Open Space - a minimum?

[Chris Kloth]

Funda Oral wrote:

> That's what i do here, although it is not heard so quickly. But i can 
> not get detached
> so quickly from people's struggle.
>
> I agree that self organizing, local resources, their lives and livelyhood
> (as Harrison mentions)...their ability to create solutions are 
> important...very important.
>
> I still think that we ( the ones having more to eat, a shelter, 
> health, space; who were lucky to get some education, travel, learn
> appreciate, enyoy life,  so on)  can not say "them, their problems, 
> their struggle, their solutions".
>
> I feel our responsibility is more then that.
>

As I have been following this and related threads lately I have found 
that my thoughts keep being distracted by my feelings.  I hope the 
following adds something beyond providing me with space to reflect and 
emote.


As a person of privilage raised by godless, working class parents of 
principle I have always had a sense that when others are suffering it is 
our problem, not theirs.  As a Jew the principle of tikkun olam (healing 
the world) is important to me.  So I have always felt a responsibility 
to leverage my gifts to address concerns of people "less fortunate" (as 
my parents would put it) than myself. 

 
One of the curses that came with this blessing was that I could never do 
enough...there were too many problems needing my attention.  The more I 
worked on problems, tried to understand them, tried to solve them, the 
more exhausted I got and the more isolated from myself I became. 


It took me a long time to learn that there was a significant amount of 
paternalism in my view of people "less fortunate" than me and their 
challenges.  Before I confronted this side of myself I worked on 
community issues by leveraging my position, knowledge, skills, etc. to 
lead people toward solutions my analysis concluded would be most 
effective.  Even after I realized that people frequently resist being 
lead in that way I learned to use group dynamics and facilitation skills 
to work with people so they might feel more "ownership" of the 
solutions...but they were still my solutions.  Eventually I began to 
feel that I had become a skilled manipulator and questioned my work and 
motives.


At some point I guess I began to hear what people were saying as more 
than just grist for my mill.  I began to notice that the solutions that 
were most sustainable were built on the unique gifts of these "less 
fortunate" people.   Fortunately, at about the same time I also began to 
learn about David Bohm's approach to dialogue, future search and open 
space technology.  


When I began appreciating the gifts of other people I found that a 
number of things changed in my life and my work.  I felt less 
exhausted.  I let go of the idea that it was all on me.  I felt less 
isoltated from myself and others.  I made new friends.  I saw more 
poeple doing more things more effectively and finding their own ways to 
do things.  More opportunities came to me instead of me always going out 
to look for them.


Ironically I realized that there was a part of my earlier, less healthy 
life as a musician that should have revealed these truths sooner - the 
jam session!  I had been participating in self-organizing systems in my 
youth without realizing it!  So I also got more playful in my work and 
in life...without having to let go of the spirit of tikkun olam. 


I believe that learning about the principles of dialogue made me a more 
authentic listener and, more importantly, made me realize how powerful 
groups of listeners could be.  After I got past the idea of OST as a 
"tool" I realized that opening space for dialogue to occur in is an 
underlying way of approaching the world and the work.  Now, even when I 
find myself in a situation where people are not ready to convene an open 
space event I have "tools" (future search and others) that help begin to 
open space in other ways.


I guess all this is to say that, for me, one of the things OST offers is 
a way of engaging the paradoxes and polarities of privilage and 
marginalization, taking action and creating space for others to take 
action, moving slower to achieve results sooner, feeling passionate 
concern for others and having a clear sense of self, feeling the despair 
of others and in one's self while keeping a lightness of heart...


BTW, a few years ago I unpacked my drums and started playing in bands 
again...jazz, blues, rock-n-roll.  My current band, the Riverside Rats, 
plays for free for organizations supporting causes we support and 
donates to the proceeds of our other gigs to nonprofit organizations.


Chris Kloth, a.k.a. the Rat-a-tat Rat

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