<div dir="ltr">Ah yes, the necessary positive and negative charges - they show up on many levels of life/living process. When out of balance they seek to find a way to move back towards symmetry. (directional symmetry, therefore oscillatory processes) And what might be the reason? Coherence seeking might be one idea, a mixing of all possibility (a still point of peace/loving?) so that it might begin to act out from that coherence towards new becoming events, expanding through ever greater integration that keeps folding back on itself, (fractals) Patterns show up notice? Whew isn't this life amazing? <br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Apr 10, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Daniel Mezick <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dan@newtechusa.net" target="_blank">dan@newtechusa.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
I am enjoying this discussion as a spectator. OSLIST for the vast
majority is, after all, a spectator sport. <br>
<br>
Thanks to each of for adding to the richness of the discourse on
this. Now I am attracted enough into the conversation, attracted
enough to say something.<br>
<br>
Here it is: The flip side of attraction is repulsion. <br>
<br>
What's very attractive to some is repulsive to others, and vice
versa. This plays out in fractal terms across the (self-organizing)
universe. <br>
<br>
"Fields" of attraction and repulsion are extremely commonplace. Is
Open Space simply taking what is, and making it explicit?<br>
<br>
"
In everyday life, magnetic fields are most often encountered <i>as
an invisible force</i>..."<br>
<br>
"...
<i>Energy is needed </i>to generate a magnetic field both to work
against the electric field that a changing magnetic field creates
and <i>to change the magnetization of any material within the
magnetic field. </i><br>
<br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_field</a><div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>On 4/9/14 10:40 PM, <a href="mailto:chris.corrigan@gmail.com" target="_blank">chris.corrigan@gmail.com</a>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>I’m a little late to this and see that other threads have spun out but I have a thought or two.
Containers - social containers - are absolutely essential to any level of order. Without something to contain the chaos you simply have chaos. Order arises when there is coherence. The coherence inside a container is different from the coherence or the chaos outside a container. The place where this transition happens is the boundary. The boundary may be permeable to various degrees but it is certainly real.
As to how the boundary is created, I think my experience says that it is socially constructed. It can be influenced by many actions - including intention, invitation, the nature of the shared culture within the container, and the action that is undertaken. Open Space facilitators become helpful when we can work with this container.
How do you do that? In my experience, the most powerful and generative containers are those that gather around a centre, rather that those that are contained by a boundary.
In practical terms what this looks like is simple: drop a powerful invitation into the centre of a group (passion and urgency) and a group will coalesce around that and “fall in together.” Your other option is to create a fence and gather people up and put them inside it. This is much more work and rarely effective. You have a container, but you also have a prison.
When life gathers around a powerful centre you are invoking a pattern that is replicated at many scales all through the natural world from galaxies to atoms. The Milky Way is not a THING by virtue of someone maintaining a fence around it; it is a thing by virtue of proximity to it’s centre. Same with an atom. Same with social containers formed around invitation.
the Open Space facilitator’s job I think is to pay deep attention to the the centre of the work and to support a co-holding of thet centre with the calling team for whom the work is really important. When you start making rules about who is in and who is out, you are really getting lost in container making. When you create just the right invitation, you feed the hunger for togetherness, work and creativity that is essential for Open Space - and any other generative, complex and self-organizing process - to thrive.
Chris
On Apr 3, 2014, at 9:01 AM, Harrison Owen <a href="mailto:hhowen@verizon.net" target="_blank"><hhowen@verizon.net></a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>It has been common for us to speak of Containers and Boundaries as somehow
essential to Open Space. I can't quite find the place, but I do remember
saying something like that myself, as in, "The role of the facilitator is to
create the container..." It certainly made sense at the time, but I always
felt a little uncomfortable with the image. Too mechanical, coercive... too
something. And Michael has brought the subject up again. "So...here we have
a situation where the 'boundaries' are actually in a state of complex flux
and uncertainty. The financial 'givens' are ambiguous; there is no 'locum'
pastor in place because of legal uncertainties with the existing
pastor...etc." You might call it "messy boundaries" -- and he raises the
question whether one should press ahead with Open Space, or wait until the
"mess" is settled down. On the one hand, Michael "hunches" that one should
press on -- Open Space. But his hesitation comes, I suspect, from the prior
notion that fixed boundaries/containers are necessary for an effective Open
Space. What to do?
Some thoughts (new ones for me): Containers are great for cooking soup, but
are unneeded and maybe even problematical in Open Space. It is all about
holding things together. In Open Space groups of people come together to
deal with their issues. At the very least that would mean gathering in some
common time/space, be that physical or electronic. It would seem that this
co-location could be facilitated were some suitable "container" provided,
presumably by the sponsor/facilitator. This certainly makes sense, and as a
rough way of speaking, it seems to describe what is going on. But as I think
about it, I think we may be missing a most important point. Coming together
in Open Space happens because people care to come. And they continue their
connection as long as they care to do so. (Law of two feet)
>From the "outside" it might look as if they were held in place by a
container, but that is illusory. The actual dynamics are centripetal, the
force is mutual attraction... people are "there" because they care to be
there and not because they are contained by some external structure. In a
word, we as facilitators really don't do a thing, and creating a container
is the least of what we DON'T do. The people, from the beginning, do it all.
Of course, there are situations where groups come together under orders,
mandates, whatever. And they are definitely "contained." It is also true
that the tighter that container, the less likely self organization will take
place. If true, providing a container is not only unnecessary but also
destructive. In the name of Opening space, we effectively close it. Or so I
suspect it might be. Just thinking...
Anyhow Michael, should my mental peregrinations lead anywhere useful, it
would seem that your "hunch" was spot on. Forget the boundaries/container.
Just invite the space to open.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
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-----Original Message-----
From: <a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>
[<a href="mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">mailto:oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>] On Behalf Of Michael Wood
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 9:59 PM
To: '<a href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a>'
Subject: [OSList] Open Space and boundaries
A Case Study....
One of the principles that I have generally worked with in Open Space is
helping the client get clear on the 'boundaries' of the space that's being
opened. For example, helping people who come into the space to know 'what up
for grabs here and what isn't? What decisions have already been made?'
So picture this (purely hypothetical of course)....a church community in
which the pastor has (in many peoples' opinion) run off the rails and the
main church body is in the process of trying to dismiss him; the church is
in compete disarray and completely conflict ridden, many people have left;
the pastor who holds all the keys, banking passwords; church telephone
connections etc etc, has taken legal advice and had hunkered down in the
church owned house where he continues to hold the reigns of power (via some
of his 'allies' in the church) despite not formally being the Pastor of the
church anymore....
So...here we have a situation where the 'boundaries' are actually in a state
of complex flux and uncertainty. The financial 'givens' are ambiguous; there
is no 'locum' pastor in place because of legal uncertainties with the
existing pastor...etc etc.
So in terms of 'Opening Space', do we wait a bit longer until some of the
legal boundaries are clarified, OR open space right away in the midst of the
mess....my hunch is the latter, but any thoughts from anyone?
Cheers
Michael
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</div></div><div>-- <br>
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