[OSList] OSList Digest, Vol 21, Issue 20

Gilbert Lazan amauta at me.com
Sun Nov 25 16:52:17 PST 2012



Sent from iPhone of Gilbert Brenson-Lazan, Amauta International, LLC

On Nov 25, 2012, at 3:06 PM, oslist-request at lists.openspacetech.org wrote:

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> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
>   1. structure/Spirit (Charles Fuller)
>   2. Re: Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? (Arno Baltin)
>   3. Re: structure/Spirit (amerie rose)
>   4. Advice please (Robin Bowles)
>   5. OS info please (Robin Bowles)
>   6. Re: Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? (Chris Corrigan)
>   7. Re: structure/Spirit (Michael Herman)
>   8. Re: A 3hr OST slot at Conference (Luc Bizeul)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:45:25 -0500 (EST)
> From: Charles Fuller <chrlsful at aol.com>
> To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> Subject: [OSList] structure/Spirit
> Message-ID: <8CF98CE0E23923C-AA4-124F8 at webmail-m127.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
> 
> Structure = bones/skeleton
> 
> Spirit = life force
> 
> 
> (add to the metaphor if you wish/if it seems to fit). How many bones do 
> U need?
> "Just enuff!"
> 
> So my addition is: the sinew, muscle, organs and tissue is us & our 
> efforts together.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 10:57:51 +0200
> From: Arno Baltin <arno at tlu.ee>
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
> Message-ID:
>    <CADT+i9cDxuzJ=8D__TKGBCmMEipSMrvgXc8bLGpFHvN=6us1tA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
> 
> Dear OS listeners and sepeakers,
> 
> I am glad for so many responses and elaborations to my question on
> differences of Opening Space and creating a structure. Mikk's poem was most
> easy to grasp. I feel at home with his last statement:
> 
> Opening Space is giving birth. It offers for Spirit a new body/structure to
> go on with dance.
> 
> 
> What I probably underestimate and where my question is rooted is, that I
> still consider OS more of a technique than life itself.
> 
> Or how Harrisson has put it:
> 
> What starts out looking like just another approach to better meetings or
> group technique subtly morphs into the story of the cosmos (self
> organization). And we really don?t DO anything at all. We simply offer an
> invitation, and then get out of the way.
> 
> Or to put it another way using Juan Luis words:
> 
> "...structures of management are always part of the map and the structure
> of the principles and the law of OS is always part of the territory.
> 
> And Michael's way of saying it that  the "principles" are not "rules",
> rather  "Facts of Life"
> 
> In a way I still have understanding of opening space as scaffolding, not as
> releasing the Spirit.
> 
> So thank you everyone for responding. I can see the long way to go.
> 
> Wish you good Spirit and Body,
> 
> 
> *      Arno *
> 
> 
> Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn
>           Eesti Vabariik
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 11:02:46 +0000
> From: amerie rose <amerierose at phonecoop.coop>
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] structure/Spirit
> Message-ID: <4E65C09C-24F7-42EE-99DC-914A6D064D42 at phonecoop.coop>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
> 
> I am really enjoying touching in with this conversation.
> I would like to add that structure can also be found in the beauty of  
> a repeated sequence of movements, such as a dance. In this example, a  
> 'Holy Communion' can be sought through exploring the purity of the  
> structure through a body which has the freedom to chose how it will  
> move within that structure. Spirit would be experienced in the breath  
> which moves the dancer who is giving and receiving the dance.
> Amerie
> 
> On 25 Nov 2012, at 02:45, Charles Fuller wrote:
> 
>> Structure = bones/skeleton
>> 
>> Spirit = life force
>> 
>> 
>> (add to the metaphor if you wish/if it seems to fit). How many bones  
>> do U need?
>> "Just enuff!"
>> 
>> So my addition is: the sinew, muscle, organs and tissue is us & our  
>> efforts together.
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> OSList mailing list
>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
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>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 15:10:47 +0000
> From: Robin Bowles <cara at cooptel.net>
> To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> Subject: [OSList] Advice please
> Message-ID: <592F834C-D7AB-4F62-A7F1-50BD09B5D0EE at cooptel.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> unsubscribe info pls
> 
> In friendship,
> Robin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 24 Nov 2012, at 21:04, oslist-request at lists.openspacetech.org wrote:
> 
>> Send OSList mailing list submissions to
>>    oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
>> 
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>>    http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>>    oslist-request at lists.openspacetech.org
>> 
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>>    oslist-owner at lists.openspacetech.org
>> 
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of OSList digest..."
