Reflections at 100

[Chris Corrigan]

Colleagues:

I just completed what looks to be my 100th Open Space event. It's hard to 
know, what with little ones in trainings and the odd spotaneous one and all 
the other bits and pieces that comes with living in Open Space, but it's 
sufficiently close to call it 100. It's been 10 years since I stumbled on 
OST, 6 years since I've really undertaken the practice of facilitating OST, 
and with the completion of today's event, it feels like a bit of a 
milestone. 

So I'm marking it with appreciations a reflection and a request..

First, Harrison. I was explaining the two martini story again today to a 
participant who was looking around the room at the wonderful synergy 60 
people were creating and she remarked that there is no way something so 
intricate could have been born at the bottom of a martini glass. I just 
smiled and said that Harrison is a trickster. He is a raven that brought 
light into the world. He likes shiny things and olives. That troublsome 
curiosity combined with an incredibly razor sharp brain and a deep 
understanding of the subsonic notes in the human story made the two martini 
moment possible. In dozens of OST events, when I explain to people 
Harrison's story, they express immense appreciation for the way in which OST 
was offered to the world. And so I'd like to pay these forward and add to it 
my undying respect and affection for giving it all a name.

Thank you Harrison.

And then there are those at whose knees I have sat and learned my craft, and 
that includes Birgitt Williams in a formal way and my mentors near and far, 
like Peggy Holman, Larry Peterson, Father Brian Bainbridge, Alan Stewart, 
Anne Stadler, Lisa Heft, Avener Haramati, Toke Moeller, and dozens and 
dozens of you who have generously helped me make my practice come alive. 
What a lucky community of people we are to have this crowd in our midst. Do 
you guys know how lucky we are? We are VERY lucky indeed. 

Then there are my partners in crime, like Laurel Doersam who was insane 
enough to join me and co-host OSonOS IX in 2001 which was an undertaking not 
unlike telling jokes to comedians. Michael Herman, my co-conspirator in a 
global and sometimes virtual firm of ideas, work, trainings, practice, 
coaching, writing and sleeping in each other's offices, has taught me more 
about incorporating OST into life than anyone. Chris Robertson, a long time 
co-creator of OST events and people like David Stevenson and Julie Smith, 
and Kate Sutherland and Te Rehia Tapata-Stafford are all sponsors the rest 
of you would fight me for. They are brave and risk taking and supportive and 
exhibit that same kind of curiosity that the raven does.

And you all on the list - the profound and profane, the teachers and 
learners, the ones with questions and the ones with answers, storytellers, 
researchers, poets, schemers, sly and wily provocateurs cuight in the cut 
and thrust of wit and exploration and support with no small amount of 
humour, compassion and affection. A warm, warm group of people and none of 
us can say that we would be the same without being members of this 
community. Thank you colleagues for your years of advice to date and the 
years of advice to come. 

And so, if you have made it this far, here is the one thing I am reflecting 
on after doing 100 of these things:

What is the depth at work here? How is it that 60 people can organize an 
agenda in 20 minutes that wil carry them through a day and a half of the 
most transformative dialogue some of them have ever experienced? Seriously. 
Think about that. It should never be able to happen. After 100 events I 
still can't figure it out. All I can see is that people are diving into 
something so deep and untapped and limitless in resourcefulness, and when 
they surface it's as if time has stopped, and all this stuff got done and 
only 20 minutes has passed. I've heard people call it Spirit, and my Elders 
have maybe a better word for it: "manitoo," which in Ojibway means both 
spirit and mystery. Still, happy as I am to leave it at mystery, I can see 
it, taste it and feel it at work in OST gatherings, and I'm more and more 
curious about it, especially the sense that whatever it is it exhibits 
DEPTH. Real, tangible depth. Whaddya think?.

And finally, here is my wish for something to happen sometime in the next 
100: I'd like someone to make a time lapse movie of an OST event filmed from 
high above the room, showing all the activity that springs out of the 
stillness of that circle, moves through the agenda setting, the entire self 
organization part and back into a close. In the middle of all that, or more 
likely off to the side, would be one still figure: an Open Space facilitator 
moving slowly or resting in the midst of all the chaos and activity. Would 
that be the coolest training video ever or what? It's all we'd ever need to 
show.

A hearty thank you to all. 

With much love respect and affection,

Chris


-- 

CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20050429/c1eafd3a/attachment-0007.htm>