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At 11:09 PM 11/18/01 -0500, Birgitt wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="tahoma" size=2><i>For
me, I am clear that the conscious Open Space Organization is not a self
organizing system. IT IS MUCH MORE THAN THAT and I am as clear as I can
be in my communications that the two for me, do not equal each other. I
believe that Spirit is all that is, and that all is Spirit and that we
are connected through Spirit. Spirit is powerful and active and there are
infinite possibilities. For me, the conscious Open Space Organization
includes self organization at work but is not limited to this definition
as a definitive description (or even theory) of either Open Space
Technology or the conscious Open Space Organization. Spirit is much more
than that. You may see it as useful to use the theory of self organizing
systems to explain what happens within Open Space Technology. I see it as
limiting and a disservice to the wholeness of </font> Open Space
Technology. </i></blockquote><font face="tahoma" size=2><br>
<br>
</font>I agree, I agree!!! "Uncle!!! Spirit is primary. As the
author of a number of books, 4 of which have "Spirit"
emblazoned in the title, I would be on pretty shaky ground were I to
suggest otherwise. Displaying my true colors as a total pedant allow me
to quote myself from the opening lines of my latest and last, "The
Power of Spirit." <br>
<br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>This book is about Spirit, and the
ways in which Spirit forms and transforms in organizations. It is written
from the belief, and experience, that Spirit is the most important thing.
When the Spirit of a people is strong, focused, and vibrant, wonderful
things can happen. When the Spirit is down, it makes very little
difference how good your reputation, how much money you have in the bank,
or how strong the need for your goods or services. Not too much happens.
<br>
<br>
</font>Having said all that, I still find that the theory of
self-organization to be very helpful (but not exhaustive) when it
comes to understanding how and why Open Space works, how we might work in
it -- and more broadly, how organizations work. There might even be some
useful clues here as to how Spirit works. <br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="tahoma" size=2><i>Harrison,
I have huge respect for you as you know. And we both know from about a
decade of conversations and debates between us, that we have different
perspectives. I think you would be both surprised and disappointed if I
agreed with you. Over the years, you taught opening space for Spirit to
show up . I taught opening space to work with Spirit that is present
everywhere always . You taught that organizations are shifting from
proactive to interactive and eventually if all goes well to the state of
inspired. You taught that with use of Open Space Technology organizations
could make that leap from pro-active to interactive. I taught that the
inspired organization is always present, exists NOW. The inspired
organization simply needs to be uncovered to get the barriers to
accessing Spirit out of the way. I called this the Open Space
Organization, and over the last few years as my own learning has evolved,
the conscious Open Space Organization. </i></font></blockquote><br>
Sure -- No problem. And I would even agree that the Inspired Organization
is a present reality, albeit pretty well covered up. When we are lucky
and intentional the covers slip away, and we experience ourselves as we
actually are -- fully. Our Buddhist friends and others would say that in
the evolution of consciousness we move to find "our original
face" which is another way of saying, "Its all there from the
beginning -- just covered up."<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="tahoma" size=2><i> And
then of course was the huge debate we had for years regarding givens . I
remember when I introduced the importance of givens as essential for
working with Open Space Technology, you responded by saying that with
givens I was going to ruin Open Space Technology. I still stand behind my
belief and experience that it is through clear definition of the givens
that we define where the degrees of freedom really are rather than where
they are assumed to be. The givens create the matrix (or womb) for the
OST meeting to take place.</i></font></blockquote><br>
Truthfully, I think the notion of "givens" is very important.
As far as ruining Open Space -- not a chance. And one of the major
"givens" for me relative to all organizations is their
status as a self-organizing system. Just as we are all limited by
gravity, and violate that limitation only at our peril -- so also, I
think we are "limited" by the "Laws of
Self-Organization" -- which we are just now coming to understand.
Which means that we may not have them right. But I think we are gaining
on it. And is that The Whole Story? Absolutely not. Just a place of
beginning. As for the grand debate --- You win! <br>
<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Birgitt, I love your spirit, and your
love of Spirit. Keep it up!<br>
<br>
Harrison<br>
</font><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>
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>
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