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

Thu Aug 26 15:38:52 PDT 2010

Happily heading for bed before a weekend in Paris, loving that the space is
open all through (my) night.
Stella x

On 26/8/10 11:34 pm, "Suzanne Daigle" <sdaigle4 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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, ³Everything is moving, Everything is moving.² Odd to say the least
>> and some doubted Ralph¹s 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, Ralph¹s 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 ain¹t 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 ³Ethelyn
>> Rose at Sea²) 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, ³Everything is moving²  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 ³white knuckle² 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 people¹s 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 swimmer¹s 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 ³rational argument² that has gotten us into the bind we
>> experience. Given the ³fact² of a moving, changing world which can be very
>> uncomfortable, it is quite ³rational² 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 ³Flood Control²
>> 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 Planet¹s atmosphere to say
>> nothing of the cosmos beyond. Good luck!
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Also under the heading of ³NOT to be included² 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 ³givens² but so far as I can tell the
>> only given is change itself. And to suggest otherwise is not so much to
>> violate the ³Spirit of Open Space² 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 (OS¹s) 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 don¹t make it, I can¹t predict it  but I can
>> participate both as a sojourner and a co-creator. Stuart Kauffman speaks of
>> being ³At Home in the Universe.² 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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