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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Another version of the story - Buddhist - is the
constant intertwining of the formless state - the ultimate emptiness/ void ,
which then manifests as radiant energy, and then ultimately as form. Constant
movement/ dance. And where we rest/ how the form manifest is pretty much
determined by our intent and depth of personal practice. - which leads us to the
preparation of the facilitator for Open Space.......!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Meg Salter</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>MegaSpace Consulting</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:meg.salter@sympatico.ca">meg.salter@sympatico.ca</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:owenhh@MINDSPRING.COM" title=owenhh@MINDSPRING.COM>Harrison
Owen</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"
title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 02, 2001 9:18
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Chaos and Open Space</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>This conversation is wonderful, but I fear it may have become
rather tangled... so I have pulled it out and offer a "clean sheet of
paper...<BR><BR>Harrison wrote:<BR><BR>And by way of definition, chaos is the
absence of meaning and lack of <BR>predictability -- in short it is absolutely
nothing.<BR><BR>Christoph wrote:<BR><BR>Well, yes and no. <BR>Actually there
are two kinds of chaos: Predictable and non-predictable. The <BR>latter being
pure noise, nothing. The mathematical branch of chaos theory <BR>deals with
the former: With chaos that can be described, defined, predicted <BR>in some
way. With "ordered chaos" so to say. <BR>You may observe those 'strange
attractors', a set of states the system can <BR>be in or reach. You cannot
predict which state leads to which next, the <BR>transitions are chaotic and
non-predictable. The famous butterfly in China <BR>may be the trigger for a
tornado in the Caribic - or the trigger for the <BR>absence of that tornado.
But what you can predict is that the system's <BR>state will always be one out
of this set of allowed states. You will never <BR>find the system in a state
outside of this set. This is predictable. And <BR>you may very well be able to
make statistical assumptions or observations <BR>leading to predictable
probabilities. In the simple example of a system <BR>with two distinct
attractors you may be able to predict that chances to <BR>reach each one of
them are 50:50, or 20:80, or whatever (my values are <BR>arbitrary).
-<BR>Having said that - In discussing this subject it may help to distinguish
<BR>between those two kinds of chaos and say which one we are talking
about.<BR>I start: Usually I am talking about the 'predictable' chaos, the
subject of <BR>chaos theory.<BR>Hope this can improve mutual
understanding.<BR>cu, <BR>Christoph<BR><BR>Harrison writes:<BR><BR>What you
say here certainly reflects a lot of the conversation among Chaos Theorists.
But from my point of view, the issue and confusion derives from a lack of
clarity and precision on their part. In the first place, I think "Chaos
Theory" is a fundamental misnomer. The core notion is not so much about chaos,
as the contribution of chaos to the on-going process of system evolution --
which in our case is life. Perhaps we should blame it on the Press for whom
chaos is always news, whereas order is not -- ergo Chaos Theory. But whatever.
<BR><BR>Another piece of this is the history of the notion of <I>chaos</I>.
And chaos, for sure was not the invention, discovery, or creation of the Chaos
Theorists. Just by way of example, chaos (usually described in mythical terms)
is a major player in Ancient Near Eastern Mythology. Tiamat in the Babylonian
Creation Epic comes to mind. The Hebrews put it right up front. In the opening
lines of Genesis we find -- "In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the
earth <I>and the earth was without form and void (tohu w' bohu) -- </I>no
meaning no predictability -- CHAOS! So at least 3000 years ago, folks were
noodling on the subject. And their noodling generally took the form of a
polarity -- chaos AND order. The sacred stories describe the emergence of all
that is in the midst of a dance between chaos and cosmos. Shiva, over in the
Hindi world, has been doing that dance for eons.<BR><BR>Does all this
esoterica make it "true?" Who knows, but I would just point out that there is
a clarity of thinking and long historical precedent in this material, which
seems to carry on very nicely over the next millennia -- until we run into the
Chaos Theorists. <BR><BR>Anyhow -- for me Chaos is the absence of
meaning, form, and predictability -- in short an open space in which new
life may manifest, on its way to order. But that journey is never done as long
as life is living and the dance goes on.<BR><BR>And for Open Space? My
interpretation would be that we start with nothing -- no meaning, no
structure, a void. All the folks are sitting at the edge of chaos. And the
experience is -- that from the void, new life erupts. Of course this is just a
story, but a useful one I think, as we engage our role as facilitators. We
need to understand the high stakes game under way as first we, and then the
participants, jump into the void. It is in this context that our own,
personal preparation becomes critical. At least that is a
story.<BR><BR>Harrison<BR><BR><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>
<DIV align=center>Harrison Owen<BR>7808 River Falls Drive<BR>Potomac, MD 20854
USA<BR>phone 301-469-9269<BR>fax 301-983-9314<BR>Open Space Training <A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</A> <BR>Open Space Institute <A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</A><BR>Personal website <A
href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh"
eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</A><BR><BR><FONT
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