>> 
>> 
>> Today's Topics:
>> 
>>  1. Re: Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? (JL Walker)
>>  2. The Joys of Grief -- With Thanks to Harold (Harrison Owen)
>> 
>> 
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:39:47 -0300
>> From: "JL Walker" <jlwalker at terra.cl>
>> To: "'World wide Open Space Technology email list'"
>>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>> Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> Message-ID: <009901cdc9e4$99573c50$cc05b4f0$@cl>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>> 
>> I also think is a beautiful poem Mikk that as you have said has emerged
>> naturally, and from my part I have received the original just in time. All
>> of that is a real gift!
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Juan Luis
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> De: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] En nombre de Mikk Sarv
>> Enviado el: viernes, 23 de noviembre de 2012 17:59
>> Para: Artur Silva; World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> Asunto: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Dear Artur,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I haven't seen it on OS list either, I don't know why. Sometimes it just
>> happens with my e-mails to list. :-( 
>> 
>> I am lucky that at least some people can receive and spread them.
>> 
>> With this message I actually did not intended to make a poem, I wrote what I
>> thought. But reading it over now - it is really like a poem!
>> 
>> Thank you and Koos and Doug for nice words! I am happy that you liked it.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> With greetings,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Mikk
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 23, 2012, at 5:34 PM, Artur Silva wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I have not seen your initial message, Mikk, until Koos answered it. It did
>> not came to me L
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> But it is excellent! Thank you!
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Artur
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _____  
>> 
>> From: Koos de Heer <koos at auryn.nl>
>> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>; World wide Open Space Technology email
>> list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> 
>> Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 8:26 AM
>> Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Beautiful Mikk, Thank you!
>> 
>> Made my day.
>> 
>> Koos
>> 
>> At 17:57 22-11-2012, Mikk Sarv wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I think opening space is also creation of structure. 
>> The structure is like a body, where Spirit can live. 
>> When the body gets old, it dies and Spirit leaves the body. 
>> But Spirit needs the body or structure. 
>> 
>> Long moments of silence at the beginning are like pain of birth. 
>> After OS event everybody often feels like newborn. 
>> People, who like Structure, might feel Spirit as something evil, what
>> destroys everything. 
>> People who like Spirit may feel the Structure as evil. 
>> But they both are just sides of the same dance. 
>> Opening Space is giving birth. It offers for Spirit a new body/structure to
>> go on with dance.
>> 
>> With greetings,
>> 
>> Mikk Sarv
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:45 PM, JL Walker wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Dear Arno,
>> Anticipating the response of HO, I can take the risk to say that the
>> structures of management are always part of the map and the structure of the
>> principles and the law of OS is always part of the territory.
>> Make sense for you this?
>> Hugs,
>> Juan Luis
>> 
>> De: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] En nombre deArno Baltin
>> Enviado el: jueves, 22 de noviembre de 2012 4:51
>> Para: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> Asunto: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> 
>> Dear Harrisson!
>> 
>> Could you please elaborate on the difference between creating a structure
>> and opening space. When facilitating OS meeting I also create a structure by
>> setting the space and introducing the rules and law (isn't it?). And at the
>> end of OS I leave the space opened as inviting to take the structure (of
>> mind - some attitudes based on the OS experience, ther rules and law) with. 
>> 
>> Be well,
>> 
>>     Arno 
>> 
>> Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn
>>          Eesti Vabariik
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 2012/11/21 Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
>> Juan Luis ? Always nice to hear from you! And my answer to your question is
>> something like this: Only create structure when you have to, and then create
>> as little as you possibly can. Structure is useful in organizations, but it
>> certainly can get in the way. So don?t overdo it. Ask yourself, ?What is the
>> minimal amount of structure necessary to get the job done.? It is always
>> easy to add if you need it, but once some structure is created (committee,
>> procedure, etc) it seems to stay around forever, even when nobody can
>> remember what it was for?
>> 
>> Harrison
>> 
>> Harrison Owen
>> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>> Potomac, MD 20854
>> USA
>> 
>> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>> Camden, Maine 20854
>> 
>> Phone 301-365-2093 <x-msg://1335/> 
>> (summer)  207-763-3261 <x-msg://1335/> 
>> 
>> www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20/> 
>> www.ho-image.com (Personal <http://www.ho-image.com%20%28personal/>
>> Website)
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
>> Go to: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>> <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>  
>> 
>> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:
>> oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org> ] On Behalf OfJL Walker
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 1:53 PM
>> To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
>> Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> 
>> Many thanks Harrison. Just now I could give me time to read everything about
>> your email slowly.
