Harrison wrote in "A first step from Rome": ... Since my time 10 years ago in South Africa, it has been clear to me that OS has enormous power for what we might call conflict resolution, but it is a resolution that does not eliminate conflict. If anything the conflict is magnified, but space is provided so that the conflict, and the energy it contains, may become a positive force.
It really is about "holding", isn't it? About creating, and simply (!) by being fully present preserving, the temenos within which people are allowed, even encouraged, to be fully who they are so that "the third", the new, the transcendent other possibilities, can emerge. And when people are "opened", they can give themselves permission to share deeply and thereby create community - at least while they are still in the protected space! ... All we do in Open Space is to create the conditions under which a completely natural process can start or re-start. If true, this is really good news, for it would mean that we already have at our disposal the "tools" necessary for peace. We have only to be fully what we are. If the process (self organisation) is "completely natural", why does it need to be "started"? Surely it must be going on all the time. If that is so, then perhaps we need some kind of a modifier here; like "at a conscious level" or "activate" or ... Also, when I read your post I was reminded of various related ways in which the concept of the "safe container" (the "permeable circle" we create for groups in OS) is used in the language of both individual and group therapy. Is OS "therapy"? (as opposed to simply "therapeutic")? If it is, should it be practised by anyone? Psychologists are required to have at least some knowledge of the terrain of the psyche, even if a major part of their activity is listening. Are we not then required to have some knowledge of group dynamics and other "facilitator skills" to engage in our practice of OS? Especially if we are to dabble in such profoundly important arenas as world peace? Just some thots for rumination, or not... Namaste Winston
