the 'os' weblog

Sun Jan 1 12:00:36 PST 2006

Thanks for hearing me well, Harrison, and I too love that unexplainable mystery of sudden awareness, an understanding that none of us owns. At the same time, your knowledge, skills, wisdom, and experience gave the realization a context that allowed it to become fruitful for the world.

There was an inventor who lived in Eliot in his later years and is buried here, Moses Gerrish Farmer. He was a Trancendentalist, and didn't patent his early discoveries and inventions, because he believed they belonged to the universe. (Thomas Edison was about 12 when Moses "lighted his parlor with incandescent lamps, the first house in the world to be lighted up by electricity." http://www.eliotmaine.org/mosespage.htm ) 

You and he share that wonderful spirit of humility -- and a lot of knowledge, too!

Diane

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
> Thanks Diane -- Point taken! And I think it is also true that sometimes
> history is not quite the way we would have had it written. Fact of the
> matter is -- it was two Martinis. Well more or less, because the Vermouth
> was evident mostly by its absence. AND there is not a day in my life in
> which I am not profoundly awed by the gift of Open Space as it seems to have
> passed through me. I am not sure it is really about humility (mine) but
> rather the sheer wonder that even in such common moments as quiet drink on
> the patio -- Spirit speaks. Was the alcohol essential? By no means! That is
> just the way it happened. 
> 
> But, you might justifiably ask -- why keep the tale alive? I suppose that
> part of the answer might be my natural curmudgeonly nature. I just love a
> good story, particularly one with a twist. And the twist on this one, so far
> as I am concerned is that Open Space showed up not as the product of
> prodigious research, deep meditation, humongous effort -- it just popped up.
> And I take a lesson from this which is all about being attentive to the
> moment and the ways in which inspiration (Spirit?) breaks through. Now of
> course it took a good 5 years before I saw OS to be important, and another
> 15 until I actually think I understand some of the mechanisms and
> implications. But in the moment it was the Moment. Awesome in its
> commonality.
> 
> 
> Harrison
> 
> NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!
> hhowen at verizon.net
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland   20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com 
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
> Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Diane
> Brandon
> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 12:10 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: the 'os' weblog
> 
> Harrison, I'm going to admit, online, that when you say things like "[OST]
> emerged full blown from a martini glass" - it's hard for me to read! 
> 
> My knowing, and I think yours and others', is that OST was inspired,
> in-spirited, not from alcohol, but from something much better than that
> substance! Whether called "collective unconscious", "higher power", Creator,
> Goddess/God, Allah, The Great Spirit, or whatever....... these wonderful,
> universal thoughts are gifts to us all, through you and others who are good
> "receivers" of such thoughts. 
> 
> Perhaps you are too humble to say that you receive inspiration from higher
> sources.
> 
> Perhaps you find yourself "receiving" better after a martini, and you are
> just joking about that - as you've done other times.
> 
> But it pains me, and I'm going to be honest about it, in this forum of
> honesty! In my years as an alcohol counselor, on college campuses and with
> adults, including Native Americans in Arizona, I saw way too much suffering
> around the use of alcohol to want to see it praised as the sources of great
> ideas.
> 
> With appreciation for people, and a passionate love of inspiration and great
> ideas, 
> 
> Diane Brandon
> Eliot, Maine
> 
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
> 
> > The thought did occur to me that I could have said something similar about
> > 20 years ago when Open Space Technology emerged full blown from a martini
> > glass. Or 15 years ago when OST suddenly appeared to be something useful,
> > and maybe even important -- since it kept showing up in full page feature
> > stories in such odd places as the New York Times, The Washington Post, The
> > LA Times, etc, etc. But I didn't.
> > 
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
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> 
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> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
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> ------------------------------
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> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
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> 
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> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

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>From  Sun Jan  1 16:58:22 2006
Message-Id: <SUN.1.JAN.2006.165822.0500.>
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 16:58:22 -0500
Reply-To: hhowen at verizon.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
Organization: HH Owen and Co.
Subject: Re: the 'os' weblog
In-Reply-To: <010120062000.3374.43B834E40005771600000D2E220699849902010B020E9D0DD20A020E070B at comcast.net>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

And Thanks to you! And for those of you who may not know, Eliot is in the
Great State of Maine -- which we who live there, or spend a lot of time
there, call God's Country. Others might disagree -- but we know where the
truth lies. It's Out there!!!

