an attempt at an answer

[Raffi Aftandelian]

Lisa,
I think a lot of what you said was right on and I really liked your
genuineness in your last message. I hadn't heard this voice before (it
sounded male), I think.

I cannot say I don't feel community here. The OST list is is the closest I have
felt community in an online context. And I know that I am not sure I
know what community is even though many years of my life has been
spent in something ostensibly called intentional community: shared
housing situations, student housing cooperatives (UC-Berkeley).

I think you might be right that I give Harrison too much power. OS
maybe gives me the choice if not to live in equality then maybe in
equity even with the soon-to-be ex-visionaries of this whirled  : )))
(What can I say, I do have a slightly sadistic streak!)

And yes, I *am* creating the feeling that he, Harrison, is preventing something.
And to address that, I will work with this.

And you are right to challenge me on my was-hidden assumption that 'oh raffi
every word you say is like a jewel'. More of my own work.

If we are a community, what is our responsibility to one another? What
is our covenant? Or they are not necessary in the conventional sense?

OF course, the answer right now is just to model being in community. I
see your contributions, Lisa, to our quote-unquote community, I try to make
my bit...And there is much more i know i want to do...

Alan, I think what you wrote about Hong Kong was very interesting.
That might be the fifth paradigm, the (human) world as one organism
just being in community.

Maybe community will never be defined because you cannot define
oneness.

Therese, as for Harrison stepping back. Part of me is goofing around,
which makes for complicated and sometimes difficult communication for
others. The other part of me thinks that Harrison is not modelling
"letting go." And I challenged him very forcefully on that score.

The whole "what have we learned" thread and its tone as started by
Harrison screamed with attachment to outcome for me. And I am inclined
to challenge, you on that score, Harrison. Maybe the challenges can be
very clumsy and awkward, but fortunately we have here a group of
people who probably 99% of the time have the heart and mind to
understand me. That's a lot, and I am not grateful enough for that.

Raffi
______________________
From:         Lisa Heft <lisaheft at openingspace.net>
Subject:      Re: an attempt at an answer
In-Reply-To:  <000d01c55ebf$41ef6660$38d5d651 at pro2000>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hey, Raffi - Of course I support you on doing anything that has heart
and meaning for you. But I echo what I think are Funda's words - if
you do not feel community, be community. To me, the OSLIST feels very
much like a community - lots of people I richly enjoy, some people I
do not agree with (and still, I usually enjoy them), a few people who
make me crazy (mostly crazy-good, sometimes
crazy-have-to-take-a-breath), lots of support for my different ways of
being, a sense of connection, a sense of shared values even through
different cultures and experiences, also education, enrichment... If
you feel that Harrison might step aside in order to enable something
else or someone else to come forth, could it be (this is just a guess)
that you are creating the feeling that he is in the way of /
preventing something? (hmmm - if so, sounds like you give him a lot of
power... ;o) ) If this community / our Open Space is a circle, and
every one of us (both list 'talkers' and list 'witnesses', both the
multiply-experienced and the very-new-to-OST) is in the circle,
holding the principles and law in mind, is this not community? Can
anybody be in the way of anything different happening when each of us
has a choice to do or act or watch or listen or leave or return? And
hmm. So some people love every word you say and some feel prickly or
whatever. Do you want a community that just always says 'oh raffi
every word you say is like a jewel', or do you want difference and
diversity and learning through the struggles and joys of communicating
the challenging stuff? I suspect that you are committed to the
learning. And so are so many of us who hold space on this list. So I
hope you stay, and if you leave, I'll know that you are using the Law
of Two Feet (if you are neither learning nor contributing...) because
you are committed to being fully engaged and need to find that in
another setting/community. And that is something I salute in you...
Warmly, Lisa ___________________________ L i s a H e f t Consultant,
Facilitator, Educator O p e n i n g S p a c e 2325 Oregon Berkeley,
California 94705-1106 USA +01 510 548-8449 lisaheft at openingspace.net
www.openingspace.net
                          mailto:raffi at bk.ru

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