and
decided to share all of it, or as much as I was able to.  So I made my
weblogs public in the hope that sharing my thinking and learning would
lead me towards others who were engaged in similar things.

Again, it's about opening up the boundaries between us.  Sharing instead
of taking, extending instead of retracting, blurring lines instead of
creating them.

I was in New Zealand recently and while I was there I spent a delightful
evening talking in a hotel lobby over a bottle of Shiraz with two Maori
musicians, Elena (http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/elenaviolinist/) who
is a classically trained violinist and Howard McGuire, a classically
trained opera singer.  Both blur boundaries in a way that means that
classical music is now Maori music.  Instead of retreating into a closed
and static traditional culture, they have included and transcended Maori
culture and see what they are doing as building an inclusive identity,
an inclusive form of cultural expression, wider and living, while all
the while being Maori.

Elena's artistic statement says this:

"Just listen to the music on my new CD, Elena. It's a unique combination
of evocative Maori waiata, stirring European and sensual Latin
influences. I hope it will inspire Maori to get involved with classical
music and encourage mainstream classical fans to value the whole musical
heritage of Aotearoa.

I'm working on projects to combine Kapa Haka and classical music with
arrangements that will appeal to young people and encourage them to
extend their musical knowledge and abilities. I plan to visit schools,
Kohanga and marae to perform stories using the violin to express
characters and emotions, and to give concerts in classical and modern music.

It's also in my game plan to provide quality musical material for Maori
radio stations, shops and the media. That's all part of encouraging
young to perform in Te reo Maori and to support and sustain the Maori
culture in an ever-changing world."

That is opening (and you HAVE to get a copy of the CD!)  It invites us
to see the world through new eyes (that line is for you Harrison!) and
it encourages us to extend ourselves beyond the stories and "realities"
that limit us.  If Elena and Howard are out there doing what they are
doing, what does that say about what the rest of us are capable of?
Isn't their work an invitation to extend ourselves so that we ultimately
dwell in the same sphere?

Harrison talks about opening space to help ease conflict.  Michael uses
the great line that "conflict is simply passion that has not yet
extended to include the whole."  By looking for opportunities in my own
life to extend, open and invite, I feel like space is opening all around
me and people show up in my life who move me immensely and give me the
hope we all need to take on the stuff that is trying to close us down.

Vaclav Havel called it "living in truth."  Gandhi called it "Satyagraha"
which means close to the same thing.  It's understanding the quality of
small daily acts and asking ourselves, whether this one is a life
affirming moment, or a life denying moment.  Am I opening or closing?

We choose opening by offering ourselves, by understanding our gifts and
talents and inviting those out in others, by giving each other new ways
of seeing the world, by making connections, by providing comfort and
relief, by bringing our Elders water, and preparing the space for the
wisdom to pour forth.

If it sounds trite and soft and well-meaning, then you need to read
about the history of India, the history of the demise of the Soviet
Empire, the history of the peaceful struggles for change that have
propelled human history on an evolutionary path rather than a regressive
one.  You need to sit in with me when I have the privilege of working
with Aboriginal youth in this part of Canada, who are channeling their
minds, bodies, spirits, and hearts into a promising future.

You need to know that, despite everything, it really works.

And then, you need to steal back Nike's marketing slogan, and just go do
it.

Meegwetch for the invitation Harrison,

Chris





--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
(604) 947-9236

Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Homepage: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

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