[OSList] occupy Open Space?! and Xposted to Genuine Contact list

Birgitt Williams birgitt at dalarinternational.com
Mon Oct 10 12:05:26 PDT 2011


Dear Raffi and all who are following this thread,

 

“If we make our goal to live a life of compassion and unconditional love,
then the world will indeed become a garden where all kinds of flowers can
bloom and grow”. ~Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross~

 

When we created the Harmony Project in 2001, we launched it with the belief
that the facilitator of the Open Space Technology meeting be detached from
outcome in order to be effective in ‘holding space’ for emergence. Hundreds
of people around the world have committed to holding space for opportunities
for harmony in the world. As each one made their commitment, we asked them
if they could commit to not taking a side
for a lifetime
.and truly hold
steady in ‘holding the space open’. In any Open Space, once sides are taken,
polarization happens, space closes, and instead of emergence from collective
wisdom, the tendency is to shift to ‘mob rule’. History has shown us that
when mob rule results, there is always a new form of tyranny waiting in the
wings to take on leadership. Now, if there are people who are carefully
doing the inner work to hold steady without taking sides, who are able to
detach from outcome, and who approach the situation from heart wisdom, then
real and lasting change is possible. I am wondering if you are experiencing
collective wisdom emerging, or experiencing something that is closer to mob
rule of being ‘against something? The former seems harder to do for humans
at this stage of evolution, and yet we see glimpses of it.

 

When I mentioned to you about ‘gods’, I was relating to forces that wish to
control humanity for their own gain. Mythology is full of these gods, as are
books on psychology to do with the gods developed by the ego. I recently
read a fiction book, somewhat dark fiction, but very informative on the
subject called American Gods by Neil Gaiman
an award winning book,
recommended to me by son David.  In turn, I highly recommend it to you and
anyone else interested in the subject of gods and goddesses in America and
their influence on the condition of life
.and how we allow it.

 

On the subject of allowing terrible things to happen, basically, humanity
has been asleep and seems to be coming out of its sleep. This coming out of
its sleep is the exciting part. What we will choose to do collectively once
awakened is the scary part. For me, this is scary because after all of the
activities of awakening, such as the one you are involved in, the masses do
not have a plan. This leaves the situation ripe for those who sit in the
wings who do have a plan
to take charge. Some will do things which are life
nurturing, some will do things which could be more life depleting than
before. History is full of these stories, as is mythology. And some will
think they are doing good, but really are causing harm
while others appear
to have intentions of doing harm and yet might end up doing good. There is a
phrase in English ‘the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions’. 

 

This takes me to the most important point of my note. The most dangerous
point comes when the protests are done
.if there is nothing sufficient in
place to create the new world that is desired. The most important thing that
I can think of doing at this time aside from spending more and more of my
day in compassion and unconditional love, is to teach others how to lead
participatory meetings that use circles
such as Open Space Technology, Whole
Person Process Facilitation, and Circle Work. Any of you who are reading
this
.if you know how to teach these methods, what are you doing to increase
the number of people you reach with your teaching? When you teach these
methods, you increase the capacity on this planet for humans to empower
themselves, to flex their newly empowered selves, and to ensure that the
capacity is present amongst humanity, after all of the acts of protest
.to
build a new heaven on earth by empowered humans through tapping into
collective wisdom. 

 

Blessings to all,

Birgitt

 

From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Raffi
Aftandelian
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 8:09 PM
To: OSlist
Subject: [OSList] occupy Open Space?!

 

Dear spaceniki,

 

Glad to hear from you all.

 

Birgitt,  thank you so much for the reminder about not taking a side. 

And of course, you write something that intrigues me. You mention the
"gods." Can you say more what you mean by that?

 

Tomorrow's the first day i'll be joining the camp out!

 

Also, want to add that two people who know me the first thing they said to
me about this is thiat this is Open Space!

One friend of mine has a good friend who reports for NPR (National Public
Radio). That person was wondering what is driving all of this. My friend
explained in three words: Open Space Technology. Apparently that reporter
went to look up and learn more about OST...

 

much warmth,

raffi


p.s. feel free to share this with others but please don't include my name.
thanks!
 

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