unsubscribe info pls In friendship, Robin
On 24 Nov 2012, at 21:04, oslist-requ...@lists.openspacetech.org wrote: > Send OSList mailing list submissions to > oslist@lists.openspacetech.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > oslist-requ...@lists.openspacetech.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > oslist-ow...@lists.openspacetech.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of OSList digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? (JL Walker) > 2. The Joys of Grief -- With Thanks to Harold (Harrison Owen) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:39:47 -0300 > From: "JL Walker" <jlwal...@terra.cl> > To: "'World wide Open Space Technology email list'" > <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> > Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? > Message-ID: <009901cdc9e4$99573c50$cc05b4f0$@cl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > I also think is a beautiful poem Mikk that as you have said has emerged > naturally, and from my part I have received the original just in time. All > of that is a real gift! > > Thanks, > > Juan Luis > > > > De: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org > [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] En nombre de Mikk Sarv > Enviado el: viernes, 23 de noviembre de 2012 17:59 > Para: Artur Silva; World wide Open Space Technology email list > Asunto: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? > > > > Dear Artur, > > > > I haven't seen it on OS list either, I don't know why. Sometimes it just > happens with my e-mails to list. :-( > > I am lucky that at least some people can receive and spread them. > > With this message I actually did not intended to make a poem, I wrote what I > thought. But reading it over now - it is really like a poem! > > Thank you and Koos and Doug for nice words! I am happy that you liked it. > > > > With greetings, > > > > Mikk > > > > > > > > On Nov 23, 2012, at 5:34 PM, Artur Silva wrote: > > > > > > I have not seen your initial message, Mikk, until Koos answered it. It did > not came to me L > > > > > > But it is excellent! Thank you! > > > > > > Artur > > > > _____ > > From: Koos de Heer <k...@auryn.nl> > To: World wide Open Space Technology email list > <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>; World wide Open Space Technology email > list <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> > Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 8:26 AM > Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? > > > > Beautiful Mikk, Thank you! > > Made my day. > > Koos > > At 17:57 22-11-2012, Mikk Sarv wrote: > > > > I think opening space is also creation of structure. > The structure is like a body, where Spirit can live. > When the body gets old, it dies and Spirit leaves the body. > But Spirit needs the body or structure. > > Long moments of silence at the beginning are like pain of birth. > After OS event everybody often feels like newborn. > People, who like Structure, might feel Spirit as something evil, what > destroys everything. > People who like Spirit may feel the Structure as evil. > But they both are just sides of the same dance. > Opening Space is giving birth. It offers for Spirit a new body/structure to > go on with dance. > > With greetings, > > Mikk Sarv > > > On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:45 PM, JL Walker wrote: > > > > > Dear Arno, > Anticipating the response of HO, I can take the risk to say that the > structures of management are always part of the map and the structure of the > principles and the law of OS is always part of the territory. > Make sense for you this? > Hugs, > Juan Luis > > De: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org > [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] En nombre deArno Baltin > Enviado el: jueves, 22 de noviembre de 2012 4:51 > Para: World wide Open Space Technology email list > Asunto: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? > > Dear Harrisson! > > Could you please elaborate on the difference between creating a structure > and opening space. When facilitating OS meeting I also create a structure by > setting the space and introducing the rules and law (isn't it?). And at the > end of OS I leave the space opened as inviting to take the structure (of > mind - some attitudes based on the OS experience, ther rules and law) with. > > Be well, > > Arno > > Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn > Eesti Vabariik > > > > 2012/11/21 Harrison Owen <hho...@verizon.net> > Juan Luis ? Always nice to hear from you! And my answer to your question is > something like this: Only create structure when you have to, and then create > as little as you possibly can. Structure is useful in organizations, but it > certainly can get in the way. So don?t overdo it. Ask yourself, ?What is the > minimal amount of structure necessary to get the job done.? It is always > easy to add if you need it, but once some structure is created (committee, > procedure, etc) it seems to stay around forever, even when nobody can > remember what it was for? > > Harrison > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Dr. > Potomac, MD 20854 > USA > > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) > Camden, Maine 20854 > > Phone 301-365-2093 <x-msg://1335/> > (summer) 207-763-3261 <x-msg://1335/> > > www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20/> > www.ho-image.com (Personal <http://www.ho-image.com%20%28personal/> > Website) > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST > Go to: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> > > From: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org [mailto: > oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org > <mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org> ] On Behalf OfJL Walker > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 1:53 PM > To: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list' > Subject: Re: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? > > Many thanks