there are a number of recurring themes that are consistent with the thoughts shared by both of you. Certainly the idea of Gaia consciousness, proposed by several leading thinkers, including Gregory Bateson, is one. Another, Meme theory (info at http://www.memes.org.uk/meme-lab/WELCOME.HTM ) offers an explanation that some find useful and interesting. If "Open Space" (as a practice and philosophy) can be transmitted from person to person as a virus of the mind, replicating both practice and philosophy through the minds it infects, then it could be considered a "meme." That would infer that you, Harrison, may share something in common with Typhoid Mary. (-; However, the virus you so widely spread can certainly be considered beneficial rather than destructive.
peace be with you, Richard C. Holloway, M.A.O.L. P. O. Box 14 Ocean Shores, WA 98569 (360) 289-2776 -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu]On Behalf Of Harrison Owen Sent: Monday, August 27, 2001 4:55 AM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: (RESPONSE): Inquiry Regarding Collective Buddha "Story of a recent 2.5 day OST" At 07:45 PM 8/25/2001 -0700, Mark Jones wrote: Tich Nhat Hahn is the Buddhist teacher that made the proclamation regarding the "Collective" as the next manifestation of the Buddha. I believe that Open Space as a life practice creates the minimal structure required to begin to grok "Community / Collective" -- in terms of intention, communication, and behavior. I believe that communities like the (Centers for) Spirited Work that practice ongoing (3 years now) community, organization, and business model using Open Space as the core practice -- are the training grounds for the manifestation of the Buddha as the Collective. I note that the active inclusion of children into the Spirited Work community in the USA has had a positive and profound transformative effect on the community and the practice of Open Space as a Life Practice (in contrast to using Open Space as just a "facilitation" tool. Welcome Mark! - I don't know the work of Tich Nhat Hahn but he doesn't seem to be alone in the speculations. A fellow by the name of Joel de Rosnay, a Frenchman no less, writing in a book called "The Symbiotic Man" seems to be saying much the same thing, although he starts from a rather different place. The argument in brief, is that as our electronic environment lays down the necessary neurons and synapses for a global collective, in fact the forces of evolution are at work one more time -- but this time leading to what comes after us -- which he calls Symbiotic Man. Which sounds a lot like the manifestation of consciousness in (as) the collective. And myself. I have found my thinking moving for the last 20 years in a similar direction. Those of your who have wandered through "The Power of Spirit," (or the predecessors, Tiger or Spirit) will recognize the argument that we are currently in what I have called the ProActive Organizational Consciousness -- heading towards the InterActive, which is characterized as a conscious, living, open self-organizing system. Of course, we have always been living, open self-organizing systems -- but the new thing is the consciousness of the fact. Or better yet, the appreciation of this fact. Which means (amongst other things) that control as we used to think we had it, no longer exists. It also means that the (I think) artificial distinction between the organization and the individual is blurred, and perhaps abolished. This does not mean (at an experiential level that we all turn into an un-differentiated blob -- but it does mean that the individual finds meaning largely in terms of the collective -- and perhaps more striking, the collective is infinitely more than the sum of the parts. In short, rampant Individualism of the sort worshipped by the likes of Anne Rand may be on the way out (Thank God). And of course, the experimental data upon which I have based some of these wilder notions is our collective, global experience in Open Space. So we will see what happens next. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, MD 20854 USA phone 301-469-9269 fax 301-983-9314 Summer Phone 207-763-3261 Summer Address 189 Beaucaire Ave. Camden, ME 04843 Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh Open Space Institute website www.openspaceworld.org Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
