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<DIV><SPAN class=330543118-27082001><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff
size=2>there are a number of recurring themes that are consistent with the
thoughts shared by both of you. Certainly the idea of Gaia consciousness,
proposed by several leading thinkers, including Gregory Bateson, is one.
Another, Meme theory (info at <A
href="http://www.memes.org.uk/meme-lab/WELCOME.HTM">http://www.memes.org.uk/meme-lab/WELCOME.HTM</A>
) offers an explanation that some find useful and interesting. If "Open
Space" (as a practice and philosophy) can be transmitted from person to person
as a virus of the mind, replicating both practice and philosophy through the
minds it infects, then it could be considered a "meme." That would infer
that you, Harrison, may share something in common with Typhoid Mary.
(-; However, the virus you so widely spread can certainly be considered
beneficial rather than destructive.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=330543118-27082001><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=330543118-27082001>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>peace be with you,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Richard C. Holloway,
M.A.O.L.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>P. O. Box 14</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Ocean Shores, WA 98569</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>(360) 289-2776</FONT></DIV></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> OSLIST
[mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Harrison
Owen<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, August 27, 2001 4:55 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: (RESPONSE): Inquiry
Regarding Collective Buddha "Story of a recent 2.5 day
OST"<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>At 07:45 PM 8/25/2001 -0700, Mark Jones
wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">Tich Nhat Hahn is the Buddhist
teacher that made the proclamation<BR>regarding the "Collective" as the next
manifestation of the Buddha.<BR><BR>I believe that Open Space as a life
practice creates the minimal structure<BR>required to begin to grok
"Community / Collective" -- in terms of<BR>intention, communication,
and behavior.<BR><BR>I believe that communities like the (Centers for)
Spirited Work<BR>that practice ongoing (3 years now) community,
organization,<BR>and business model using Open Space as the core
practice -- are the<BR>training grounds for the manifestation of the
Buddha as the Collective.<BR><BR>I note that the active inclusion of
children into the Spirited Work<BR>community in the USA has had a positive
and profound transformative<BR>effect on the community and the practice of
Open Space as a Life Practice<BR>(in contrast to using Open Space as just a
"facilitation" tool.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Welcome Mark! - I don't know the work of
Tich Nhat Hahn but he doesn't seem to be alone in the speculations. A fellow
by the name of Joel de Rosnay, a Frenchman no less, writing in a book called
"The Symbiotic Man" seems to be saying much the same thing, although he starts
from a rather different place. The argument in brief, is that as our
electronic environment lays down the necessary neurons and synapses for a
global collective, in fact the forces of evolution are at work one more time
-- but this time leading to what comes after us -- which he calls Symbiotic
Man. Which sounds a lot like the manifestation of consciousness in (as) the
collective. And myself. I have found my thinking moving for the last 20 years
in a similar direction. Those of your who have wandered through "The Power of
Spirit," (or the predecessors, Tiger or Spirit) will recognize the argument
that we are currently in what I have called the ProActive Organizational
Consciousness -- heading towards the InterActive, which is characterized as a
conscious, living, open self-organizing system. Of course, we have always been
living, open self-organizing systems -- but the new thing is the consciousness
of the fact. Or better yet, the appreciation of this fact. Which means
(amongst other things) that control as we used to think we had it, no longer
exists. It also means that the (I think) artificial distinction between the
organization and the individual is blurred, and perhaps abolished. This does
not mean (at an experiential level that we all turn into an un-differentiated
blob -- but it does mean that the individual finds meaning largely in
terms of the collective -- and perhaps more striking, the collective is
infinitely more than the sum of the parts. In short, rampant Individualism of
the sort worshipped by the likes of Anne Rand may be on the way out (Thank
God). And of course, the experimental data upon which I have based some of
these wilder notions is our collective, global experience in Open Space. So we
will see what happens next.<BR><BR>Harrison <BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">Harrison Owen</BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>
<DIV align=center>7808 River Falls Drive<BR>Potomac, MD 20854 USA<BR>phone
301-469-9269<BR>fax 301-983-9314<BR>Summer Phone 207-763-3261<BR>Summer
Address<BR>189 Beaucaire Ave.<BR>Camden, ME 04843<BR>Personal website <A
href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh"
eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</A><BR>Open Space Institute
website <A href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.</A><A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">org<BR></A>Open Space
Training <A href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</A>
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