doing self-organization

[Michael Herman]

hi doug,

seems to me that your first question assumes halfway state.  "if there
is such a thing as self-org" then leaves open the question of whether
or not there is anything else.  once we notice that it is, AND is
everywhere, then the need for knowing or creating the conditions seems
to dissolve, maybe into harrison's beer.  we need to know more,
perhaps, if we want to make a better beer, but probably not about the
"conditions" for refrigeration, but about refrigeration as the
condition for beer.  so the conditions that matter are the conditions
for high performance or productive work.  and when we ask that, i
think we can quickly dissolve most of what people say into what
happens in our principles and law and circle and invitation and...

inviting, like marshall rosenberg's 'non-violent communication,
emphasizes choice.  invitation is request for attention, not demand.
even in writing an invitation with a leader/sponsor, i'm not ever
trying to make the invitation go a certain way, but i do invite
attention (theirs) to focus on various bits of what i'm
hearing/sensing in them and their situation, exploring the 'rightness"
of these bits to see what dimensions of everything they'd like to
invite others to focus on with them.

my two cents.

m



On 5/24/07, douglas germann <76066.515 at compuserve.com> wrote:
> Michael, Harrison, Joelle, Andrew, Pat, Raffi, and all--
>
> (Sorry for the previous posting--somehow hit the send key before I was done.)
>
> Would you be interested in entertaining a couple of musing questions?
>
> If (some people in command and control mode might still use the word
> "if") there is such a thing as self organizing, what would be its
> conditions?
>
>         This seems to be to be a fruitful inquiry, and it goes beyond
>         our usual important, complex, diverse, conflict, immediacy list.
>         For me it perhaps overlaps but is not precisely the same as
>         Harrison's list of 8 essentials.
>
>                 For instance, is invitation necessary for self
>                 organizing? What level of freedom? What order of
>                 equality of the participants? Are there physical
>                 conditions? Or is it just two or more gathering?
>
> Closely related: What is the difference between trying to control what a
> group does and inviting? (Harrison, you hinted at this in a post today
> when you say "I believe that there is an infinitely better possibility
> through which we may discover deep ways to realize our full potential as
> human beings, as well as doing something very useful and good in the
> world.") Is it simply a matter of degree, or is the difference
> qualitative?
>
>                 For instance, when Birgitt writes of "givens," or I help
>                 someone write the theme for their invitation, we are
>                 consciously directing the attention of the participants
>                 to something we want to examine or change. So for
>                 instance, we are inviting people to make positive change
>                 in the area of X, or to explore the issues and
>                 opportunities of X, and this necessarily takes their
>                 attention off Y, Z, Q and J.
>
>                                 :- Doug.
>
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-- 

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
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