[OSList] FW: The 5th Principle / Sardinia

[Harrison Owen]

This came to me - and I presume Deidre intended it for everyone. So I pass
it on.

 

Harrison

From: deidre at combsandcompany.com [mailto:deidre at combsandcompany.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 2:11 PM
To: Harrison Owen
Subject: Re: [OSList] The 5th Principle / Sardinia

 

Harrison and all,

I am returning from Madrid and had to share what I saw as I dropped by
Puerta del Sol to see Spain's youth at work calling for governmental
reform...Open Space in action!!! 

I was tickled to see bulletin boards, dialogue circles forming and breaking
apart in a delicious organic dance.  The principles were at work and I am
suspicious that there was some OST expertise in the mix. What captured my
attention as I walked that there was just enough structure. After a week of
manifestations, there was a nurse's tent, a kitchen, a place for press and
other constructed desks where questions could be asked and themes could be
entered.  Meanwhile, new ideas and creativity had added a meditation circle
that evening. 

I thought of you all, this work and the perfection of self organization when
it is allowed. 

I look forward to seeing what this experiment yields. 
With gratitude
Deidre Combs


Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

----- Reply message -----
From: "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at verizon.net>
Date: Mon, May 23, 2011 5:31 pm
Subject: [OSList] The 5th Principle / Sardinia
To: "OSLIST" <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>

The recent gathering in Sardinia was a treasure. But then again, every such
gathering is unique and rich. A special gift for me was a series of extended
conversations with Claudia, whose last name has disappeared in my senile
brain. She had been in Egypt with the Facebook crowd in the square - and how
she came to Sardinia is a story in itself. Seems like the young Egyptians
were opening space right and left as they negotiated their way through their
version of The Arab Spring. Somewhere along the line they went online in
search of more information - connected with my youngest son (of the same
name) who passed them along to me. We exchanged several emails, and I
suggested that were it possible to come to Sardinia they would have the
opportunity to connect with many marvelous new colleagues whose collective
wisdom vastly exceed my own. Only Claudia could come but she carried the
tale. Marvelous! 



So we talked. And as she described the happenings of those interesting days
it gradually dawned on me that the Open Space of major significance was not
so much the several gatherings convened under that title - but rather the
ebb and flow of Tahrir Square. That indeed was a convening of those who
cared. In palpable ways they brought their passion and responsibility into
that present moment. And while it is true that they never sat in a circle or
created a bulletin board, they surely opened a market place of ideas, hopes,
and dreams - which in turn created new circles of caring. Claudia said it
was a dance, a massive, multiple circle dance as those who cared shared
their passion(s) with responsibility. The circles formed and broke, only to
form again in new, richer and more complex patterns. Who can say what the
precise results are or will be. (The Proceedings have yet to be printed J) -
but the typical behaviors of every good Open Space were manifest in
abundance. "High Learning" - in which previously impossible ideas and
aspirations came alive. "High Play" - in which strangers and sometime
enemies ate and laughed together. Serious moments for sure but leavened with
a lightness that comes when the flood gates of renewal are wide open.
"Appropriate Structure and Control" - God knows how many people were there,
and for sure nobody was in charge. But that did not mean that violent and
bloody chaos was the order of the day - although doubtless nobody would have
been surprised had they appeared. But there was structure as the dance
circled on. And the control was emergent from the people, born of their
passion and responsibility. "Genuine Community?" - Total strangers coming
home, wrapped in the care and concern of their fellows. And "Authentic
Leadership?" You bet! - Not the sort of Leadership that supposedly resides
in the appointed leaders - by way of  the divine right of kings. Indeed, the
King had been sent out of town!  But Leadership was there in abundance,
blossoming (what else in the Arab Spring?) where and as needed. It appeared
at the nexus points of passion and responsibility and passed from person to
person as the dance rolled on. 



And that is the story, at least as I heard it told. 






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