[OSList] Passover, Self organization, boundaries, authority and where new things happen... a bit long

[Jerry Kaye]

This is a dramatic explanation of the fact that Jews are people who
remember places they have never been and relating to people we never knew.


On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 9:51 AM, Chris Kloth <chris.kloth at got2change.com>wrote:

> I am not sure this post from last Monday made it to the list, although a
> followup with a correction seems to have made it. I am re-posting in case
> it didn't make it. I have made the corrections to clean it up. My apologies
> if this is a duplication.
> --
>
> For those of you who are of the tribe, Happy Passover!
>
> On this Passover I am experiencing a sense of integrating my own thoughts
> on several OSLIST threads from the last several weeks... linking a 2000+
> year old story to my own story of incorporating Open Space into my work for
> 20-ish years. [HO - what a long strange trip it's been :-)]
>
> My experience is that good things and bad things happen everywhere,
> whether or not space has been opened. Self-organization is always occurring
> everywhere, sometimes to a good end, a bad end or simply adapting to what
> is - for better or worse. Sometimes we notice and sometimes we don't. Once
> we do notice we may or may not fully understand what we are noticing. The
> terms perception/selective perception and framing/re-framing come to mind.
> Both seem to involve a story or narrative, as well as a matter of choice.
>
> In this context, when I talk about self-organization, boundaries,
> authority and most other things I am sharing a narrative rooted in the
> choices I have made while trying to make sense of what I have noticed. When
> I hear/see anyone ruminating about any of these topics I know the narrative
> is rooted in each person's own choices while making sense of their
> experiences. What I appreciate about the list is that if I am able to
> maintain a spirit of curiosity I may gain new ways of understanding my own
> narrative and yours. What follows is a storyline that has influenced how I
> have struggled with the content of these recent threads.
>
> In 1989 I was part of a group exploring issues of change in what was still
> the Soviet Union. I experienced perception and framing challenges so many
> times some days that my head was spinning.
>
> One narrative that apparently still has legs is this: They pretend tend to
> pay us and we pretend to work. We saw all kinds of examples of how the
> formal structures created boundaries, silos and misuse of authority that
> reinforced dysfunction. But under the surface we noticed incredible
> examples of creativity and resilience as people figured out how to get good
> results despite all the barriers. The first OST User's Guide had yet to be
> published, but the right people were showing up and passion and
> responsibility were busting out all over despite boundaries and without
> formal authority.
>
> While we were officially on an organized learning mission with the group
> we were part of, my wife and I also decided to smuggle 50 Russian/Hebrew
> Haggadahs (prayer books) to a congregation in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At the
> time religion and religious material were still illegal in the Soviet
> Union. Somewhat paradoxically, in this setting Islam was the dominant
> religion in Uzbekistan and had to be accounted for as much as the legal
> issues. We knew no one in Uzbekistan so our only strategy was to show up,
> pay attention and figure it out... passion, responsibility and
> self-organization in action despite a culture and laws that prohibited the
> exercise of passion and responsibility. The right people showed up. We
> showed up in the spirit of making something happen. Others showed up, found
> us, and helped make it happen.
>
> We were able to get the Haggadahs to the congregation through
> intermediaries we encountered along the way. We know for sure because
> several years later we met a young man who had recently immigrated to
> Columbus from Uzbekistan. We discovered he had been a child in the
> congregation when the books arrived only a few days before Passover. Good,
> new stuff can happen anywhere. Space can be opened in more or less
> hospitable environments.
>
> Later during the trip we boarded a train from Moscow to Helsinki on
> Passover. Several of us on the trip who are Jewish decided we wanted to do
> something for Passover. Several people in Moscow took some risks to help us
> put together a plate. Passion, responsibility, self-organization and the
> right people... re-framing the narrative about what is possible.
>
> Every year Jews read the Torah from start to finish. It is the same story
> every year. It is also a new story every year. In the context of our own
> lives each year we have the opportunity to find new meaning in the story
> and how it drives passion, responsibility, self-organization and new
> possibilities. Framing and re-framing.
>
> In some sense the history of Jews is a history of passion, responsibility
> and self-organization. There are parts of the story that make me very
> uncomfortable. Bad stuff happens sometimes, quite often when people (Jews
> and non-Jews) are more focused on authority, boundaries and a rigid view of
> the secular or religious meaning of the stories told by the story
> tellers... Christians, Jews, Muslims and others.
>
> This year we will be adding a second Story of Oppression to our Seder. It
> is a story of good and bad stuff happening for and to Jews in Uganda during
> the time of Idi Ammin and a particular Passover. Yes, more passion,
> responsibility, self-organization and the right people showing up.
>
> What I love most about OST, and why I have been using it as a part of my
> work in communities and organizations for so many years, is how organic
> (literally a reflection of natural systems from atoms to stars) the
> principles are. For me opening space is an opportunity to invite people to
> notice new things with the help of the right people - whoever that might
> be, to create a new story rooted in passion and responsibility and make it
> easier for good, new things to happen.
>
> Yes, I do understand that there are practical considerations we typically
> call authority, boundaries, sponsorship, etc. related to opening space in
> an organization setting, especially in communities or organizations where
> OST is new. I also realize that I am spoiled. Here in Columbus, Ohio, USA
> it is harder for me to find people who have not experienced OST than those
> to have.
>
> I think the invitation for all of us is to resist limiting our sense of
> what is possible when we encounter these terms in a client system or in our
> own internal dialogues. When in doubt, reframe!
>
> --
> Please note that my new e-mail address is chris.kloth at got2change.com. You
> may also contact me by using the Contact Page at www.got2change.com.
>
> Shalom,
>
> Chris Kloth
> ChangeWorks of the Heartland
> chris.kloth at got2change.com
> www.got2change.com
> phone - 614.239.1336
> fax - 614.237.2347
>
> Think Globally, Act Locally
>
> Please think about the environment before printing this e-mail.
>
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