It’s always a pleasure to read your stuff, whether contrarian or simply more
deeply illuminating (and those are usually the same).
Please don’t duck for cover. It’s harder to find you to give you a pat on the
back and a shake of the hand.
:-)
Chris
> On Jun 26, 2015, at 5:00 AM, paul levy via OSList
> <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> Harrison
>
> I do like this little phrase "organising - all by itself"
>
> I've wondered, via this list, before: what is this "self" that organises?
>
> When, I stand, as a self (called Paul) and behold the world process (in which
> I stand) - I stand apart as the beholder, but also behold the wonder that I
> am part of that world process as well.
>
> Apart and belonging. the universe seems to have within it, an ability to
> behold its-self. (Itself - Its self)
>
> Here's a poem I wrote a while back, in a little book called The Poetry of
> Change:
>
> Cleft...
>
> Like a cleft stick
> You are no longer
> Whole
> See?
> Yet even
> Whole
> You were ripped from
> A tree.
>
> It's easy to forget that the ability to behold self-organisation and to share
> it so eloquently on this list, as Harrison does, requires a self to behold it
> (and to know it is a self doing the beholding). When we behold
> self-organisation, we necessarily behold ourselves at the same time.
> Self-organisation is an act of self organisation (not the lack of a hyphen in
> the second one). Organisation is beautiful and the distaste for it is silly
> and pointless. Because organisation and self-organisation are one and the
> same thing.
>
> There is a form of organisation however where the self imposes its
> temporarily separate will onto other selves and, in the process forgets
> itself. It forgets that it is part of the system it is imposing its will
> upon. There can be many reasons for this which I won't go into here. When one
> or more selves forget they are part of the thing they are imposing their will
> on, the whole system can go into a state of suffering because it temporarily
> loses its wholeness. This can happen in a conference when a small group of
> selves impose an agenda on the whole "self" of the community. The smaller
> group of selves have temporarily attempted to place themselves outside of the
> whole system of which they are always a part.
>
> When we use open space technology, we restore the wholeness of the system by
> allowing each self to act both separately and together in the world-process.
> There's a harmony because both beholder and beholded come closer together and
> even show themselves as the same thing. The circle represents its well. It
> feels like a remembering (Re-membering - we put the "whole body" back on
> again).
>
> What's beautiful about open space is when each of our separate selves gets up
> and temporarily acts as if it is separate from the world-self. "i want to
> lead a session on" or "I use my my two feet" or "I become a butterfly. Not
> the world temporary. Control is often benevolent when it is transient asnd
> temporary.
>
> In Open Space, these passing acts of separate self ('lovely selfishness' I
> call it) are very close to the experience of whole self-organisation -
> because the circle is strong - self and Self are very close together in a
> kind of playful dance.
>
> Also self and Self are close together in Time. We are creating the agenda as
> selves and as a collective SELF in an improvisational way. Improvisation is
> the way the universe breathes and moves.
>
> In a traditional conference, those little acts of each self (cooking up the
> agenda way in advance) becomes separated in time from the agenda that is
> experienced together (as a together-self). We act as if our little selves are
> separate from the whole. We try to act UPON the system from outside instead
> of IN the system. Here organisation becomes something in which selves role
> play being separate. There is no circle. The universe if "over there." At
> best we hold the whole circle or community in imagination.
>
> The day of the conference arrives. If there is energy, self-organisation
> manifests anyway and the conversations happen in the coffee breaks. Even in
> open space events, where we create the agenda on the day, the conversations
> happen in the coffee breaks. we even create our own extra or different coffee
> breaks outside the formal timings, using our two feet.
>
> Oh no. I beg to differ. Self-organisation doesn't happen all by itself.
> Self-organisation happens out of itself. And itself is a beautiful thing.
> Self-organisation is a process of ORGANISATION. In the human realm it happens
> as an act of synchronous improvisation. We organise and we control but we
> just do it closer to the moment and out of an experience of the whole.
> Temporary, separate "selfishness" becomes synonymous with play. Individuality
> and Community weave a lemiscate pattern.
>
> Each individual self acts both separately and collectively all of the time.
>
> The universe was made so that human beings could self-organise it.
>
> (Dives for cover)
>
> Paul Levy
>
>
>
>
> On 24 June 2015 at 18:46, Harrison via OSList <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
> <mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
> Come this 4th of July it will be 30 years since something called Open Space
> Technology happened. At the time, we (that would be me, for sure) didn’t have
> a clue what it was or where it was headed. Since then it seems like a lot of
> good stuff has come down. Of course we need to remember the learnings from
> the ‘60’s – “Never trust anyone over 30.” Well... we just got there!
> Everybody should be well advised that what happens next is TOTALLY their
> responsibility... Or something.
>
>
>
> What happens next is definitely your responsibility. Having entered into my
> 80th year, I am well past the age of discretion. But I do have a few thoughts
> that may, or may not, be germane.
>
>
>
> I don’t think this is the end of something. I do believe it is the beginning.
> And... There will always be a time when “the first timers” (as participants
> or facilitators) gets the WOW Experience (Thank you Tom Peters). Kind of like
> the first ride on your bicycle. Millions of people have done it before you.
> But your First Ride is always unique (for you).
>
>
>
> There will always be times when bits and pieces of our common experience in
> Open Space are held out as “singularities” – something strange and unique.
> The latest version is called, “Liberating Structures (Thank you Henri!).”
> Wonderful Idea, I think, but just a very small part of the whole.
>
>
>
> And for all those wonderful people who are attempting to wed Open Space to
> Agile (Dan et al you know who I am talking about) – I say Three Cheers! And I
> also hope that the day will come when it is recognized that truly Agile
> organization are fully, consciously, intentionally – self organizing. At that
> point, you don’t have to wed anything to anything. Just be what you already
> are. Which is another way of saying that SCRUM (along with all the other
> “techniques”) sound nice, but are yet one more example of “working too hard.”
>
>
>
> And What Next? Truly, I am out of crystal balls. But I rather think the
> beginning will begin when we call “Full Stop” on any attempt to organize
> anything. And in that momentary space (Open Space?) just notice what is
> organizing all by itself. Amazing! And we didn’t do a thing. Which leads
> naturally to the next question... How do we take advantage of the winds of
> our existence to bring our ships to harbors of fullness and greatness?
>
>
>
> And then we may take a lesson from Sailors and the Sea. Sailors do not create
> the wind or the Sea. Although many have tried. All have failed. But they have
> learned to ride the winds and the seas to their advantage. We have the same
> opportunity.
>
>
>
> On this 30th Birthday, and as I approach my 80th – Good Luck and Carry On!
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Winter Address
>
> 7808 River Falls Drive
>
> Potomac, MD 20854
>
> 301-365-2093 <tel:301-365-2093>
>
>
> Summer Address
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave.
>
> Camden, ME 04843
>
> 207-763-3261 <tel:207-763-3261>
>
>
> Websites
>
> www.openspaceworld.com <http://%20www.openspaceworld.com/>
> www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com/>
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