[OSList] The 5th Principle / Sardinia

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Tue May 24 08:38:46 PDT 2011


Bernd – Wonderful! And best of all I have been hoisted on my own petard,
trapped by my own words. As a fierce advocate of Occam’s Razor and of its
practical application, “Thinking of one more thing not to do,” how could I
possibly think of a 5th principle? And I confess that as I engaged Claudia
in conversation and subsequently wrote about it – I did my very best NOT to
think about adding such a thing. But my best was not good enough, and the
5th Principle snuck in just like the others did – in spite of my better
judgment.

 

My problem was/is that it appeared as a blinding flash of the obvious. It
had always been there. I had just never noticed. But did I really have to
say it? Good question. And here is my best shot at an answer. I think my
failure in perception was due to the fact that I had narrowed my gaze to the
more particular business of “organizing” Open Space Events. In all those
events the four Principles are operative and useful to point out for the
assembled body. The question of “space/place” always seemed more like a
logistical detail which certainly should be considered, but hardly worthy of
public attention.

 

The ground shifted underneath me as Claudia and I talked when I became
increasingly aware that our Open Space events were but sideshows to the
major events, all of which occurred “out there.”  Most importantly they
could and did occur “anywhere” in places not of our choosing or design.
Anywhere would do! To the extent that our next step is to see space opening
as an going, natural phenomenon – we need to reverse our normal order of
business. So long as we concentrate on “Doing an Event” – it is logical and
necessary that we should determine the venue prior to start. In other words
we must find or create the place of meeting before we can get together. What
else? However, in the world at large this procedure seems to be stood on its
head. Space opens and THAT defines/creates the venue!

 

The 5th Principle could help us to avoid missing all the truly great Open
Space of the world simply because they don’t have a “proper” venue as we
might understand “venue.” So if you were to ask was Tahrir Square an Open
Space I suspect the immediate answer from a lot of people would be No. After
all the venue was not pre-determined, people did not sit in a circle, and
for sure you could not find the facilitator. Case Closed.

 

Anyhow, the 5th Principle branded my consciousness against my will. It had
the positive (I think) effect of drawing my attention to the Big Open Space
of our experience, in addition to the little events that we might convene.
The prospect is pretty scary, but the possibilities are more than a little
breathtaking. The new questions are unending – but they might begin with a
simple musing – (as I said in my previous post). Just suppose you were
standing in Tahrir Square, what could you do, based upon our prior
experience, to enhance that occasion for the people involved in that Grand
Open Space? I really don’t have a clue about the answer, but I can foresee a
marvelous adventure. Open Space II


 

So do we really need a 5th Principle? I don’t know. And for sure I wouldn’t
waste time convening a council of the wise to make the determination.
Personally, I am just stuck with it, as I was with the preceding 4.
Blinding Flashes of the obvious that I just couldn’t avoid. Will than make
sense to anybody else? Who knows?

 

Harrison    

 

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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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Bernd Weber
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 8:14 AM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] The 5th Principle / Sardinia

 

Harrison and all who started commenting on the 5th principle:

 

 

Yes and No is my opinon:

----

Yes 

---

in the sense, that your are right, H. of course: wherever it is, is the
right place.

And when I read what you told about Claudias story, it reminded me of other
places where similar things happened, maybe not at this scale but still.
Europeans will still remember Christiania. The free town in Scandinavia.

I still remember the Vienna ARENA 1976 , Hundreds of young people flooding
an area with historically interesting buildings (old slaughterhouse of
Vienna), when the town wanted to sell it. They simply did not leave and for
several months a space was open. People danced, feeled responsible for
"everything" and "everybody"....ok, I do not want to go into details ( & my
romantic memory) here. 

 

For me personally it was one of two events, that influenced my further life
because they gave (mathematically spoken although not at all an abstract
thing;-) An experiential PROOF OF EXISTENCE. At that time I said: By
participating got the proof that FREEDOM does exist and that people can
self-organize in a way to nurture it and increase it. Nowadays I could also
say: I got the proof that OPEN SPACE exists and that people can......

All the ingredients had been in place Mainly extreme (1)diversity of people,
a (2)sense of urgency, a (3)common vision (in that case of a free place for
the young people to express and continue creating their culture (in contract
to high-culture) and (4) enough space that this diversity could express
itself in lots and lots of sub-groups without being forced together in an
unnatural way. 

 

(Just to mention the second PROOF OF EXISTENCE that influenced my life: That
was being part of the first Austrian free school for 10-15 year olds
(Eltern-Schüler-Lehrer-Kooperative Wien) and so getting the experienced
proof that free education is feasable and not only a dream. So I then
survived the praxis shock in the regular school system, to which I then
transferred the methodology and basic attitude from the free school in my
role as a highschool and univ. teacher.)

