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

[Suzanne Daigle]

Harrison,

I accept the blame gladly if chiding you for being quiet led to this.
Salutations to Ralph who inspired the "everything is moving" with you
then taking us all on a journey at sea on the Ethelyn Rose. Virtual
Wave Riding on this 25th anniversary year of Open Space. How fitting!

Of everything that you wrote here, what speaks to me most is this sentence:

"For me an invitation to Open Space is an opportunity to include
friends and strangers in the deepest experience of (my) life."

Thank you Harrison for inviting us all as you have all these years
which has led us to invite others and each other in this big global
community. In the spirit of invitation, how I wish I could know and
hear all those who are out there now in the simplicity of this moment
whether it's sitting at the kitchen table like me so glad that the sun
is out after 4 days of gray skies and rain.  If anyone feels so
inclined, I invite you to come to the middle of this virtual circle to
write a few words on one of the big white sheets of virtual paper on
the floor.

It's an invitation to everyone out there to Open a bit of Space to
share for a brief magical moment where you are, how you feel or what's
up with you right NOW, wherever you are!   Not much that I know most
days, but one thing I know for sure is that connecting with others
gives me courage and much joy!

Whimsically curious in Florida, Suzanne









On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 5:49 PM, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> 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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-- 
Suzanne Daigle
NuFocus Strategic Group
7159 Victoria Circle
University Park, FL 34201
FL 941-359-8877;
CT 203-722-2009
www.nufocusgroup.com
s.daigle at nufocusgroup.com

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