>> Makes me much sense for the moment that we are living here in Chile with our
>> CDIC project (Centro de Desarrollo de la Inteligencia Colectiva), when we
>> started to give us account that would be necessary some structure.
>> The question is how we can move forward without that decays the Spirit and
>> what could be the structure that would allow that purpose?
>> Hugs,
>> Juan Luis
>> 
>> De: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [
>> mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
>> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org> ] En nombre deHarrison Owen
>> Enviado el: lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2012 21:27
>> Para: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list'
>> Asunto: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
>> 
>> I?ve been thinking about us, or should I say OS?.
>> 
>> It seems to be a truth of life that everything (us included) has a
>> beginning, middle and an end. The separation between beginning and end can
>> be quite various (longer or shorter), but one thing is for certain. For
>> every beginning, there is an end. Along the way it is inevitable that people
>> ask, how are they doing, and what next?
>> 
>> What is true for life in general seems to be true for organizations of all
>> sorts, including ours, by which I mean the Good Old OS Community. Perhaps
>> you never thought of the OS Community as an organization, and certainly if
>> you understand organization to be what might be called The Standard Model
>> (The Leader, Board of Directors, and all the Rest) the OS Community doesn?t
>> qualify. On the other hand, were you to look at what OS Inc. has done, that
>> assessment changes, I think. As a matter of fact there are loads of Standard
>> Model organizations that don?t even come close to our accomplishments. First
>> of all we have been around for 27 years with thousands of ?members? all over
>> the world. Each year ?we? produce global gatherings in multiple places,
>> along with training programs and consultations. And when it comes to the end
>> product, Opening Space, the numbers get a little mind boggling. Not bad at
>> all ? just don?t look too closely at how it all gets done. J So how are we
>> doing? Well past the Beginning for sure, but what now, and where next?
>> 
>> Quite a while ago, I found myself thinking and writing a lot about the
>> natural life cycle of organizations (?Spirit: Transformation and Development
>> in Organizations? and ?The Power of Spirit?). Beginnings, middles and ends
>> were pretty central to this ? but there was more. All about what seemed to
>> be happening along the way, and what, if anything, we might do about that.
>> 
>> To represent my understanding of the natural history of organizations, I
>> came up with a simple graph which, for lack of a better term, became known
>> as The Spirit Chart. Unfortunately we cannot do graphics here on OSLIST, but
>> the graph is simplicity itself, and so I am sure that you can quickly draw
>> it, or imagine it in your mind?s eye. The vertical axis is titled ?level?
>> and the horizontal axis is ?time.? On the chart, there are two lines, one
>> called ?Spirit? and the other ?Structure.? At Time 1 (the beginning) Spirit
>> is high and Structure is low. Over time (moving from left to right) the
>> lines cross in the middle, and at the end -- Spirit is low, and Structure is
>> high. And there you have it: Beginning, Middle, and End.
>> 
>> As you might suspect, I did not gather masses of data in order to construct
>> my chart. Indeed I really can?t imagine precisely what that data might be or
>> how to gather it. All that said, common sense and experience supports the
>> story that the graph seeks to tell? All organizations start out with High
>> Spirit(s) ? and virtually no Structure. At the moment of creation it is all
>> potential, a wonderful idea, a gigantic WOW! The good news is that something
>> is moving and shaking. Excitement and optimism rule the day. But there is a
>> price. Orderly procedures simply do not exist, massive amounts of energy is
>> burned for minimal results, the Wheel is constantly re-invented.
>> 
>> But then things change. Rules and Structures are created to focus and direct
>> all that wonderful Spirit. Initially there is resistance from some Free
>> Spirited Folks, but the net result is positive and beneficial.  Work gets
>> done, schedules are kept, product goes out the door. And best of all there
>> is plenty of Free Spirit around to creatively explore new opportunities, new
>> ways of doing business.
>> 
>> But over time, the lines cross. The Spirit Line and the Structure Line
>> intersect and then separate, with Structure rising and Spirit falling, being
>> constrained in smaller and smaller spaces by the overburden of Structure.
>> For a while nobody notices, for the organization is doing the business in
>> productive and orderly ways, and who could complain about that? But there
>> comes a time when the organization is defined and imprisoned by its
>> structure and rules. Spirit is in evidence mostly by its absence ? except in
>> the stories and memories of how it ?used to be.? When you are out of Spirit,
>> you are out of business. At least that is the story.
