Advanced Butterfly Behavior
Chris Weaver
chris at springbranch.us
Tue Aug 15 12:33:11 PDT 2006
Re: Advanced Butterfly BehaviorFascinating...
I was right with Harrison & Tree, recalling my own experience so many humans
have had on the playground of life when you see a group of "kids" playing
and talking and you feel the exclusive energy of their group and know you
weren't invited...and that perhaps if you walked over they would walk away,
or sigh heavily and change the subject!
Mark's second & third ponderings:
* Does the formal process and form of OST fundamentally reject "private"
conversation and its manifestation in some forms of "butterfly-ness"?
* Is the manifestation of some forms of "butterfly-ness" as "private"
conversation a perversion of OST?
I guess that as a participant I consider the opening of space in OST to be
an invitation to practice a discipline of openness in all my conversations,
to be an energy field in which anyone can pull up a chair without asking
permission. Permission is already granted with the opening of the space.
I have butterflied as you describe, Mark, but not I trust in a way that
rescinds the invitation of anyone to join. And I have not moved around the
space issuing specific invitations to specific people...except when I've
posted a new topic on the wall and wanted to let some folks know....
I don't think the process & form of OST reject...anything. If apparently
closed spaces appear, my own response would be simply to practice the
discipline of energetic openness in whatever way the moment called for,
whether I was a participant or a facilitator.
I reflect that sometimes during an OST I need a private conversation with
myself! And I realize that I always escape and sit off in the bushes
somewhere where no one can see me, because I feel that even a solitary
"private" moment in the common space goes against the grain of openness.
Thanks for the question Peggy, and it's great to have you back aboard in
words!
Chris
Chris Weaver
Springbranch, Inc.
Asheville, North Carolina USA
chris at springbranch.us
http://springbranch.us
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Mark R.
Jones
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:00 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Advanced Butterfly Behavior
Hi H (Harrison) and Peggy.
Hmmmmmmmmmm . . .
There is an element here for me that is implied in Peggy's
piece and your response to it that I would like to explore . . .
The "butterfly" phenomena in OST has been widely acknowledged
by you and others. As a dedicated "butterfly" myself, I find
that I do have some reflections on the topic that Peggy has raised.
In my "butterfly-ness", I assemble, attract, and/or am attracted
to people with which I typically have very intense, personal, and
private conversations with. These conversations occur in both 1:1
and group forms. H, over the years, you and I have had these types
of interactions with each other -- in the midst of OS events.
In my "butterfly-ness", I discern who I want to be in conversation
with -- The Law of Two Feet -- and then act upon that discernment.
As you know H, I rarely actually attend "called" (posted) sessions.
Yet, I feel welcome to play in Open Space -- not negatively judged
for my discernment -- my exercise of The Law of Two Feet.
In my "butterfly-ness", I learn to hear, see, and love other people.
And perhaps others learn to hear, see, and love me and each other.
I acquire and refine insights and discover connections.
Unfortunately, I rarely document my learnings within the formal
mechanisms of OST. And my "public" sharings do not contain the
richness of the private details that I have discovered.
Yet, I feel that there is some common good that comes of it.
Some mutual sense of interconnection, compassion, and understanding
is established. Some of the insights are returned to the public
forum. And, interpersonal relationships are established and/or
reinforced.
AND --- All of this occurs "outside" of the formal process and form
of OST. "Butterfly-ness" is acknowledged by the process, and held
by the form of OST. But it is not the practice-normed form of OST
which is essentially -- gatherings around publicly advertised topics
and conveners in specific places at specific times.
If in the two examples that Peggy gave, the participants had simply
"butterflyed" their intention to meet together -- there would have
been no public declaration and no public outrage and judgment, and
possibly no public sharing. The "sessions" would have occurred outside
of the formal process and form of OST.
But I suspect that the session participants chose to try to in some way
to "honor" the formal process and form of OST by attempting to use some
of the OST mechanisms of "public" declaration. This partial revelation
of intent created a public stir regarding what was in all likelihood
a space in which very personal and private conversations could occur.
Peggy's inquiry provokes me to ponder:
* What ways does and can the formal process and form of OST more deeply
embrace and benefit from "butterfly-ness"?
* Does the formal process and form of OST fundamentally reject "private"
conversation and its manifestation in some forms of "butterfly-ness"?
* Is the manifestation of some forms of "butterfly-ness" as "private"
conversation a perversion of OST?
* Is acting upon "The Law of Two Feet" as a means of interpersonal
relationship discernment a perversion of OST?
