Everything is Moving: An Invitation to Join the flow (longish)

[doug]

Harrison--

Sounds to me like the beginnings of a (wonderful) book!

			:- Doug.



On Sun, 2010-08-22 at 17:49 -0400, Harrison Owen wrote:
> Our friend Suzanne Daigle sent me a note saying that it seemed I had
> been very quiet on OSLIST. It is true that I appreciate silence, but
> the real truth is, I was just thinking. Dangerous I know, but what
> follows is the result – and you can blame it all on Suzanne (Joke!).
> So what do you think?
> 
>  
> 
> **************************************************************
> 
>  
> 
> A long time ago a good friend, Ralph Copleman, was to be found in the
> middle of a large circle of peers dressed in a flowing cape and
> repeating the words, “Everything is moving, Everything is moving.” Odd
> to say the least and some doubted Ralph’s sanity. Some still do, but
> that image has stuck in my febrile brain ever since – and as time has
> passed it occurs to me that Ralph had it precisely right: This is an
> energetic cosmos. The problem arises when we (and that includes all of
> us some of the time) desperately want everything to  stop and stand
> still. So desperately in fact that we have created a mental image of
> our environment exclusively populated by static things which include
> everything from mountains to super nova along with the oddments of our
> life like professions, chairs, relationships, organizational
> structures, corporations, countries and empires. Unfortunately this
> mental image is a radical illusion, one might say delusion. Ralph is
> right. Everything is moving and what we perceive as stable structures
> are but the momentary, slice in time, freeze-frame constructs of our
> imagination.
> 
>  
> 
> Heresy? Psychobabble?  Advanced esoteric insight? – None of the above,
> I think. As a matter of fact, Ralph’s observation is nothing but a
> short (poetic?) version of the (now) standard scientific understanding
> of the nature of the cosmos. Starting with the Big Bang it is all
> flowing energy, albeit now clumped in momentary configurations – but
> still flowing energy for all of that. Scratch any rock hard enough and
> its essential nature comes through – a whirring bunch of quarks and
> neutrons doing the cosmic dance. Doubtless my physicist friends would
> take issue with my phrasing – but not, I think, with the core message.
> Everything is moving. 
> 
>  
> 
> So what does all this have to do with the price of eggs? Or for that
> matter – Open Space and our role as facilitators and consultants? A
> lot, I believe.
> 
>  
> 
> Starting with Open Space which is many things to different people. For
> some it is a Large Group Intervention. Others might see it as an
> aberrant phenomenon peculiar to a cultish few. For myself Open Space
> is a trial ride in the flow of life which has a lot of similarities to
> my boat. 
> 
>  
> 
> My boat is smallish in size (32 feet) but definitely larger than the
> average punt. She is very seaworthy and shares a common heritage with
> the local Lobster Boats here in Maine. We have many visitors, most of
> whom have never been on a boat such as the Ethelyn Rose. When you walk
> on board, things look sort of familiar. Chairs for sitting, a
> comfortable nook for dining, and even an oriental rug on the floor –
> excuse me, sole. If you look further there are the standard amenities
> such as a shower and commode, all sequestered in their separate
> quarters. Even a complete landlubber will feel more or less at home.
> 
>  
> 
> But the moment we leave the dock the world changes – apparent
> stability yields to constant motion. Everything is moving even if it
> seems to be staying in the same place! In the harbor motion is
> minimal, but the moment  we clear the breakwater marking the harbor
> entrance the experience can be radically different. Sea swells from
> the open Atlantic Ocean take us up and down in distances measured in
> yards, and should we have a good cross wind the surface chop adds an
> interesting side to side motion. The Ethelyn Rose is right at home,
> but some of our visitors have a different impression. And navigating
> in these conditions is a definite learning experience. Even a simple
> walk through the main cabin can be a challenge. Hand holds that you
> had carefully plotted at the start of your journey suddenly changed
> position relative to you as you made your way. What was up is now down
> and who knows what is happening in between. Interesting, and as they
> say, It ain’t Kansas. 
> 
>  
> 
> Most people meet the challenge and after a few educational bumps to
> various parts of their anatomy they learn not to fight reality. No
> matter what you may have thought you were going to do, the only useful
> option is to go with the flow. And the next level of learning is that
> when you do that well (flow) you can actually arrive where you need to
> be. Wonderful! Sounds a lot like Open Space.
> 
>  
> 
> We start in the static stability of a circle. This may seem strange to
> some, but there is a place for everybody and everybody finds a place.
> A familiar and enduring structure for sure. Then it happens. The
> circle crumbles in bits and pieces as people come to center,
> announcing their passions – only to be briefly restored as they return
> to their seats. However the restoration is but momentary. Shortly
> everybody leaves their seats to join a chaotic gaggle at the wall. So
> much for static structure, and it goes downhill from there. 
> 
>  
> 
> Ebbing and flowing, groups form and reform all without benefit of the
> standard constraints essential for orderly organizational life—or so
> we might have thought. Pre-arranged agenda (sometimes called Mission,
