hierarchy...was report from the field

[Raffi Aftandelian]

Greetings friends and colleagues--

Harrison you wrote:

"The other day I got a note which said in part, "I was surprised to
find out that there was a hierarchy in the OST community and everyone having
a specific place to hold, voices are not equal and politics prevails in
certain circuits  Just the same old same old... I'm not sure this is what
you envisioned with OST." I have no idea what the specific circumstances
were, and less interest in finding out. But presuming that we have the
creeping tentacles of elitism sneaking in - a good dose of the Law of Two
Feet and a clear recognition of the Universal License of Open Space
(everybody has one by birth) should do the trick. Or something."

I would love to hear more from the person who wrote about hierarchy in the
OST community. What is meant by "hierarchy" here?

Isn't there hierarchy everywhere? Is it a bad thing? The question is what
kind of hierarchy do we have in the OST community? Is it a hierarchy that
feeds us, strengthens us? And how do we choose to engage with it as a
community? Do we create the spaces to talk about the power differentials
within our practitioner community in a way that, well, builds more capacity
within us?

Quakers, for example, acknowledge that voices are not equal within the life
of a Monthly Meeting. They have the concept of "weightiness" or a "weighty
Friend."  In other words, these are the elders within the Quaker world.

And doesn't the OST world have its elders and sages?

I, too, have heard (and thought) that the OST community is the "same
old...," - heck, some of that "same oldness" shows up on the list from time
to time- *and* I do not know of a more generous, welcoming, inspiring
facilitation community. We either choose to engage with the OST community as
it is, or...well exercise the law of two feet.


Raffi

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