[OSList] 30 Years ... and Counting!

Fri Jun 26 05:00:58 PDT 2015

Harrison

I do like this little phrase "organising - all by itself"

I've wondered, via this list, before: what is this "self" that organises?

When, I stand, as a self (called Paul) and behold the world process (in
which I stand) - I stand apart as the beholder, but also behold the wonder
that I am part of that world process as well.

Apart and belonging. the universe seems to have within it, an ability to
behold its-self. (Itself - Its self)

Here's a poem I wrote a while back, in a little book called The Poetry of
Change:

Cleft...

Like a cleft stick
You are no longer
Whole
See?
Yet even
Whole
You were ripped from
A tree.

It's easy to forget that the ability to behold self-organisation and to
share it so eloquently on this list, as Harrison does, requires a self to
behold it (and to know it is a self doing the beholding). When we behold
self-organisation, we necessarily behold ourselves at the same time.
Self-organisation is an act of self organisation (not the lack of a hyphen
in the second one). Organisation is beautiful and the distaste for it is
silly and pointless. Because organisation and self-organisation are one and
the same thing.

There is a form of organisation however where the self imposes its
temporarily separate will onto other selves and, in the process forgets
itself. It forgets that it is  part of the system it is imposing its will
upon. There can be many reasons for this which I won't go into here. When
one or more selves forget they are part of the thing they are imposing
their will on, the whole system can go into a state of suffering because it
temporarily loses its wholeness. This can happen in a conference when a
small group of selves impose an agenda on the whole "self" of the
community. The smaller group of selves have temporarily attempted to place
themselves outside of the whole system of which they are always a part.

When we use open space technology, we restore the wholeness of the system
by allowing each self to act both separately and together in the
world-process. There's a harmony because both beholder and beholded come
closer together and even show themselves as the same thing. The circle
represents its well. It feels like a remembering (Re-membering - we put the
"whole body" back on again).

What's beautiful about open space is when each of our separate selves gets
up and temporarily acts as if it is separate from the world-self. "i want
to lead a session on" or "I use my my two feet" or "I become a butterfly.
Not the world temporary. Control is often benevolent when it is transient
asnd temporary.

In Open Space, these passing acts of separate self ('lovely selfishness' I
call it) are very close to the experience of whole self-organisation -
because the circle is strong - self and Self are very close together in a
kind of playful dance.

Also self and Self are close together in Time. We are creating the agenda
as selves and as a collective SELF in an improvisational way. Improvisation
is the way the universe breathes and moves.

In a traditional conference, those little acts of each self (cooking up the
agenda way in advance) becomes separated in time from the agenda that is
experienced together (as a together-self). We act as if our little selves
are separate from the whole. We try to act UPON the system from outside
instead of IN the system. Here organisation becomes something in which
selves role play being separate. There is no circle. The universe if "over
there." At best we hold the whole circle or community in imagination.

The day of the conference arrives. If there is energy, self-organisation
manifests anyway and the conversations happen in the coffee breaks. Even in
open space events, where we create the agenda on the day, the conversations
happen in the coffee breaks. we even create our own extra or different
coffee breaks outside the formal timings, using our two feet.

Oh no. I beg to differ. Self-organisation doesn't happen all by itself.
Self-organisation happens out of itself. And itself is a beautiful thing.
Self-organisation is a process of ORGANISATION. In the human realm it
happens as an act of synchronous improvisation. We organise and we control
but we just do it closer to the moment and out of an experience of the
whole. Temporary, separate "selfishness" becomes synonymous with play.
Individuality and Community weave a lemiscate pattern.

Each individual self acts both separately and collectively all of the time.

The universe was made so that human beings could self-organise it.

(Dives for cover)

Paul Levy

On 24 June 2015 at 18:46, Harrison via OSList <
oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Come this 4th of July it will be 30 years since something called Open
> Space Technology happened. At the time, we (that would be me, for sure)
> didn’t have a clue what it was or where it was headed. Since then it seems
> like a lot of good stuff has come down. Of course we need to remember the
> learnings from the ‘60’s – “Never trust anyone over 30.” Well... we just
> got there! Everybody should be well advised that what happens next is
> TOTALLY their responsibility... Or something.
>
>
>
> What happens next is definitely your responsibility. Having entered into
> my 80th year, I am well past the age of discretion. But I do have a few
> thoughts that may, or may not, be germane.
>
>
>
> I don’t think this is the end of something. I do believe it is the
> beginning. And... There will always be a time when “the first timers” (as
> participants or facilitators) gets the WOW Experience (Thank you Tom
> Peters). Kind of like the first ride on your bicycle. Millions of people
> have done it before you. But your First Ride is always unique (for you).
>
>
>
> There will always be times when bits and pieces of our common experience
> in Open Space are held out as “singularities” – something strange and
> unique. The latest version is called, “Liberating Structures (Thank you
> Henri!).” Wonderful Idea, I think, but just a very small part of the whole.
>
>
>
> And for all those wonderful people who are attempting to wed Open Space to
> Agile (Dan et al you know who I am talking about) – I say Three Cheers! And
> I also hope that the day will come when it is recognized that truly Agile
> organization are fully, consciously, intentionally – self organizing. At
> that point, you don’t have to wed anything to anything. Just be what you
> already are. Which is another way of saying that SCRUM (along with all the
> other “techniques”) sound nice, but are yet one more example of “working
> too hard.”
>
>
>
> And What Next? Truly, I am out of crystal balls. But I rather think the
> beginning will begin when we call “Full Stop” on any attempt to organize
> anything. And in that momentary space (Open Space?) just notice what is
> organizing all by itself. Amazing! And we didn’t do a thing. Which leads
> naturally to the next question... How do we take advantage of the winds of
> our existence to bring our ships to harbors of fullness and greatness?
>
>
>
> And then we may take a lesson from Sailors and the Sea. Sailors do not
> create the wind or the Sea. Although many have tried. All have failed. But
> they have learned to ride the winds and the seas to their advantage. We
> have the same opportunity.
>
>
>
> On this 30th Birthday, and as I approach my 80th – Good Luck and Carry On!
>
>
>
> 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 <http://%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
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
> Past archives can be viewed here:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20150626/b8531c22/attachment-0003.htm>