I recently renewed my license plates and decided to get a customized plate "BEPEACE" that might make others "out there" pause and think. I have not idea whether that actually happens. I do know that I am so much more at peace when I drive, so conscious of being considerate and smiling. I cannot not be "the change I wish to see in the world" when driving. Go figure --BJ
Harrison Owen wrote:
At 09:29 PM 2/28/2003 +0100, Michael Pannwitz wrote:
Transformation happens fairly independent of the will of the people
or the will of an organisation.
I have not experienced people or organisations "will" transformation
as little as I have seen people or organisations doing grief work.
What I have seen is people and organisations navigate in
transformation and that grief works.
So my way of putting it would be
"I believe I can attempt to hold time and space for people to
navigate transformation"
My feelings precisely. Ever since we invented the notion of Organization Transformation, back in the early '80s -- there has been an ongoing debate. Some of my colleagues felt that Transformation was something you "did" to an organization -- as in "We will transform our organization." Lots of folks made much effort to achieve all that, but frankly I have never been convinced.
For me Transformation (of whatever sort) is something that happens. Indeed it has been happening for at least 13.7 billion years -- in short for a long time before we ever put in an appearance. And truthfully, it has done quite well without our help. But there are some rough points, for sure. It seems that Transformation inevitably requires the ending of one form as a new forms appear. The word "ending" has a nice neutral tone to it -- but we experience it as death or dying. Not a nice thing. But we do have a way of dealing with all that pain and destruction, and it is called Griefwork. And we didn't invent that either. And so from where I sit, the fundamental engines of transformation (self-organization and Griefwork) operate, have operated, and continue to operate with, or without, our permission. But we can certainly help along the way. And here Michael's words, "I believe I can attempt to hold time and space for people to navigate transformation" hit the nail exactly on the head, as far as I am concerned.
All of this has more than an academic ring to it for me at the moment. One more time our world is transforming. It is a given (and I really think it is a "given") that people will die, along with ways of life, businesses, and probably countries. Some of it is pathetically funny, particularly the rank arrogance of my President, who seems to think he is in charge. We may all end up on a charred piece of solar driftwood, otherwise knows as planet Earth. That would definitely be an ending -- and also a transformation. At such a time, it may be useful to remember that the demise of planet Earth has been in the cards since the moment of its creation. And if we don't do it do it to ourselves, it will happen anyhow, perhaps the unintended consequence of a close encounter of the cataclysmic sort should a wandering asteroid bump into us. But no matter the outcome, Michael's words constitute useful counsel. "I believe I can attempt to hold time and space for people to navigate transformation"
I think this is what we all can do. It is certainly my mission of the moment.
Harrison
Harrison Owen
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
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