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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