Fw: Hello dear all!

Peggy Holman peggy at opencirclecompany.com
Wed Aug 23 20:07:29 PDT 2006


Friends,

I wanted to share the message below from Mussarrat Youssuf, who attended OSonOS in Moscow.  She isn't on the list herself so I am sending her questions your way and will forward any responses that come to the list.

Peggy



  Dear Open-Space 'Astronauts',
   
  I landed right back into the lap of an assignment, hence the delay in writing to all of you...

  I trust that the recent mission in the grand open space experience has helped you grow and glow even more. And also that you have gained more space in your inner world to offer to those who need it in the outer world.  Let me take this opportunity to share more because this is one of the ingredients which the whole area of open-space is built and sustained with. 
   
  I hope it will not be rude to say that I did not learn any thing new J.. as if whatever was shared and discussed was a part of me already. The beauty of the open space experience was that it did not look or feel foreign or novel. The principles and the interactions were right out of my own system. 
   
  My Most Beautiful and Most Gracious Spiritual Guide has been helping me to tread along with him on the path of inner beauty and grace. I believe that by his Grace everything in this universe has started happening to help me go deeper, higher and forward in this journey. Therefore, how could the gathering in Moscow be not a part of the same for me?  Everything - shaking hands; looking in the oceans of wisdom through people's eyes; listening with respect and patience; appreciating cultural diversity; halting hugs J by explaining to some of the men colleagues that hugging the opposite sex is not part of Pakistani mannerism J; and constantly trying to develop meta-oral skills to communicate with airport and hotel staff who could not understand a word of English - came as a gift to help me feel, receive and retain the divine Light of my Spiritual Guide. The wonderful conversations with Birgitte, Wendy, Carol and Raffi and with those who were part of the groups that I led came as the icing on the cake. I am deeply grateful to people for their knowledge and loving presence who came to the two sessions, 'wisdom behind the principles' and ' who am I - open space for self-exploration and growth'. 
   
  The law of two feet reminded me the saying of my spiritual Guide when he says to the visitors, "This is the abode of a Faqeer (a Sufi), here you are free to come at any time you wish to and free to leave whenever you feel like it". This and many other things make me understand that the spirit of open space is universal. However, there is room to adapt the methodology according to cultural and contextual contours.  I have some more observations to share and invite all of you to absorb, reflect and respond:
   
    1.. It seemed that the OsonOs Moscow was the right place to learn the spirit of Open Space but not the best to learn its methodology. For a novice like me with an inquisitive mind and a thirst for going deep, it helped a lot in understanding the flexible and friendly group dynamics of OST and its ability to free the mind of many obstacles. But, if one looked for understanding the facilitation process with all the details, the OsonOs was not the right occasion. The environment in Moscow was dynamic, rich and passionate. With generous participation from some old-hands in OST, it was great to collect the pearls of wisdom from them. However, I felt the need to see the opening with some more details about the application of principles and their inner dynamics. 
   
    2.. My lack of knowledge regarding the terminology frequently used like opening, holding and closing space; the idea of letting go; and the application of principles created a lot of questions on the effectiveness of the technology for both organizational and individual growth. Some unanswered questions are: 
   
      1.. In a Pakistani context, the over-all flexibility and looseness of the technology could be taken as lack of discipline. How to make the process effective for people with a tendency to come to training as an opportunity to pass time or just have it on their CV or only because the management said so. 
      2.. Some people like to talk too much without respecting others' right to share. Some are too intimidated, particularly women in mixed groups, to say anything. How to keep the balance without asserting control as a facilitator?  
      3.. Open Space is more like a generative process to bring out the ideas. How far it can help in monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects where you need accurate information from everyone? Because the law of two feet can be used not to report or participate fully.  
      4.. Last but not the least, how far OST respects and absorbs the cultural diversity? I ask this because the over-all external environment of OST is western (sorry to use such limited definitions). How do you think it can fit into cultures without conflicting with their basic system where for example looking straight into the eyes of opposite sex is considered rude; and where leaving people on their own means that you may have left the weak and the have-not on the whims of the powerful. 
   Since OsonOS is supposed to be a multi-cultural event, I suggest inviting people (potential participants) to share with the group about themselves and their different cultural values prior to coming to the meeting. Hopefully this would help in knowing each other better.

  Thank you for reading a long note.... and hope that you can fee the rays of love that each letter is carrying along with it...count the letters or be immersed in the light of eternal love coming from Pakistan...

  Peace,
  Mussarrat
  Mussarrat Youssuf <youssufmussarrat at yahoo.com>




  MUSSARRAT BASHIR YOUSSUF

  CONSULTANT, GENDER AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
  ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Want to be your own boss? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business. 

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20060823/2caa40c8/attachment-0015.htm>


More information about the OSList mailing list