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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Marie – I have no doubt that we can facilitate the process of self organization. Not in the sense of creating it, or “doing” it – but in a deeper sense of respectful participation. Something like that. But the process itself has been going on, as near as I can figure out, for something like 13.7 billion years. In short, some long time before we (as individuals or collectives) were on the scene.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>ho<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Harrison Owen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>7808 River Falls Dr.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Potomac, MD 20854<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>USA<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Camden, Maine 04843<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Phone 301-365-2093<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>(summer) 207-763-3261<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="www.openspaceworld.com%20"><span style='color:blue'>www.openspaceworld.com</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="www.ho-image.com%20"><span style='color:blue'>www.ho-image.com</span></a> (Personal Website)<o:p></o:p></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"><span style='color:blue'>http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></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"'> oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org [mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Marie Ann Östlund<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 04, 2013 5:36 PM<br><b>To:</b> World wide Open Space Technology email list<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [OSList] Open Space - 2013 and Beyond<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:black'>Thank you Paul for starting this interesting thread. <br><br>Harrison writes:</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><br>"I called it a “puckish” question (maybe “impish” would be better) if only because it represents a delightful misstatement of the usual understanding of “self” in the phrase “self organization,” which of course has nothing to do with “selves” per se, but rather the perceived fact that organization takes place all on its own – all by itself. But your twist is all to a greater purpose, I believe: Driving straight to a really juicy question – Who are we in a self organizing world?"</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>We may also ask: why does self-organisation work? What is the impetus for self-organisation? And the answer to that question may help us towards a more subtle understanding of the self - not as a lone ranger in competition with the world and other selves, but as a connected self (or a self striving for connection) that enjoys giving, loving, contributing to the whole - the both/and <b>personal</b> satisfaction of being connected to the <b>whole</b>. We self-organise because we love it. That's what inspires me in open space.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:black'>Otherwise, I have a hard time with the idea that self-organisation happens entirely by its own, almost like a chemical process. Take away stuff that stops self/organisation and whoops - self-organisation happens. Yes, it does happen, but why? Just saying - it does - does not really satisfy me. Could it be that it has something to do with what we are as selves? Could it be that we as selves want to connect and contribute, that we as selves are loving beings after all. It may very much have to do with the self bit in self-organisation.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><br>"People will say that they never have felt so valued and respected for who and what they are (individual selves) – and simultaneously remark on the intense experience of community to the point that the difference of selves is hardly noticeable, and sometimes simply disappears. All one flowing whole. That is the dance. That is self organization at work, I think.</span>"<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>Exactly. The perfect dance between being a self in the world, and the world in the self :) Thank you.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>All the best,</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>Marie Ann</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 10:05 PM, Harrison Owen <<a href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net" target="_blank">hhowen@verizon.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Paul – thank you for re-posting your blog here on OSLIST. I truly enjoyed and learned from your thinking because it represents the sort of sensitive probing necessary for beginning to understand the funny thing we have called Open Space Technology, and the infinitely deeper reality of Self Organization. As for your puckish question, “What is the ‘self’ in Self Organization?” – Marvelous. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I called it a “puckish” question (maybe “impish” would be better) if only because it represents a delightful misstatement of the usual understanding of “self” in the phrase “self organization,” which of course has nothing to do with “selves” per se, but rather the perceived fact that organization takes place all on its own – all by itself. But your twist is all to a greater purpose, I believe: Driving straight to a really juicy question – Who are we in a self organizing world?</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>There are some folks who seem to think that a self organizing world annihilates the self – that it somehow eradicates our own unique identity and agency. We are pawns in a larger game, and very helpless pawns. The end of such thinking seems to lie in one of two spots. Either we are just the flotsam and jetsam in an unfeeling ocean with little to be or do – OR -- the whole thing is non-sense. Ann Rand lives, and the notion of self organization is simply the product of an overactive, collectivist plot.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I suspect that neither of these conclusions is valid, although both have a contribution to make. At issue is our propensity for either/or thinking, when both/and is much more effective in this situation. Not to be opaque – it is common to think of the “self” and the “organization” as two separate entities, which should never be confused or combined. To do so is to destroy both. There is a degree of comfort here, if only because I am I – and all those other poor blokes (the organization) can do what they bloody well want to! The preservation of the Self as an island fortress may be a comfort– but I don’t find it to be all that useful or accurate in the long run. It is more about both/and.