when I was 17 and 18 and in my first year of college I used to prepare
surprises for people I knew and people I would never meet, surprises
which might or might not surprise.. or might not even be noticed. For
example:
* I bought a case of ruby red grapefruit, painted hearts and messages
on them for valentines day and left them for friends to find.
* I drew elaborate cartoon scenes in chalk on classroom chalkboards
late at night, just so the first class of the day would be
surprised, and wonder.
* I'd write little funny notes with pictures and hide them in unusual
places, like taped to the underside of a table just so that the kind
of person who might be looking in a strange place would find them.
Setting up surprises was such fun.. - Like a letter in a bottle. Setting
up a cause, and then letting go of the eventual effect/non-effect.
Spending time and care crafting extravagantly hopeful, disposable
messages. That seems to have the flavor of open space to me.
"Modern Times" are purposeful. Efficiency, Getting Things Done. And yet
in nature, for example in evolution, there is waste and extravagance -
hundreds of seeds - one germinates. Many mutations fail before one
succeeds. Amazingly, the gorgeous diversity of life on earth came about
without a to-do list. Without the use of Microsoft Project.
I am a newcomer to open space, but I believe that these days there is
too much sensible sense, and not enough senseless sense. We spend too
much time repeating the small futures we know how to control, and not
enough time cultivating trust - preparing the soil for a surprisingly
gorgeous future to grow of its own accord.
On 4/4/2012 1:11 PM, Harrison Owen wrote:
This was just a "throw away" when it popped out of my mouth, as I
recall. But it lived on in part because of its nonsensical sense,
possible impossibility -- or some such thing. Maybe something like
"the sound of one hand clapping?"
ho
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 20854
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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*From:*oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] *On Behalf Of *Harold
Shinsato
*Sent:* Wednesday, April 04, 2012 12:39 PM
*To:* osl...@openspacetech.org
*Subject:* [OSList] How to prepare to be surprised?
Searching through the archives there were many many postings about "be
prepared to be surprised". But "How to be prepared to be surprised"
returned 0.
Any tips on how to prepare? It came up as a question today for me in
conversation with someone - and I can't believe I've never thought
about it before. How do you prepare to be surprised? Any thoughts, tips?
Thanks!
Harold
--
Harold Shinsato
har...@shinsato.com <mailto:har...@shinsato.com>
http://shinsato.com
twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
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--
Shanna Leonard
s...@email.arizona.edu
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