Learning to expand our NOWThen, we better go to these countries :...Indonesia,
venezuela, netherlands or spain...to be more in the "endless,eternal now"
----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Wallman
To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 11:23 AM
Subject: Learning to expand our NOW
Harrison
I agree with the fragmentation of past, present and future - i think it is
particularly evident in the US. I just pulled out my Trompenaars - "Riding the
Waves of Culture" and looked up the chapter on Time. In it he has some
interesting Venn diagrams of individual cultural interpretations of time. These
show the extent of overlap and the relative importance of each aspect of time.
The intention is to give guidance to people doing business in these cultures.
If his research is correct it is clearly not just Western countries or
influences, eg Russia, China, Netherlands and USA seem to be among the most
fragmented, France, Malaysia, South Korea and Venezuela among the least. I am
fascinated by what drivers would produce these differences - language? culture?
history? media? And perhaps this has changed since 1993 when the book was
written?
And the biggest NOWs (ie presents relative to pasts and futures) - Indonesia,
Venezuela, Netherlands and Spain!!
Will read your book to illuminate myself further,
Peter
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 08:10:15 -0400
From: Harrison Owen <hho...@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Learning to Expand our NOW
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Peter - I think it is probably fair to say that for most folks on planet
Earth the understanding of the Present (NOW) is much closer to (if not the same
as) the Japanese. Only in the West (or western influenced) areas do you get the
radical disassociation of past, present and future. This has many interesting
effects, not the least of which is our rather interesting view of History as
something over and done with. Of course this understanding creates jobs for
Historians who "study the dead past." Might it not be better to concentrate on
the living present (NOW)? I am not a psychotherapist (although I may need one)
- but this fragmentation of time represents a distinct disadvantage, I think.
Perhaps it is even pathological. Over the 20 years of The Open Space experiment
it has occurred to me that one of the major impacts of being consciously in
Open Space is that the deep fissures between the Present and the Past and
Future are somehow overcome. Past and future are all included, and are
experienced, I believe, as seamlessly existent in the present moment. Many
people don't notice this, and some who do are quite perplexed - but I think it
is a healing moment. I guess that is why I described Open Space as "Expanding
our Now" in a book of the same title.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland 20845
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
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Peter
Wallman
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 11:49 PM
To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
Subject: Re: Learning to Expand our NOW
Hi
This is my first post on this list although i have been listening for some
time. I am based in Sydney and am an occasional open space facilitator.
this wonderful idea reminds me of a Japan Australia dialogue i attended
about a decade ago in which i was playing the role of the rapporteur. the topic
was 'responsibilities to future generations' and was sponsored by the Japanese
Foundation for Future Generations which ,by the way, was one of the major
sponsors of the NGO part of the Rio Earth Summit.
There were representatives from heritage, environment, business, media etc
- an incredibly rich dialogue ensued but after a while it became obvious that
we were talking about different ideas of past, present and future. I remember
vividly one of the Japanese describing the 'present' in Japanese as meaning '
the dynamic domain in which the past and the future interact' - so it seems to
me that we have something to learn from this.
Peter Wallman
+61 2 9882 3196
PO Box 7103 McMahons Pt NSW 2060 Australia
pe...@passionmaps.com
www.passionmaps.com
"The figure whose attitude best expresses the passion
that moves it is most worthy of praise."
.....Leonardo da Vinci
Ah -- Funda. Let me reveal a mystery to you. You just can't get away from
NOW. It is all you have! Past is over, future hasn't happened yet. What you
got is NOW. And the only question (at least for me) is how big is your NOW?
If it is a tiny little "now" desperation quickly sets in. How are you going
to get everything (you want to do) squeezed into this anorexic (pathetically
thin) now? You can't! And the more you try the worse it gets.
But there is an alternative. Just make your NOW BIGGER! It may sound a
little weird, but with some effort (not to be confused with work), NOW
becomes big enough to include what we call the Past and also the Future. The
Past, with all of its richness of experience (including the pain) is always
available. And the Future is not some far off thing -- but dreams coming
into focus NOW. For me it is a matter of opening my (personal) space. You
can do this in all sorts of ways, but (I hate to say it) Visualization can
help! :-)
Harrison
--
Peter Wallman
+61 2 9882 3196
PO Box 7103 McMahons Pt NSW 2060 Australia
pe...@passionmaps.com
www.passionmaps.com
"The figure whose attitude best expresses the passion
that moves it is most worthy of praise."
.....Leonardo da Vinci
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