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At 12:39 AM 6/13/2002 -0800, Dan wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>It occurs to me
"conflict" is a loaded word, having different<br>
connotations in different cultures. For example, we have Bahai
friends<br>
who see no benefits in the category "conflict." They talk
about<br>
"conflict free conflict resolution," with heavy emphasis on our
common<br>
humanity. This and other examples notwithstanding, we use the term<br>
"conflict resolution" frequently, and we like the common
association of<br>
"conflict" with the Chinese Mandarin word "wei-ji,"
usually translated<br>
as "crisis" and embodying the characters for danger and
opportunity.</blockquote><br>
If <i>conflict</i> is a loaded word, even more so <i>peace. </i>It seems
that many people understand peace mostly in terms of the absence of it's
opposites. Such things as conflict, confusion, and chaos. Yet in my
experience each of these "unholy trinity" have essential
contributions to make to the process of living. Admittedly, if you could
rid the world of conflict, confusion and chaos you would probably achieve
a state pretty close to equilibrium, but as a biologist friend of mine
says, "When you reach equilibrium in Biology, you are dead." So
the real issue, as I see it, it to "transcend and include" all
three "C's" -- and "wei-ji" is heading in that
direction. <br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I am very interested in questions
associated with what are necessary and<br>
sufficient conditions for constructive OS process. I notice in
this<br>
case that a relatively large expenditure of energy must have been<br>
required create and fill the Open Space vessel we read about in
Rome,<br>
far from the pressure cooker of home.?</blockquote><br>
No doubt many people worked very hard for a short period of time
assembling that incredible 50 in Rome. But it is worth while noticing
what they did not work hard on. No thought or effort was devoted to the
agenda or the process. When folks arrived they knew only when it would
start and when it would be over. For the curious (and the Villa staff) we
scheduled meals, but that was it. I think it has been a common experience
that working on agenda and process is not only a waste of time and
energy, such work is actually counter-productive. First of all, things
never turn out as planned, and secondly, when you are fixated on the
agenda and process as they "should be" (according to the plan)
-- it is quite likely that you will miss all the good stuff that is
happening. As we say -- Be Prepared to Be Surprised.<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>De Lange on the learning-org list
many times has observed the following<br>
"essentialities" that give form to what he considers are
conditions of<br>
emergence in self-organizing complex systems:<br><br>
Wholeness (associativity-unity)<br>
Liveness (becoming-being)<br>
Fruitfulness (connect-beget)<br>
Sureness (identity-categoricity)<br>
Spareness (quantity-limit)<br>
Otherness (quality-variety)<br>
Openness (open-paradigm)<br><br>
I think Open Space has potential to deliver on these
"essentialities"<br>
quite well.</blockquote><br>
De Lange's list is interesting and useful. Personally I find the work of
Stuart Kauffman of the Santa Fe Institute to be most helpful, but
regardless of the details, I think there is a growing consensus in the
scientific community that there are essential pre-conditions, which if
present will produce order. While it is true that I knew of the work on
self-organizing systems as early as the late '70s -- dumb me I never put
two and two together. I "created" Open Space, and then one
morning I said damn -- this is a self organizing system for real. So I
guess I would go one step further than your statement above ("I
think Open Space has potential to deliver on these
"essentialities"). For me it is not a question of
"potential to deliver" -- rather, if the conditions are not
met, there is no Open Space. I have tried to put all this together in
Part I of my book, "The Power of Spirit" (Berrett-Koehler/2000)
if you are interested.<br><br>
Harrison<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Harrison Owen</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<div align="center">7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-365-2093<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://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm" eudora="autourl">http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</a><br><br>
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