At 12:49 04-10-2001, Harrison Owen wrote:
Artur -- and anybody else -- I think it is always import to remember (at least for me) that OST was the product of two Martinis, born out of frustration by way of a joke. That it is powerful, I cannot deny. And I confess to a certain pride of discovery -- not invention.
My claim was even less, Harrison; I have only called you the "initiator" ;-)
However, at the end of the day it remains, in my mind, a simple vehicle to a much more profound and prior reality: The Power of Self-Organization. There is no magic in OST. And I am pretty sure there is no magic in Self-Organization, although for those of us who believe (or hope) that we or somebody did the organizing (is in charge) perhaps it looks like magic.
I agree with that. And I would also include those that think that they "will do" the organizing/reorganizing. But...
So by all means, let's go as deeply as we can to understand the primal realities of our world. God knows, some deep thinking would be helpful at the moment.
isn't there a contradition? Does He knows? I mean, is He "in charge"? (Maybe He is the one who always give us "the givens"...) No need to answer. Only an inocent joje ;-) Now coming to some of my real concerns
And I think when we go a little deeper we will discover that OST is just what it started out being -- a funny thing that happened along the way to our future -- the product of two Martinis, born out of frustration by way of a joke.
Ok, you wrote that before, and you are repeating it here. And you must know about the subject more than I do (namely, the effect of two Martinis on you...) But if we have to take you seriously about that, I wonder why a lot of people (and sometimes even you...) don't take so seriously the fact that you wrote: "As advertised, there are four principles and one law. They are important to the Open Space, BUT NEVER TO BE TAKEN WITH TOTAL SERIOUSNESS" (page 95; capitals are mine). Are the pinciples the main reason why OST works (I mean, are they real "principles") as it it stated in the chapter on OST of Senge's "The Dance of Change" (to mention only that)? Or the foundation of OST is elsewhere? Maybe the Circle, the Boletim Board, the Market place; a Theme for which people care (and when we say that there is no pre-defined Agenda, but we don't mention there is a Theme, things look VERY different from what they are); the combination of plenary sessions and breakout ones; the suspension of quotidian rules (that to be suspended must be replaced by some others, one must not take "with total seriousness"), and the Law (from which many other things are derived)? I have facilitated 4 OST events until now (I will talk about that to the list later). Three were done "by the book". In the last one, I decided to apply your principle "less is more!". And, apart from the Theme and the Buletin Board) , I had only two signs: the law and "be prepared to de surprised". I have mentioned the 4 principles as "some other points you eventually would like to pay attention -- two that are about time (...) and the other two I don't know very well what they are about, but He (you) always mentions them (...)". It worked exactly like the others (better than one of the others but that as a different explanation...). Any comments? And now what? Any suggestions for my next experiment? Best wishes Artur PS: by the way, I have told participants - if you buy and read "the book", you have, according to the Author, all the "certification" that you need to BEGIN using OST, and you can use OSLIST as a resource. On the next time, I will try to have one more half-day to do an "OS on OS" after the "real OS". And that is all for training, from me... PPS: I have not changed the thread as it continues to be ok. Only the meaning of "moving" has slightly changed... * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