 

Since Open Space is everywhere, although not visible when under the weight
of externally managed communication of people (by rules, laws, manager,
facilitators, you name it), it seems to be Evident (although not necessarily
"logical") that this feeling&this way of self-organization of OS comes up.
People in the Commune of Paris did it the same way, as far as we know. It is
expression of all MOVEMENTS for Freedom at similar points, because... well,
I think, no because necessary. Its these moments and periods in
time/history, when the frozen structures (in the heads) become fluid, when
ICE becomes WATER. And therefore

 

YES of course: WHEREVER IT IS, is the right place

 

But here comes my 

----

NO:

----

 

I want to differentiate between implicit and explicit. I can easily accept
that the RIGHTPLACE thing is or might be an implicit principle.

 

But my question is: why do we make the 4 principles explicit and tell the
people before going to work in OS?

 

The answer: (all of you know it, I suppose:) Because this has the function
to get rid of bad habits from the ICE context, that inhibit
self-organization when they dominate/hegemonize the heads!

 

Principle-telling by a facilitator is an intervention with a function at the
beginning of an OS event. It is not a set of knowledge in the classical
sense. If you look at them, they are from one point of view:
evident/trivial, from another point of view they are absurd.  And their
truth is deep and completly superficial at the same time.

 

And this evidenttriviality & absurdness produces the tension/the
contradiction that makes them a helpful intervention. They are the ICE
braker for an OS, although not in the traditional way, ICE brakers are used
by classical trainers and facilitator (those we do not need at all in OS, of
course)

 

"Whoever Comes is the right People." works against the idea, that people
need to be homogeneous, that there has to be a set of access criteria, that
people have to have a certain level, a certain minimum age, be specialists,
not be blind......etc.

 

"Whatever happens is the only thing that could have" facilitates to be
prepared to be surprised and inhibits the classical: well if this and that
would have been different, I would have invested my energy here, but so....
So as a principle it is a tool against not taking responsibility

 

"Whenever it starts is the right time" helps to stay free from "time
scheduled un-spontaneity" helps to wait until the right feeling is in the
room. Helps to give priority to deal with interfering things that suck your
energy if you do not care for them (like not going to the toilet, because it
is 30 seconds before START;-)

"When it is over, it is over" To make this principle explicit helps to
notice that everything has been done although the time is not yet "up", it
helps to organize a continuation or an extra session if important things are
undone, although there is no more scheduled time for it....

(Of course the refined way of expressing these principles in the various
languages gives some more and some more subtle support for healthy
communication that the usual habits of communication by the "well-educated"
in various cultures (nearly in all cultures, it is a rule that you give the
resource "time for talking" to the powerful even if they abuse this.....but
fortunately we have one LAW).

 

So, of course this 5th "principle" makes us aware, that Open Space does and
did happen at places, we never would have thought, like Harrisons story
about Claudias story made clear to me, that there have been many OS events
in revolutionary movements throughout history, alright. 

 

But wherever we open space in the sense of OST. There are no other, places.
There is only a HERE. So whats the use ot make "Wherever it is, is the right
place" a fifth principle?

 

And there is a very nice meta-principle that Harrison repeatedly used, and I
think it IS important: "Let us think about one less things to do". The
meta-principle of minimal intervention, the old great idea of Occhams rasor.

 

So my conclusion is:

 

Yeah, great storytelling. And maybe some more understanding of "underlying
things" with regard to Open Space, but we do not need to have a 5th
principle and to bother future participants with such a principle that does
not help to inhibit bad habits of communication in Open Space.

 

  

Bernd/Bernard 

Colombo/Sri Lanka

 

 

 


Bernd Weber

Change Facilitation s.r.o., A Global Partner Who Makes Change Happen in
Complex Environments; www.change-facilitation.com,
www.change-management-toolbook.com bernd.weber at change-facilitation.org;
(iPhone Austria: +43 664 135 4828, landline + 431 5968657); Sri Lanka
landline +94 11 2785859, iPhone Sri Lanka: +94 777740757,

 

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www.surveymonkey.com/s/5ZDS6JQ

 

 

 

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Am 24.05.2011 um 16:29 schrieb fischer florian:





Dear Harrison,

 

»Wherever it is ... and if it´s within the own brain ... is the right
place«.

 

You practiced it actually 

by accepting the diappearance of Claudia´s last name

opening space for the next step.

 

 

A hug

Florian

 

Florian Fischer

ff at begleitung-im-wandel.com

www.begleitung-im-wandel.com <http://www.begleitung-im-wandel.com/> 

Münchener Straße 6

10779 Berlin

Fon (030) 2116752

 

 

Am 23.05.2011 um 23:31 schrieb Harrison Owen:

... A special gift for me was a series of extended conversations with
Claudia, 

whose last name has disappeared in my senile brain. ....





NOW – the new one. “Wherever it is, is the right place.”

 

..... it will take us to some places we have never been. I’m ready.

 

And if Claudia will reveal her last name, I would be deeply appreciative. 

Not to say thankful, for she gave me a great gift.

 .....

 

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