At 07:58 PM 10/16/2002 -0400, Winston wrote:
One challenge for me was the presence of a group "guru" with a large controlling streak who claimed "seigniorial rights" on several occasions, kind of like "space invader lite". For example during the opening after the principles and law had been reviewed, she interrupted to declare to the circle: "during MY breakouts, nobody will be allowed in after we start, and if anyone wants to leave they will be asked to explain why, and also to say goodbye". The interesting thing is that she had obviously already earned the respect and honour of the participants, many of whom came to the conference to learn from her. So on the one hand she was sometimes disruptive of the process, since some (not all) folks were hesitant to go against her "amendment" to the Law and so fussed or complained about her controlling behaviour instead, while on the other she was important to the process as one of the key dispensers of (putative) wisdom... an interesting polarity I had not personally observed (in Open Space) before.
I would guess this makes the point that it is not about the "purity of the process" but rather about the desires of the group. The 4 Principles and The Law are (so far as I am concerned) only statements of fact as opposed to prescriptions of behavior. People then have to choose.
A question that arose from the nature of the group is perhaps more interesting. In a number of the breakouts (not necessarily the guru's), there were real-time and intimate experiential exercises, as is in the nature of Focusing. In those situations, it sincerely felt to some participants as if there should be no "bumblebeeing" allowed since it could not only disrupt the process "en cours", but potentially cause damage to a vulnerable psyche in what I will choose to call a therapeutic situation.
I have had this situation on a number of occasions. Folks can say whatever they want. And people will do whatever they do. What seems to work best is invitation and request -- as opposed to dictates. So, I have seen folks say "we are going to do a process. It will be confusing if people come and go, so I ASK that if you choose to come, come for the beginning -- and if you choose to leave, please do it quietly and don't come back." Seems to work. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, MD 20854 USA phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm 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