Harrison. Just now I could give me time to read everything about > your email slowly. > Makes me much sense for the moment that we are living here in Chile with our > CDIC project (Centro de Desarrollo de la Inteligencia Colectiva), when we > started to give us account that would be necessary some structure. > The question is how we can move forward without that decays the Spirit and > what could be the structure that would allow that purpose? > Hugs, > Juan Luis > > De: oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org [ > mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org > <mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org> ] En nombre deHarrison Owen > Enviado el: lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2012 21:27 > Para: 'World wide Open Space Technology email list' > Asunto: [OSList] Beginnings, Middles and Ends... Where are we? > > I?ve been thinking about us, or should I say OS?. > > It seems to be a truth of life that everything (us included) has a > beginning, middle and an end. The separation between beginning and end can > be quite various (longer or shorter), but one thing is for certain. For > every beginning, there is an end. Along the way it is inevitable that people > ask, how are they doing, and what next? > > What is true for life in general seems to be true for organizations of all > sorts, including ours, by which I mean the Good Old OS Community. Perhaps > you never thought of the OS Community as an organization, and certainly if > you understand organization to be what might be called The Standard Model > (The Leader, Board of Directors, and all the Rest) the OS Community doesn?t > qualify. On the other hand, were you to look at what OS Inc. has done, that > assessment changes, I think. As a matter of fact there are loads of Standard > Model organizations that don?t even come close to our accomplishments. First > of all we have been around for 27 years with thousands of ?members? all over > the world. Each year ?we? produce global gatherings in multiple places, > along with training programs and consultations. And when it comes to the end > product, Opening Space, the numbers get a little mind boggling. Not bad at > all ? just don?t look too closely at how it all gets done. J So how are we > doing? Well past the Beginning for sure, but what now, and where next? > > Quite a while ago, I found myself thinking and writing a lot about the > natural life cycle of organizations (?Spirit: Transformation and Development > in Organizations? and ?The Power of Spirit?). Beginnings, middles and ends > were pretty central to this ? but there was more. All about what seemed to > be happening along the way, and what, if anything, we might do about that. > > To represent my understanding of the natural history of organizations, I > came up with a simple graph which, for lack of a better term, became known > as The Spirit Chart. Unfortunately we cannot do graphics here on OSLIST, but > the graph is simplicity itself, and so I am sure that you can quickly draw > it, or imagine it in your mind?s eye. The vertical axis is titled ?level? > and the horizontal axis is ?time.? On the chart, there are two lines, one > called ?Spirit? and the other ?Structure.? At Time 1 (the beginning) Spirit > is high and Structure is low. Over time (moving from left to right) the > lines cross in the middle, and at the end -- Spirit is low, and Structure is > high. And there you have it: Beginning, Middle, and End. > > As you might suspect, I did not gather masses of data in order to construct > my chart. Indeed I really can?t imagine precisely what that data might be or > how to gather it. All that said, common sense and experience supports the > story that the graph seeks to tell? All organizations start out with High > Spirit(s) ? and virtually no Structure. At the moment of creation it is all > potential, a wonderful idea, a gigantic WOW! The good news is that something > is moving and shaking. Excitement and optimism rule the day. But there is a > price. Orderly procedures simply do not exist, massive amounts of energy is > burned for minimal results, the Wheel is constantly re-invented. > > But then things change. Rules and Structures are created to focus and direct > all that wonderful Spirit. Initially there is resistance from some Free > Spirited Folks, but the net result is positive and beneficial. Work gets > done, schedules are kept, product goes out the door. And best of all there > is plenty of Free Spirit around to creatively explore new opportunities, new > ways of doing business. > > But over time, the lines cross. The Spirit Line and the Structure Line > intersect and then separate, with Structure rising and Spirit falling, being > constrained in smaller and smaller spaces by the overburden of Structure. > For a while nobody notices, for the organization is doing the business in > productive and orderly ways, and who could complain about that? But there > comes a time when the organization is defined and imprisoned by its > structure and rules. Spirit is in evidence mostly by its absence ? except in > the stories and memories of how it ?used to be.? When you are out of Spirit, > you are out of business. At least that is the story. > > But there could be a different ending. Were it somehow possible to release > the Spirit from its prison, renewal might happen. But for that to occur, > the prison walls must break. Or to put it in slightly different terms, the > confining structure must shatter so that the Spirit may reform in new ways. > This, I think, is an accurate, albeit metaphorical picture of > Transformation: Spirit breaking loose to take on new form (trans-form). > > So where are we? Clearly we have had our initial WOW! And although it is > certainly true that each time some new person joins our happy Tribe, having > just experienced the opening of space for some group of people ? that WOW is > heard once more. It is also true that for a large (and increasing) number of > our band the experience is no longer a strange one. We?ve been there