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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Does Consciousness exist? That is a question that has been
around for some time -- and hopefully will not be resolved in the near future.
For its final resolution would doubtless mean that we have all come to the end
of the road and discovered where it was leading all this time. In the meantime,
the journey continues. And I for one am rather enjoying the ride (mostly). If
you are asking for my personal answer to that question, I guess it comes in two
flavors. In terms of my own practice and life experience, the answer is simple
-- yes. If you are looking for a more theoretical basis, the answer is still yes
--but with a few qualifications. It works (makes sense) for me and works
better than the alternative. Pay your money and take your
choice.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>And reading Wilber and Kuhn wouldn't hurt. Both pretty
bright guys. Kuhn doubtless wrote other stuff, but the seminal work is/was "The
Structures of Scientific Revolution" -- I think it was published by Princeton,
or maybe it was Chicago (University Press). Wilber has damn near buried the
world in paper. All of it is good, but some is better than the rest. A good
introduction might be something like, "A Brief History of Everything." He
is a wonderful writer, great storyteller, totally outrageous, and a massive
intellect. Other than that he is pretty run of the mill. And if you are
looking for other good stuff to read, you might check out the section on <A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com">www.openspaceworld.com</A> called
"Literature."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>As for being a "lonely visionary," I honestly have to say,
I never noticed, but thanks for asking. But how could I be lonely in the
company of such illustrious folks? Of course, that might not speak well for the
company I keep -- but there you are.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Harrison </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Harrison Owen<BR>7808 River Falls Dr.<BR>Potomac, MD
20854<BR>USA<BR>301-365-2093<BR>207-763-3261 (summer)<BR>website <A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com">www.openspaceworld.com</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=raffi@bk.ru href="mailto:raffi@bk.ru">Raffi Aftandelian</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=hhowen@comcast.net
href="mailto:hhowen@comcast.net">hhowen@comcast.net</A> ; <A
title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU">OSLIST</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, July 24, 2005 1:08 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re[2]: "Bylo chudo" or New
Paradigm slavery-- long</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Thank you, Harrison, for going to the trouble of giving a quick
recap<BR>of where we have gone in the past twenty years with organizations
and<BR>consciousness.<BR><BR>If there was a friendly, implied suggestion to
consider something in<BR>your message, I missed it. Other than perhaps read
Kuhn and Wilber whom I have heard<BR>of and some friendly OST'ers in BC
(British Columbia) do nudge me<BR>towards looking at them, which I
will.<BR><BR>Is this vision of the "Open Sleep Organization" fanciful? We like
to<BR>ask at the end of an OS, what will happen on Mon.? And on Mon. that
is<BR>the vision that came to me. In all of my adolescent passion, I know
I<BR>can get (very) carried away. And one very kind OST'er
lovingly<BR>suggested offline that these are great ideas in the "Bylo Chudo"
post, yet<BR>there is a danger in dissipating creative energy in talking about
them<BR>so publicly. And that Mon. pointed me the way to go with OST.<BR><BR>I
like to think back sometimes to what Ralph Copleman said when I first<BR>began
talking about my struggles with this OST work: either I'll think<BR>it's
garbage or I'll think of something better. I definitely don't<BR>think it's
garbage and it is very intriguing to watch people who have<BR>participated in
a 4 hour or daylong OST deliver a verdict on this<BR>technology...and say (in
so many words) that it's garbage. And then<BR>there are those who are troubled
and intrigued enough by OST to give<BR>it another go...<BR><BR>I sometimes
imagine that it must be very lonely for you, Harrison, to<BR>be a visionary.
To repeat the same thing day in and day out. And I<BR>have thought that you
may never get proper recognition for this work.<BR>I doubt you'll get the
Nobel Prize (nor do I think you are holding<BR>your breath for it), even
though your contribution to human knowledge<BR>is indeed
earth-shattering.<BR><BR> Which makes me think about how all these Nobel
Prizes (for peace, at<BR> least) are awarded for Extraordinary
Mediocrity. For Brilliant Minds who did More of the Same.<BR><BR>Just one more
thought on the evolution of consciousness-- do you<BR>really think that
consciousness exists? Isn't it just another<BR>dream-state? I notice that I am
*always* living in illusion. There<BR>may be gradations of illusion, but
illusion is all we got, perhaps<BR>just like the illusion (read: prism) of
Open Space.<BR><BR>One thing I hope to get a deeper understanding of in
Halifax is what<BR>self-organizing OST events look like. And what
self-organizing<BR>self-organization looks like.<BR><BR>And if our illusions
are all we got, what then?<BR><BR>Warmly,<BR>Raffi<BR><BR><BR><BR>Raffi
Aftandelian wrote 20 ÉÀÌÑ 2005 Ç., 15:27:53:<BR><BR>> Raffi Wrote:
Harrison, you in your delightful semi-impish spirit<BR>> trickster raven
kind of way said you were almost afraid to ask what<BR>> I thought the next
paradigm was. I think I explained what I thought<BR>> the next paradigm
was+and I didn't quite understand why that thread<BR>> died. Is it because
I'm talking out of something besides my mouth?<BR>> Or that everyone
already knows what the next paradigm is. Or that it<BR>> is moot? Or that
the paradigm of thinking in paradigms is well<BR>> so+passe because it
assumes a linear path of development?<BR><BR>> I don't know why the
conversation on the next paradigm" ended --<BR>> it certainly has
never ended with me. I suppose that if there is a<BR>> single dominant
theme in all of my work, it is not about Open Space,<BR>> but rather
precisely on that subject. Thomas Kuhn's notion of<BR>> Paradigm and
paradigm shift has been very useful for me (and<BR>> obviously millions of
others) in several ways. First he wrote<BR>> clearly about the mechanisms
and costs of fundamental shifts. As you<BR>> may remember he is primarily a
philosopher of Science -- but his<BR>> work obviously applies in much
broader realms. He showed us<BR>> (reminded us) that human progress does
not go in nice linear<BR>> patterns, but in great, always painful, lurches.
