[OSList] Earliest known reference to {holding the space}
Daniel Mezick via OSList
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Tue Oct 21 11:20:54 PDT 2014
Hi Harrison,
Curiosity motivates my original search, dating back to 2011 or so. Words
and phrases are important symbols and so I am curious about these
symbols, and their origin, and what these symbols might now mean.
And so I wonder if 'holding space', as /you/ use it, might mean 'holding
void'.
Also, I am hoping there might be previous post or two, perhaps located
in OSLIST archives, where your earlier thoughts on this term may be found.
Kind Regards,
Daniel
On 10/21/14 10:56 AM, Harrison Owen via OSList wrote:
>
> I'm not quite sure what motivated the search for the "earliest"
> reference to "holding space" or Open Space, but I can assure anybody
> who cares that in one form or another it substantially predates the
> Quakers and, obviously, me. As Jeff correctly observes, my usage was
> first in context that had nothing to do with OST, if only because I
> had yet to drink the cool aid. But I had been thinking a lot about the
> process of transformation, an interest that dates back to the early
> 60's. And in many traditions, particularly Buddhist, there is a
> critical period/phase/moment of silence and nothingness. Goodness
> knows what the original words were, in whatever language... but a
> typical English translation is "void." Works for me, but I guess I
> found "open space" to be more congruent with my intent and experience.
> Anyhow, that's how it came out.
>
> Harrison
>
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> *From:*OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Jeff Aitken via OSList
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 21, 2014 12:34 AM
> *To:* Harold Shinsato; World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] Earliest known reference to {holding the space}
>
> While tangential, it may be useful to remember that Harrison's own
> first definition of Open Space was not the methodology we know.
>
> Rather it refers to the mysterious place in a journey of
> transformation - for the individual, for the organization - 'between
> what was and what might become.' (In 'Spirit: Transformation and
> Development in Organizations' 1987.)
>
> While the methodology showed up in 1985 to later become a powerful
> means to support individuals and organizations 'across the open space'
> it was not mentioned in the book.
>
> 'For the organization standing at the edge of open space with a full
> realization that the old way isn't working anymore, and the new way
> has yet to be found, the primary issue is the passage through that
> Open Space, and the articulation of a new story... a new way of being
> there. ... It would not be stretching a point to understand the
> process at hand as a dramatic event or sequence of events, with the
> leader as director or conductor...'
>
> The job of the leader is 'leadership by indirection, which
> orchestrates a new, positive story, created so far as possible out of
> the existing elements of mythos, which captures and excites the
> organizational Spirit, and focuses it in productive directions.'
>
> And so we give thanks for Open Space Technology, which helps make all
> that work SO much easier.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Jeff Aitken
> Date:10/20/2014 8:21 PM (GMT-08:00)
> To: Harold Shinsato ,World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Earliest known reference to {holding the space}
>
> Brilliant work Harold. I also was thinking about the famous
> pediatrician and therapist Winnicott and his theory of the mothering
> 'holding environment' in which children develop. As the child grows,
> the space being held grows too, tho not named that way specifically.
>
> Another child therapist Sandner literally talked about an Open Space
> held by the mother role along similar lines. He once came to a talk by
> Harrison.
>
> Nozick reminds me of good old Werner Erhard saying we are a 'clearing'
> in which bodymind and the world show up. Influenced by Heidegger et al.
>
> Which takes us to the Kabbalist notion of 'tzimtzum' as the ein sof
> gets lonely and contracts so that a space appears for a universe to
> emerge. Jewish people who follow torah are rereading the first
> chapters of genesis this week. But that's another story.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Harold Shinsato via OSList
> Date:10/20/2014 1:40 PM (GMT-08:00)
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Earliest known reference to {holding the space}
>
> Hi Jennifer!
>
> Thanks for referencing such a great research tool. I looked at all the
> books listed from 1900-1981. Check this out!
>
> Nothing before '51, and over half of the 342 references were from
> 1951-54. There was a dark age of holding space from '55-'70, with no
> references. And of the 342, over 96% treated "holding space" as a
> noun, rather than a process. They are about physical containers for
> stuff, livestock, or prisoners.
