Tr : Re: Next Generation

Thu Sep 14 10:08:17 PDT 2006

Hi all !

  Harrison's metaphore with the bicycle brings me back to Zen and the Art  of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig. What is Quality ?

  Louise Brissette
  514.271.0318
  ipse at videotron.ca
  leadershipcreateur.wordpress.com
  leadership créateur : pour une écologie du travail

Harrison Owen <hhowen at adelphia.net> a écrit :  Date :         Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:13:19 -0400
De : Harrison Owen <hhowen at adelphia.net>
Objet: Re: Next Generation
À : OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU

              Gabriela -- It is a rare and wonderful morning when you   awake to find a thought expressed with such clarity and elegance that you can   only sit there in silent appreciation for the thought and the thinker. You   provided such a moment for me in your words, "For me, OST has nothing to do with trends. It simply   touches the heart of people and because it gives official permission for   selforganization. For me its all about "back to the roots and forward to higher   consciousness". I 
deeply believe and feel, its all just the beginning -   based on millions of evolutionary open space years." And   most particularly your last sentence --"back   to the roots and forward to higher consciousness".

  I have always been clear that OS was and is a Half-way   Technology. It has been (and I guess continues to be) very useful as a   starting point, but only that. It is rather like training wheels on your bicycle   when you were a kid (or the steadying hand of a parent or older sibling) during   your first rides. In the moment, but only in that first moment, they (helping   hands / training wheels) are most useful, even essential. But the whole point is   to "do it all by yourself." And certainly there is little need, and less utility   for the design of more and better training wheels -- at least not for   you.

  Pushing the analogy a bit further -- when riding the   bicycle of life, maturity occurs when not only are training wheels a thing of   the past -- but even the thought of training wheels is banished, except as a   fond memory of something that helped you on your way. And you really fly when   there is no thought at all -- a mindless moment. Just being. I suppose you   could talk about all this in terms of trusting the process (bicycle/balance),   but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. It is more like total union in an   organic entity, bicycle/me.

  All analogies break somewhere along the line -- or should   be broken, and riding the bicycle is no exception. The problem is that there are   two (at least) parts -- bicycle and me. In life, I find that it is all a single,   constantly changing, always the same, ever evolving, and "already there" organic   phenomenon. Call it a Complex Adaptive System, Self-Organization or whatever   (and no name really does it), but for sure it is a seamless journey, and we are   on it -- with or without permission.

  I guess I did have to chuckle a bit, Gabriela, at your   attribution to Open Space of the power to "give official permission for   self-organization." I know what you meant -- but from where I sit,   self-organization doesn't need permission, nor do we need permission to   self-organize. Self-Organizing is what we are, along with all the rest of the   Cosmos. It does seem, however, that we do need an opportunity to learn, or   better, remember this fundamental fact of life, and there is no question that OS   does provide that.

  Goodness knows where all this is taking us, but I don't   think it has much to do with designing better processes (2nd Generation OS, for   example) or even your "well designed social architectures." In fact, I don't   think it has anything to do with "designing" whatsoever. For me it is rather   more like being an appreciative participant in the ongoing evolution of the   cosmos. Our part is a small one, but when it comes to the business of   design, the total system can take care of that pretty much all by itself. We   might be helpful, and for sure we can learn ways in which we as individuals   might flow more gracefully and effectively in the great rivers of the   cosmos -- whatever all that might mean. And I think we are on the way to   finding out.

  Thanks for the thoughts, Gabriela!

  Harrison  

  Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD    20854
USA
301-365-2093
207-763-3261 (summer)
website www.openspaceworld.com
Personal   Website www.ho-image.com

      ----- Original Message ----- 
    From:     Gabriela Ender 
    To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU     
    Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 3:34     AM
    Subject: Re: Next Generation

Hi Holger,

next generation of OST? Why? The gift and the     power of OST its exactly these 
beautiful easiness. When we want to enable     and support selforganization - we 
have to be role models for "less is     more". I think, we facilitators 
facilitating OST not for us. We do it for     the people. Therefore my question 
would not be "next generation OST", but     rather next generation of 
consciousness. Consciousness in terms of how to     include the elegancy of OST 
into ongoing or planned communication or     transformation processes, the 
consciousness of how to combine     complementary methods and resources within 
in a longer term process (also     offline and online) and also the 
consciousness in terms of what is our     role as consultants/facilitators, if 
we work with OST. If we step into the     shoes of the people, we do not need a 
next generation OST, we need     humility for the miracles of OST and a personal 
inner demand for quality     regarding well designed participatory 
architectures.

For me, OST     has nothing to with trends. It simply touches the heart of 
people and     because it gives official permission for selforganization. For me 
its all     about "back to the roots and forward to higher consciousness". I 
deeply     believe and feel, its all just the beginning - based on millions of     
evolutionary open space years.

So far my two morning     cents,
Gabriela

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Holger     Nauheimer (Change Facilitation)" 
<holger at CHANGE-FACILITATION.ORG>
To:     <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent:     Thursday, September 14, 2006 12:08 AM
Subject: Next     Generation

Hi everybody,

you might have seen my discussion     inputs to the dropping knowledge
movement. That brings me to a point I     would like to explore, together with
you. Our network is just starting a     project on "Trends in Change
Facilitation", and the big question is "What's     next?", or "Better,
something next?"

Being myself an admirer of the     power that an OS can unfold (and the
potential to transform organizations),     I am still the old post-post-
modernist who asks himself: Is OS the end of     a development we have just
embarked on, just in the tiny time span of 20     years, when OS, AI and
Future Search, and the principles of     self-organization were discovered for
groups, more or less símultanously,     and started to move the world - World
Cafe, as a latecomer 10 years ago -     now Otto Scharmer shaking the trees,
or is it just the beginning, in the     sense of "We've only just begun":

We've only just begun to     live,
White lace and promises
A kiss for luck and we're on our     way.
And yes, We've just begun.

Before the rising sun we fly,
So     many roads to choose
We start our walking and learn to run.
And yes,     We've just begun.

Sharing horizons that are new to us,
Watching the     signs along the way,
Talking it over just all of us,
Working together     day to day
Together.

And when the evening comes we smile,
So much     of life ahead
We'll find a place where there's room to grow,
And yes,     We've just begun.

Words & Music by Paul Williams & Roger     Nichols
(I prefer the cover version of Curtis Mayfield, by the     way)

So, is OS the end of a long road or the start? Will OS be able to     address
all questions of community and organization, and belongingness?     Will we
need and want to experiment with it for a long time to come? Are     there
issues/problems/potential solutions in the Global Village which     demand
other methodologies? Has Open Space Online provided an answer on how     to
further proceed the road? Or which other forms of global interaction     will
we need to develop?

Is there a right or wrong approach to     attempt a healing of the broken
world?

Waiting for answers, and for     more questions.

Warm but inpatient regards
Holger     Nauheimer

Change Facilitation s.r.o.
http://www.change-facilitation.org
Global     Network for Exploring, Creating, and Celebrating Change.

Now     available:
The Audio Version of The Change Management Toolbook
http://www.change-management-toolbook.com/res/audio.html

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