Harrison, et al,

I'm enjoying reading the Power of Spirit for the first time; 62 pages in I found
something that's given me pause. If I interpret correctly, I believe that 
Harrison is
suggesting that the level of Spirit in a system is inversely proportional to 
the level of
structure. And as spirit is required to develop the wheel and structure is 
required to
mass-produce them cost-effectively for the marketplace, both have their place 
and neither
are necessary evils.

Rather than tire manufacture, however, my thoughts turned to marriages, and 
relationships
more generally. At least ideally, and in my experience, when two individuals 
meet ("fall
in love"), there's a lot of spirit present. As they move on to marriage, 
mortgage and
some other M-word that would finish this alliteration in a more polished manner,
structure creeps in. And, I would guess, spirit slowly (or quickly) oozes out.

I'm not pretending or suggesting that we turn into marriage counsellors; 
however I wonder
how the principles of Open Space might be applied to marriage (and I am not 
suggesting
Open Marriage, which might be my own clinging to past ways in spite of reality) 
to make
it a healthier institution. Marriage is indeed a complex adaptive system acting 
at the
very edge of chaos, particularly with half of all marriages failing. With more 
wealth (or
at least more credit) and more jobs available for both sexes, the preconditions 
for
staying within a marriage have changed, and the institution must adapt, or fall 
by the
wayside.

Not the biggest "AHA" of a lifetime, but surely a little one along the way (at 
least for
me). It gives me pause (as I sit at my desk in the midst of a 7,000 person 
corporation
which, I promise, has much more structure than spirit) to wonder how to 
re-inspirit a
variety of systems. A start-up company is very similar to a marriage, 
particularly in the
complexities of the interrelationships and the level of spirit present at the 
outset. As
the idea of moving bits of speech through wires moves from telegraph pole to 
satellite
broadband, something is both lost and gained along the way.

Marriages, and companies, often seek to go back to "the way things used to be." 
Which I
believe is impossible - things can't be the way they once were, they can only 
be the way
they might be - or perhaps the way they are already, if only we could more 
fully realize
the actuality of the way they are (a bit of Zen creeping in here).

Hmmm....that's a lot of text without any clear direction...if you get the sense 
of the
puzzle I'm staring at, and have any thoughts to offer, I'd be more than pleased 
to look
through them...in this marvellous open space that we keep available at all 
times.

Best wishes,
Phil

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