[OSList] Re : The 5th Principle - Why I think it is Important (Harrison Owen)

[Harrison Owen]

Stella - Wonderful addition to the discussion. Space/Time fabric for
sure-the warp and woof of Open Space! Which set me thinking once again
(another bad sign J) - all about why the 5th Principle remained a hidden
quantity for so long. All the other Principles share a common characteristic
of indeterminacy. In advance, we simply don't know who is coming, what will
happen, when it will start. but as long as Open Space is understood to be
primarily and method and an event, we do know (or at least hope we know)
WHERE it will take place. Once you cross that magic portal called the venue
door all that certainty vanishes. If Open Space is in fact a natural
phenomenon with multiple (and indeterminate) appearances in our daily lives
you just can't tell where it will pop up! NOW we need the 5th Principle!

 

Crossing that door, for me, is the natural and necessary next step in our
Open Space journey. Doubtless there will always be "events" - but I think we
will come to understand them as mere sideshows to the main attraction -- the
opening of space in the world around us. All of which brings us to an
interesting question. Do we want to be players?

 

I mean - when space opens naturally are there things that we might do or be
which will enable that space to be more vibrant and productive? I guess that
might sound a little vague, but I think we will find many very concrete
applications. For example I was talking to a friend the other day who
happened to be in the middle of Tiananmen Square for all the excitement. She
is an American who speaks fluent Chinese, and her Chinese friends had
invited here to join them as a "democracy expert." There in the midst of all
that swirling activity (talk about Open Space) she spoke to an expanding
circle of folks and apparently they were entranced, not having heard too
much about Democracy in positive terms recently. Good and exciting - but
what if she had taken what we now know about "facilitating Open Space" and
used that to convert a lecture/discussion situation into an experiential
occasion - Doing Democracy, not just talking about it? And how could she do
that?

 

Pretty simple I think - Start by asking the group members to back up and
expand the circle, open the space. and then invite them to look around that
circle into the eyes of strangers and friends. well you could fill in the
rest. Would it work? What would the effect be? Who knows??? But we didn't
have a clue what was really going to happen the first time we opened space
25 years ago. That's what made it fun and exciting. 

 

Some folks have been asking a while back about what's next after Open Space.
The answer may well be - A lot more Open Space. I think the door is now
open. Coming?

 

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 Stella Duffy
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 4:41 AM
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Subject: [OSList] Re : The 5th Principle - Why I think it is Important
(Harrison Owen)

 

The 5th Principle is not only important, it's vital.
In 1905, Hermann Minkowski, a mathematical physicist (who taught Einstein)
realised that the understanding of time needed space to define it, and that
the understanding of space needed time to define it. He created the concept
of spacetime - the 3 dimensions of space combined with the 4th dimension of
time.
It can be written like this : (+, +, +, ) or like this : (-, -, -, +).
He published his paper on this idea in 1908.
Using Minkowski's concept of spacetime, Einstein made the leap from the
Special Theory of Relativity to the General Theory of Relativity.
Acknowledging the place/space is vital. 

In a marvellous piece of synchronicity, I'm about to leave for the Hay
Literature Festival to discuss this concept, and the story I wrote based on
this concept, in a panel with two writers and three physicists. The story is
called Everything is Moving, Everything is Joined - both because that is a
physical/physics-based truth, and because Ralph Copleman wrote the piece
called Everything is Moving that was posted here last year and I loved it so
much. 

Stella x 

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