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Put somewhat differently Self and Organization are, in my view, polar concepts, and integrally related; you can’t have one without the other. In the world of philosophy this is often referred to as the self/world correlation, which means simply that you never had a self apart from a world/organization and <i>vice versa.</i> This may seem a little obtuse, but I think we would all agree that you have never seen an organization that was not composed of selves. And the reverse is also true. Sounds a little strange maybe, but if I ask you who you are you will reply in some language, and if English that will tell me that one organization you are part of is the Anglophone world. And the likelihood is that you will continue with something like, “I am an engineer, at IBM – or whatever. Self and World in polarity.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Things get more dynamic, some might say sloppy, from this point on. Both/and thinking is a way (certainly not the only way) of thinking/talking about a dance between two poles. In this case Self and Organization. “We” (as individuals or collectives) are neither one and always on the way to the other. Kind of boggles the mind and maybe a needless sophistry – but begins to capture an experience we all share: Open Space.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Over the years of Open Space, I have noticed in myself and in the reports of fellow participants an odd contradiction which is actually a paradox. People will say that they never have felt so valued and respected for who and what they are (individual selves) – and simultaneously remark on the intense experience of community to the point that the difference of selves is hardly noticeable, and sometimes simply disappears. All one flowing whole. That is the dance. That is self organization at work, I think.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It is surely fun to think and share, particularly when we reach the edges of our certainty and the power of our expression. I do love this crazy OSLIST! And if that makes me Grandfatherly, Paul – so be it. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Harrison </span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Harrison Owen</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>7808 River Falls Dr.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Potomac, MD 20854</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>USA</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Camden, Maine 04843</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Phone <a href="tel:301-365-2093" target="_blank">301-365-2093</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>(summer) <a href="tel:207-763-3261" target="_blank">207-763-3261</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com%20" target="_blank">www.openspaceworld.com</a> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.ho-image.com%20" target="_blank">www.ho-image.com</a> (Personal Website)</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><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></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><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>paul levy</span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, February 01, 2013 8:14 AM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:OSList@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">OSList@lists.openspacetech.org</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><b>Subject:</b> [OSList] Open Space – 2013 and Beyond<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Well, here's the whole thing...<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Open Space – 2013 and Beyond<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Be in no doubt, Open Space Technology is a thing. Harrison Owen specifically called (and continues to call) it a “technology”. It was a new technology designed to replace a tired old one. It was also called a technology at a time when, in management and organisational circles, facilitation methods and approaches were being called “technologies”; also “tools” and “”techniques” – more so in the United States than in the counties and cities of the United Kingdom. This particular technology was a way of conferencing and getting things done that was way better than over-fussy and over- formalised older “technologies”.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>It was a neat cultural reaction to a future being painted as robotic, with society’s problems being solved by things of steel, microchip and plastic. By embodying “softer” processes as “technologies” we had a viable alternative to plugging things into our nerve endings and veins. We could deploy alternative ways of doing things, ways of seeing the world, ways of behaving. If these could be presented simply, and if they could have a kind of enduring repeatability in different situations, then they would be viable alternatives to machines and “stuff”-based innovation. A potent and softer technology to allow us to ride the waves of change. Oh, and of course, it was a wonderful and simple alternative to over-structured, facilitator-heavy meeting process to boot!<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Open Space Technology is, therefore, presented as a fairly simple, resilient, and, most importantly, transferable and repeatable THING. It is something you sort of “switch on” and, to quote Harrison, it just about “always works”.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>This particular thing is a “technology” so applicable, timeless and repeatable, because it operates according to natural law. It is an expression, in process, of self-organisation.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Open Space Technology isn’t self-organisation as much as self-organisation is Open Space.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Now, there’s been a fair amount of discussion in recent years as to what self-organisation is, and Harrison Owen himself has dived into that exciting pool of thinking and dialogue-ing. I think we are very much at the beginning of understanding what self-organisation is. It certainly begs the question “what is the self in self-organisation?”. There are a range of different answers to this and, not surprisingly, they sit on that old cherry of a line that runs from material science to religion and faith. Open Space as a field has always attracted people who see it as an embodiment of natural science in social action through a practical proof and expression of the truth of self-organisation as an underlying natural law. It has also attracted its fair share of spiritual faithfuls who see it as a magical process for making spiritual potential real in the physical world. It has given birth to articles about biological self-organisation in human social systems, alongside articles about the power of “holding the space”, walking anticlockwise, and the gonging of Tibetan Bells. And also a fair number of people who see Open Space as uniting science and spirituality in a meeting process that proves both can sit alongside each other without too much conflict.