[OSList] Open Space funeral (Greg Rivera, in memoriam)

[Eleder_BuM via OSList]

Good morning,

my mind comes back to a conversation invited by Pernilla last Wosonos in
Krakow, in which she asked us, more or less: "*what everyday situations do
you know in which the OS spirit is  present?". *These days I realized *funerals
can also be open space.*

Last Sunday some friends of NY based scientartist Greg Rivera's met to
celebrate having had him as a friend, some days after his unexpected dead
(Nov 26th). Here you canenjoy some of his paintings
<http://www.saatchiart.com/gregrivera>.

He had been living in the Basque Country during the period 2007-2013 and
made a big impression on and built close relationships with plenty of
social innovators in the area (always a happy spirit, he coined terms suchs
as “underground mayor” =UM...:).

So, deep in pain and far in the distance, I wrote a message to a bunch of
the ones that had related to him:

*Hi, how are you? Next Sunday Dec6 (12:00) some friends of Greg´s will be
meeting in Mundaka, near La Bañera (the house they used to live in) to
celebrate the joy of having shared life with him. *



*Feel free to bring something to eat and drink, as we plan to share
lunchtime, after a walk around the village. We´ll be bringing, as well, any
object, story, song, paint, idea,... that connects us with him and with
each other.*



*Please, forward the invitation to whoever that would like coming. *

*Eleder  638733223*

So, some days later, we met last Sunday (Dec 6th) on a beautiful field over
the sea and  shared some food and drinks around a table.

The agenda was completely blank. There was nobody in charge and lots of
passion on the clear issue: saying goodbye to the big friend.

As we ate and drank, last people arrived and joined the small groups that
formed and dissolved spontaneously now and again, people using their two
feet.

Then, some time near the end (the end time, I realized, was fixed by the
amount of food and drink we served :) someone said he wanted to share a
poem inspired on Greg's last days, reflecting on the relationship between
life, dead and art.

We listened standing in a circle the 20 folks of us. Then someone put the
issue; *“would you like to share the story on how you met Greg?”*. People
spoke from their heart and listened deeply,...

Someone sang a verse following the long tradition os singing improvised
verses. Then he proposed to get close one to the other, hugged in a closer
circle now. Then he invited us: *“would you like to share the feature(s) of
Greg you liked and would like to see expanding in the world?”. *A wise
collective response emerged: playfulness, generosity, love, courage,
artfulness, open mind, social awareness, being a “hub”, simplicity,
peacefulness, humour, calmness,…

We laughed, cried, chatted, projected, dreamed, hugged, loved (with) each
other...

When people left there was a deep agreement: this was great!

Simple, comfortable, enriching, participative, self-managed, joyful,
emotive,…

And: it was for me very empowering and releasing to know that we ourselves
could manage the mourning in such an elegant way, in a region and time
where almost every funeral goes under a catholic tradition, completely in
another way.

Many of  us were familiar with OS and familiar with what had just happened:
this was great and simple.

This was just life just open space.

Cheers,

@Eleder_BuM <https://twitter.com/Eleder_BuM>
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