What to do next... (WaveRider)

[doug]

Harrison--

I resonate with your second provocative musing: There is no Me without a
We. The We seems to me primary, actually more like a great big I, the
single I that represents the world as we know it.

Of course you have seen that I have this year been reading Christopher
Alexander's 2,000 page work, The Nature of Order. In Book Four he makes
essentially this point that the physical structure of the world is a
luminous I underlying all things.

I have also been reading David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order,
which says the same thing from the side of physics (compare to
Alexander's approach from the side of architecture): everything is
enfolded into and unfolding from everything else, and it is all always
in movement, hence his term the Holomovement.

So in that light it is a self-world we inhabit, and we are all swellings
of and unfolding essentials of the whole. So the "organizing" part is
really a participation in the great foaming waves of folding and
unfolding. The action does not start, only continues, invitation
inviting invitation round again....

And so I have to second your musing that everything is "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."

Musing right along with you, adding another little unfolding or
enfolding to what you saw....

>>From blustery, wet and icy South Bend, Indiana.

			:- Doug.

On Tue, 2009-12-22 at 08:56 -0500, Harrison Owen wrote:
> 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
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> 
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
> 
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> 
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist