Inspiriting systems

Phil Culhane pculhane at magma.ca
Sat Jul 31 07:07:14 PDT 2004


Harrison,

Thank you for the comments - and clarification. Sometimes the Mississippi
River just doesn't want to go where the Mississippi riverbed is...and it's
time for a change.

Best wishes,
Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harrison
Owen
Sent: July 31, 2004 9:53 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Inspiriting systems


I as not sure that I would want to take on a therapeutic role with marriage
partners -- but there was a group of Family Therapists who use Open Space in
exactly the situation you describe. Seemed to work out real well, especially
when the whole family was involved. If nothing else it gave the children an
opening to say and explore what they were interested in.

And on the subject of Structure and Spirit -- I did say what you indicated,
and I want to be very clear that Structure is by no means a BAD thing. My
way of saying it is that Structure channels Spirit. This works marvelously
as long as Spirit needs to go in the channels laid out by the Structure.
Problems arise when needs and the environment change at which point, the old
structure just won't do. Time to open some space so that Spirit may find new
pathways.

Harrison
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Culhane" <pculhane at magma.ca>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 9:37 AM
Subject: Inspiriting systems


> Harrison, et al,
>
> I'm enjoying reading the Power of Spirit for the first time; 62 pages
> in I
found
> something that's given me pause. If I interpret correctly, I believe
> that
Harrison is
> suggesting that the level of Spirit in a system is inversely
> proportional
to the level of
> structure. And as spirit is required to develop the wheel and
> structure is
required to
> mass-produce them cost-effectively for the marketplace, both have
> their
place and neither
> are necessary evils.
>
> Rather than tire manufacture, however, my thoughts turned to
> marriages,
and relationships
> more generally. At least ideally, and in my experience, when two
individuals meet ("fall
> in love"), there's a lot of spirit present. As they move on to
> marriage,
mortgage and
> some other M-word that would finish this alliteration in a more
> polished
manner,
> structure creeps in. And, I would guess, spirit slowly (or quickly)
> oozes
out.
>
> I'm not pretending or suggesting that we turn into marriage
> counsellors;
however I wonder
> how the principles of Open Space might be applied to marriage (and I
> am
not suggesting
> Open Marriage, which might be my own clinging to past ways in spite of
reality) to make
> it a healthier institution. Marriage is indeed a complex adaptive
> system
acting at the
> very edge of chaos, particularly with half of all marriages failing.
> With
more wealth (or
> at least more credit) and more jobs available for both sexes, the
preconditions for
> staying within a marriage have changed, and the institution must
> adapt, or
fall by the
> wayside.
>
> Not the biggest "AHA" of a lifetime, but surely a little one along the
> way
(at least for
> me). It gives me pause (as I sit at my desk in the midst of a 7,000
> person
corporation
> which, I promise, has much more structure than spirit) to wonder how
> to
re-inspirit a
> variety of systems. A start-up company is very similar to a marriage,
particularly in the
> complexities of the interrelationships and the level of spirit present
> at
the outset. As
> the idea of moving bits of speech through wires moves from telegraph
> pole
to satellite
> broadband, something is both lost and gained along the way.
>
> Marriages, and companies, often seek to go back to "the way things
> used to
be." Which I
> believe is impossible - things can't be the way they once were, they
> can
only be the way
> they might be - or perhaps the way they are already, if only we could
> more
fully realize
> the actuality of the way they are (a bit of Zen creeping in here).
>
> Hmmm....that's a lot of text without any clear direction...if you get
> the
sense of the
> puzzle I'm staring at, and have any thoughts to offer, I'd be more
> than
pleased to look
> through them...in this marvellous open space that we keep available at
> all
times.
>
> Best wishes,
> Phil
>
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