before, > and while it is always a delight, it really becomes quite predictable. I > would never say boring, but predictable for sure. Sit in a circle, create a > bulletin board, open a market place, and the folks will go to work. Every > time. > > The curious thing is that 27 years into our adventure, our organization is > still as lively and spirit filled as it is ? a status that just about > everybody recognizes in all of our common gatherings, as for example the > recent WOSONOS in London. In my own experience of organizational life, this > record is pretty remarkable. In every other organization I have known, or > been a part of, by the time it reached its 27thyear, an awful lot of the > original Spirit, enthusiasm, to say nothing of agility and flexibility had > disappeared. People talk about ?mature organizations? -- when they finally > got beyond the ?wild days in the garage? (computer start-ups, for example) > and settled down into a more orderly mode of being. Think of Amazon, Apple, > Microsoft, et al. Somehow we seem to have escaped some of that, and how > could that be? > > I think part of the answer comes from the nature of our ?product? and what > we do. The truth of the matter is that every time we think we have it all > figured out, and have ?finally? arrived at the ?right? way of doing things ? > we are in for some surprises. It turns out that we really didn?t know what > we were talking about. Somehow, Open Space was/is so much more than we ever > thought, and what we do/did, so much less. What starts out looking like just > another approach to better meetings or group technique subtly morphs into > the story of the cosmos (self organization). And we really don?t DO anything > at all. We simply offer an invitation, and then get out of the way. > > To be sure, there has been a developmental process in our approach as we > have gone along, but it apparently moves in the diametrically opposite > direction from similar processes found with other approaches. Put it all > under the heading of ?Thinking of one more thing NOT to do? and pretty soon > (well maybe someday) ? we?ll end up with nothing. No approach at all! > > Of course, there have been a few signs of approaching Middle Age. You might > call it hardening of the organizational arteries ? conversations about the > ?right? way to conduct an Open Space, usually accompanied by an expanding > list of critical details with attendant Do?s and Don?ts. Fortunately we then > receive a marvelous report (Sandy Gee, being the latest) how just about > everything was ?wrong? ? but surprisingly ? it all worked just perfectly. > > To be sure I have heard some chatter about ?guidelines? (Thomas H. J) ? but > no proposal that we ?get ourselves organized? ? and certainly nothing as > forbidding as a governmental structure with appropriate Boards and Bylaws! > So we seem to be dodging the bullet, at least for the moment. And it may be > that we have some distance to go before the end. I doubt, however, that our > longevity will ever have anything to do with what might be called The > Standard Organizational Approach, usually characterized as > ?institutionalization.? Indeed I more than suspect that once again we will > find success by going in the opposite direction. Rather than building > durable structures that might last for the ages (none do ? so far) ? it will > be a story of the constant shattering of structures and procedures to > release the Spirit in new and vital directions. Transformation, I believe it > is called. > > But there will come an end, of that I have no doubt. But I hope that the end > of OS Inc might occur with hardly a ripple or note. Not unlike old soldiers > who never seem to die ? they just fade away. OS Inc will become quite > invisible when it is clear to all that everything is Open Space. Blending > into the woodwork, as it were. Nothing new, Nothing special. Just what is. > > > Harrison > > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Dr. > Potomac, MD 20854 > USA > > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer) > Camden, Maine 20854 > > Phone 301-365-2093 <x-msg://1335/> > (summer) 207-763-3261 <x-msg://1335/> > > www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20/> > www.ho-image.com (Personal <http://www.ho-image.com%20%28personal/> > Website) > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST > Go to: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> > > > > > Se certific? que el correo no contiene virus. > Comprobada por AVG - www.avg.es <http://www.avg.es/> > Versi?n: 2013.0.2793 / Base de datos de virus: 2629/5905 - Fecha de la > versi?n: 19/11/2012 > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > > > Se certific? que el correo no contiene virus. > Comprobada por AVG - www.avg.es <http://www.avg.es/> > Versi?n: 2013.0.2793 / Base de datos de virus: 2629/5909 - Fecha de la > versi?n: 21/11/2012 > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > > _____ > > Se certific? que el correo no contiene virus. > Comprobada por AVG - www.avg.es > Versi?n: 2013.0.2793 / Base de datos de virus: 2629/5912 - Fecha de la > versi?n: 22/11/2012 > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20121123/f4f53900/attachment.html> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 11:44:18 -0500 > From: "Harrison Owen" <hho...