Harrison Owen wrote My friend Birgitt Williams appears to have some difficulty with the notion that organization, forming in Open Space, is in fact self-organization at work. Or in her words, "For me, the conscious Open Space Organization, as I understand it is not a self organizing system." And in answer to the question -- If not self-organization, then what -- she says, "Rather, a matrix or nutrient field is provided that is clearly bounded and ready to nurture whatever is created. The matrix then gets filled in by choices that are life nurturing or life depleting. The conscious Open Space Organizations is life nurturing rather than life depleting." All of which seems to me to be a rather nice description of self-organization at work. Be that as it may, it occurs to me that it might be useful to chat a bit about why I find the theory of self-organization so attractive, particularly in reference to the Open Space experience, either as event, or a continuing phenomenon.
First off, please note that it is the theory of self-organization. And theory is never to be confused with The Truth or The Facts. It's only theory. Harrison, For me, I am clear that the conscious Open Space Organization is not a self organizing system. IT IS MUCH MORE THAN THAT and I am as clear as I can be in my communications that the two for me, do not equal each other. I believe that Spirit is all that is, and that all is Spirit and that we are connected through Spirit. Spirit is powerful and active and there are infinite possibilities. For me, the conscious Open Space Organization includes self organization at work but is not limited to this definition as a definitive description (or even theory) of either Open Space Technology or the conscious Open Space Organization. Spirit is much more than that. You may see it as useful to use the theory of self organizing systems to explain what happens within Open Space Technology. I see it as limiting and a disservice to the wholeness of Open Space Technology. The effect we have as facilitators working with energy is very influential in both the Open Space Technology meeting and the conscious Open Space Organization. The matrix I referred to is not a pre-condition only but also an ongoing and active ingredient. This is work with energy, with the unseen, with Spirit. Deeply powerful and non-visible. And the facilitator holding space influences the self organizing behavior that is part of the Open Space Technology meeting. I do not believe that there is such a thing as a self organizing SYSTEM. I do think there is self organizing behavior. I do not believe that there is such a thing as a system. I believe systems are illusions, human constructs. We are all one in Spirit. Harrison, I have huge respect for you as you know. And we both know from about a decade of conversations and debates between us, that we have different perspectives. I think you would be both surprised and disappointed if I agreed with you. Over the years, you taught opening space for Spirit to show up. I taught opening space to work with Spirit that is present everywhere always. You taught that organizations are shifting from proactive to interactive and eventually if all goes well to the state of inspired. You taught that with use of Open Space Technology organizations could make that leap from pro-active to interactive. I taught that the inspired organization is always present, exists NOW. The inspired organization simply needs to be uncoveredto get the barriers to accessing Spirit out of the way. I called this the Open Space Organization, and over the last few years as my own learning has evolved, the conscious Open Space Organization. And then of course was the huge debate we had for years regarding givens. I remember when I introduced the importance of givens as essential for working with Open Space Technology, you responded by saying that with givens I was going to ruin Open Space Technology. I still stand behind my belief and experience that it is through clear definition of the givens that we define where the degrees of freedom really are rather than where they are assumed to be. The givens create the matrix (or womb) for the OST meeting to take place. And now we see the importance of the theory of self organizing systems differently. It is not a matter of me not understanding, simply a matter of my view of Spirit with Open Space Technology and the conscious Open Space Organization, my experience with Spirit and my love relationship with Spirit. All of this for me minimizes the importance of the self organizing system theory. I am informed based on my background in the healing arts and my journey with Spirit. Blessings, Birgitt