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<BLOCKQUOTE>Tova wrote,<BR>
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<FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">I believe our energy as a community was and is so powerful that a lot of seeds had enough wind and spirit to go very far and enough warmth and nourishment to sprout in many places. I believe that now we are on a crossroad of our story, the question is what is the new being of 'mother list' we wish for, where do we take our story ? <BR>
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<FONT FACE="Arial">What do you think?</FONT> <BR>
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</FONT>Dear Tova,<BR>
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You have stated this beautifully: wind, spirit, warmth, nourishment, and sprouting seeds, yes. I count myself as one whose daily work and life would be entirely different without the gifts and professional connections born out of this list over recent years (when I see the sprouting seeds, they're on the muddy back of a turtle!)<BR>
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I don't have a feeling that we are at a "crossroads," however, because to me the list is a river rather than a road. A river has its own life, and a powerful river is beyond any human efforts at engineering. Yet a river is supremely receptive. As Sheila Chandra sings, "the Ocean refuses no river -" and the river does not refuse its tributaries...the tributaries are received...and then the opposite pattern unfurls, as the river divides into a delta, with separate, more-focused streams spinning out their own fractals...?<BR>
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So I think the multi-focused aspect of the list seems likely to be its way and its nature. <BR>
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I am curious about what you describe as "energy leakage," and I think maybe I understand. To continue with the metaphor, the OSLIST, big and wide-focused as it is, is usually not the right river to spin my own little waterwheel. As my own daily work has focused on the care and feeding of a small "Open Space Organization," I have devoted my attention mostly to my local work relationships in real time and real space, where we are all focused and busy weaving waterbearing baskets...<BR>
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The OSLIST is more like a sort of cyber-Ganges, where I go every few days before dawn and jump in. I continue to be amazed that something so Big can be so responsive. And I continue to be surprised at how often I emerge dripping and watch the sun come up as a transformed person. <BR>
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My thanks to Reinhard & Ashley for the spark (takes a little flint & steel if you want to cook a moose), and for all the fine responses. I spent two hours on this extended thread this morning, thanks to the river, which rose into the sky last night, and froze, and blanketed these mountains with enough snow to close all the schools & block my road to Cherokee.<BR>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>Chris Weaver<BR>
Swannanoa, North Carolina, USA<BR>
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