[OSList] Follow-Up and Flow in Open Space

Tue Mar 26 17:01:54 PDT 2013

I love the weave of the practical -- client expectations about outcomes -- and the philosophic -- the nature of time -- that informs it.  I have a thought on each of them.

On the nature of time, I recall Harrison using a term when I first ran into Open Space in 1994 to describe how we experience time in Open Space.  He said it was polychromatic. It perfectly described my experience.  I just looked up a description.  This seemed a good one:

http://theviralloop.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/living-in-polychromatic-time/
Do you remember those situations where the time just flew by?  This was polychromic time as your attention was “refracted” by various activities all taking place in the same frame of reference which caused time to seem to move faster. 

I think the Greeks used kronos and kairos to describe ordinary and special time.  From wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kairos
While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies a time between, a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens.

This difference in how we experience time was one of the reasons that I fell in love with Open Space.  It didn't require a facilitator to decide the sequence in which things needed to occur.  Rather, those who wished to deal with the past, perhaps making peace with it, could do so.  Those who wanted to envision new possibilities were free to run with that. And those who wanted to deal with what was happening right here and now also got their needs met.  And everyone got the benefit from each other's work.

That brilliant and innate level of self-organizing couldn't possibly be managed as effectively to outcome!

Which brings me to the notion of starting the work on outcomes before the space is opened.  What a brilliant insight!  I see it all as the story or lens we wish to use to make sense of our world.  When I think about applying this idea, as Paul said, whatever is put on the table will irritate and inspire.  And evolve as people interact through their exploration.

So it strikes me that when there's an expectation of outcomes, I can engage consciously with the kairos or polychromatic nature of Open Space time by asking questions that are congruent with that expectation.  Questions like, Given where we are, what's possible now?  What are the best possible outcomes? etc.

My two cents on a sunny day in Seattle,
Peggy

_________________________________
Peggy Holman
peggy at peggyholman.com
Twitter: @peggyholman

15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
425-746-6274
www.peggyholman.com
www.journalismthatmatters.org

Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity

"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, is to become 
the fire".
  -- Drew Dellinger

On Mar 26, 2013, at 5:39 AM, lucia pavia Ticzon <living.systems.org.luch at gmail.com> wrote:

> YES! 
> manifestation and potentiality becoming one.
> 
> On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 4:54 AM, paul levy <paul at cats3000.net> wrote:
> The javelin thrower reaches behind him - gathering in just what he needs from the space behind him, he comes into the present moment then his aim, already part of a flow from behind, begins to aim into the space before him, then he throws and lets go - but only of the javelin - the flow of past, present and future remains alive in him , not only in his "now" but also he in ever present future and past.
> 
> On 26 Mar 2013 08:17, "Bhavesh Patel" <bhavmail at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
> What's the difference between letting go, opening space, now, past, present, future?
> 
> 
> On 26 March 2013 10:13, paul levy <paul at cats3000.net> wrote:
> Koos, why let go of it - why not open space for it ?
> 
> On Tuesday, 26 March 2013, Koos de Heer wrote:
> Hi Gijs,
> 
>  
> 
> I am not familiar with this, but I would love to disuss this when we meet on May 6. Anyone in or near The Netherlands at the time: email me for details of the Stammtisch.
> 
>  
> 
> I can also see a person not filing each day away carefully, but letting go of it and living completely in the now. Maybe that is even more open.
> 
>  
> 
> Koos
> 
>  
> 
> Van: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] Namens Gijs Mega
> Verzonden: dinsdag 26 maart 2013 04:11
> Aan: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org; mmpannwitz at gmail.com
> Onderwerp: Re: [OSList] Follow-Up and Flow in Open Space
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> "The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner each passing day.
> 
> On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively in like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with it's predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on the life he has already lived to the fullest." 
> 
> Doesn't the latter person keeps the space open, whereas the first ones closes it down?
> 
>  
> 
> A quote that I read in Viktor E Frankl's, man's search for meaning, while Paul addressed putting action planning at the beginning and subsequently a dialogue about past, present and future.
> 
> It was first published over 50 years ago, so many will have read it.
> 
> Frankl's LogoTherapy, making people fully aware of their own responsibilities, I find fascinating.
> 
>  
> 
> Does anyone in The Netherlands have more on this? I will visit NL end of April, early May. Possibly good stuff for the Stammtisch on May 6 ....
> 
>  
> 
> Gijs
> 
> From Shanghai
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Send from iPad
> 
>  
> 
> 
> On Mar 26, 2013, at 10:43 AM, GijsVanWezel <gijsvanwezel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Send from iPad
> 
>  
> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Michael M Pannwitz <mmpannwitz at gmail.com>
> Date: March 25, 2013 7:19:45 PM GMT+08:00
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Follow-Up and Flow in Open Space
> Reply-To: mmpannwitz at gmail.com, World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
> 
> Once upon a time, a monk left his monastery for a walk and settled under a shady tree to read his favorite novel. As he sat there he was completely enthralled by a bird singing his very best song. When the bird flew off, Peter, thats this monks name, closed his book and strolled back to his monastery. On knocking, the door opened and a brother he had not seen asked him what he wanted. Peter answered, that he was Peter and just returned from a short walk. The fellow that opened let him know that there was no Peter in the monastery. Peter insisted to be let in so the brother called the Prior who, upon thinking a bit, did remember a story of a Peter that left the monastery for a short walk 300 years ago and never showed up again.
> Here you have a fat NOW, a birds song of a couple of minutes expanding into 300 years. Plenty of NOW in this now with loads of past and future.
> 
> Greetings from bright sunshine in Berlin with icy winds, still.
> mmp
> 
> On 24.03.2013 23:28, Harrison Owen wrote:
> 
> 
> It is only a manner of speaking. If your NOW is big enough it includes
> 
> what we (used to) call Past and Future. So how is that for esoterica
> 
> 
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