Four Principles, One Law - and organisations (was half-way technology)

[Therese Fitzpatrick]

Marei wrote:
"Writing this I realize that now, barely a year later,
I go directly into the question: What do I really want? What do I really
think?
What do I really want to say? Where and with whom do I really want to be?"

More experienced OS practitioners undoubtedly already know that "the law of
two feet' is rooted in love.  Love for the collective and love for one's
self.  In order to genuinely honor the law of two feet, to genuinely and
authentically in each moment be where it is that we truly wish to be and to
say and do what it is that we truly wish to say, we must exercise rigorous
self love.  If we ground all our thoughts, words and deeds in self love, we
are simultaneously grounding ourselves in love for the whole.  I am reminded
of a quote that I believe comes from Martin Luther King but has often been
attributed to Nelson Mandela:  "I cannot be who I ought to be until you are
who you ought to be."  We serve the collective when we love ourselves and OS
is a fine framework in which to practice.

To be grounded in self love, we must ask the questions Marei has posed. In
my humble opinion of the moment.

I have been reading Artur's recent posts with deep interest.  I have been
resisting writing my own thoughts about open space organizations.  I have
wrestled with the idea of whether or not an open space organization can
actually exist quite deeply and, even, painfully at times.

I have come up with different answers in different moments.   I agree with
you, Artur, that this online listserv 'thing' is an OS community, not an
organization.  I also agree, however, with Harrison, that this online
listserv 'thing' is an organization.

For the umpteenth time, I have just spent some time looking at dictionary
definitions of words like "organization" and "collective".  After a few
dictionaries, I become unable to decide for myself what an organization is.
. .   Language is an ephermeral container for our thoughts, our ideas.  I
conclude in one moment that "organization" means one thing. . . and then I
conclude in the next moment that "organization" means something else.

In this moment, I sorta kinda believe that most organizations are actually
OS organizations that cling to the illusion that they have structure and
form.  In this moment, I believe that nothing gets done in organization that
does not have heart and meaning for one or more of its members.  In this
moment, I believe that things always start when they start and end when they
end.  In this moment, and I am starting to lose the clarity I possessed when
I began this note. . . even when it looks, superficially like maybe the
wrong people have shown up to do the wrong job. . . that this belief that
the wrong people have shown up is incorrect. . . that even the wrong things
are inescapably leading to the right things and the wrong people are the
right people and the right moments unfold all the time no matter what.

So.  Whereas a few months ago, I was twisted in knots fighting with myself
to find what I believed to be a genuinely open space organization, in this
moment, I see OS in everything.  And it is moments like this that I hope to
'open' for people at OS events.  Form, in my present moment, seems
irrelevant.  It is about 'being' first, then, maybe, only maybe,
'doing'. . .

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