And the fact that<BR>> he tied all this to the progress of Science was
useful in that it<BR>> helped us see that super-rationalistic science was
also a part of<BR>> the human endeavor. But as helpful as Kuhn has been it
always seemed<BR>> to me that he stopped short of genuine breakthrough. For
me the<BR>> notion of paradigm shift is really the whole business of
the<BR>> evolution of consciousness. Fortunately, many others have
explored<BR>> territory that Kuhn never (so far as I know) got into. On
the<BR>> contemporary scene, Ken Wilber has led the way for me. And
the<BR>> Spiral Dynamics folks have added some interesting details. But
the<BR>> story is a very old one going right back to The Great Chain of
Being<BR>> traditions, which spoke of the evolution of consciousness in
terms<BR>> of 7 levels or domains. The words vary, but the sense is
Nothing,<BR>> Body, Mind, Intellect, Soul, Spirit, Nothing. Since it is a
little<BR>> difficult to speak of "nothing" -- we are basically left with
5<BR>> domains that we can get out words around. It occurred to me in
the<BR>> early 80's that although the focus was basically on the
individual<BR>> evolution of consciousness -- the general thinking would
equally<BR>> apply to organizations, which you might call the
collective<BR>> expression (manifestation) of Spirit or consciousness. To
make the<BR>> point and the connection I created what I called an
organizational<BR>> analogue to the development of individual
consciousness, and the<BR>> levels (domains) were denominated as follows:
Reactive, Responsive,<BR>> Proactive, Interactive, and Inspired. If you are
interested in the<BR>> details, I wrote it all up in my first book,
"Spirit: Transformation<BR>> and Development in organizations" which came
out I think in 1985. <BR>> <BR>> Then along came Open Space, which
appeared in my eyes to be a<BR>> funny thing we did on the way to the
future. Its real value totally<BR>> escaped me. Fortunately several others
saw what I failed to notice<BR>> -- this stuff was important. And once they
got my attention, I<BR>> noticed a very odd thing. It seemed to me that in
Open Space people<BR>> had the experience of moving through levels of
consciousness. And<BR>> more particularly, it seemed that they were
shifting in and out of<BR>> the dominant level, which I called Proactive,
into the next level,<BR>> which I had called Interactive. For the majority,
this was a<BR>> momentary, although significant experience -- but at the
end of the<BR>> day it was back to the old familiar Proactive
organizations. Some,<BR>> however, did not seem to go back so easily -- and
the Interactive<BR>> level became their domain. This was a exhilarating and
scary<BR>> experience, to say the least. I am totally clear that Open Space
did<BR>> not (does not) cause such shifts -- but it does seem to provide
an<BR>> environment which is conducive to this shifting. Anyhow it seemed
to<BR>> me that something rather new and exciting was occurring -- and
that<BR>> a radical new organizational lifeform was putting in
an appearance.<BR>> Since we were heading towards the Millennium at that
point,<BR>> hyperbole got the best of me and I began to talk about
The<BR>> Millennium Organization. Even wrote a book about it with the
same<BR>> title. That book is now out of print, but I tried to tried to
bring<BR>> all my thinking to that point together in my last book
for<BR>> Berrett-Koehler, which bears the title, "The Power of Spirit:
How<BR>> Organizations Transform." That one came out in 2000, which I
thought<BR>> was sort of appropriate.<BR>> <BR>> Anyhow, the story
continues and becomes ever more exciting.<BR>> Obviously not without many
painful bumps and bruises -- and the<BR>> final chapter has clearly not
been written. <BR>> <BR>> Harrison<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Harrison
Owen<BR>> 7808 River Falls Dr.<BR>> Potomac, MD 20854<BR>>
USA<BR>> 301-365-2093<BR>> 207-763-3261 (summer)<BR>> website <A
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com">www.openspaceworld.com</A><BR>>
<BR>> <BR> <BR>> ----- Original Message -----
<BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
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