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

[doug]

Ahh, Harrison, methinks there is a book brewing in you.... <grin>

			:- Doug.



On Tue, 2011-05-31 at 14:48 -0400, Harrison Owen wrote:
> 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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