Learning to expand our NOW

Tue Apr 26 04:58:15 PDT 2005

I guess I need to read this book. Having been to most of the countries
mentioned my intuitive response seems to be rather different. And there is a
notable omission - Africa (the whole continent). But of course, I wasn't
conducting research in any proper sense of the word. But if I were to do
research my concern would equally be about a focus on NOW and the content of
NOW. Lots of folks live "only for the moment" but that moment is
quintessentially fleeting. Others seemingly live "in the moment" but the
magnitude of that moment seems almost like a minus quantity. The situation I
find most fulfilling is when The Moment/NOW includes all of time/space. In
that moment, there is no past or future, here or there. It is all now, it is
all present - it is all immediately accessible. Such an experience is not an
everyday one. Seems to come and go, but it is a definitive experience for me
in that it sets the standards. Everything else is going to - or coming from.
But every now and again you hit the whole enchilada. I suppose this may be
another way of talking about "getting the whole system in the room," but not
simply as a body count with all pertinent stakeholders marked present. This
would be the Whole System in all dimensions, certainly including the usual
four (dimensions) plus a whole mess more. Sort of boggles the mind and
certainly exceeds the mind's ability to track, analyze, and comprehend. When
encountered in an Open Space it can be quite disorienting and confusing
while simultaneously being richly rewarding. Then again, it may just be the
product of a boggled mind. :-)

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>

Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Peter
Wallman
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 4:24 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Learning to expand our NOW

Harrison

I agree with the fragmentation of past, present and future - i think it is
particularly evident in the US. I just pulled out my Trompenaars - "Riding
the Waves of Culture" and looked up the chapter on Time. In it he has some
interesting Venn diagrams of individual cultural interpretations of time.
These show the extent of overlap and the relative importance of each aspect
of time. The intention is to give guidance to people doing business in these
cultures.

If his research is correct it is clearly not just Western countries or
influences, eg Russia, China, Netherlands and USA seem to be among the most
fragmented, France, Malaysia, South Korea and Venezuela among the least. I
am fascinated by what drivers would produce these differences - language?
culture? history? media? And perhaps this has changed since 1993 when the
book was written?

And the biggest NOWs (ie presents relative to pasts and futures) -
Indonesia, Venezuela, Netherlands and Spain!!

Will read your book to illuminate myself further,

Peter

Date:    Mon, 25 Apr 2005 08:10:15 -0400
From:    Harrison Owen <hhowen at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Learning to Expand our NOW
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Peter - I think it is probably fair to say that for most folks on planet
Earth the understanding of the Present (NOW) is much closer to (if not the
same as) the Japanese. Only in the West (or western influenced) areas do you
get the radical disassociation of past, present and future. This has many
interesting effects, not the least of which is our rather interesting view
of History as something over and done with. Of course this understanding
creates jobs for Historians who "study the dead past." Might it not be
better to concentrate on the living present (NOW)? I am not a
psychotherapist (although I may need one) - but this fragmentation of time
represents a distinct disadvantage, I think. Perhaps it is even
pathological. Over the 20 years of The Open Space experiment it has occurred
to me that one of the major impacts of being consciously in Open Space is
that the deep fissures between the Present and the Past and Future are
somehow overcome. Past and future are all included, and are experienced, I
believe, as seamlessly existent in the present moment. Many people don't
notice this, and some who do are quite perplexed - but I think it is a
healing moment. I guess that is why I described Open Space as "Expanding our
Now" in a book of the same title.

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com

Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Peter
Wallman
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 11:49 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Learning to Expand our NOW

Hi

This is my first post on this list although i have been listening for some
time. I am based in Sydney and am an occasional open space facilitator.

this wonderful idea reminds me of a Japan Australia dialogue i attended
about a decade ago in which i was playing the role of the rapporteur. the
topic was 'responsibilities to future generations' and was sponsored by the
Japanese Foundation for Future Generations which ,by the way, was one of the
major sponsors of the NGO part of the Rio Earth Summit.

There were representatives from heritage, environment, business, media etc -
an incredibly rich dialogue ensued but after a while it became obvious that
we were talking about different ideas of past, present and future. I
remember vividly one of the Japanese describing the 'present' in Japanese as
meaning ' the dynamic domain in which the past and the future interact' - so
it seems to me that we have something to learn from this.

Peter Wallman

+61 2 9882 3196

PO Box 7103 McMahons Pt NSW 2060 Australia

peter at passionmaps.com

www.passionmaps.com

"The figure whose attitude best expresses the passion

that moves it is most worthy of praise."

.....Leonardo da Vinci

Ah -- Funda. Let me reveal a mystery to you. You just can't get away from
NOW. It is all you have! Past is over, future hasn't happened yet. What you
got is NOW. And the only question (at least for me) is how big is your NOW?
If it is a tiny little "now" desperation quickly sets in. How are you going
to get everything (you want to do) squeezed into this anorexic (pathetically
thin) now? You can't! And the more you try the worse it gets.

But there is an alternative. Just make your NOW BIGGER! It may sound a
little weird, but with some effort (not to be confused with work), NOW
becomes big enough to include what we call the Past and also the Future. The
Past, with all of its richness of experience (including the pain) is always
available. And the Future is not some far off thing -- but dreams coming
into focus NOW. For me it is a matter of opening my (personal) space. You
can do this in all sorts of ways, but (I hate to say it) Visualization can
help! :-)

Harrison

--

Peter Wallman

+61 2 9882 3196

PO Box 7103 McMahons Pt NSW 2060 Australia

peter at passionmaps.com

www.passionmaps.com

"The figure whose attitude best expresses the passion

that moves it is most worthy of praise."

.....Leonardo da Vinci

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