Everything, it seems, depends on context. The word 'right' in the principle 'whoever comes are the right people' is not the least bit judgmental to me, it is a consicous embrace of who is present in the moment. . . and a conscious embrace of who is present in the moment embraces those who were invited and felt like coming AND it embraces those who invited themselves and it embraces someone who stumbled in without a clue that they were even showing up at anything.
I was just telling a friend today that I have had a lifelong experience of finding myself inwardly called to do certain work or participate in certain movements only to be shunned aside because I needed an invitation. I have been treated as NOT one of the right people way much too much. "Whoever comes are the right people" radically embraces and values whoever shows up; this principle radically trusts that even the traditionally excluded are the right people. . . IN THE MOMENT. I know that none of my experiences are unique to me. The principle 'whoever shows up are the right people' leads me to ask myself, all the time as part of my inner practice, who else would/could/should/might have something to contribute that I didn't think to invite. We don't know what the world would look like if everyone trusted in each moment that the persons in front of them or the persons-seeking-to-be-in-front-of-them-even-without-an-invitation and there are no simple, perfect principles that apply to everything all the time. But I am resolutely certain that this single principle of open space could transform human existence. There would be a lot of chaos if everyone adopted this approach instantly. . . but that would be OK because whatever happened is the only thing that could or should. Lately, I have become increasingly aware of invitation-only events. I am especially confused when people who present themselves to the world as being on the edge of evolution actually convene initation-only events to discuss evolution/emergence/consciousness. Riffing just a bit off the word 'evolution', I am wondering what Darwin would have found in the Galapagos Islands if nature had convened an invitation-only evolutionary path which excluded the possibility for the right animal-and-plant life-forms. How can the right people show up at important conversations if there is no intention to embrace the occasional butterfly? Thanks for your thoughts, Paul. I disagree with what you wrote about 'right' being judgmental in this principle. . . . but, hey, it's all good for me. * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist