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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>I’m going to take a stab at playing with a bunch of the ideas
raised over the last few days.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I’ll
respond to </span></font><st1:place><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>Harrison</span></font></st1:place><font size=2 color=blue
face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>’s post below in chunks.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>My comments are in blue:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> OSLIST [mailto:</span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b></span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Harrison
Owen</span></font></st1:PersonName><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> </span></font><st1:date
Month="2" Day="17" Year="2003"><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Monday, February 17, 2003</span></font></st1:date><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> </span></font><st1:time
Hour="7" Minute="41"><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>7:41 AM</span></font></st1:time><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> </span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Already-thereness,
Empowerment and Such</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>One of the great things about OSLIST is the way conversations
start at multiple points and then ebb and flow to form a common theme. Not
unlike what happens in Open Space (because it is Open Space, I guess) this
phenomenon appears to be but one more example of what we have been talking
about. Emergent order. And John, I guess that makes us all
"anarchists" ... although I have a little trouble with the word. I
concede that the literal sense is correct, but the associations lead to some
directions I would rather not go. I found myself getting into the same sort of
trouble when I used the word <i><span style='font-style:italic'>metastasis</span></i>
to describe what seems to happen when space is opened in an organization. It
can simply be closed down, but more often than not it subtly spreads rather
like a cancer. Correct idea. Nasty thought. Oh Well.<br style='mso-special-character:
line-break'>
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]><br style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>I’m going to enter some experimental territory here, so hold
on for the ride.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>In reply to this notion of anarchism, I’m with you John.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I think it is one way of describing in
political terms that which Harrison and Stuart Kauffman describe in biological
terms as “self=organization” and what I describe in social terms as
“unschooling” and in historical terms as “decolonization.”<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>What is fundamental to all of these
movements is this: we are invited to participate, and in choosing to doing so
we become that which we are creating.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>It seems to me that “invitation” is absolutely critical
to this venture because nothing external can truly impel us to meaningfully engage
in these types of activities.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>The motivation
is purely from within.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>And as we
find our purpose, what Eva called “motivation” and what Alfie Kohn
has called “intrinsic motivation” we begin to see that there is a
big invitation waiting for us.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span
class=GramE>The invitation to act with Spirit.</span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>It is, literally and figuratively,
simply a matter of “taking a step” towards that place that suddenly
places us in a situation where we are “self-organizing,” “unschooling,”
“decolonizing,” and so on. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>In fact, Bernd brought to mind a thought
which also seems to me to be fundamental to this conversation when he raised
Taoist “logic.”<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>In the
I Ching, I understand that situations are described not as static markers on a
road somewhere, but as dynamic processes. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Therefore, what is often translated as “danger”
is actually rendered in the Chinese as “being in danger.”<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>We have not approached some territory
bounded in such a way that allows us the see where danger starts and where it
ends, rather we have arrived in the moment of “being in danger” because
of the choices we have made to put ourselves there. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>This is not to “blame the victim” but rather to subtly
point to the concept of karma, understanding that the power to remove ourselves
from these situations lies within each of us.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>The invitation to be in another situation
surrounds us all the time, and sometimes it is absolutely present and manifests
in concrete ways (what Christians might term “a calling”) and other
times it is subtle and deep and therefore must be uncovered with discerning
processes like meditation, yoga or </span></font><st1:PersonName><font size=2
color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Open Space</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'> Technology, which does
for the social body what meditation and yoga do for the physical body and the
mind.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>So, anarchism, unschooling, decolonizing, and empowering are all
processes.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Quantum physicists
describe these kinds of things as wave functions, as opposed to particles. The
wave function is that form of reality that admits any possibility.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>The particle is that choice that is
made, what is called the eigenstate. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Eigenstates emerge as wave functions “collapse”
which is the physics equivalent of closing space.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>All the possibilities become one specific
reality.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>In </span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Open Space</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>, I think we try to invite
organizations or communities to maintain the quantum wave state as much as
possible, only collapsing that wave state from possibilities to activities
through processes like convergence and action planning.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>This is why “closing the space”
is so important to avoid on day one and two (of a 2.5 day event), and why we
are tasked with “holding space” as facilitators.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>To collapse the wave function too soon
is to admit that all the possibilities have been tasted and THIS ONE is the
right one.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>When one person does
that for the whole group, it is called tyranny.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Anarchism, as I understand John to be
