OSLIST Digest - 4 Sep 2006 (#2006-233)

[Ralph Copleman]

On 9/5/06 2:00 AM, "OSLIST automatic digest system"
<LISTSERV at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU> wrote:

> My real fear is that all the students won't get it. I desperately want to
> let go and let it happen, and I'm worried about what will happen when I do.

Joanna, other newbies, virgins, and anyone else...

How easy is it for students (or anyone else) to ³get² open space?

On occasions, when someone has arrived late for an OS meeting I¹m
facilitating, I¹ve often seen the following.  The person in question wants
to get into the stream of things, so s/he usually seeks out someone s/he
knows.  Then follows an extremely brief exchange that usually includes a
little pointing toward the relevant wall, a nod or two, and the two move off
in different directions, with the latecomer heading toward that wall.

I have taken all that time to provide as efficient and brief an opening as I
know how, and then I see the whole thing delivered in about ten seconds to a
complete newcomer.

People get it, I think in part, because to participate in open space,
there¹s fundamentally nothing new they have to learn.  They join some
conversations, listen, speak from time to time, move around, eat something,
etc.  If we insist people ³get it² on some deeper level that¹s unnecessary
for them to give what they came to contribute or learn what they came to
learn, then we may be stressing ourselves uselessly.

If less is more for us, it needs to be so, in our minds, for participants as
well.

So not only will they get it, Joanna, they already do!

Ralph Copleman

*
*
==========================================================
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/20060905/515f693a/attachment-0015.htm>