>> 
>> But there could be a different ending. Were it somehow possible to release
>> the Spirit from its prison,  renewal might happen. But for that to occur,
>> the prison walls must break. Or to put it in slightly different terms, the
>> confining structure must shatter so that the Spirit may reform in new ways.
>> This, I think, is an accurate, albeit metaphorical picture of
>> Transformation: Spirit breaking loose to take on new form (trans-form).
>> 
>> So where are we? Clearly we have had our initial WOW! And although it is
>> certainly true that each time some new person joins our happy Tribe, having
>> just experienced the opening of space for some group of people ? that WOW is
>> heard once more. It is also true that for a large (and increasing) number of
>> our band the experience is no longer a strange one. We?ve been there before,
>> and while it is always a delight, it really becomes quite predictable. I
>> would never say boring, but predictable for sure. Sit in a circle, create a
>> bulletin board, open a market place, and the folks will go to work. Every
>> time.
>> 
>> The curious thing is that 27 years into our adventure, our organization is
>> still as lively and spirit filled as it is ? a status that just about
>> everybody recognizes in all of our common gatherings, as for example the
>> recent WOSONOS in London. In my own experience of organizational life, this
>> record is pretty remarkable. In every other organization I have known, or
>> been a part of, by the time it reached its 27thyear, an awful lot of the
>> original Spirit, enthusiasm, to say nothing of agility and flexibility had
>> disappeared.  People talk about ?mature organizations? -- when they finally
>> got beyond the ?wild days in the garage? (computer start-ups, for example)
>> and settled down into a more orderly mode of being. Think of Amazon, Apple,
>> Microsoft, et al. Somehow we seem to have escaped some of that, and how
>> could that be?
>> 
>> I think part of the answer comes from the nature of our ?product? and what
>> we do. The truth of the matter is that every time we think we have it all
>> figured out, and have ?finally? arrived at the ?right? way of doing things ?
>> we are in for some surprises. It turns out that we really didn?t know what
>> we were talking about. Somehow, Open Space was/is so much more than we ever
>> thought, and what we do/did, so much less. What starts out looking like just
>> another approach to better meetings or group technique subtly morphs into
>> the story of the cosmos (self organization). And we really don?t DO anything
>> at all. We simply offer an invitation, and then get out of the way.
>> 
>> To be sure, there has been a developmental process in our approach as we
>> have gone along, but it apparently moves in the diametrically opposite
>> direction from similar processes found with other approaches. Put it all
>> under the heading of ?Thinking of one more thing NOT to do? and pretty soon
>> (well maybe someday) ? we?ll end up with nothing. No approach at all!
>> 
>> Of course, there have been a few signs of approaching Middle Age. You might
>> call it hardening of the organizational arteries ? conversations about the
>> ?right? way to conduct an Open Space, usually accompanied by an expanding
>> list of critical details with attendant Do?s and Don?ts. Fortunately we then
>> receive a marvelous report (Sandy Gee, being the latest) how just about
>> everything was ?wrong? ? but surprisingly ? it all worked just perfectly.
>> 
>> To be sure I have heard some chatter about ?guidelines? (Thomas H. J) ? but
>> no proposal that we ?get ourselves organized? ? and certainly nothing as
>> forbidding as a governmental structure with appropriate Boards and Bylaws!
>> So we seem to be dodging the bullet, at least for the moment. And it may be
>> that we have some distance to go before the end. I doubt, however, that our
>> longevity will ever have anything to do with what might be called The
>> Standard Organizational Approach, usually characterized as
>> ?institutionalization.? Indeed I more  than suspect that once again we will
>> find success by going in the opposite direction. Rather than building
>> durable structures that might last for the ages (none do ? so far) ? it will
>> be a story of the constant shattering of structures and procedures to
>> release the Spirit in new and vital directions. Transformation, I believe it
>> is called.
>> 
>> But there will come an end, of that I have no doubt. But I hope that the end
>> of OS Inc might occur with hardly a ripple or note. Not unlike old soldiers
>> who never seem to die ? they just fade away. OS Inc will become quite
>> invisible when it is clear to all that everything is Open Space. Blending
>> into the woodwork, as it were. Nothing new, Nothing special. Just what is.