>
> Below I list the exceptions - some of which seem to hint at the way
> "holding space" as an element of facilitation, though none do so
> directly. The Leibniz and Kant papers were interesting in that they
> peered into the concept of space itself, holding the concept if not
> actual space. Very interesting is that the military concept of
> "holding space" related to the Vietnam war starts to come close to the
> facilitation sense, but the last one by Robert Nozick seems to come
> the closest.
>
> 1953 - Princeton Alumni Magazine - "holding space" for slots in a
> talent show at Princeton.
>
> 1971 - The New Yorker Volume 46, Part 7 - page 85 - "Farther toward
> Green, a young woman named Vaughan Kaprow, shivering in the evening
> cold, began /holding space/for another organization that had a special
> greeting for Billy Graham --- the Pasadena Women's Liberation Group."
>
> 1973 - A Paper about Leibniz's Philosophy which looks at space
> differently, "/holding space/ to be relational."
>
> 1973 - the Michigan Library talked about "holding space" for sign ups
> for tickets (flights to New York), similar to the holding space for
> slots in a talent show in 1953.
>
> 1976 - Ecology - Volume 57, Issues 1-3 - Page 286: "Porter (1974)
> speculated that the high degree of coexistance on Caribbean reefs is
> due to a "balance of abilities" divided among the Caribbean corals,
> such that no one species is competitively superior in acquiring and
> /holding space/."
>
> 1976 - The Philosophy of Kant Explained - Page 89 - "It is thus
> obvious that we can only explain how we can have legitimate a priori
> synthetic judgments in geometry by /holding space/as..."
>
> 1977 - Object Relations Family Therapy - Page 72 - " the family
> therapist gets transference information from the interactions in the
> shared /holding space/of the family." Still a noun.
>
> 1977 - All quiet on the Eastern front: the death of South Vietnam:
> "Time was a secondary dependent variable, a function of our success in
> winning and /holding space/."
>
> 1978 - BBC transcript - Many reasons why: the American involvement in
> Vietnam - "it's because you're holding this space in the territory of
> the rural areas. Also you're /holding space/in another sense altogether"
>
> 1979 - Arts Magazine - Volume 53, Issues 6-8: "Moss now opens wide
> gaps in the grid, erasing large segments of the retaining wall that
> had been holding space 'back'. A new spontaneity and elasticity
> develops between color and field: an energy."
>
> 1981 - Kant and the Transcendental Object - "And to all these
> impressive reasons for /holding space/and time to be phenomenal, Kant
> adds the further reason that there are a great many axiomatic
> principles which govern things in space and time, which are not
> logically necessary, since ...
>
> 1981 - Robert Nozick: Philosophical Explanations Page 83 - " The word
> "I" might be the marker for the blank, /holding space/in which the
> self can appear."
>
> Regards,
> Harold
>
> On 10/20/14 7:41 AM, JenniferHurley-HFA via OSList wrote:
>
> If Google Scholar is any indication, the usage, at least in print,
> seems fairly recent:
>
> https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Holding+space&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CHolding%20space%3B%2Cc0
>
> Jennifer Hurley
>
> Hurley-Franks & Associates
>
> 267-971-4598
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>
> On Oct 20, 2014, at 9:20 AM, Daniel Mezick <dan at newtechusa.net
> <mailto:dan at newtechusa.net>> wrote:
>
> This is extremely helpful, Jennifer! Thank you
>
> On 10/20/14 9:14 AM, JenniferHurley-HFA wrote:
>
> I have no idea about the earliest usage, but it's a phrase
> often used by Quakers.
>
> Jennifer Hurley
>
> Hurley-Franks & Associates
>
> 267-971-4598
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>
> On Oct 19, 2014, at 7:33 PM, Daniel Mezick via OSList
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
>
> Since July 2011, I continue to wander, searching for
> the earliest known reference to the term "holding the
> space." Anybody know?
>
> http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/2011-July/334185.html
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoSn2Y-b6wI
>
> --
>
> Daniel Mezick, President
>
> New Technology Solutions Inc.
>
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Daniel Mezick, President
New Technology Solutions Inc.
(203) 915 7248 (cell)
Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
<http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
Examine my new book:The Culture Game
<http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the
Agile Manager.
Explore Agile Team Training
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching.
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
Explore the Agile Boston <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.
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