Everything is Moving: An Invitation to Join the flow (longish)
Christine Whitney Sanchez
cwhitneysanchez at gmail.com
Sun Aug 22 16:53:25 PDT 2010
Stunning, Harrison. I will play with you and Ethelyn Rose (perhaps on
the Ethelyn Rose) any time!
Love,
Christine
Christine Whitney Sanchez
CWS - Collaborative Wisdom & Strategy
2717 E. Mountain Sky Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85048, USA
+1.480.759.0262
www.christinewhitneysanchez.com
www.innovationpartners.com
www.collaborativespark.com
On Aug 22, 2010, at 2:49 PM, 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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