>> 
>> 
>> Harrison
>> 
>> 
>> Harrison Owen
>> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>> Potomac, MD 20854
>> USA
>> 
>> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>> Camden, Maine 20854
>> 
>> Phone 301-365-2093 <x-msg://1335/> 
>> (summer)  207-763-3261 <x-msg://1335/> 
>> 
>> www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20/> 
>> www.ho-image.com (Personal <http://www.ho-image.com%20%28personal/>
>> Website)
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
>> Go to: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>> <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>  
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
>> _____  
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>> ------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 11:44:18 -0500
>> From: "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at verizon.net>
>> To: "'World wide Open Space Technology email list'"
>>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
>> Subject: [OSList] The Joys of Grief -- With Thanks to Harold
>> Message-ID: <000601cdca62$f32b7650$d98262f0$@net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>> 
>> Harold ? the best part of your message came at the end, and for me it was
>> the most important therefore deserving its own special note? Something about
>> the ?Joys of Grief.?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Harold said: ?As you said in Wave Rider, OST has a deep connection to the
>> grieving process that Elisabeth K?bler-Ross described as a part of facing
>> death. Which for me is fascinating given how much joy I always experience -
>> but it is almost always accompanied other deep emotions as well.?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> You have put your finger on an important point, which may seem paradoxical
>> or even contradictory, but really is neither. The truth is, grieving (or
>> more properly The Grief Work Process) is fundamentally joyful, even
>> triumphant, at least that is the intent which is realized only when the
>> process comes to completion. Simply put, it is the way we as human beings
>> move from loss to renewal, from ending to new beginning, from the encounter
>> with death to the experience of new life. Of course, if the process is
>> aborted along the way, the final results are inevitably dismal and painful. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Obviously what I have said above can be viewed a total nonsense, or worse,
>> but stick with me, and I think I can get you there? But first something
>> about the connection to Open Space. It will come as no surprise that I find
>> Open Space to be nothing more than self organization at work. In a word,
>> Open Space works because self organization works. And, self organization is
>> itself a process.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The process of self organization can be described in infinite, complex
>> detail, but reduced to essentials, the steps are as follows: Order, Chaos,
>> New and more complex order. It goes like this. Once upon a time there was
>> this organization, a fine human system that lived a comfortable productive
>> life. All seemed right with the world, but one day that world changed, and
>> what was once a comfortable fit became increasingly challenging. The poor
>> organization did all that it could, going this way and that -- seeking a
>> path. But to no avail ? and comfortable order dissolved into PAINFUL chaos.
>> But there is, or at least there can be a next chapter. Through the alchemy
>> of self organization new and more complex order appears, and life goes on.
>> But the question abides. How do we get from here to there? How do we deal
>> with the pain? The answer, I think, is the Grief Work Process.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Elisabeth K?bler-Ross made history when she identified and described the
>> essential steps we all go through in the face of Death, our own or that of
>> another. In my work it became clear that groups of people (organizations) go
>> through exactly the same process when faced with ending. And that ending can
>> come in all sorts of flavors: the end of a project, the end of a way of
>> life, the ending of a company ? but the response is identical in all
>> situations. At the moment of ending, which I have characterized as an ?Oh
>> Shit Moment,? there is Shock and Anger. This is followed by Denial, then
>> Memories (Stories of how it used to be), Despair ? the bitter/sweet instant
>> of letting it all go. Then we come to Open Space, intense silence with
>> nothing there and everything potential. The process comes to an end when two
>> magic words are spoken, ?I wonder if?? I wonder if I/we can build a new
>> company, find a new career, meet a new life partner. When wonder and
>> imagination come together, there you have Vision, and the cycle is complete.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Obviously I have covered a lot of territory with very few details. If you
>> want more check out my book ?Wave Rider.? But hopefully I have said enough
>> so that at the least you get the function and flavor of Grief Work. To be
>> sure, it begins at a very painful moment, but the end of the story is all
>> about joy. Functionally, Griefwork is the means by which we as human beings
>> navigate the painful parts of self-organization. Things end, and that is
>> always painful. But when they re-organize (self-organize) life goes on, and
>> Griefwork gets us there. I find it to be hardwired into our humanity. We
>> don?t have to think about it at all ? works all by itself. Each step is
>> necessary, and none can be skipped, no matter how much we might like to move
>> directly from ending to new beginning.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Another way of looking at Grief Work ? It is what human self-organizing
>> systems do as a major part of the adaptive process. And here is the
>> connection to Open Space Technology: To the extent that OST is
>> self-organization at work, it is equally and also Grief Work at work.
