<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Harrison,<br>
<br>
I was going to ask you to say more about "High Play", but it was
easy to learn more about your ideas here with a quick google
search. From <a
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/Opening%20Space%20for%20The%20Question.htm">http://www.openspaceworld.com/Opening%20Space%20for%20The%20Question.htm</a>.
The emphasis is mine.<br>
<blockquote>High Play denotes the manner in which the people
involved approach their task – playfully. Quite often play is
understood to be a trivial incidental compared to the real
business of living. I think this is a profound error. Play for
me may be the most serious (important) of our many undertakings.
The importance of play derives from the fact that when we
experience reality in different and unexpected ways, <b>we seek
to understand (develop knowledge about) </b><b>our new
experience by telling likely stories, or in more formal terms,
creating theories</b>. We take the available evidence,
combined with our prior experience and try to construct
reasonable explanations for the newly observed phenomenon.
Almost inevitably our first attempts are flawed, and it is often
the case that there are as many theories (stories) as people
telling them. If everybody treats their version as the “gospel
truth” it is not long before the dead hand of dogma descends,
and the search for understanding degenerates into a fight
amongst ideologues. On the other hand, when people treat their
new adventure in a playful fashion, there may well be serious
competition, but there is also deep respect for the “opponents,”
and a real joy in the game. In Open Space it is very common to
see the game of knowledge building played with real skill and
enjoyment – even by people who have never done anything like
that before.<br>
</blockquote>
I really like the presence of "real joy in the game" of finding
the best likely stories (theories). I also love the value you
express for "deep respect for the 'opponents'".<br>
<br>
Game on!<br>
<br>
Harold<br>
<br>
<br>
On 1/11/14 11:58 AM, Harrison Owen wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:000401cf0eff$2c46a3b0$84d3eb10$@net"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered
medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Consolas;
panose-1:2 11 6 9 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:black;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:black;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Harold
– I like your last line,</span><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">
“If we can hold our theories in the same fashion as "a
likely story", maybe we'll start being able to tell better
stories (theories).” Actually, my words for this are High
Play. I’ve found that good theory building is best done
playfully, which does not make it a trivial activity, but it
does guard against dogmatism. Good theory, playfully
created, and playfully held is always open to revision – or
just plain discard. <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<br>
<br>
</span><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"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<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"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="www.openspaceworld.com%20"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">www.openspaceworld.com</span></a><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="www.ho-image.com%20"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">www.ho-image.com</span></a><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">
(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:</span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org"><span
style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas">http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org</span></a><span
style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<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";color:windowtext">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>
[<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org">mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Harold Shinsato<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, January 10, 2014 7:55 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> World wide Open Space Technology email list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [OSList] From linkedin today<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Harrison,<br>
<br>
It seemed like you were having a problem with
understanding when you wrote the following:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">"When
I was confronted with what was happening in Open Space (25
years ago) it made absolutely no sense to me at all. And
what makes no sense does not lend itself to understanding.
I “knew,” as did everybody else of my age, background and
training – that what seemed to be taking place in Open
Space simply could not happen. Organization was something
that we created, managed, and controlled."</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">There
are so many theoretical frameworks that have begun to
embody the more adaptive systems thinking required maybe
not to fully understand, but to start to improve our
models of organization not something as something we
impose - but something that we can nurture, cultivate, or
just open ourselves to experience.<br>
<br>
It seems like this thread has been about understanding
self-organization. I love that you brought something from
Quantum Mechanics that "somebody's formulation was good,
but not crazy enough to be true." This reminds me of the
Tao Te Ching. The Tao that can be spoken is not the true
Tao.<br>
<br>
It reminds me a lot of what you wrote in Spirit, and which
you mentioned in your TED talk. Story tellers don't tell
the truth. But in the story, truth emerges. Probably
between the words.<br>
<br>
If we can hold our theories in the same fashion as "a
likely story", maybe we'll start being able to tell better
stories (theories).<br>
<br>
Harold<br>
</span><br>
On 1/10/14 5:08 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Harold
– I have no problem with “understanding.” Good and useful
enterprise. Question is: Understanding of what? And in
what frame or context. I think we have come to a point
where we “understand” </span><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:#1F497D">J</span><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">
that there are multiple logics, each appropriate to
different senses of reality. Newtonian Physics really does
work. AND Quantum Mechanics was/is crazy. In fact one of
the framers of Quantum Mechanics (Heisenberg I think)
remarked that that somebody’s formulation was good, but
not crazy enough to be true. Or something. I think we may
be at a similar paradigm/shift point. We’ll see how it all
turn out.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Harold Shinsato<br>
<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com">harold@shinsato.com</a><br>
<a href="http://shinsato.com">http://shinsato.com</a><br>
twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/hajush">@hajush</a></div>
</body>
</html>