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Dear Harrison and others,<br>
<br>
Thanks for your message on <font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">stories, </span></font><font size="2"
face="Courier New"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">paradigms and myths.<br>
<br>
</span></font>Last evening we found ourselves at an Anne Murray concert in
Asheville North Carolina. We had not known that we were especially fans of
hers, we went because friends suggested it. It was a rare and enlightening
experience. WE SAW THE POWER OF MYTH IN ACTION!<br>
<br>
The first part of the concert was a number of her and others songs. One,
"Could I Have This Dance" was sung by everyone there. Seventeen hundred people
in their 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and up were holding hands and swaying to
the music. It was a shared mythic love experience! For a brief time the terrorists
were gone from our radar. We were all one!<br>
<br>
The second part of the concert was her Christmas program. Anne sang many
Christmas songs and invited the audience to join her whenever they wished.
It became obvious that this was a mystical/mythological/shared cultural evening.
As a change agent I usually find myself opting out of traditional acknowledgments
of our past. I watched last evening as I joined with the others in the audience
to sing these Christmas songs from our childhood. <br>
<br>
All of a sudden I realized that as change agents we need to encourage the
creation of new, shared myths that touch ALL our souls like these past songs
do and did for some! Of course the Fundamentalists and the Evangelists are
upset when they think their deep mythos is going to be taken away from them.
And of course it would be as equally difficult for a Christian taught society
to enfold the religious/mythical music of others as the opposite would also
be true. I realized that a Muslim would be probably bevvery uncomfortable
singing a Christmas song that they had no cultural past for.<br>
<br>
So, if we want a new and different world, we need to change our myths and
find shared new myths. It is not as difficult as it seems. Those new myths
exist in the Cosmos. As Open Space facilitators all we need do is to remind
folks of the truth that myths and stories bring forth from the depths of
our souls.<br>
<br>
Peace be with all of you in this special time in our unfolding earthly presence.
You may wish to turn your sound up and click on the following.<br>
<br>
<pre wrap=""><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.peacefulearth.com/html/peaceflash.html">http://www.peacefulearth.com/html/peaceflash.html</a></pre>
<br>
With love and appreciation<br>
Peter and Esther Fisher<br>
Asheville, North Carolina.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Harrison Owen wrote:<br>
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<div class="Section1">
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style=""> </span>Christ Wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="black"
face="Courier New"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">I think we are in a time when our stories about
who we are and where we<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">have come from are changing and paradigms are coming
to rub against each<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">other in deep ways.<span style=""> </span>OST
is a process predicated on the fact that all of<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">us can have a hand in creating the new world.<span
style=""> </span>It is nearly the very<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">extreme example of that, in the world of organizational
development.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">Other methods rely on facilitators or experts (sometimes
called<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">"management gurus" which isn't far from being gods)
to come in and fix<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">things, banish the bad and tinker with the good.<span
style=""> </span>It's easy to see<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">results when evil is banished.<span style=""> </span>That
is a tangible step towards the<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">"better world" demanded by cynics.<span
style=""> </span>It's much harder to see tangible<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">results from a process where the first step towards
making a safe place<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">for your babies is to smear the back of a turtle
with mud.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">At any rate, I hope what I am saying makes sense.<span
style=""> </span>We operate out of<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">deeply held stories about creation and renewal.<span
style=""> </span>Where we come into<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">conflict with one another it feels dissonant but
we can't put our finger<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">on why.<span style=""> </span>I'm suggesting that
some of the dissonance we feel from<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">"results" people is at a fundamental level.<span
style=""> </span>I mean, which story do you<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;">really resonate with?<span style=""> </span>You
know my answer.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="red" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;">Chris – you have certainly moved the
discussion in what I would consider to be wonderful new territory. There
is no question in my mind that we are – to a very large extent – the stories
we tell. Not the trivial little tales that appear in the morning newspapers,
but the deep stories <span class="GramE">that constitute</span> our mythic
consciousness.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="red" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;"><span style=""> </span><br>
There used to be a day when the power of these deep stories was appreciated,
but in recent times they are dismissed with the light thought that they are
“just a story.” And of course we all know that only the “facts” will do.
And when it comes to myths, these are not only dismissed, but <span
class="SpellE">dissed</span>. Worse than a story, myth now means lie and
falsehood. <span class="GramE">How the world changes.</span> And of course,
for enlightened people such as ourselves, we have long since thrown off the
bondage of myth. How sad. And we never really do – throw it off, that is.
We simply develop new ones, and they of course, are understood to be The
Truth, or better yet Scientific Truth. But it is still a story, now dressed
up in different clothes. We call them “Theories” – but at the end of the
day, these Theories are simply likely stories which help us interpret our
world. So our essential nature hasn’t changed – we are still story tellers
whose life expectations are shaped by the stories we tell. <span
class="GramE">Myth by any other name.</span> What is different now is that
the formative power of these tales is somehow out of our awareness. And when
the stories are warped, distorted or partial – the world and our space in
that world is distorted and shrunk. Of course, we could tell a different
story. . .<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="red" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="red" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;">And I think that new story creation
is a major part of what happens in Open Space. But it is not so much telling
a story as being a story. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="red" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="red" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;">I love where we are headed! Go for
it!!!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="red" face="Courier New"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><st1:place><font size="2" color="red"
face="Courier New"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: red;">Harrison</span></font></st1:place><font
color="red"><span style="color: red;"> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="black"
face="Courier New"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><font size="2" color="black"
face="Courier New"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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