What to do next... (WaveRider)

[Harrison Owen]

Ralph puts things in a slightly different way. Which is usual with Ralph who
always seems to be walking with a different drummer. Under the heading of,
"What do you do in this self organizing work on a fresh Monday morning?",
Ralph identifies tasks for himself and his community. At first take this
made a lot of sense -- there is me and we. And there are appropriate tasks
for each. But then my drummer spoke up and I began to wonder whether things
were as clear and simple as they first appeared. First off, you are never
going to get a we without a lot of me's -- which might suggest that we is
simply the collective me? And how about the other way around? No me without
a We. Certainly works out at the reproductive level. It would seem that
everything is connected in this self organizing world, being both simpler
and more complicated than we might assume. It might also suggest that the
distinction we make between we and me may be a little over done. And just to
really confuse things ... if it is true that action starts with invitation
-- where is my invitation for my (self initiated) action?

Harrison

Odd thoughts from a Very snowy Washington DC


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

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Ralph
Copleman
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 7:39 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: What to do next...

Harrison, you asked...

> And I was wondering how would apply what you
> have said to an everyday situation? Supposing it is Monday morning at your
> place of work saving the environment in New Jersey. Your inbox and todo
list
> are filled to over flowing -- and that cup of coffee (if you had one) is
> getting cold. What do you do next?

Hmm.  Cool question.

My life as director of our small nonprofit has been reinforcing two lessons.
One is Yin, the other is Yang (though I cannot tell which is which).

One lesson: there are steps I can take to help move my community toward
sustainability.  I can and must take action on my own.

On the other hand (lesson two), I know it's not up to me alone.  I hold
space for many others who participate in this work with me, and I must
accept that each of them moves in their own way and their own pace.  Often I
find I am watching others hold space, too.  Our collective activity adds up
to a self-organizing system, as you'd expect.

If your question is, how do I decide what to do, well, I get my answer from
the 50 Swedish scientists who created the definition of sustainability known
as The Natural Step.  They set out four system conditions that we have to
meet to achieve sustainability.  These four are, in effect, the criteria
established by Earth during 4.55 billion years of self-organizing evolution,
and that had been working fine - until modern humans came along and sold
ourselves a large set of lies about ownership of the planet.

When I get up in the morning, I ask myself, quite simply, what can I do
today to more effectively live within one or more of the self-evolved system
conditions.  You could say I'm holding space for Earth and the sentient
species known as homo sapiens to re-consider their relationship.

But I have a feeling I have not completely understood your question.  Is my
answer missing something?

Ralph

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