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<div>Harrison</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I agree with the fragmentation of past, present and future - i
think it is particularly evident in the US. I just pulled out my
Trompenaars - "Riding the Waves of Culture" and looked up
the chapter on Time. In it he has some interesting Venn diagrams of
individual cultural interpretations of time. These show the extent of
overlap and the relative importance of each aspect of time. The
intention is to give guidance to people doing business in these
cultures.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>If his research is correct it is clearly not just Western
countries or influences, eg Russia, China, Netherlands and USA seem to
be among the most fragmented, France, Malaysia, South Korea and
Venezuela among the least. I am fascinated by what drivers would
produce these differences - language? culture? history? media? And
perhaps this has changed since 1993 when the book was written?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>And the biggest NOWs (ie presents relative to pasts and futures)
- Indonesia, Venezuela, Netherlands and Spain!!</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Will read your book to illuminate myself further,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Peter</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005
08:10:15 -0400<br>
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen@comcast.net><br>
Subject: Re: Learning to Expand our NOW<br>
MIME-Version: 1.0<br>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" color="#FF0000">Peter
- I think it is probably fair to say that for most folks on planet
Earth the understanding of the Present (NOW) is much closer to (if not
the same as) the Japanese. Only in the West (or western influenced)
areas do you get the radical disassociation of past, present and
future. This has many interesting effects, not the least of which is
our rather interesting view of History as something over and done
with. Of course this understanding creates jobs for Historians who
"study the dead past." Might it not be better to concentrate on the
living present (NOW)? I am not a psychotherapist (although I may need
one) - but this fragmentation of time represents a distinct
disadvantage, I think. Perhaps it is even pathological. Over the 20
years of The Open Space experiment it has occurred to me that one of
the major impacts of being consciously in Open Space is that the deep
fissures between the Present and the Past and Future are somehow
overcome. Past and future are all included, and are experienced, I
believe, as seamlessly existent in the present moment. Many people
don't notice this, and some who do are quite perplexed - but I
think it is a healing moment. I guess that is why I described Open
Space as "Expanding our Now" in a book of the same
title.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial"
color="#FF0000"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial"
color="#FF0000">Harrison</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial"
color="#FF0000"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font face="Arial"
size="-1" color="#FF0000">Harrison Owen</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font face="Arial"
size="-1" color="#FF0000">7808 River Falls Drive</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font face="Arial"
size="-1" color="#FF0000">Potomac, Maryland
20845</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font face="Arial"
size="-1" color="#FF0000">Phone 301-365-2093</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font
face="Times New Roman" color="#FF0000">Open Space Training
www.openspaceworld.com</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font
face="Times New Roman" color="#FF0000">Open Space Institute
www.openspaceworld.org</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font
face="Times New Roman" color="#FF0000">Personal website
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</font><font
color="#0000FF"><br>
</font><a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"><font
color="#0000FF">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</font></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><font
face="Times New Roman" color="#FF0000">To subscribe, unsubscribe,
change your options, view the archives Visit:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html</font></blockquote
>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Tahoma"
size="-1">-----Original Message-----<br>
<b>From:</b> OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]<b> On
Behalf Of</b> Peter Wallman<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Sunday, April 24, 2005 11:49 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: Learning to Expand our NOW</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman">Hi</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">This is my
first post on this list although i have been listening for some time.
I am based in Sydney and am an occasional open space
facilitator.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">this
wonderful idea reminds me of a Japan Australia dialogue i attended
about a decade ago in which i was playing the role of the rapporteur.
the topic was 'responsibilities to future generations' and was
sponsored by the Japanese Foundation for Future Generations which ,by
the way, was one of the major sponsors of the NGO part of the Rio
Earth Summit.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">There were
representatives from heritage, environment, business, media etc - an
incredibly rich dialogue ensued but after a while it became obvious
that we were talking about different ideas of past, present and
future. I remember vividly one of the Japanese describing the
'present' in Japanese as meaning ' the dynamic domain in which the
past and the future interact' - so it seems to me that we have
something to learn from this.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF">Peter Wallman</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF">+61 2 9882 3196</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF">PO Box 7103 McMahons Pt NSW 2060
Australia</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF">peter@passionmaps.com</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF">www.passionmaps.com</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF">"The figure whose attitude best expresses the
passion</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF">that moves it is most worthy of
praise."</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman" size="-2"
color="#0000FF"><i>.....Leonardo da Vinci</i></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font
face="Times New Roman"> </font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Times New Roman">Ah -- Funda.
Let me reveal a mystery to you. You just can't get away from<br>
NOW. It is all you have! Past is over, future hasn't happened yet.
What you<br>
got is NOW. And the only question (at least for me) is how big is your
NOW?<br>
If it is a tiny little "now" desperation quickly sets in.
How are you going<br>
to get everything (you want to do) squeezed into this anorexic
(pathetically<br>
thin) now? You can't! And the more you try the worse it gets.<br>
<br>
But there is an alternative. Just make your NOW BIGGER! It may sound
a<br>
little weird, but with some effort (not to be confused with work),
NOW<br>
becomes big enough to include what we call the Past and also the
Future. The<br>
Past, with all of its richness of experience (including the pain) is
always<br>
available. And the Future is not some far off thing -- but dreams
coming<br>
into focus NOW. For me it is a matter of opening my (personal) space.
You<br>
can do this in all sorts of ways, but (I hate to say it) Visualization
can<br>
help! :-)<br>
<br>
Harrison</font></blockquote>
<div><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF">Peter Wallman</font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF">+61 2 9882 3196</font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF">PO Box 7103 McMahons Pt NSW 2060
Australia</font></div>
<div><font size="-2"
color="#0000FF">peter@passionmaps.com</font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF">www.passionmaps.com</font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF"><br></font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF">"The figure whose attitude
best expresses the passion</font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF">that moves it is most worthy of
praise."</font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#0000FF"><i>.....Leonardo da
Vinci</i></font></div>
<div><font size="-2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
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