[OSList] 30 Years ... and Counting!

[paul levy via OSList]

That's beautiful, Harrison.

You were indeed there. If you weren't there, the universe would not exist.

Self-organisation is the world-process organising itself. And human beings
cannot disappear from it even if they think they have vanished.

Not having a plan is organising not to have a plan. Even saying that isn't
true for you is organising the act of saying it.

It isn't all self-organisation. It's all organisation. Orgenisation upon
itself, in itself, of itself and its'-self.

Humility isn't minimal - it is benevolently cataclysmic

Looking for one less thing to do is a curiousity-led act of looking.

Always opening space for open space...

Paul

On Saturday, 27 June 2015, Harrison <hhowen at verizon.net
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','hhowen at verizon.net');>> wrote:

> Paul – I cannot dispute that something called “Harrison Owen” was present.
> But I was just giving you an “inside report” of my experience. I never
> doubted my presence, but how, why, or for what purpose I showed up remained
> pretty much of a constant mystery to me prospectively. Retrospectively it
> all seems to make some sort of sense, and with a little effort I can spin a
> marvelous tale. Or at least I enjoy it.
>
>
>
> Specifically, I never got a job that I went after. I never went after a
> job that I got. I did “choose” a career, but that blew up in the first few
> years. Very honestly, I always seems to be well on my way to the next part
> of my life before I had even a small clue. Talk about life plan. Is that
> self organization? I don’t know, but it works for me.
>
>
>
> 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:
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>
>
>
> *From:* OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On Behalf
> Of *paul levy via OSList
> *Sent:* Saturday, June 27, 2015 3:10 AM
> *To:* Michael Herman; World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Cc:* Harrison
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] 30 Years ... and Counting!
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
> You had everything to do with it. You were there, and it could never
> happened without you, for you are it-self.
>
>
>
>
>
> Warm wishes
>
>
>
> Paul
>
> On Saturday, 27 June 2015, Michael Herman via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> i want to add something to what you're saying about acting UPON the system
> and acting IN the system, paul.  i think there's a third way.
>
>
>
> it's common, as you say, for people to separate and try to have some
> effect UPON the Self, the circle, the system.  we call it managing,
> directing, imposing, controlling, and improving – and the shape is the same
> even if we're trying to improve "open space."  it's all outside and
> unsatisfied.  then there is, as you say, acting IN the system.  people
> announcing sessions, floating around as butterflies, and so on.
>
>
>
> the third way takes a certain kind of person and/or a good deal of
> practice, maybe even a little luck (a few martinis, perhaps?).  the third
> way is when little individual separate selves manage to speak up AS the
> Self.  this is just the opposite of the manager self attempting to speak
> for the Self.
>
>
>
> in those moments, mostly fleeting, of necessity, because it's hard to hold
> that form, hard to stay on that wave, (or maybe because there's often so
> little that can or must be "said" or "done"), when we speak AS the gathered
> Self, we are still our selves, but our selves are not in charge.  we do and
> become things, as harrison suggests, that we might not otherwise choose or
> intend or even want.  but whatever happens...
>
>
>
> the wave of Self picks us up and moves us AND we are that wave.  we must
> always and everywhere be holding space for ourselves and diving for cover
> in Self, or is that holding space for ourSelves and diving for cover in
> self?  <grin>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> http://MichaelHerman.com
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 5:40 PM, Harrison via OSList <
> oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> Paul... Being the contrarian that I am, I rather think that the “Self” in
> question is -- itself -- a product of self organization. Weird, I guess –
> but that has definitely been my life experience.  The “self” that I am
> definitely was not the product of my intent or design. It may not have
> happened “all by itself,” but I didn’t have too much to do with it, as
> least as I am aware. How about those bananas?
>
>
>
> 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
>
>
>
> *From:* OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On Behalf
> Of *paul levy via OSList
> *Sent:* Friday, June 26, 2015 8:01 AM
> *To:* Harrison; World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Cc:* Steve Piersanti
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] 30 Years ... and Counting!
>
>
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
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