Hi Harrison,<br><br>this is an empowering piece, least I can say.<br><br>I myself I´m still coming into and out of water once and again, and this Monday Morning message is one that really invites me to accept that everything is moving. I´ll enjoy more of life, sure, as I, fearless, accept it and flow with it. <br>
<br>I took the message and <a href="http://flowandshow.blogspot.com/2010/08/harrison-owen-on-life-open-space-flow.html">re-formatted it for this blog that I called one day "Flow and Show" </a>and that I use as a personal notebook. Let me know if it´s ok with you, please. (Otherwise I´ll delete this post, no problem.)<br>
<br>This message comes to me the week before we are moving from Bilbao to live in a small town on the coast, called Mundaka. Now I think it´ll be easier to leave the dock ;-)!<br><br>Eleder<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
2010/8/22 Harrison Owen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net">hhowen@verizon.net</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
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<p class="MsoNormal">Our friend Suzanne Daigle sent me a note saying that it
seemed I had been very quiet on OSLIST. It is true that I appreciate silence,
but the real truth is, I was just thinking. Dangerous I know, but what follows
is the result – and you can blame it all on Suzanne (Joke!). So what do
you think?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">**************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A long time ago a good friend, Ralph Copleman, was to be
found in the middle of a large circle of peers dressed in a flowing cape and
repeating the words, “Everything is moving, Everything is moving.”
Odd to say the least and some doubted Ralph’s sanity. Some still do, but
that image has stuck in my febrile brain ever since – and as time has
passed it occurs to me that Ralph had it precisely right: This is an energetic
cosmos. The problem arises when we (and that includes all of us some of the
time) desperately want everything to stop and stand still. So desperately
in fact that we have created a mental image of our environment exclusively
populated by static things which include everything from mountains to super
nova along with the oddments of our life like professions, chairs,
relationships, organizational structures, corporations, countries and empires.
Unfortunately this mental image is a radical illusion, one might say delusion.
Ralph is right. Everything is moving and what we perceive as stable structures
are but the momentary, slice in time, freeze-frame constructs of our
imagination.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Heresy? Psychobabble? Advanced esoteric insight?
– None of the above, I think. As a matter of fact, Ralph’s
observation is nothing but a short (poetic?) version of the (now) standard
scientific understanding of the nature of the cosmos. Starting with the Big
Bang it is all flowing energy, albeit now clumped in momentary configurations
– but still flowing energy for all of that. Scratch any rock hard enough
and its essential nature comes through – a whirring bunch of quarks and
neutrons doing the cosmic dance. Doubtless my physicist friends would take
issue with my phrasing – but not, I think, with the core message.
Everything is moving. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So what does all this have to do with the price of eggs? Or
for that matter – Open Space and our role as facilitators and
consultants? A lot, I believe.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Starting with Open Space which is many things to different
people. For some it is a Large Group Intervention. Others might see it as an
aberrant phenomenon peculiar to a cultish few. For myself Open Space is a trial
ride in the flow of life which has a lot of similarities to my boat. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My boat is smallish in size (32 feet) but definitely larger
than the average punt. She is very seaworthy and shares a common heritage with
the local Lobster Boats here in Maine. We have many visitors, most of whom have
never been on a boat such as the Ethelyn Rose. When you walk on board, things
look sort of familiar. Chairs for sitting, a comfortable nook for dining, and
even an oriental rug on the floor – excuse me, sole. If you look further
there are the standard amenities such as a shower and commode, all sequestered
in their separate quarters. Even a complete landlubber will feel more or less
at home.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the moment we leave the dock the world changes –
apparent stability yields to constant motion. Everything is moving even if it
seems to be staying in the same place! In the harbor motion is minimal, but the
moment we clear the breakwater marking the harbor entrance the experience
can be radically different. Sea swells from the open Atlantic Ocean take us up
and down in distances measured in yards, and should we have a good cross wind
the surface chop adds an interesting side to side motion. The Ethelyn Rose is
right at home, but some of our visitors have a different impression. And
navigating in these conditions is a definite learning experience. Even a simple
walk through the main cabin can be a challenge. Hand holds that you had carefully
plotted at the start of your journey suddenly changed position relative to you
as you made your way. What was up is now down and who knows what is happening
in between. Interesting, and as they say, It ain’t Kansas. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most people meet the challenge and after a few educational
bumps to various parts of their anatomy they learn not to fight reality.
No matter what you may have thought you were going to do, the only useful
option is to go with the flow. And the next level of learning is that when you
do that well (flow) you can actually arrive where you need to be. Wonderful!
