open space and synchronicity

[Harrison Owen]

I have to make a confession. The word "synchronicity" has always bugged me.
Comes from the Greek "syn" "chronos" (literally - with time, or same time).
It is time and the clocks that get me. As if clocks/time makes that much
difference.  And in contemporary usage, synchronicity gets an over plus of
being something weird, magical, or psychic. Now -- who am I to question
things "magical, weird, and psychic?" I have had some people suggest that
all three of those things could be my middle name. But still they make me
very uncomfortable. 

 

The reason is that most of the things that people talk about under the
heading of synchronicity (and then go WOOWOO!) seem to me to be very
natural, rather what you would expect - especially if you are in the real
flow of things, and acutely aware of that flow. So when Chris talks about
Seagulls sitting on the window sill, laughing at the Closing Circle, my
reaction is - What would you expect, Chris? And Tree, the fact that you felt
irresistibly called to let dinner in the door sounds pretty reasonable to
me. And Phelim, if you really insist in seeing Butterflies and Bumble Bees
spread across the Press, that's OK - but I wouldn't say it too loudly. :-)

 

There is another word which for me is much more comfortable - and takes me
to the same, or better, places than Synchronicity. It is "Symbiosis,"
"Symbiotic" - or I suppose "Symbiosity".  Still Greek, but with a twist.
"Sym" (with)

"Bios" (life) - with life - or better yet, "Living Together." The thought is
that when life flows together, all the pieces fit - even the ones that seem
a little strange. For me, this is an everyday story, especially when our
awareness is turned up to HIGH (as in OS). And the story suffers when we try
to re-write it according to our notion of what we think SHOULD be happening.
It gets even worse when we try to operationalize our understanding of what
SHOULD be happening in order to bring it under control and make sure that it
happens the way we expect it to. That's when we really get in trouble!

 

So Chris - Of course Gulls will laugh at the Closing Circle. First of all
they are Gulls. Secondly, the Closing Circle can get pretty funny. And Tree
- What is so strange about letting Dinner in the door? And when it comes to
the "struggling author" - how could he NOT find support and assistance in
The Evolutionary Salon? I suspect that the only way he could avoid all such
help would be if it were not truly The Evolutionary Salon - or that he had
his blinders on and could only accept help in some pre-defined package.

 

So what else is new? Just another day in the Open Space of life here on
Planet Earth, just flowing together- Symbiotically. 

 

Harrison      

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

Open Space Training  <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com


Open Space Institute  <http://www.openspaceworld.org/>
www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website  <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com 

OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit:  <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html>
www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

 

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Chris
Corrigan
Sent: Sunday, May 28, 2006 5:42 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: open space and synchronicity

 

Well...yes to all...and on the subject of synchronicity, the thing that
often seems to happen for me is that birds turn up.

Eagles in the middle of the city, sparrows finding their way into locked
meeting rooms.  Gulls sitting on the window sill and laughing at every
comment in a closing circle.  

I don't talk about them much, but I come to rely on my avian familiars in my
work....

:-)

Chris
* * ==========================================================
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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20060528/49618e54/attachment-0008.htm>