[OSList] Circle of One (was OSList Digest, Vol 19, Issue 5)

Wed Sep 12 06:43:31 PDT 2012

Well Gijs...what a lovely memory you're triggering from the Presidio..and Matilda's creativity in Berlin

Here is a the context, best expressed for me by John O'Donohue in his inspirational book, Anam Cara...Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World

"Individuality is never simple or one dimensional.  Often it seems as if there is a crowd within the individual heart … At the deepest level of the human heart, there is no simple, singular self.  Deep within there is a gallery of different selves.  Each one of these figures expresses a different part of your nature.  Sometimes they will come into contradiction and conflict with each other.  If you only meet these contradictions on the surface level, this can start an inner feud that could haunt you all the days of your life.  Frequently, you see people who are sorely divided.  They are in a permanent war zone and have never managed to go deeper to the hearth of kinship where the two forces are not enemies, but reveal themselves to be different sides of one belonging.
We cannot embody in action the multiplicity of selves we encounter in our most inward meditations.  But without a knowledge of these numberless selves our existence is severely diminished and our access to mystery is blocked.  We are talking here of the imagination and its riches; too often we degrade imagination to a problem-solving technique. 

We need to develop a new sense of the wonderful complexity of the self.  We need thought models or patterns which are fair and appropriate to that complexity.  When people discover their own complexity, they become afraid and with the hammers of second-hand thoughts they beat this rich internal landscape into a monoscape.  They make themselves conform.  They agree to fit in; they cease to be vivid presences, even to themselves."  (pp146-48)    

This notion got me to thinking - how would it be to facilitate an Open Space meeting for my 'inner village', or 'inner family'...or 'inner tribe'....
A colleague of mine had introduced me to the Jungian 'thought model' of 'Active Imagination' where we can create a space for conversation with these inner-village people by intentionally engaging our imagination. These characters often appear in dreams and I had been setting time aside to have a yarn with each of them in response to the purpose behind their appearance in my subconscious world. I would sit quietly with journal and write out the conversation as it unfolded...a kind of imaginary dialogue with 'part of me' that needed to be given voice in my conscious, ego-controlled presence.  This was very useful for me in surfacing and addressing some 'shadow issues' with a trusted companion (spiritual guide, therapist...). 

I then wondered what it would feel like if I invited whoever wished to come along to an Inner VIllage Open Space meeting - and guess what, it was very similar to an outer-world meeting...issue an invitation around a theme that's significant for me at the time, see who shows up, post topics, host conversations, converge and plan actions....with me (ego state) the sponsor/facilitator recording the proceedings and getting more in touch with the deeper recesses of my 'truth'....and I must confess that some quite shady characters often show up - an old/familiar acquaintance, a shy stranger, a domineering autocrat, a frightened child, a passionate activist....all the right 'people' of course!

So, maybe its the leprechauns in me...regardless, I love it - even tho some of these meetings can be very draining and last for a couple of hours...its a rich experience.

Cheers
Brendan 
(and his village)

On 12/09/2012, at 4:50 PM, Gijs Mega wrote:

> In san francisco wosonos I joined a session of my friend Brendan from Perth with a similar topic. The exact name I forgot. Opening space for all the voices in the head: most of us have worries, guilt, ego, but also roles we have such as parent, income earner, friend....
> It was the facilitator's role to give space to all voices and to park space invaders.
> After the meditative session, he would write down the notes as good as possible and those he would discuss with some sort of personal coach on a regular basis. As I recall sessions were on average around an hour, maybe two.
> 
> It was very interesting to hear and I would love to hear it again or more.
> 
> Best wishes
> Gijs 
> 
> 
> Send from iPad
> 
> 
> On Sep 12, 2012, at 7:09 AM, Harold Shinsato <harold at shinsato.com> wrote:
> 
>> Matilda Leyser held a delightful session "A Circle of One - Opening Space On Your Own" at 1:30 pm Thursday May 13 in Berlin at the 2010 World Open Space on Open Space. It was an innovative and very useful session, where Matilda demonstrated how she uses Open Space Technology on her own to help her resolve issues and especially creative scenarios for play writing using different spaces in a room or a few rooms using stuffed animals to represent different aspects of her own psyche or persona. I wish I had written up notes for the event, or someone had, but there's no evidence of the session other than my photo of the schedule wall (which is how I know when it happened!).
>> 
>> What I remember, and I hope she or someone else corrects me if my memory is faulty, is that she would begin with the regular opening with a circle of herself and the stuffed animals or other objects, then write out the different topic sessions - and then have different representatives move to the different spaces and she would move around between them using the law of two feet, and move the representatives as well. She used it in shorter sessions, a couple hours, and also all day long. Though I think mostly half a day sessions.
>> 
>> Anyone else remember this session and any other highlights of the ideas that were covered? Anyone else know of any other experiments like Matilda's?
>> 
>>     Cheers!
>>     Harold
>> 
>> On 9/11/12 10:08 AM, Elisabeth Teppper wrote:
>>> I believe the hardest of Spaces to Open are with ourselves!  So a One person OS is also valid!! 
>>> Love 
>>> Elisabeth
>>> Venezuela 
>>> Elisabeth Tepper Kofod  -  Facilitadora de Procesos de Transformación
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Harold Shinsato
>> harold at shinsato.com
>> http://shinsato.com
>> twitter: @hajush
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