* In the cultural norms of OST, am I required to give up my practice
of choosing who I want to interact with?
Mark R. Jones
Chief Executive Officer
The Sunyata Group
The Integral Wellness Group
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PO Box 58788
Renton, Washington
USA 98058-1788
Phone: 425-413-6000
e-Mail: mark.r.jones at sunyata.ws
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--
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at adelphia.net>
Reply-To: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:13:27 -0400
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Advanced Butterfly Behavior
I am not sure that I would see such occurrences as "advanced butterfly
behavior. Narrow minded and shortsighted come to mind. Folks will do what
they will do -- and whatever happens is the only thing that could have. . .
but I really think that the conveners of such groups are short-changing
themselves and all those who come to the session (and maybe all those who
don't, as well). By arbitrarily restricting the diversity of the group the
potential for new and deeper thought/experience is radically reduced. I must
also confess to a certain abhorrence to terms like "culturally mature" --
and even more with those who think they could make such a determination. I
am reminded of the situation at the recent OS for Imams and Rabbis. As it
happened there were several young students present including a delightful 19
year old lady from Indonesia. On the face of it, I doubt she would have made
anybody's list as "culturally mature." And given her natural modesty I am
sure that she would never have made the association for herself. But the
fact of the matter is that her natural charm, intelligence and curiosity
made her in my eyes (and for others as well) one of the real stars of the
gathering. If nothing else, she was willing to ask questions that everybody
else was assiduously avoiding. Would I do anything to stop such segregated
gatherings? No -- but I guess I would hope that part of the learning curve
for the Culturally Mature was coming to see that there are really better
ways than hiding out in a room, talking to each other.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
301-365-2093
207-763-3261 (summer)
website www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com>
Personal Website www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com>
----- Original Message -----
From: Peggy Holman <mailto:peggy at opencirclecompany.com>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 8:26 PM
Subject: Advanced Butterfly Behavior
As I mentioned in my last e-mail, now that I’m back after about a year
away from the OS list, I’ve got a variety of questions, stories and
learnings to share over the next few weeks. This question popped to the
top of my list.
There is a situation that I have now experienced twice in long OS
gatherings with many experienced OSers. It is a dynamic that has an
important and potentially dissonant energy. I'm wondering if others have
encountered this and what their thoughts are on it. My suspicion is that
we'll see more of it as more people attend longer OS gatherings and
generally develop more experience with OS.
My hunch is that this is a phenomenon that deserves a name, much like
bumblebees and butterflies.
So, with that preamble, here's the description and two specific
examples:
There's a session that emerges from what is happening in the mix. The
convenor(s) have some very specific people they wish to meet with and
aren't interested in having it open to whoever wanders in. It is similar
to what happens when butterflies meet but because there is more
intentionality and potentially larger numbers, it is its own thing.
Two examples:
At the April Evolutionary Salon:
We had an expert in a process who was willing to do a session but he
felt that his work required a targeted group (in his terms, the "culturally
mature"). We were interested in experiencing this and quietly put the word
out to the people we wanted in the room. When others also came, they were
welcomed.
At the Practice of Peace in 2003 and in her words:
On the last day of the conference, I woke up with a clarity of what I
should do if I really cared to take this rare, international opportunity
one step further into the future. I saw a session with specific people
(very engaged and personally interested, committed to the theme I was
passionate to explore, with very "concentrated energy" that I felt was
essential for a breakthrough in clarity and identifying what was next.)
She was fine if others appeared but did not wish to announce the
session. She pulled the post-it for the space from the time/space grid and
then quietly put out the word to the people she had in mind. Some of them
came to the session and others chose to go to other sessions. A few others
appeared during the session and were welcomed. She created a session
report an hour after the session was over. She had intended to talk about
the session and the experimentation during the closing circle. (For a
variety of unrelated reasons, that closing circle never quite happened, so
this became painful unfinished business for her.)In both cases, there was
some reflection by the hosts after the OS completed. Some saw the sessions
as fine, appropriate butterfly behavior. Others were disturbed by the lack
of transparency, feeling that it was a drag on the energy field.
I am reflecting that as participants become very mature, posting such
sessions, complete with a mindful request about who comes is an ideal for
this; also VERY challenging to do!
Thoughts?
Peggy
_____________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA 98006
(425) 746-6274
www.opencirclecompany.com <http://www.opencirclecompany.com>
For pre-orders with a 20% discount on the new edition of The Change
Handbook, go to:
www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook
<http://www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook>
"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get
burnt, is to become
the fire".
-- Drew Dellinger
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