Inspiriting systems

[Phil Culhane]

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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