"rules" and self-organization

Thu May 31 07:40:47 PDT 2007

Kaliya wrote: "At this time on our planet we need to be as intentional and
catalytic as possible in creating space for new possibilities of our
civilization to emerge....being passive and hoping that people conditioned
the way they are in our current culture will some how 'magically' 'awake'
and 'self-organize' is to me hopelessly naive."

Kaliya, I could not agree more that "intentional and catalytic" activity on
our part is very useful, and at the present moment, essential. It is also
possible to adopt a fatalistic response to the fundamental self-organizing
nature of our world - "newagers" may believe that we will somehow "magically
awake," and those on the other end of the spectrum may believe that we are
all, inevitably, going to hell in a wheel barrow.  I would agree that both
responses are possible, but by no means foreordained. I certainly would not
see them (the responses) as the inevitable consequence of a self-organizing
world.

My own thought and experience has taken me to a place where I see
self-organization as a fundamental mechanism in our world (cosmos) - very
much in the way that gravity comes with the territory. In short, it is not a
matter of choice - it is just the way things are. Nor does self-organization
inevitably lead to the appearance of "love and light," although I think
there may be a tendency in that direction - which we might explore.  But at
the end of the day, at least my day - all systems are self-organizing
including a number of systems we might rather not confront, such as
Terrorist Cells and the HIV virus, to mention a few.

I see self-organization as the context or environment in which we move.
Thus, even when we make careful and detailed plans and designs - once they
hit the real world they inevitably become part of the self-organizing stew.
Being fully aware of this fact is critical, I think, in terms of raising the
level of probability that we may experience "successful" outcomes. When we
ignore or disregard the self-organizing environment, or worse yet, think we
can override it - we get into serious trouble. Thus when plans and designs
go astray, a typical response has been to re-organize and re-organize
coupled with redoubled efforts at control (our control). While we may
experience limited short term gains, the final result of our effort is often
no change (it doesn't do any good) - or we actually make the situation
worse.

A good example is the whole business of what we call Flood Control as
practiced in the United States by the Army Corps of Engineers. It is a fact
that rivers flood. It is also a fact that floods tend to be deleterious to
the function of human systems located near by. The obvious response, so we
thought, is to control the river with a mixture of dams and levees. The
short term result seems positive - our feet are dry. But longer term, things
turn out a little differently. It seems that the naturally occurring
self-organizing system called the Mississippi, Danube, or whatever, had
evolved system wisdom with some structural elements we simply didn't
understand. Case in point is a Flood Plain. Flood plains seemed to be a
marvelous place to grow crops and build cities. True! And they also have an
essential function in the life of the ecosystem of that river, which is not
to be tampered with. When floods come, as they will, the Flood Plain
provides an escape valve in which the additional waters can spread out with
minimal turbulence. When the waters go, they will go peacefully, leaving a
fresh deposit of soil and seeds. A more intelligent response on our part
would be, I think, to cooperate with the river, and align our
self-organizing systems (villages and cities) with that fundamental system.
If we choose to build near by, find the high ground. And in the absence of
high ground try some stilts. But no matter what - don't mess with Mother
Nature, because the day will surely come when Mother Nature and Old Man
River conspire to put us in our place. 

So what does all this have to do with OST? I think what we have been
learning every time we Open Space is how to optimize system function, honor
the natural self-organizing rhythm and flow, and thereby achieve what
sometimes appear to be "magical" results. This is a conscious act, a
catalytic act and, it should be noted, the net result has a lot to do with
our intentions. Given different intentions the result could be quite
different. To make the point, and only to make the point, I would say that
were it my intention to create a Terrorist Network, I can't think of a
better possible approach than to begin with an Open Space. Indeed it might
be argued that this is precisely what Osama and friends have done. I doubt
they have read "The User's Guide," but as I think we are all aware, Open
Space (by whatever name) has been around long before I wrote that guide. 

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 

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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Kaliya
Hamlin
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 8:58 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: "rules" and self-organization

It is nice you all want to be so 'free form' about things and 'believe' that
humans just 'self-organize'.

My experience has taught me that leaning to far in this direction actually
creates a lot of dissonance for people and leads to spaces with negative
energy.

Having a person or better a group of people taking responsiblity for holding
the space creating a nest if you will... within which people feel safe to
'open up' and explore with each other possibilities.... out of this space
this nest is born new action and activity.

At this time on our planet we need to be as intentional and catalytic as
possible in creating space for new possibilities of our civilization to
emerge....being passive and hoping that people conditioned the way they are
in our current culture will some how 'magically' 'awake' and 'self-organize'
is to me hopelessly naive. 

Diffusing the simple tools and 'rules'  or principles and practices is one
of the things that could make the  most difference at this time on our
planet. 

My experience is that professional  communities (that is people coming
together to use this methodology in peer-to-peer professional network
(outside 'AN' organization) settings) seeking to take action together learn
the way OST works and take to it....it becomes the new norm -the shared way
of doing things together that they work on.  It lets all the passion talent
and energy come forward and the people who are interested find each other
because there is enough structure ... just enough that it is functional and
effective for them to spend their time in the space together.   THIS IS
important. I somethings think people undervalue peoples time and energy by
all this 'it just happens' talk....well if you help it happen and you follow
some simple steps it is like 10x better.  THAT MATTERS for the state of the
world and to respect peoples time and energy for showing up.

On May 30, 2007, at 4:19 PM, openspacekorea wrote:

great! i agree with your point 100%.

thank u...

Love and Peace,

park

  _____  

From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Ralph
Copleman
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 10:12 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: "rules" and self-organization

One way to test what is essential (what Artur termed "micro") and what is
not would be to open some space without mentioning either the four
principles or the law of two feet.  Or anything else.

If self-organization occurs in os, would not the "space" still "open"
without things we have come to believe are essential?  I'm betting it would,
or at least could.  Perhaps all we need is a room and a theme and a wall.
Maybe some tea and coffee.  How free are we?  

Picture it.  You're invited, so you show up because the theme interests you
or you know the inviter.  You get there, see the theme statement on the
wall, and nothing but a circle of chairs.  Nothing.  Not even a facilitator.
Others arrive.  The only things you share at this point are your presence
and your presumed interest in the theme.

If self-organization is real, is not the space already open?  It may take
longer, but might relevant, useful conversations begin?

I think the facilitator meets our need for an authority figure (a perfectly
natural, good thing, most of the time), and the ideas about feet, insects,
etc. a minimal unifying structure (think of it perhaps as curbs to a
boulevard?) that steer us into an opening, a place we have agreed, by
showing up, we want to be.  OS in action resembles self-organization, but it
isn't the pure thing.  (Not that it really matters.  I love it simply
because it's the best way I know to show people what evolution on Earth is
really like.  And it produces great results for my clients.)

One more rumpled notion occurs this morning...  What about the storytelling
role, the thing we do as facilitators to connect people entering an open
space to a greater whole?  I know this is important, but is not the
facilitator simply reminding people of a story they already know, deep down?
If self-organization/evolution is real, it's been working far longer than
humans have even  been around.  Might we not trust this process?  How far
can we go?

Ralph Copleman

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Kaliya - Identity Woman

AIM:kaliya at mac.com

skype:identitywoman

Y!:earthwaters

http://www.identitywoman.net

http://www.unconference.net

510 472-9069 (bay area)

415 425-1136 (on the road)

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