>> Knowing this, and being acutely sensitive to what is going on, can be
>> extraordinarily helpful to our understanding of what is happening with our
>> clients, and what they may be doing/saying/manifesting during the time in
>> Open Space. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> A related factor is that Griefwork, like all other aspects of self
>> organization, function best when there is sufficient time/space (open space)
>> to move around in. Things shut down when arbitrary control is imposed ? and
>> that is sadly what happens often in the everyday world of organizations.
>> Most obviously, nobody wants to talk about dying/ending. And those who do
>> are often viewed as strange, weird, pessimists, or macabre. Definitely a
>> no-no! And when there is such conversation it can only be entered into under
>> controlled circumstance ? quietly and in moderation. Is it any wonder then
>> that when space is suddenly opened, the unspeakable is spoken? That Open
>> Space is so often experienced as an amazing passage from controlled silence
>> to serious Joy?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Thank you Harold for surfacing a critical element in our ?practice.? As we
>> move along from beginnings, to middles ? and ask ourselves about What Nexts?
>> ? I would believe that we have the details of the process (OST) down pretty
>> well, AND I know there are vast areas to explore and understand.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Harrison
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Harrison Owen
>> 
>> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>> 
>> Potomac, MD 20854
>> 
>> USA
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>> 
>> Camden, Maine 20854
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Phone 301-365-2093
>> 
>> (summer)  207-763-3261
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> www.openspaceworld.com 
>> 
>> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
>> 
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
>> Go to:
>> <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> 
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> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 15:12:36 +0000
> From: Robin Bowles <cara at cooptel.net>
> To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> Subject: [OSList] OS info please
> Message-ID: <5D79A298-B3C9-44BE-B0C1-E17CF426E68C at cooptel.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> Does anyone know how to stop os list emails please?
> 
> Robin
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 08:38:11 -0800
> From: Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan at gmail.com>
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Cc: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we?
> Message-ID: <3AE6A8AE-C2B7-4DF3-A9DC-EB1F74A28079 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> Arno. 
> 
> One of my favourite "open space" happenings was the singing revolution in Estonia. Of course not a single Open Space Technology meeting was held but the while thing had the flavour of Open Space: high levels of passion, complexity, diversity and urgency and principles like whoever comes and whatever happens and when it starts and ends. And mostly it was powerful because people joined passion and responsibility and net the situation with good timing. In those years thy discovered another truth about themselves perhaps, that despite 1000 years of colonization, Estonians weren't slaves after all!
> 
> That is what it means to see the patterns of Open Space out in the world. Wherever it happens is the right place. 
> 
> Chris
> 
> -- 
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Harvest Moon Consultants
> www.chriscorrigan.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Art of Hosting in Faith Based Communities, Salt Lake City, Utah
> November 28th - December 1, 2012
> 
> Art of Hosting - Participatory Leadership and Social Collaboration, Bowen Island, BC November 11-14,2013
> 
> On 2012-11-25, at 12:57 AM, Arno Baltin <arno at tlu.ee> wrote:
> 
>> Dear OS listeners and sepeakers,
>> 
>> I am glad for so many responses and elaborations to my question on differences of Opening Space and creating a structure. Mikk's poem was most easy to grasp. I feel at home with his last statement: 
>> Opening Space is giving birth. It offers for Spirit a new body/structure to go on with dance.
>> 
>> What I probably underestimate and where my question is rooted is, that I still consider OS more of a technique than life itself. 
>> 
>> Or how Harrisson has put it:
>> What starts out looking like just another approach to better meetings or group technique subtly morphs into the story of the cosmos (self organization). And we really don?t DO anything at all. We simply offer an invitation, and then get out of the way.
>> Or to put it another way using Juan Luis words:
>> "...structures of management are always part of the map and the structure of the principles and the law of OS is always part of the territory.
>> And Michael's way of saying it that  the "principles" are not "rules", rather  "Facts of Life" 
>> 
>> In a way I still have understanding of opening space as scaffolding, not as releasing the Spirit.
>> 
>> So thank you everyone for responding. I can see the long way to go. 
>> 
>> Wish you good Spirit and Body,
>> 
>> 
>>      Arno 
>> 
>> 
>> Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn
>>           Eesti Vabariik
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> OSList mailing list
>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
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>> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 7
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 10:48:54 -0600
> From: Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com>
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] structure/Spirit
> Message-ID:
>    <CAD8j=QGeSWp4rNzQ7-H6FQS_GXwMLLqRDFTrH78mO0v=j9AP2w at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> how many bones do you need?  i was told once that even if we had no bones,
> we'd still sit upright -- because of fluid pressure.  heart.  juice.  same
> person pointed out that one of the reasons some traditions do prostrations
> before meditation is that it moves the largest muscles of back and legs,
> and gets the heart pumping, so that meditation posture is supported by
> fluids, not muscle-effort.  so we might say structure and spirit, bones and
> heart.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
> 
> http://MichaelHerman.com
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 25, 2012 at 5:02 AM, amerie rose <amerierose at phonecoop.coop>wrote:
> 
>> I am really enjoying touching in with this conversation.
