[OSList] Creating Space or Opening Space?

[Daniel Mezick via OSList]

"That's an interesting thread you started, Daniel, about inviting 
non-invitation."

Thank you kindly Lucas.

Daniel

On 9/2/15 9:47 AM, Lucas Cioffi via OSList wrote:
> That's an interesting thread you started, Daniel, about inviting 
> non-invitation.
>
> Harrison writes yesterday:
>
>     Here’s a thought... Space/time is infinite, defined by our minds,
>     and limited by our imagination. So “constraints” are only what you
>     make them out to be. AND... it is always nice to have as much
>     “space/time” as possible. A “genuine invitation” creates a LOT of
>     space/time.
>
>
> *Do y'all think we are creating space or are we opening space?  It's 
> an important distinction, because creating implies a win-win but 
> opening could be a win-lose situation. *I'd say none of us is ever 
> creating space, just opening it, and that someone or something is 
> always losing something else when we do.
>
> *I'll do my best to explain...*
> Instead of "creating space" I'd argue that instead we are "creating 
> space */for/*" because the space literally already exists.  We are 
> creating opportunity for voices to be heard and for people to 
> participate.  But in some indirect way a */space for X/* is at least 
> indirectly a /*space against Y*/.  We are never actually creating new 
> space, instead we are creating "*/new space for/*" by marking that 
> space with an invitation/purpose, principles, and a law of two feet.  
> The space (the hotel conference room, the warehouse, etc) already exists.
>
> I don't disagree, Harrison, that overall space/time might be 
> infinite–I don't know :) –but each of us is limited to being in one 
> physical space at a time, monitoring/interacting with a handful of 
> physical spaces virtually, and having 24 hours in a day.  In that way 
> we'd all agree that space and time are nearly zero sum at a personal 
> scale, so when we open/create space for _________, and people accept 
> the invitation, we are decreasing energy and time spent some where 
> else.  There is a cost.  We don't talk about that, but I don't think 
> we forget that either.
>
> So, to take this argument full circle (pun intended), I'd say that 
> whenever we open space, we do it by force.  Space doesn't open on its 
> own (or does it?!-- what if we aren't really /opening/ space and the 
> space is already open, that we're just the first to see it?). Well, 
> even if space opens on its own and then if we're the first ones to 
> walk into it and invite others, we are still inviting by force–this 
> not a bad force or a coercive force, but it's a force nonetheless.  We 
> know this, because we know how it requires force to launch an 
> invitation into the world.  (Or is this not always the case?  Can 
> someone invite by simply being?)
>
> Any invitation displaces people's time: to read it (maybe just 30 
> seconds) and then much more time is displaced for people choose to 
> attend (an hour, a day, etc).  What I'm trying to say is that I'm 
> beginning to see opening space more and more as active, forceful (in a 
> good way), and intentional.  When we open space that was previously 
> closed, we are using force, and that might mean that someone else is 
> experiencing something else closing (the old order of business in an 
> organization or fewer people attending another event or doing 
> something that they would have otherwise been doing if they weren't 
> attending).
>
> Bottom line: It's hard to argue with creating space because it looks 
> like a win-win, but somewhere someone or something is losing our time, 
> energy, and support in the short term.  In the case of an organization 
> the person losing is the boss who wants to keep the old order of 
> things.  When that situation isn't applicable, we're at least spending 
> time away from other things we could be doing such as tending to a 
> vegetable garden or taking Fido for a walk. *So it's always important 
> to keep in mind who/what is losing when we open space, and perhaps 
> using the phrase "creating space" is a good way to focus on the upside.*
>
> Lucas Cioffi
> Founder, QiqoChat.com <http://QiqoChat.com>
> Charlottesville, VA
> Mobile: 917-528-1831
>
>
>
>
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-- 

Daniel Mezick, President

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