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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>I don’t think this is so weird at
all. One of the more interesting phenomena I have observed in virtually every
Open Space I have been a part of is the emergence of what I can only call the
collective consciousness. Signs of its presence appear in the manifestation of
common themes that permeate all or most discussions. I would call this true
consensus, as distinct from the sort of consensus that arises through some sort
of programmed activity, usually called consensus building – but which in
most cases seems to be more like a reduction to the lowest common denominator. But
that is just a start. Full bloom, this collective consciousness seems quite
capable of making a “rational decision” followed by actions. What
is unique in the situation is no observable person or group “makes”
the decision, nor is there any sort of vote or formal decision making. But the
decisions and the resultant actions are inescapable. It occurs to me that the
powerful effectiveness of the convergence effected by Peggy, Chris, et al –
done simply by opening space again at the end of an event – may be yet
another manifestation of the collective consciousness at work. Where it comes
from, I don’t have a clue, but its origins would certainly have to be
quite primal and deep. In short, it seems to be something that we already know,
as opposed to a later day learning. Also the fact that it appears, in my
experience, in cultures and places of all sorts would suggest that this is
something common to humanity, and not just a special case.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>Harrison</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2
color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:red'>Harrison Owen</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2
color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:red'>7808 River Falls Drive</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2
color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:red'>Potomac, Maryland 20845</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2
color=red face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:red'>Phone </span></font><font size=2 color=red face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red'>301-365-2093</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'></X-SIGSEP><font
size=3 color=red face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:red'><!--StartFragment --><X-SIGSEP>Open Space Training <a
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/" eudora=autourl>www.openspaceworld.com</a>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
color=red face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:red'>Open
Space Institute <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org" eudora=autourl>www.openspaceworld.org</a></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
color=red face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:red'>Personal
website <a href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm"
eudora=autourl>http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</a></span></font><font
color=blue><span style='color:blue'><br>
<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a></span></font><font
color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font></p>
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size=3 color=red face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:red'>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><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> </span></font><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>OSLIST</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> [mailto:</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>OSLIST</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Wendy Farmer-O'Neil<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Friday, </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>May 06, 2005</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> </span></font><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>1:13 AM</span></font><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><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>OSLIST</span></font><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Mystery and Depth</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Hi all,</span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Just talked to Chris C. and he
tells me that I HAVE to post this here...it's an excerpt from today's entry on
my blog. I am feeling a bit unsure of it...this is very raw thinking
and even I don't really know where this came from...Chris assures me that
you will understand...</span></font></p>
</div>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>From: word gravity </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><a
href="http://www.wordgravity.blogspot.com">www.wordgravity.blogspot.com</a></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<p style='margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Trying out some
raw stuff on you again...<br>
My friend </span></font><a href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com/"><font size=2
color="#6699cc" face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:#6699CC'>Chris Corrigan </span></font></a><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>has been wondering about the
wonderful mystery that is </span></font><a
href="http://www.globalchicago.net/wiki/wiki.cgi?GlobalChicagoHome"><font
size=2 color="#666699" face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Tahoma;color:#666699'>Open Space </span></font></a><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>and the depth that he feels
functioning there. He has asked his community to think about it...so here I
go...pulling some threads...<br>
<br>
I am currently reading </span></font><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/"><font
size=2 color="#666699" face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Tahoma;color:#666699'>Harrison Owen's</span></font></a><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>, The Power of
Spirit. In it he pulls out this interesting tidbit from Gregory Bateson, "the
perception of difference is the essence of learning...learning occurs when we
notice 'differences that make a difference'." I guess I'd probably say
differences that matter--assuming there is a quality of attention here.
Harrison then spins it out by combining it with the attributes of
chaos..."chaos creates the differences that make a difference, through
which we learn."<br>
<br>
<font color=red><span style='color:red'>Chaos draws the attention of the soul
(rather than merely mind). Mattering is the quality of attention that drives
the self-organising principle. So what is 'mattering'? The
recognition/mirroring of the soul's purpose?/passion? in another
being/object/idea...from which connection, the chain of action/arising
unfolds...thought, action, and so on...<br>
</span></font><br>
Add to that this interesting quote from </span></font><a
href="http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/05/04.html#a1133"><font size=2
color="#666699" face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:#666699'>Dave Pollard's </span></font></a><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>site yesterday (talking about John
Livingston's 1994, Rogue Primate)...</span></font></p>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>He argues that, far from being less conscious than
civilized man, wild animals and wild human cultures actually have a greater
'participatory collective' consciousness beyond...our primitive individual
consciousness, that extends to their ecological community and to the entire
Gaia organism of the planet, an interconnectedness to which we, and other
domesticates, have become numb, have lost from disuse or ideological
counter-programming.</span></font></p>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>So, maybe, Open Space with its
manifest chaos acts to un-numb us, as it were, and reconnect us with our wild
soul-mind...<br>
<br>
I am also pulling in thinking from </span></font><a
href="http://www.ericmaisel.com/"><font size=2 color="#666699" face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:#666699'>Eric Maisel </span></font></a><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>(Fearless
Creating), who talks about the necessity within the creative process of feeding
and nurturing the "wild mind" (chaotic, original, deep) versus the
"tame mind" (structured, known, prosaic). <br>
<br>
Phew...that's enough of that...</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Cheers all,</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Wendy</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Wendy Farmer-O'Neil<br>
Prospera Communications & Consulting Services<br>
1.250.713.2351/1.800.713.2351<br>
weblog: <a href="http://www.wordgravity.blogspot.com">www.wordgravity.blogspot.com</a></span></font></p>
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