Amen.<div>Pat Black<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 11:04 AM, Brendan McKeague <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mckeague@iprimus.com.au">mckeague@iprimus.com.au</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div>
beyond knowing, beyond words...this poem speaks to me of such a
space...cheers Brendan<br><br>
<font size="4"><b>Learning to pray without words<br>
</b></font>by Fredrick Zydek <br><br>
You must turn away from the speech center<br>
until the desire for language slips beyond<br>
the weary orbits of vocabulary and definition<br>
into that place where wordless desires and urges<br>
become the parents of deeds. In that moment,<br><br>
a sacred place will seem to open and envelop<br>
you like a room, but you will know it has been<br>
there all the time. You will know without words<br>
that you are suddenly doing more than just passing <br>
through and that you have not so much entered <br><br>
anything as regained an awareness of a place more <br>
comfortable than your favorite pair of old shoes.<br>
If you doubt this, try to remember that a kind of <br>
chatting goes on all the time between trees, rocks,<br>
clouds and the great I Am. The oceans know <br><br>
when the moon pulls at them and the fishes too.<br>
There is an understanding that goes on between <br>
everything that is and what’s happening around them. <br>
Call it discussion if you like. I think of it as prayer<br>
that stuff that looks for the slightest chance or hope<br><br>
for knowing it is alive. It’s what we want whether <br>
we make poems or just burrow beneath the sand. <br>
The moss growing on the north side of trees knows <br>
this. It doesn’t take words to lean into the wind <br>
and know that something living has come your way.<br><br>
<i>Fredrick Zydek lives in Omaha, Neb.<br>
</i>From: <font face="Arial, Helvetica" size="2" color="#000080">“The
Mennonite” a periodical of the Mennonite Church USA.<br><br>
<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5">At 11:49 PM 7/05/2009, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Christy--<br><br>
Wow! You have left me saying Wow!<br><br>
What an evocative notion--the space is alive. Is this true? Can we
make<br>
it so? Can we at least meet it so?<br><br>
There are excerpts of Alexander's 4th book here:<br>
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=6CIHB3_1tLMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=christopher+alexander+nature+of+order#PPA1,M1" target="_blank">
http://books.google.com/books?id=6CIHB3_1tLMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=christopher+alexander+nature+of+order#PPA1,M1</a>
<br><br>
I have found his writing evocative as well. His books are huge, and
sell<br>
by the pound. Now I have to mortgage my house to get these
books....<br><br>
What do you suppose might be the recursive structures built up in
open<br>
space?<br><br>
Harrison said that it takes a lifetime to explore open space, and
here<br>
for me is a new main artery.<br><br>
Catherine, I like your image of a porous embrace. How do you see
time<br>
fitting into this living space of recursive structures? Could you say
a<br>
little more, please?<br><br>
Still pondering....<br><br>
:- Doug.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
On Tue, 2009-05-05 at 23:09 -0700, Christy Lee-Engel wrote:<br>
> Hi dear Doug,<br>
> <br>
> Well, your question reminds me of hearing friends talk about
architect<br>
> Christopher Alexander's work, in which he emphasizes that
"space must<br>
> be considered an almost living entity a kind of stuff which,<br>
> depending on the recursive structures that are built up in it,
becomes<br>
> progressively more and more alive."<br>
> <br>
> So that space can be more alive or less alive.<br>
> <br>
> I haven't read Alexander's 4-Volume "The Nature of Order"
yet, and so<br>
> I don't know what "these fifteen properties" are - but
this quote from<br>
> a book review makes me want to read it and find out!:<br>
> <br>
> "Systems in space which have these fifteen properties to a
strong<br>
> degree will be alive, and the more these properties are present,
the<br>
> more the systems which contain them will tend to be alive."
<br>
> <br>
> <br>
>
<a href="http://natureoforder.com/overview.htm" target="_blank">
http://natureoforder.com/overview.htm</a><br>
> <br>
> <br>
> love & blessings,<br>
> <br>
> Christy<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On 5/5/09, douglas germann <<a href="mailto:76066.515@compuserve.com" target="_blank">76066.515@compuserve.com</a>> wrote:
<br>
> Hi space
dancers:<br>
> <br>
> Recently someone
pointed us to a poem about how open spaces<br>
> are<br>
> necessary for a
fire. It has had me pondering.<br>
> <br>
> At first I said,
Sure, she is speaking of oxygen. Fires need<br>
> oxygen. Now<br>
> I am not so sure
that is what she meant, or at least what is<br>
> true. So I<br>
> am asking you my
friends, what you have observed.<br>
> <br>
> Just how important
is the physical space for opening space? I<br>
> am not<br>
> talking about
amenities like chairs and windows and air, nor<br>
> about the<br>
> exact number of
square meters needed per person (this is<br>
> cultural: some<br>
> cultures want to be
close enough to feel each other's breath;<br>
> some want<br>
> more distance). In
Open Space Online we have a metaphorical<br>
> space for<br>
> our chats; in face
to face, we have that physical space. Is<br>
> that space<br>
> in the center of the
circle a separate, unnoticed but<br>
> essential,
element<br>
> in
conversation?<br>
> <br>
> The flames need to
lick upwards, the heat needs someplace to<br>
> go, the<br>
> light needs to
escape. The betweens are necessary to give<br>
> birth to the<br>
> what and who is
emerging from our collective. What is the role<br>
> of space?<br>
> <br>
>
:- Doug.<br>
> <br>
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