Reflections at 100

Sat Apr 30 00:29:31 PDT 2005

Dearest Chris

Your inspiration... spirit breathing... manifests again for us in your
words, so powerfully and generously spoken.
Thank you

Thank you especially for capturing the essence of the incredible human that
is Harrison.

Thank you particularly for ³manitoo²..... which speaks to me with an extra
joy right now, having just returned from a week with my teachers RainbowHawk
& WindEagle (EHAMA Institute, www.ehama.org) ... as part of an Œadvanced
energy¹ ceremony  which included much reflection on the nature of spirit
and mystery.

One day I trust that you and I shall meet face to face

Meanwhile, I send love for you and all those with whom you will be opening
space in the next 100

Congratulations and thanks again

Romy

PS Michael Herman was here yesterday before flying off to Chicago for a
while  good to exchange smiles, hugs and all manner of Œplots¹ for taking
OST to previously unknown places!
PPS I¹m thrilled to be in touch with Avner... thanks to whom, I have the
honour of facilitating an Open Space for a group of Israelis and
Palestinians, coming together in Cyprus 27-29 May. Around half of the
participants are likely to have been part of the wonderful story Harrison
tells of the meeting in Rome in June 2002

From: Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com>
Reply-To: chris at chriscorrigan.com
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 16:52:53 -0700
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Reflections at 100

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 * *
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