using the term, is the opposite of this.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>Or as the actor Ozzie Davis said on the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation yesterday as he spoke from the big peace rally in New York (hi
Ted!):<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>“When the people are in motion, the government is in session.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=GramE><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>Flipping brilliant.</span></font></span><font size=2 color=blue
face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>There’s more…<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I suspect we may be one the edge of some new territory here in this
discussion. The ideas have certainly appeared before, but I detect the
possibility of a rather elegant formulation just hiding out at the edges. Way
back in the Dark Ages (<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Riding The Tiger,
1991)</span></i> I found myself thinking and writing about what I called then,
The InterActive Learning Organization (aka The </span></font><st1:PersonName>Open
Space</st1:PersonName> Organization). By '94 the same idea appeared in glorious
new nomenclature with the arrival of <i><span style='font-style:italic'>The
Millennium Organization.</span></i> Looking back over those efforts, I have to
confess that it may have been the right idea, but definitely looked at in the
wrong way. Both the InterActive Learning Organization and The Millennium
Organization (same thing by a new name) seemed to be something we might
"do" -- as in "creating the <st1:PersonName>Open Space</st1:PersonName>
Organization." Lovely idea, but fatally flawed, or at the very least, a
waste of effort. Why create something that already exists? The problem was<span
class=GramE>,</span> we just didn't know it.<br style='mso-special-character:
line-break'>
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]><br style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
<![endif]><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>I recall that we had this conversation last year when this list
discussed at length Dee Hock’s “chaordic organization.”<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>This seems to me to be a concept all
about self-organization and distributed leadership that nevertheless is
supposed to have it’s genesis in a specific set of interventions.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span class=GramE>Almost but not quite,
eh?</span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Self-organization is
always “here” Right here, right in this moment.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>It is not a place we are going to or
coming from.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>It is right here,
right now.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>The Millennium
Organization (what a name!) is not something we “do” it is what we “are.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>So where do we
go from here? I suggest starting with the basics. Really basic. It seems to me
that certain fundamental forces pretty well account for our present existence.
Gravity, for one, makes it possible to walk around on good old planet earth and
do what we do. Perhaps we may chafe at the constraints, but truthfully there is
not too much that we can do about it. The forces of self-organization provide a
reasonable account for our progress from the moment of the Big Bang until this
present instant. and please note, we didn't have to do a thing. It happened all
by itself, or as Stuart Kaufmann would say -- Order for free. <br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Add in one other
"force" -- the power of Griefwork -- as it enables us to navigate the
sometimes rocky terrain thrown up at us as we go on our self-organizing ways.
The problem here is simply that as we, our organizations, and our world move
along the path of self-organization, things come and go, they end. They die.
Seen from some cosmic vantage point, this ending, this dying is simply a part
of the natural process of things. However, when it becomes our end, or our
death, cosmic vantage points become a little hard to find, and in fact
everything becomes very personal. Fortunately for us, there appears to be
hardwired within each one of us another natural process, which like the process
of birth, brings most of us through the hard places, and that is Griefwork. At
least that seems to be the story for the last 13.7 billion years (according to
latest calculations, but what's a billion here or there?).<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jumping to
conclusions, it appears that if everything is self-organizing, everything is </span></font><st1:PersonName>Open
Space</st1:PersonName> Organization! We're already there. We can stop working
so hard trying to create what already exists, and better spend our time
understanding what we already are. How do you like those bananas?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>I like them.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>That’s
what I’m noticing too.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>This idea of grief work as a fundamental tool is interesting
too.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I see what you are saying </span></font><st1:place><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Harrison</span></font></st1:place><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>, but something feels to
me like that’s only part of the answer.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>When I work with the grief cycle, the thing that people respond to
is the map.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>They can find
themselves on the map and it validates what they are feeling. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>And of course because it is a map, it
also points out some places they might go, and this is powerful for people,
especially people who are in the midst of the anger or denial stage or that
deeply unresourceful and collapsed point where all they want to do is sob.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Knowing that it gets better can help
honour that moment and open space for the pain of the “now” to be
fully experienced.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>When someone
leaves that stage it is with the knowledge that they had been fully present “there”
and so there is no residual pain to carry forward as suffering. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>But I get the same reaction from people when I use </span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Michael Herman</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>’s four quadrants
(based on Wilber’s, Arrien’s and others) to help discern where an
organization or community might be found in terms of the things that are
preoccupying it at the moment.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>In
fact, this reaction is so universal and powerful, that I use the four quadrants
all the time now to both think through where people are at, and imagine where
they might go.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>In terms of navigation, I think humans need two things.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>There is a basic need for maps to help
