Opening Space for a Closing World

Romy Shovelton romys at compuserve.com
Wed Apr 7 05:57:12 PDT 2004


dearest Chris

brimming-over heart-filled thanks for your words..    A gen

On 5 Apr 2004, at 21:13, Chris Corrigan wrote:

> 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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