[OSList] From linkedin today

Daniel Mezick dan at newtechusa.net
Sun Jan 12 05:11:14 PST 2014 

Yes, and play is fun. Play is invigorating. Play brings action. Play 
brings movement. Life is action. Life is movement!

An entertaining example of play ... action and movement from some 
surprising players, in open space:

http://youtu.be/Iqmba7npY8g

"Let us play"...





On 1/11/14 3:03 PM, Harold Shinsato wrote:
> Harrison,
>
> I was going to ask you to say more about "High Play", but it was easy 
> to learn more about your ideas here with a quick google search. From 
> http://www.openspaceworld.com/Opening%20Space%20for%20The%20Question.htm. 
> The emphasis is mine.
>
>     High Play denotes the manner in which the people involved approach
>     their task -- playfully. Quite often play is understood to be a
>     trivial incidental compared to the real business of living. I
>     think this is a profound error. Play for me may be the most
>     serious (important) of our many undertakings. The importance of
>     play derives from the fact that when we experience reality in
>     different and unexpected ways, *we seek to understand (develop
>     knowledge about) **our new experience by telling likely stories,
>     or in more formal terms, creating theories*. We take the available
>     evidence, combined with our prior experience and try to construct
>     reasonable explanations for the newly observed phenomenon. Almost
>     inevitably our first attempts are flawed, and it is often the case
>     that there are as many theories (stories) as people telling them.
>     If everybody treats their version as the "gospel truth" it is not
>     long before the dead hand of dogma descends, and the search for
>     understanding degenerates into a fight amongst ideologues.  On the
>     other hand, when people treat their new adventure in a playful
>     fashion, there may well be serious competition, but there is also
>     deep respect for the "opponents," and a real joy in the game. In
>     Open Space it is very common to see the game of knowledge building
>     played with real skill and enjoyment -- even by people who have
>     never done anything like that before.
>
> I really like the presence of "real joy in the game" of finding the 
> best likely stories (theories). I also love the value you express for 
> "deep respect for the 'opponents'".
>
> Game on!
>
>     Harold
>
>
> On 1/11/14 11:58 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:
>>
>> Harold -- I like your last line,"If we can hold our theories in the 
>> same fashion as "a likely story", maybe we'll start being able to 
>> tell better stories (theories)." Actually, my words for this are High 
>> Play. I've found that good theory building is best done playfully, 
>> which does not make it a trivial activity, but it does guard against 
>> dogmatism. Good theory, playfully created, and playfully held is 
>> always open to revision -- or just plain discard.
>>
>> Harrison
>>
>> Harrison Owen
>>
>> 7808 River Falls Dr.
>>
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>>
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>>
>> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
>>
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>>
>> Phone 301-365-2093
>>
>> (summer) 207-763-3261
>>
>> www.openspaceworld.com <www.openspaceworld.com%20>
>>
>> www.ho-image.com <www.ho-image.com%20>(Personal Website)
>>
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>> *From:*oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org 
>> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org> 
>> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On Behalf Of *Harold 
>> Shinsato
>> *Sent:* Friday, January 10, 2014 7:55 PM
>> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
>> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] From linkedin today
>>
>> Harrison,
>>
>> It seemed like you were having a problem with understanding when you 
>> wrote the following:
>>
>> "When I was confronted with what was happening in Open Space (25 
>> years ago) it made absolutely no sense to me at all. And what makes 
>> no sense does not lend itself to understanding. I "knew," as did 
>> everybody else of my age, background and training -- that what seemed 
>> to be taking place in Open Space simply could not happen. 
>> Organization was something that we created, managed, and controlled."
>>
>> There are so many theoretical frameworks that have begun to embody 
>> the more adaptive systems thinking required maybe not to fully 
>> understand, but to start to improve our models of organization not 
>> something as something we impose - but something that we can nurture, 
>> cultivate, or just open ourselves to experience.
>>
>> It seems like this thread has been about understanding 
>> self-organization. I love that you brought something from Quantum 
>> Mechanics that "somebody's formulation was good, but not crazy enough 
>> to be true." This reminds me of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao that can be 
>> spoken is not the true Tao.
>>
>> It reminds me a lot of what you wrote in Spirit, and which you 
>> mentioned in your TED talk. Story tellers don't tell the truth. But 
>> in the story, truth emerges. Probably between the words.
>>
>> If we can hold our theories in the same fashion as "a likely story", 
>> maybe we'll start being able to tell better stories (theories).
>>
>>     Harold
>>
>> On 1/10/14 5:08 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
>>
>>     Harold -- I have no problem with "understanding." Good and useful
>>     enterprise. Question is: Understanding of what? And in what frame
>>     or context. I think we have come to a point where we "understand"
>>     Jthat there are multiple logics, each appropriate to different
>>     senses of reality. Newtonian Physics really does work. AND
>>     Quantum Mechanics was/is crazy. In fact one of the framers of
>>     Quantum Mechanics (Heisenberg I think) remarked that that
>>     somebody's formulation was good, but not crazy enough to be true.
>>     Or something.  I think we may be at a similar paradigm/shift
>>     point. We'll see how it all turn out.
>>
>>
>>
>
> -- 
> Harold Shinsato
> harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
> http://shinsato.com
> twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>
>
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-- 

Daniel Mezick, President

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