>> I would like to add that structure can also be found in the beauty of a
>> repeated sequence of movements, such as a dance. In this example, a 'Holy
>> Communion' can be sought through exploring the purity of the structure
>> through a body which has the freedom to chose how it will move within that
>> structure. Spirit would be experienced in the breath which moves the dancer
>> who is giving and receiving the dance.
>> Amerie
>> 
>> 
>> On 25 Nov 2012, at 02:45, Charles Fuller wrote:
>> 
>> Structure = bones/skeleton
>>> 
>>> Spirit = life force
>>> 
>>> 
>>> (add to the metaphor if you wish/if it seems to fit). How many bones do U
>>> need?
>>> "Just enuff!"
>>> 
>>> So my addition is: the sinew, muscle, organs and tissue is us & our
>>> efforts together.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>> OSList mailing list
>>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>>> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.**openspacetech.org<OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org>
>>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>>> http://lists.openspacetech.**org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-**openspacetech.org<http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
>> 
>> ______________________________**_________________
>> OSList mailing list
>> To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>> To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.**openspacetech.org<OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org>
>> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 8
> Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:41:38 +0100
> From: Luc Bizeul <lbizeul at gmail.com>
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
>    <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] A 3hr OST slot at Conference
> Message-ID: <ADB8575D-BB62-4D89-B25F-C6E64A1A6505 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> Hello,
> 
> you can find here a movie of how I open the space in a conference meeting, I create a new facilitation tool for that you can see it in action during this movie.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUEcan5V2u0&feature=plcp
> 
> I hope it can help you
> 
> This movies is the firt use of this tool during a on hour session during a conference, I plan to finalise the capitalization for the end of december (I planed to be speacker for 4 intervention with this tool before make a publication).
> 
> If you feel like using it, I can take time to brief on that facilitation style.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Luc Bizeul
> 
> Le 18 nov. 2012 ? 19:41, Sandy Gee a ?crit :
> 
>> Hello again lovely OS community,
>> I posted a question asking for advice on here a few months ago. It was about organising a 3 hour OS slot in the afternoon of an Existential Psychotherapy Conference in a non-ideal setting - A very formal and smart space with an auditorium in fixed tiered rows.
>> 
>> I benefitted hugely from all the input I got here as well as at Lisa's workshop in London and at WOSONOS.
>> 
>> It happened on Saturday and I'd like to report that it was a great success!
>> 
>> Though the organisers had been very nervous about it and the setting was pretty challenging I was well prepared and had found ways to address all the difficulties... 
>> 
>> For the OS introduction and marketplace I followed Harrison's idea of making an approximate circle by putting 2 rows of chairs in an arc across the front of the auditorium facing the tiered rows (the chairs just going right across where there was a raised platform). It took a number of devices to get them to co-operate with sitting there - a 'welcome to Open Space' PP slide projected onto the screen, with the request to 'please sit in the chairs across the front and the first 3 rows of the auditorium'. I reinforced it with 'DO NOT SIT IN THIS ROW' signs on all the upper rows (and string blocking off the rows on the other side). And then when I saw that they were nervous and reluctant - strong personal appeals to "please come forward and sit across the front - nothing special or spotlighting will be asked of you, we're just trying to create a sort-of circle". The reluctance was very understandable as they had been in that space earlier with 3 big name speakers just presentin
> g and them all as passive audience. And indeed this is the style previous conferences have all been.
>> 
>> I used humour about the awkward and uneven circle - telling them that the varied height circle was intending to communicate our equality! And I was able to easily link it all to the conference theme which was 'Challenging Contexts and Uncertain Landscapes'! Indeed this seemed to help break the initial ice.