> Goals, Objectives) is nonexistent. The Schedule might be posted but
> never followed – things start when they start. Assigned participation
> is nowhere to be found, and yet the right people show up. And to make
> things even worse, the air is filled with buzzing and flutters as Bees
> and Butterflies do their thing. Madness! To be sure there may be a few
> people who are utterly flummoxed as the hand holds they may have
> expected (see above under “Ethelyn Rose at Sea”) disappear . . . or
> reappear in unexpected places. Their condition is not helped, for
> should they ask what to do the answer is likely to come back as a
> question – What would they care to do?
> 
>  
> 
> A trifling few will lose heart and head for the shore – perceived
> stability. But the vast majority, as we have seen over the years and
> around the globe, will be totally captivated by the moment, and a
> smaller group will experience that moment as total exhilaration. They
> are doing what their prior life experience taught them could not be
> done – seriously and intentionally going with the flow. And rather
> than being rank hedonism, the experience proves to be massively
> productive and fulfilling. Doing well and good – and feeling great. A
> hard to beat combination.
> 
>  
> 
> And then we come to Monday Morning. Back to reality, as they say. But
> is it? The truth, I believe is rather different. They have experienced
> reality and come to the edge of shedding illusion/delusion. In the
> words of friend Ralph, “Everything is moving” – and this is now a fact
> of life to be savored and enjoyed. No longer a terrifying unknown, it
> is to be affirmed and embraced. Not without a few “white knuckle”
> moments to be sure – but infinitely better than hanging onto the
> (illusory) rock of stability. 
> 
>  
> 
> So what about us – those privileged folks who have accepted the honor
> of opening space in people’s lives? Short answer: Invite our guests
> over the edge. Please note I did not say, Push them over the edge.
> 
>  
> 
> Crafting this invitation is always a matter of personal style and must
> come from the heart. The invitation I have in mind never  appears on a
> piece of paper (or the electronic equivalent). It arrives in our
> personhood – who we are and how we present ourselves, which is to say,
> from the heart. Not to be confused with a gushy valentine or formulaic
> presentation, the invitation manifests in our simple presence,
> revealing our own acceptance and joy in the moving flow of life.
> Without words we express the swimmer’s call: Come on in, the water is
> fine! Of course you have to be in the water for that call to have any
> credibility.
> 
>  
> 
> It is perhaps easier to say how NOT to create this invitation. First
> off, it is not a matter of rational argument and presentation of
> facts. Most people already know the facts at some level, and I think
> the case could be made that it was “rational argument” that has gotten
> us into the bind we experience. Given the “fact” of a moving, changing
> world which can be very uncomfortable, it is quite “rational” to
> define that world in terms of controllable static chunks that may be
> contained, or better, bent to our specifications.  This has led us to
> such wonderful things as “Flood Control” which works until such time
> as Mother Nature and Old Man River decide to take a different course.
> It turns out that The River is not a static, definable thing but part
> of a vast ever changing system. Effective Flood Control would require
> close management of the Planet’s atmosphere to say nothing of the
> cosmos beyond. Good luck!
> 
>  
> 
> Also under the heading of “NOT to be included” are well intentioned
> efforts to sugar coat the pill, as it were. Which is to say that we
> might propose certain limitations that will restrict the  possibility
> of change in Open Space. Some of us have called these “givens” but so
> far as I can tell the only given is change itself. And to suggest
> otherwise is not so much to violate the “Spirit of Open Space” but
> rather the essence of the cosmos itself. Ralph had it right:
> Everything is moving. In this context, Open Space Technology is a
> minimal consideration.
> 
>  
> 
> I am by no means suggesting that our invitation look like the back
> panel of some medication listing every possible adverce reaction, if
> in fact unexpected change is such an adverce reaction. And truth to
> tell I find the appearance of unexpected change in the midst of an
> Open Space to be one of its (OS’s) most delightful consequences. I
> also think that it is important to note the OS is not the engine of
> change. It simply provides the space for change to show up and the
> cosmos (or whatever) takes care of all the heavy lifting.
> 
>  
> 
> For me an invitation to Open Space is an opportunity to include
> friends and strangers in the deepest experience of (my) life. It has
> little to do with selling a product, doing a process, excersizing some
> sort of professional competence – although there are doubtless
> elements of all of that. Fundamentally it is my invitation to
> experience life at its fullest in which chanagability is not the enemy
> to be suppressed but rather the rich tapestry of an evolving future. I
> don’t make it, I can’t predict it – but I can participate both as a
> sojourner and a co-creator. Stuart Kauffman speaks of being “At Home
> in the Universe.” That is my elemental experience, and I am always
> looking for playmates.
> 
>  
> 
> Harrison Owen
> 
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
> 
> Potomac, MD 20854
> 
> USA
> 
> Phone 301-365-2093
> 
> www.openspaceworld.com
> 
> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
> 
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