Hello dear friends: [In the first draft of this post, I began with a parenthesis (strange way of beginning), about today being a holiday in Portugal, but it got too big and has been removed to a PS... But before it was removed it degenerated in a second parenthesis about "metanoia" that I have decided to maintain here as it acts as a sort of "preface" to the main points below. Probably it should be a conclusion and not an introduction, but here it goes.
When Paul first used the word "metanoia", he was not talking mainly about what he has felt in a certain moment in the "Damascus road". He was talking about a long-lasting change of mind (or paradigm shift) that he could no longer deny from that moment on...The important point is not what he saw (or not) in that particular moment in that road. The important point is that, later, he was no longer a persecutor of Christians, but a Christian himself and, some would say, the greatest of them all - at least the most prolific if we consider the many epistles he wrote (the epistles being the posts of the time, I suspect). And I dont think that he believed that "whatever happens is what could have". He felt a personal responsibility for promoting and organizing what he began to believe (passion and responsibility, we would say)... After that moment he became the real stone ("pedra" in Portuguese) for the Church - whose effects we are still suffering - pedophile bishops, criminal politicians talking about the other's "evil", to give only two examples. Nobody is perfect, not even him. Paul, I mean. Now that I have captured (or lost) your attention, let's begin]. I think that for one to understand my "revisitation" of "it always works" and the dialogue that unfolded, but also, and even more important, for one to understand the OS community of practice, we have to analyze the three different levels that are present (but sometimes hidden) when we talk about OS. The first is OST. For me, OST is a "meeting methodology". We have foundations of OST (the circle, the breath, the market place, the board, the law, etc); we have principles (that some believe that are not so important as others believe, and could very well be included in the "one less thing" to use). We have "tales" and stories, we have a tradiction (in relation which some other views - like the one I expressed above - can be considered an "heresy"), we have space for diversity and even heresies (I hope), and we have a rich sharing going-on on this list (that, by the way, is called OSLIST and not OST-list). OST has a history of some years and generally it is a success history. This success history is spreading all over the world and among many cultures - even if it can be considered, as I will refer in a later post, that it is still too much "American oriented" - which is probably not the fault of anyone, but resulted from the circumstances of the past, and even - unfortunately, in my opinion - of the present. When we claim that "it always works", and why it works, we are normally speaking of OST. Many discussions on self-organization refer to the self-organization of an OST event, and the marvelous post from Julie is clearly speaking of an event, namely when she referred repeatedly to the NOW. [It is interesting to note that the NOW of an OST has a duration in time - in a three day event there is a NOW in the beginning, another in the end and many others as the time flows through the event - or the event flows through time, if you prefer] The second is OSO. I am using "O" for Organization even if that includes Companies, Government organizations, NGOs but also Communities. With this acronym I am referring to organizations and communities that use OST and other close related methods as their "normal" way of being, living and leading. Speaking of an OSO is NOT a heresy. In the User's Guide, Harrison explicitly referred to OSOs as something that eventually would come "Next", and would need some research. And if I understand English well enough (which I doubt) "next" means "later". I don't know (can someone help?) if he referred to that in the 1st edition, but he surely referred in the second, in 1997. So, and giving the fact that we are living in 2003, six years LATER in relation with 1997, I think it is a legitimate question to ask if there are some OSOs out there, and what kind of practice and research is being conducted in that domain. In other words, as it was said in the Portuguese-Mozambiquian poem I offered to Joelles poetry session in Berlin, one may question if THE FUTURE IS NOW. And it is also, IMHO, legitimate and important that in this list we have not only a dialogue and a sharing of stories and advises on OST, but also on OSOs; and that we try to collect stories and tales on OSOs as we once did (and still do) with OST events. This is exactly what is analyzed in the very interesting article that Peggy authored with Anne Stadler, available in the link Peggy sent us, where there is a reflection about 3 real organizations that they have considered to be close to OSOs or "emergent organizations". See http://www.opencirclecompany.com/BookStarter-EmergentOrganizations.htm That is also the case of the Universities that are approaching OS concepts that Larry and Kerry referred. I consider those cases especially important as, from my experience, I would expect Universities to be the last type of Organizations to become OSOs (or, for that matter, learning organizations)... And lastly, there are some of us who think that OS concepts will have in the future a larger role in society at large and hope for the coming of an OSW (world). And not only hope. As I think that values matter, I feel an obligation to give my contribution NOW for a better world in the future. After all, as the poet says: "the future is now". That also means, that when I facilitate an OST event for an organization or community it is easy for me to not be concerned with outcomes, and consider that "whatever happens is what could have" (for that organization and if the space is really open). After all we are talking about the self-organization of that organization. But when we are talking about the world I think that each one of us has a responsability as a part of the world and humanity and not only as an OST practitioner working for some client. That is also the reason, why I dont think "whatever happens is what could have" to be a general law of the world or a general principle of Spirit. On the contrary, in a world where so many of us refuse to fight for a better and Open World, letting the playfield free for those that pollute the earth, but also the bodies and hearts of the citizens of the world, I think that using at this level the "whatever happens is what could have" is dangerous and, sorry for saying that, even irresponsible. Best regards Artur PS: [I must inform you that today is holiday in Portugal - and as I am not working today, I could re-read the last few messages and links and I will try to answer to some of them. This is an "introduction" to other posts - or to a big one. The bad news is that I will have time for some messages or a big one... Sorry about that... The good news is that you are not obliged to read neither this post nor the following ones and that there are NOT many holidays in Portugal... By the way, this day is called "Day of Portugal" or "Day of Camoes" as it commemorates the decease of the poet Camões, in 10/June/1580, Camões being considered the greatest Portuguese poet - a "holy" poet, for sure... As I am in the middle of a parenthesis, maybe you forgive me for two other comments. I find it very abnormal that one comemorates the decease (and not the birth) of someone... And it is even more strange that this is considered the "Day of Portugal", instead of that day being the day of independence, in 1128 (for those who prefer the facts) or 1143 (for the ones who prefer the external recognition of the facts.). Curiously enough, 1580 is also the beginning of a 60-year period where Portugal has been submitted to the kingdom of Castilla (there was no "Spain" yet, by that time) but the 1/December - of 1640 - is called the "Restoration Day" and not the day of Portugal. If someone wants to understand something about the Portuguese way of feeling - also called "fado" - you must take in account that the day of Portugal coincides with Portugal being dominated by others - not yet the new Empire that dominates us all, but an old one. So in Portugal - as some of you have already understood - we always value the bad news more then the good ones... Also, from the date of the Portuguese independence you can understand that we belong to the "old Europe" (the oldest, indeed) but unfortunately no one seems to have told that to our Bushian prime minister. I hope some of you consider this a good introduction to OSW. But never mind, the parenthesis is about to be closed. Now - not later. Or is it that the "now" that I am writing NOW is already later than the first one I wrote?]. * * ========================================================== 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