[Fwd: Re: How do you live in open space?]

R. Duff Doel duff at innergy.ca
Wed Jan 19 08:47:52 PST 2005


oops, it replied directly to Theresa instead of to the list...

Hi All,

This has been a fascinating discussion. I am particularly moved to
discuss the idea that there would be objections us all living in open
space like: "Who will run the trains? Who will grow the food? Will there
be enough?"

I agree that those objections are there and that much of the world is
not yet ready (or motivated) to see past the corporate paradigm that
currently drives our collective society. I would like to offer an
observation that i had about 4 years ago.

We had two children in an alternative school. They were aged 3 and 4.
Not too long after putting them in the school they were invited to a
birthday party for a classmate. When it came time to present the gifts,
the children, by themselves, organized into a circle, each holding the
respective gifts they had brought. They all sat in quiet excitement for
a moment then one of the children got up and took her gift to the
birthday girl. All the children sat patiently thrilled at the excitement
of the opening of the present. After that gift had been received in
gratitude and everyone had the chance to see it, another child,
seemingly spontaneously got up and repeated the process.

This continued until all the gifts had been given. The parents were not
directly involved with the process at all (other than the original
suggestion that it would be a good time to do the gifts) but observed in
silence. There was no apparent "pecking order" in the children that
determine who was next. It was, to me, a pure example of open space
without the name.

When i asked the other parents and teachers about it, they said that the
same thing occurs in the classroom. The children rarely needed to line
up for limited resources, they would just take their turns as each one
was moved and there was rarely, if ever contention or resources sitting
unused. There was also no consistent hierarchy of order.

I agree that it will require a revolutionary paradigm shift to take the
culture from our present structure to a more open space way of living
but i have faith that it does work, that things do get done, and further
that perhaps we would be less driven by "the end justifies the means"
motivation that currently is destroying our environment and social
harmony. The seed is already there in the children. All we have to do is
feed and water it and get out of the way so it can grow.

duff

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