[OSList] Earliest known reference to {holding the space}
Michael M Pannwitz via OSList
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Wed Oct 22 05:08:21 PDT 2014
Dear Jeff, dont forget taking a nap!
mmp, on the run to take just one
On 22.10.2014 00:45, Jeff Aitken via OSList wrote:
> Another related piece that comes to memory is an early phrasing that I
> have not seen for a long time.
>
> "Preserve and protect the Law of Two Feet."
>
> Now it's often called the Law of Mobility or other terms. But the
> words "preserve and protect" I have not seen for years.
>
> I remember my early understanding that this is the one job of the
> person holding space. The only occasion to intervene in the event is
> when a person (such as the CEO, despite our pre-work) interferes with
> another person's ability to exercise the Law. It's our job to preserve
> and protect the Law.
>
> Along with being "completely present and completely invisible" and
> "picking up coffee cups" ~
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
> On 10/21/14, Daniel Mezick via OSList <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>> 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
>>>
>>> Winter Address
>>>
>>> 7808 River Falls Drive
>>>
>>> Potomac, MD 20854
>>>
>>> 301-365-2093
>>>
>>> Summer Address
>>>
>>> 189 Beaucaire Ave.
>>>
>>> Camden, ME 04843
>>>
>>> 207-763-3261
>>>
>>> Websites
>>>
>>> www.openspaceworld.com <%20www.openspaceworld.com>
>>>
>>> www.ho-image.com
>>>
>>> OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
>>> archives of OSLIST Go
>>> to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>>>
>>> *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.
>>>
>>> (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/>:
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>>>
>>> harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
>>> http://shinsato.com
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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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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