>> 
>> I followed your idea Lisa of 'implying the circle' by placing the principles around the perimeter of the circle (having to invent some creative ways of doing that using string and pegs in places to avoid anything attached to the walls) and by circling around the space as I gave my introduction and explanation of the process. Thank you too Lisa for your advice in your 'thoughts and Ideas' PDF, in which you suggested setting up my living room with the themes on the wall and practicing circling the space and speaking aloud whilst imagining being there. That helped me to get more clear and concise. It helped me to notice where I had a tendency to get repetitive or long-winded/unclear and discipline myself to keep it simple and brief enough for the short time I had. I also typed out pretty much what I would say with coloured sub-headings to orientate me if I should get a bit lost in the nerves of it all. I only looked at it once, but the process of writing that and then just hav
> ing it there helped. This was a much more formal, bigger and more time constrained situation than I've done OS in before and all this helped me cope with that.
>> 
>> Actually the awkwardness and obvious inconvenience of using the auditorium in that way in some ways helped make the transition to the informality and 'mucking in' quality OS needs. Following their initial reluctance to sit in the awkward circle - I was pleased and surprised that they got stuck in quite easily with the paper and pens for writing up their topics - some handing paper back for people to write in their rows before coming forward and others even speaking first with a just blank paper in their hand and then writing up what they'd said more concisely afterwards.
>> 
>> We started a bit late but easily got through the marketplace in the 45mins and off they went to their 1st sessions (11 topics in each of the 2 sessions). (I managed to wangle an extra 15 minutes on initially proposed 30 minutes by encouraging the organisers to let me take more of the time for the OS closure out of the whole conference closure - thanks for that idea Lisa).
>> 
>> For session topic zones I used laminated orange A4 sheets with letters on bamboo poles cable-tied to the chair legs (like at WOSONOS 2012). I attached velcro re-usable cable ties to the top of the poles which i could then thread through slots in the laminated A4 sheets to create 'zone flags' (easier to dismantle and transport) for each of the circles of chairs. These were set up in other rooms than the auditorium (according to a layout plan I'd drawn up) and this worked well.
>> 
>> We had a challenge with the agenda wall being created in the auditorium but the topic zone areas being in a separate part of the venue. That made it impractical for people to refer to the auditorium agenda board when bumblebeeing between sessions. So we simply got moveable boards and, after the marketplace, we moved them to the hall outside where the OS topic sessions were taking place. We used light A2 foam boards, used 'dual tack double-sided tape' to 'post-it' them to the auditorium wall, then were able to remove and reposition them, after the marketplace, onto doors in the hall.
>> 
>> The closing session was back in the auditorium in the awkward circle at the front and by then people had got comfortable with participating, so freely offered snippets of their experience of both the process and the content. Many were energised, enjoyed it, felt excited and had started conversations they'd wanted to have but didn't know how. One said that this now felt like a community in a way that it never had before. A few expressed discomfort with aspects of the process - feeling conflicted in having to decide whether to stay or move, being much more aware of the encounter with the people rather than just the material for discussion, feeling grumpy and rebellious about notetaking and how they felt it interrupted the process. But even those who had found it uncomfortable also expressed that they'd got something from it. And the content that they fed back about was expressed with interest, excitement and edginess. A couple expressed surprise that it worked when they had f
> elt sure it couldn't! 
>> 
>> Interestingly one of them expressed a sense of slight stiltedness and flattening of the energy to be back in the formality of the auditorium for the closure after the freedom of the Open Space sessions and suggested that if we'd just got people to re-position the chairs in the larger room where the sessions had taken place it would have retained more of the energy of OS. I hadn't imagined that this could be possible due to the numbers, but by that point we were down to about half the participants so it actually could have worked. (About a third left at lunchtime and another third before the OS closure - apparently very usual at this conference and partly a result of an overly long and packed agenda). Interestingly - another case of that 'once they've had a taste, they resist any going back into a more constricted space' phenomena!
>> 
>> I personally received a lot of great feedback both directly and in how people interacted with me - many people seemed to find me easily approachable and came and talked to me or just dropped in a comment in passing. A lot were very appreciative, two gave me very specific feedback on how I had been a great facilitator (unflustered when things went wrong, informal, warm, clear). A couple expressed dilemmas - what they wanted to do, but felt too shy (I encouraged them to dare to do it anyway and they did), another felt a bit bad about not having taken notes (I encouraged him to consider - was there anything now they were finished that they'd like to share with the rest of the conference? and just write that - which he did).
>> 
>> All in all there was a real energetic buzz, people were excited and appreciative, several things had been started that there were plans to carry forward further and it looks very likely that Open Space will be part of next years conference.
>> 
>> Thank you everyone who helped me with your great ideas and generous encouragement. I'm thrilled and look forward to more...
>> 
>> Sandy Gee
>> wildbalance at gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
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