This line has sooooo much to it, made me smile and feel peaceful - "<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">And so it went – just like usual…</span>"<br>
<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 31 May 2012 15:49, Harrison Owen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net" target="_blank">hhowen@verizon.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Kerry – Your pointing out the power of the circle brought to mind a story from another OS Michael Pannwitz and I did several years ago. I know the tale has been told, but it surely fits well here…<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Just imagine 250 Senior Rabbis and Imams gathered together in the service of Peace. Place was Seville and the participants were the upper echelon, so to speak. The sponsors, assuming that a little transition into Open Space would be helpful for this bunch of folks, had designed the 1<sup>st</sup> day in the Standard Way. Straight rows of chairs, dais, and endless speeches. The proceedings began at 9 am, but by noon the room was total chaos. Delegates were standing on desks and screaming at each other. I wasn’t in the room, finding such a meeting more than I can handle, but as I was walking towards the dining room for lunch I was intercepted by the sponsor’s associate. Frantically he called my name and popped the big question, “How quickly could I Open Space?”<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">The Open Space part of the 3 day program wasn’t due to start until the next day, but plans do change when driven by necessity. I replied that we were good to go just as quickly as the hotel could re-arrange the room – which turned out to be 2 hours. That gave us time for lunch and a little cooling off period for a very overheated group of people.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Somewhere around 3 pm – there we were. The same group of folks who in the morning were close to killing each other (at least verbally) – now all sitting peacefully in a circle. And so it went – just like usual…<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Harrison<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Harrison Owen<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">7808 River Falls Dr.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Potomac, MD 20854<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">USA<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Camden, Maine 20854<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Phone 301-365-2093<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">(summer) 207-763-3261<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com" target="_blank">www.openspaceworld.com</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><a href="http://www.ho-image.com" target="_blank">www.ho-image.com</a> (Personal Website)<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1f497d">To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to:<a href="http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org" target="_blank">http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> <a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Kerry Napuk<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, May 30, 2012 6:02 PM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a><br><b>Subject:</b> [OSList] openspacing in Jordan<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Hi Phelim<br><br>Great story about opening space in a traditional society like Jordan.<br><br>You hit it on the head showing the power of the circle as the basic marker in opening and creating new space. Most people everywhere are conditioned to be talked at within traditional architecture, i.e. podium, theatre seating and speaker. This old tired setup ruthlessly permeates much of our lives. And how incredible boring it is!<br>
<br>So, it was not surprising in the beginning that one after another person tried to keep space closed by controlling it. If you hold the floor, no thing will happen. But, lo, the energy emerged and flowed once a circle appeared followed by a marketplace. What energy, what freedom - it must have been heady.<br>
<br>Well done for persevering and, once again, trusting the process makes things happen. Thanks for sharing your experience in the Middle East.<br><br>Yours is just one of many stories which will be discussed at WOSONOS 2012 in London between 11-14 October. How exciting it will be to hear about other great experiences around the world.<br>
<br>Be there or be square.<br><br>Cheers<br><br>Kerry<br>Edinburgh<u></u><u></u></p></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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