Sure, Harrison, Everything is Always Moving , even on that lovely beach. The beat goes on!<br><br>Everything is Still Moving, inspiring and expiring.<br><br>Thanks for reminding us of the "OSLIST Way".<br><br>Eleder<br>
<br>BM31:Bilbao<br><a href="http://www.burumapak.blogspot.com" target="_blank">www.burumapak.blogspot.com</a><br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">2010/8/23 Harrison Owen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net" target="_blank">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;">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Eleder you (and anybody else) are welcome to use the piece in
any useful way. That of course is the “OSLIST Way” where sharing is
always the name of the game. Your point about coming in and out of the water is
important. We all do it. And after all, a day on the beach is not to be sneezed
at (unless it is cold.) But I think it is useful to remember that even on that
lovely beach, Everything is Moving. I remember lying on Cannon Beach in Oregon
and suddenly recognizing that I (along with everything else) was definitely rocking
and rolling. Earthquake of course, but a useful reminder that the beat goes on.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Harrison</span></p><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Harrison Owen</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">7808 River Falls Dr.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Potomac, MD 20854</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">USA</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Phone 301-365-2093</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com" target="_blank">www.openspaceworld.com</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><a href="http://www.ho-image.com" target="_blank">www.ho-image.com</a> (Personal Website)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Consolas; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
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</div><div style="border-width: 1pt medium medium; border-style: solid none none; border-color: rgb(181, 196, 223) -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color; padding: 3pt 0in 0in;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> OSLIST
[mailto:<a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU" target="_blank">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>ELEDER AURTENETXE
PILDAIN<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, August 23, 2010 4:31 AM<div><br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU" target="_blank">OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</a><br>
</div><b>Subject:</b> Re: Everything is Moving: An Invitation to Join the flow
(longish)</span></p>
</div><div><div></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">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" target="_blank">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>
</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">2010/8/22 Harrison Owen <<a href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net" target="_blank">hhowen@verizon.net</a>></p>
<div>
<div>
<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!</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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