Sounds a lot like Open Space.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We start in the static stability of a circle. This may seem
strange to some, but there is a place for everybody and everybody finds a
place. A familiar and enduring structure for sure. Then it happens. The circle
crumbles in bits and pieces as people come to center, announcing their passions
– only to be briefly restored as they return to their seats. However the
restoration is but momentary. Shortly everybody leaves their seats to join a
chaotic gaggle at the wall. So much for static structure, and it goes downhill
from there. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ebbing and flowing, groups form and reform all without
benefit of the standard constraints essential for orderly organizational life—or
so we might have thought. Pre-arranged agenda (sometimes called Mission, Goals,
Objectives) is nonexistent. The Schedule might be posted but never followed
– things start when they start. Assigned participation is nowhere to be
found, and yet the right people show up. And to make things even worse, the air
is filled with buzzing and flutters as Bees and Butterflies do their thing.
Madness! To be sure there may be a few people who are utterly flummoxed as the
hand holds they may have expected (see above under “Ethelyn Rose at
Sea”) disappear . . . or reappear in unexpected places. Their condition
is not helped, for should they ask what to do the answer is likely to come back
as a question – What would they care to do?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A trifling few will lose heart and head for the shore
– perceived stability. But the vast majority, as we have seen over the
years and around the globe, will be totally captivated by the moment, and a
smaller group will experience that moment as total exhilaration. They are doing
what their prior life experience taught them could not be done –
seriously and intentionally going with the flow. And rather than being rank
hedonism, the experience proves to be massively productive and fulfilling.
Doing well and good – and feeling great. A hard to beat combination.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then we come to Monday Morning. Back to reality, as they
say. But is it? The truth, I believe is rather different. They have experienced
reality and come to the edge of shedding illusion/delusion. In the words of
friend Ralph, “Everything is moving” – and this is now a fact
of life to be savored and enjoyed. No longer a terrifying unknown, it is to be
affirmed and embraced. Not without a few “white knuckle” moments to
be sure – but infinitely better than hanging onto the (illusory) rock of
stability. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So what about us – those privileged folks who have
accepted the honor of opening space in people’s lives? Short answer:
Invite our guests over the edge. Please note I did not say, Push them over the
edge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Crafting this invitation is always a matter of personal
style and must come from the heart. The invitation I have in mind never
appears on a piece of paper (or the electronic equivalent). It arrives in our
personhood – who we are and how we present ourselves, which is to say,
from the heart. Not to be confused with a gushy valentine or formulaic
presentation, the invitation manifests in our simple presence, revealing our
own acceptance and joy in the moving flow of life. Without words we express the
swimmer’s call: Come on in, the water is fine! Of course you have to be
in the water for that call to have any credibility.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is perhaps easier to say how NOT to create this
invitation. First off, it is not a matter of rational argument and presentation
of facts. Most people already know the facts at some level, and I think the
case could be made that it was “rational argument” that has gotten
us into the bind we experience. Given the “fact” of a moving,
changing world which can be very uncomfortable, it is quite
“rational” to define that world in terms of controllable static
chunks that may be contained, or better, bent to our specifications. This
has led us to such wonderful things as “Flood Control” which works
until such time as Mother Nature and Old Man River decide to take a different
course. It turns out that The River is not a static, definable thing but part
of a vast ever changing system. Effective Flood Control would require close
management of the Planet’s atmosphere to say nothing of the cosmos
beyond. Good luck!<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also under the heading of “NOT to be included”
are well intentioned efforts to sugar coat the pill, as it were. Which is to
say that we might propose certain limitations that will restrict the
possibility of change in Open Space. Some of us have called these
“givens” but so far as I can tell the only given is change itself.
And to suggest otherwise is not so much to violate the “Spirit of Open
Space” but rather the essence of the cosmos itself. Ralph had it right:
Everything is moving. In this context, Open Space Technology is a minimal
consideration.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am by no means suggesting that our invitation look like
the back panel of some medication listing every possible adverce reaction, if
in fact unexpected change is such an adverce reaction. And truth to tell I find
the appearance of unexpected change in the midst of an Open Space to be one of
its (OS’s) most delightful consequences. I also think that it is
important to note the OS is not the engine of change. It simply provides the
space for change to show up and the cosmos (or whatever) takes care of all the
heavy lifting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For me an invitation to Open Space is an opportunity to
include friends and strangers in the deepest experience of (my) life. It has little
to do with selling a product, doing a process, excersizing some sort of
professional competence – although there are doubtless elements of all of
that. Fundamentally it is my invitation to experience life at its fullest in
which chanagability is not the enemy to be suppressed but rather the rich
tapestry of an evolving future. I don’t make it, I can’t predict it
– but I can participate both as a sojourner and a co-creator. Stuart
Kauffman speaks of being “At Home in the Universe.” That is my
elemental experience, and I am always looking for playmates.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harrison Owen</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">7808 River Falls Dr.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Potomac, MD 20854</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">USA</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Phone 301-365-2093</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com" target="_blank">www.openspaceworld.com</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.ho-image.com" target="_blank">www.ho-image.com</a>
(Personal Website)</p>
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