@verizon.net> > To: "'World wide Open Space Technology email list'" > <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> > Subject: [OSList] The Joys of Grief -- With Thanks to Harold > Message-ID: <000601cdca62$f32b7650$d98262f0$@net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Harold ? the best part of your message came at the end, and for me it was > the most important therefore deserving its own special note? Something about > the ?Joys of Grief.? > > > > Harold said: ?As you said in Wave Rider, OST has a deep connection to the > grieving process that Elisabeth K?bler-Ross described as a part of facing > death. Which for me is fascinating given how much joy I always experience - > but it is almost always accompanied other deep emotions as well.? > > > > You have put your finger on an important point, which may seem paradoxical > or even contradictory, but really is neither. The truth is, grieving (or > more properly The Grief Work Process) is fundamentally joyful, even > triumphant, at least that is the intent which is realized only when the > process comes to completion. Simply put, it is the way we as human beings > move from loss to renewal, from ending to new beginning, from the encounter > with death to the experience of new life. Of course, if the process is > aborted along the way, the final results are inevitably dismal and painful. > > > > Obviously what I have said above can be viewed a total nonsense, or worse, > but stick with me, and I think I can get you there? But first something > about the connection to Open Space. It will come as no surprise that I find > Open Space to be nothing more than self organization at work. In a word, > Open Space works because self organization works. And, self organization is > itself a process. > > > > The process of self organization can be described in infinite, complex > detail, but reduced to essentials, the steps are as follows: Order, Chaos, > New and more complex order. It goes like this. Once upon a time there was > this organization, a fine human system that lived a comfortable productive > life. All seemed right with the world, but one day that world changed, and > what was once a comfortable fit became increasingly challenging. The poor > organization did all that it could, going this way and that -- seeking a > path. But to no avail ? and comfortable order dissolved into PAINFUL chaos. > But there is, or at least there can be a next chapter. Through the alchemy > of self organization new and more complex order appears, and life goes on. > But the question abides. How do we get from here to there? How do we deal > with the pain? The answer, I think, is the Grief Work Process. > > > > Elisabeth K?bler-Ross made history when she identified and described the > essential steps we all go through in the face of Death, our own or that of > another. In my work it became clear that groups of people (organizations) go > through exactly the same process when faced with ending. And that ending can > come in all sorts of flavors: the end of a project, the end of a way of > life, the ending of a company ? but the response is identical in all > situations. At the moment of ending, which I have characterized as an ?Oh > Shit Moment,? there is Shock and Anger. This is followed by Denial, then > Memories (Stories of how it used to be), Despair ? the bitter/sweet instant > of letting it all go. Then we come to Open Space, intense silence with > nothing there and everything potential. The process comes to an end when two > magic words are spoken, ?I wonder if?? I wonder if I/we can build a new > company, find a new career, meet a new life partner. When wonder and > imagination come together, there you have Vision, and the cycle is complete. > > > > Obviously I have covered a lot of territory with very few details. If you > want more check out my book ?Wave Rider.? But hopefully I have said enough > so that at the least you get the function and flavor of Grief Work. To be > sure, it begins at a very painful moment, but the end of the story is all > about joy. Functionally, Griefwork is the means by which we as human beings > navigate the painful parts of self-organization. Things end, and that is > always painful. But when they re-organize (self-organize) life goes on, and > Griefwork gets us there. I find it to be hardwired into our humanity. We > don?t have to think about it at all ? works all by itself. Each step is > necessary, and none can be skipped, no matter how much we might like to move > directly from ending to new beginning. > > > > Another way of looking at Grief Work ? It is what human self-organizing > systems do as a major part of the adaptive process. And here is the > connection to Open Space Technology: To the extent that OST is > self-organization at work, it is equally and also Grief Work at work. > Knowing this, and being acutely sensitive to what is going on, can be > extraordinarily helpful to our understanding of what is happening with our > clients, and what they may be doing/saying/manifesting during the time in > Open Space. > > > > A related factor is that Griefwork, like all other aspects of self > organization, function best when there is sufficient time/space (open space) > to move around in. Things shut down when arbitrary control is imposed ? and > that is sadly what happens often in the everyday world of organizations. > Most obviously, nobody wants to talk about dying/ending. And those who do > are often viewed as strange, weird, pessimists, or macabre. Definitely a > no-no! And when there is such conversation it can only be entered into under > controlled circumstance ? quietly and in moderation. Is it any wonder then > that when space is suddenly opened, the unspeakable is spoken? That Open > Space is so often experienced as an amazing passage from controlled silence > to serious Joy? > > > > Thank you Harold for surfacing a critical element in our ?practice.? As we > move along from beginnings, to middles ? and ask ourselves about What Nexts? > ? I would believe that we have the details of the process (OST) down pretty > well, AND I know there are vast areas to explore and understand. > > > > Harrison > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 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) > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST > Go to: > <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20121124/c170b7e2/attachment-0001.htm> > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > > > End of OSList Digest, Vol 21, Issue 19 > **************************************
_______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to OSList@lists.openspacetech.org To unsubscribe send an email to oslist-le...@lists.openspacetech.org To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org