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

Thu Apr 17 09:00:08 PDT 2014

so  wonderful to hear all this from the Heartland and from the
heart/mind/gut  knowing of this amazing complexity of life which holds
wisdom of which we all have access when we can notice it and even when we
can't.   Thanks so much for the Chris.

On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 10:51 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.
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>

-- 
*Skye Hirst, PhD*
President - The Autognomics Institute
*Conversations in Radical Self-Knowing*
www.autognomics.org
@autognomics

New Phone Number:
207-593-8074
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20140417/a87917d1/attachment-0008.htm>