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Harrison Owen himself, when it suits him, expounds thousands of words on Open Space, how to do it, on self-organization, on wave-riding and so on. When others do the same, especially where attempts are made to elaborate the field, explore it, innovative or develop it, he often suggests that such thinking is a bit of a pointless exercise, and suggests we just go and “open some space”. It’s a charming, grandfatherly way to be, and I don’t mind it at all.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>As 2013 dawns, I’m convinced that Self-Organisation is Open Space. But I don’t buy the definition that seems to be emerging that the “self” in self-organisation doesn’t refer to individual human selves. It most certainly does. When we contemplate the world (or even universal) process, it is too easy to forget that we are contemplating ourselves as part of that world process. We don’t sit outside of the universe we are a part of. When I derive universal laws of nature, I am also deriving those as laws that flow through me. And yet there is also a process of observation by my self of my self that is then taking place. If I say, “this is true for the universe”, then I am also saying “this is true for me in the universe”. But I am also saying “My self is observing that this is true for me in the universe”. It’s the classic observer part of ourselves that observes our observing!<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>There’s me (“I”), there’s the universe – and there’s also me in the universe and the universe in me.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>When we self-organise, we both organise as a collective self through community action (the collective circle) but we also observe into the circle from a standpoint that no one else in that circle can occupy. No one can be me. No one can refer to me as ‘I’ except for me! Of course there’s a danger that such an ego or self-focused view can turn into egotism, where the self is self-viewed as more important than any other self-views. But there’s also an opportunity to live what Rudolf Steiner described as a community life where, in the mirror of each human, the community finds its reflection and where, in the community, the virtues of each one is living.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Self-organisation occurs when the self organises. In community it is a dual process of the self (the individual) observing into the circle from their unique standpoint and where, he or she, also imagines and reaches beyond that singular point, into the circle, a collective space, a community endeavour, where individual selves are also cells connecting into a large self-organising being.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>This happens sometimes so brilliantly in an improvisation troupe. We see moments of individual genius but also a contribution of each self to a bigger self – the group, and when this joins up and there is flowing collaboration, a synergy arises and the group performance is even greater, never quite explainable in terms of any individual performances.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Yes, yes! The whole can be greater than the sum of the parts when the individual offers their self-part to become part of the community, allowing it to self-organise, beyond their own individual ego. We freely flow into the community, and no one knows or cares who, at that moment is blowing the wind. Equally, we step out of that circle and sing our own tune – the community self-organises, and sometimes we individually self-organise.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Situations change, needs in communities and organisations change. Sometimes the lone voice is the only voice that needs to be heard. Sometimes the lone voice needs to quieten and listen to the circle. Sometimes a wonderful mess needs to ensue, a chaos for a while, sometimes it all needs to be neat.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Open Space Technology brings lots of individual selves together and – in a way born of natural genius – creates a market place for selves to address themselves to a community need, and also for a community need to manifest in individual, group and even whole circle endeavour. Open Space is a wonderful bridge between individual and collective self. When it is truly flowing self-organisation is both individual and whole. The dynamic is musical, and often akin to dance – as dance that can been seen both on the stage and under a microscope, or even out in the starry heavens.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>But sometimes the technology needs adapting. For a very good and important reason that, ironically, lies deep at the heart of self-organisation itself. This is because, although nature itself reveals its laws as timeless, one little experiment in nature appears to elude that repeating consistency. To quote Steiner again, we will only really begin to understand the human self when we realise that each human being is a unique species of one. Each of us is a new universe, a new emergent day, every single second. There is no technology that can fully hold the space for our emerging selves. Self-organisation then needs to flex, flow and emerge with our own emerging mystery. For Open Space to embody a warm, loving truth, it has to expose itself to … open space. Open Space cannot sit outside of the emergent mystery of uniqueness. It may prove itself for a while as fairly resilient. But then it becomes dogmatic, rusty, nostalgic and even a bit sad. Self-organising open space technology has to be able include re-organising its-self!<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>What are you scared of?<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Happy New Year,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Paul<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>_______________________________________________<br>OSList mailing list<br>To post send emails to <a href="mailto:OSList@lists.openspacetech.org">OSList@lists.openspacetech.org</a><br>To unsubscribe send an email to <a href="mailto:OSList-leave@lists.openspacetech.org">OSList-leave@lists.openspacetech.org</a><br>To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:<br><a href="http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org" target="_blank">http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><br><br clear=all><br>-- <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>"Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." ~ Saint Francis of Assisi<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>