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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Chris, Tova, Ashley and others.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Many thanks for the deep contemplation and
challenging languaging. In watching the posts over the last week or two it
is evident that a few feel at a crossroads -- and only individuals can know if
that is personal or community. This list, for me, is organic, it becomes
what I need it to be over and over. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I, too, experience this community as a source of
professional and personal challenge -- expanding my capacity. It can be an
"energy leak" if I choose for it to be. When I'm on the road, reading the
postings can be like finding old friends. Sometimes I long to have
the time to write an observation of work with a group while I'm already on my
way to another group. Those postings that challenge me I can choose to
respond to or not. I appreciate the many stories started and expanded on
this list and often wonder how they are spinning. For some of us this may
be one of the few places we tell a different story -- perhaps from our original
voice. I see expansion of stories here and, in my experience, stagnation
occurs when we tell the same story of limits over and over -- like
continually placing our hands on a hot stove, or spend all our time teaching
each others our complaints.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think someone mentioned there are over 4,000
people on this list -- seems to me we will all make it what we choose for it to
be. I see an OST event like a cosmic mirror -- the participants, if they
are open to it, can see habitual patterns, see how they affect others in their
organizations. It is like a Time Out Of Time (TOOT) -- a reflective tool,
out of our natural reactions we can choose to respond. The quality of
"beginner's mind" that offers when someone new comes to the list never ceases to
amaze me, as well as the quality of our disagreements! <grin></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>ciao</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Judi Richardson</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.ponoconsultants.com">www.ponoconsultants.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.emergentfeminine.com">www.emergentfeminine.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=chris@springbranch.net href="mailto:chris@springbranch.net">chris
weaver</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 04, 2003 10:53
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> mother list</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Tova wrote,<BR><BR><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></FONT><BR><FONT face=Arial>What do you think?</FONT>
<BR><BR></FONT>Dear Tova,<BR><BR>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><BR>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><BR>So I think
the multi-focused aspect of the list seems likely to be its way and its
nature. <BR><BR>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><BR>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><BR>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><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>Chris Weaver<BR>Swannanoa,
North Carolina, USA<BR>* *
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