Action and Self Organization

Wed Jun 24 12:23:37 PDT 2009

Harrison,

In reference to the common experience you refer to, I felt it, I honor it,
and I feel at peace with it. This will be my life work. The OS principles
and the heartfelt invitation is the gentle container that makes people feel
safe -- safe to say out loud to themselves and to others what they are
passionate about.  I hosted my first Open Space this past Sunday at the IONS
conference in Tucson, Arizona.  I felt ready because of the wonderful Open
Space community that came into my life...too many to name. Specifically on
that day, I do however want to thank Cassandra O'Neill, Tenneson Woolf,
Christine Whitney Sanchez and of course Diane Gibeault, the angel on my
shoulder.

There are no words to express how one feels as you hear people, most of whom
were strangers to each other, share what is deep inside them as they discuss
topics that matter in their small groups. I felt the quietness of their
conversations. I went in there having been supported by a wonderful team
(IONS and Florida friends) who lovingly helped prepare the posters, the
room, the welcoming environment, etc. I felt at peace in this mission
knowing that: "whatever happens is the only thing that could have".  We
expected about 25 people; almost double that number came and we were ready
for 100.

I had set as a goal to give the gift of time to the participants. Out of the
3 hours we had, 89% of that time would be theirs. I would keep my
instructions to a minimum as would the host and announcer.  That's what we
did.

The theme of the IONS conference was the Global Shift meshing science and
consciousness, objective and subjective, data and intuition – all the stuff
that is so much a part of Wave Rider. Using Bruce Lipton’s concepts (author
and cell biologist), perhaps OS is the membrane or container around the cell
that acts as the semiconductor allowing life to breath in and out. I honor
the invisibility of it all once we quickly do our thing.

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 11:29 AM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:

>  Somewhere along the line the idea crept in that a self-organizing world
> severely limited, if not eliminated, human initiative. With thoughts such as
> these it is not surprising that many would find the notion of
> self-organization abhorrent, and definitely to be resisted. After all -- if
> true we would be reduced to the level of zombies whose fate and future lay
> totally out of our hands.
>
>
>
> I believe the truth of the matter to be radically different. And the basis
> of my belief is our common experience in the 1000’s of Open Spaces we have
> enjoyed. I take it as a given that the essence of Open Space is the primal
> power of self organization – no news there. J Every time we open space the
> forces of self organization are invited to be fully present. Of course,
> those forces are there all the time, but we do seem to make best effort to
> keep them under control. J J
>
>
>
> Now ask yourself – what is the common experience in Open Space for both
> First Timers and Old Hands? I don’t think you would describe it as
> restrictive, dis-empowering, or imprisoning! Indeed – quite the opposite. I
> grant you some folks get a little carried away, but I have heard it said
> that the experience was one of radical freedom and intense creativity. I
> remember one total skeptic saying, as the event came to a conclusion, that
> never before had he experienced such respect and acceptance in a group – and
> never before had his feeling of personal power and contribution been as
> great. Such feelings might be mistaken as the outpouring of rampant
> individualism. Something that Anne Rand might be proud of. But that is
> hardly the case for these same people and others as well speak of a deep
> sense of community, being in the presence of brothers and sisters who only
> hours before were total strangers – of Coming Home.
>
>
>
> I have often heard another remark which is rather bitter/sweet: “This has
> been so wonderful – too bad we have to go back to reality.”  Or it is said
> that it is time to go back to the “real world.” Sad statements for sure, and
> were it to turn out that the experience in Open Space WAS reality – those
> statements are tragic. I am quite aware that life is filled with a full
> measure of chaos, confusion and conflict. Indeed all three are essential for
> life, and all three predictably show up in the course of any juicy Open
> Space. But the difference is that in Open Space the flow of emergent events
> is honored thereby allowing them to reach their natural resolution. Nobody
> attempts to coral them into submission. The Law of Two Feet applies.
>
>
>
> At the end of the day Open Space Technology is not about having great
> meetings. Nor is it simply another tool in the facilitators’ tool box,
> although both are doubtless true. For me the true equity I find in OST is
> the ongoing natural experiment and learning experience of living
> intentionally in a self-organizing world. Perhaps it is for this reason that
> I find the enhancement of the facilitator’s role and tools to be less than
> interesting – unless that enhancement involved the reduction of that role to
> the point of total invisability.
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
>
>
> Harrison Owen
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave
>
> Camden, ME 04843
>
> 207-763-3261 (Summer)
>
> 301-365-2093 (Winter)
>
> Website www.openspaceworld.com
>
> Personal Website www.ho-image.com
>
> OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  * * ==========================================================
> 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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20090624/b1b7e02e/attachment-0016.htm>