Harrison

And for all the folks online who may not know (care?) where Maine is, or who
have never seen the X-Files (why should you want to?), or any other such
"insider trivia" -- please forgive me. ho 

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!
hhowen at verizon.net
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20854
Phone 301-365-2093
Skype hhowen
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.ho-image.com 
OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Diane
Brandon
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 3:01 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: the 'os' weblog

Thanks for hearing me well, Harrison, and I too love that unexplainable
mystery of sudden awareness, an understanding that none of us owns. At the
same time, your knowledge, skills, wisdom, and experience gave the
realization a context that allowed it to become fruitful for the world.

There was an inventor who lived in Eliot in his later years and is buried
here, Moses Gerrish Farmer. He was a Trancendentalist, and didn't patent his
early discoveries and inventions, because he believed they belonged to the
universe. (Thomas Edison was about 12 when Moses "lighted his parlor with
incandescent lamps, the first house in the world to be lighted up by
electricity." http://www.eliotmaine.org/mosespage.htm ) 

You and he share that wonderful spirit of humility -- and a lot of
knowledge, too!

Diane

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
> Thanks Diane -- Point taken! And I think it is also true that sometimes
> history is not quite the way we would have had it written. Fact of the
> matter is -- it was two Martinis. Well more or less, because the Vermouth
> was evident mostly by its absence. AND there is not a day in my life in
> which I am not profoundly awed by the gift of Open Space as it seems to
have
> passed through me. I am not sure it is really about humility (mine) but
> rather the sheer wonder that even in such common moments as quiet drink on
> the patio -- Spirit speaks. Was the alcohol essential? By no means! That
is
> just the way it happened. 
> 
> But, you might justifiably ask -- why keep the tale alive? I suppose that
> part of the answer might be my natural curmudgeonly nature. I just love a
> good story, particularly one with a twist. And the twist on this one, so
far
> as I am concerned is that Open Space showed up not as the product of
> prodigious research, deep meditation, humongous effort -- it just popped
up.
> And I take a lesson from this which is all about being attentive to the
> moment and the ways in which inspiration (Spirit?) breaks through. Now of
> course it took a good 5 years before I saw OS to be important, and another
> 15 until I actually think I understand some of the mechanisms and
> implications. But in the moment it was the Moment. Awesome in its
> commonality.
> 
> 
> Harrison
> 
> NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!!!
> hhowen at verizon.net
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland   20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com 
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com 
> OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
> Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Diane
> Brandon
> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 12:10 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: the 'os' weblog
> 
> Harrison, I'm going to admit, online, that when you say things like "[OST]
> emerged full blown from a martini glass" - it's hard for me to read! 
> 
> My knowing, and I think yours and others', is that OST was inspired,
> in-spirited, not from alcohol, but from something much better than that
> substance! Whether called "collective unconscious", "higher power",
Creator,
> Goddess/God, Allah, The Great Spirit, or whatever....... these wonderful,
> universal thoughts are gifts to us all, through you and others who are
good
> "receivers" of such thoughts. 
> 
> Perhaps you are too humble to say that you receive inspiration from higher
> sources.
> 
> Perhaps you find yourself "receiving" better after a martini, and you are
> just joking about that - as you've done other times.
> 
> But it pains me, and I'm going to be honest about it, in this forum of
> honesty! In my years as an alcohol counselor, on college campuses and with
> adults, including Native Americans in Arizona, I saw way too much
suffering
> around the use of alcohol to want to see it praised as the sources of
great
> ideas.
> 
> With appreciation for people, and a passionate love of inspiration and
great
> ideas, 
> 
> Diane Brandon
> Eliot, Maine
> 
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
> 
> > The thought did occur to me that I could have said something similar
about
> > 20 years ago when Open Space Technology emerged full blown from a
martini
> > glass. Or 15 years ago when OST suddenly appeared to be something
useful,
> > and maybe even important -- since it kept showing up in full page
feature
> > stories in such odd places as the New York Times, The Washington Post,
The
> > LA Times, etc, etc. But I didn't.
> > 
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> 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
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> 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

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*
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http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

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------------------------------
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view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
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