us navigate, maps that show the human story as it has been played out over and
over in our history.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Maps like the
Bible, or the I Ching, or the four quadrants, or the grief cycle.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>These maps give us comfort as things
change, that there is really nothing new under the sun and that as stuck as we
feel at the moment, there is always hope. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Every climb has a descent, every mud pool
we cross is held within banks of solid earth, every dark forest is bounded by
open <span class=GramE>prairie,</span> every stormy ocean has a shore. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>The second thing we need is a way of figuring out where we
are.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Maps of the land are no good
if you don’t know where you are on the map.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>So people carry <span class=GramE>astrolabes,</span>
or compasses or GPS systems and through “orientation” they figure
out where they are.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Only after you
figure out where you are, does the map become useful. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>So orientation is a process, sometimes a
quick thing and sometimes it can last a lifetime.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>In other realms, orientation takes the form of such things as
meditation. <span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Meditation can acquaint
our selves with reality and makes surfing through volumes of Buddhist sutras meaningful
and helpful.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>In grief work storytelling
is the orienting process, and through the stories we tell, we get a sense of
where we are in the grief process, where we are on the map.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>For organizations, </span></font><st1:PersonName><font size=2
color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Open Space</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'> is the best orienting
practice I have ever seen.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>It
combines a rich collection of other orienting practices like storytelling,
silence, way-finding and inquiry to bring together a collective consciousness
about where the organization is at.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>After a big juicy </span></font><st1:PersonName><font size=2 color=blue
face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Open Space</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>, suddenly the ground
seems a little firmer, navigation seems to get easier and the maps make sense. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Or sometimes you discover that the map
you have been using (maybe it’s a “strategic plan”) has been
the wrong one all along.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>It’s
all good, as Father Brian would say.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>But let’s not mistake the process of orientation for the
journey itself. <span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Orienting processes
are just one step along the journey.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>In fact, they are a necessary step, just to make sure the journey makes
sense.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I am not talking about a
journey with a fixed destination or arrival point, but that purest of all
journeys, the journey of Spirit, whereby we simply travel, and like sharks in
the sea, by moving, we continue to breathe and stay alive.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </x-tab>And what do we
say about Open Space? For those of us who may have thought we created this
wild, wonderful, novel critter -- it is doubtless time to eat a large amount of
humble pie. We did not create a thing. In fact Open Space by other names had
been doing just fine, thank you, for billions of years. But Open Space is not
without its value, for it provides us with the opportunity to consciously and
intentionally be what we already are. And who knows, we might just become
better at it????<br>
<br>
The practical applications? Well for one thing, the next time a client asks,
"Does Open Space always work?" -- <span class=GramE>we</span> might
answer, "Truthfully we don't really know, but it seems to have done pretty
well for the past 13.7 billion years." I am not sure that I would
recommend this approach, unless undertaken with a very large smile.<br
style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]><br style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>I think I’ve tried to expand upon the myriad of practical reasons
why </span></font><st1:PersonName><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>Open Space</span></font></st1:PersonName><font size=2 color=blue
face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'> works.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I’ve never really been comfortable
with just saying “it always works” (smile or not) but then I’ve
never really wanted to tell people the whole story, in case their learning was
different. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>And yet, how to account for the fact that Elders sit in </span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Open Space</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'> events and after a day
proclaim the experience to be profoundly decolonizing?<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I know there is something very deep that
happens to some people in </span></font><st1:PersonName><font size=2
color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Open Space</span></font></st1:PersonName><font
size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:blue'>, something beyond
self-organization and grief work.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I
think it has to do with the acceptance of the invitation to enter the world of
Spirit.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Taking a step into that
light is immediately transformative for individuals, communities and
organizations.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>That we have
stumbled upon a process for accelerating that in <span class=GramE>people</span>
who are ready, is nothing short of a precious miracle.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:blue'>Chris<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><st1:place>Harrison</st1:place><br style='mso-special-character:
line-break'>
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]><br style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
<![endif]><o:p></o:p></p>
<x-sigsep>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center'></x-sigsep><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Harrison Owen<br>
</span></font><st1:Street><st1:address>7808 River Falls Drive</st1:address></st1:Street><br>
<st1:place><st1:City>Potomac</st1:City>, <st1:State>MD</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode>20854</st1:PostalCode>
<st1:country-region>USA</st1:country-region></st1:place><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><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><br>
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