For me, having fun -- in Open Space and elsewhere (Oh Yes -- we are always in Open Space) is perhaps the most significant indication that something useful is being accomplished. I am not talking about to sort of induced fun that seems to happen when you go to an "amusement park" although maybe it even applies there too -- but the sort of fun I am thinking about is that deep sense of satisfaction and joy experienced when you are doing something you love, and doing it well. And when fun breaks out in an Open Space, I know as nothing else can tell me that -- everything is coming up roses. This has nothing to do with the gravity of the issues under discussion, or the level of conflict experienced -- even all that can be fun. So when Alan notes,
"On the second issue I also believe that it is going to be 'interesting' to observe the influence of people who see articles such as the above and try OST for themselves - without any connections to professional practitioners, training, or publications. As Larry in Toronto and doubtless others have commented: "Folk who are being exposed to OST from people who don't really understand it are not seeing the profound implications" - including having FUN. How may this 'phenomenon' fit with 'our'(?) principles?" -- I guess I could feel really sad an upset. I am pretty clear why fun doesn't put in an appearance. It has everything to do with control, and the fact that for many of us, we have been taught that if you are having fun, you can't be working, and therefore nothing useful can get done. Happens in schools. Come on Children, stop playing, it is time to go to work and learn something! How horrible!!! For me when fun stops, learning ceases, and the possibility of useful outcomes reduces to zero. So when this happens in Open Space -- how maddening! And it is also true that even in those situations where folks attempt to open space very seriously (as in, We will do this process correctly -- and you will do what I say) -- fun, more often than not, shows up despite the effort to suppress that awful thing. I am truly sorry for the folks who miss out on the fun, and even sorrier for the facilitator who is working so hard, getting it all right. But for those, who in spite of best efforts to the contrary DO HAVE FUN, I think this is a wildly powerful, never to be forgotten, learning experience, every bit as unique as discovering Open Space for the first time, as indeed it is discovering Open Space for the first time. And one way or another, I think we all have to go through this. Prior to the experience, everybody I know of is sure it "won't work." And certainly won't be fun. Then it does and it is -- and a light goes on. So I can see what Larry is talking about -- but I guess I choose to look at it as a glass half full. Do it again, and you may get the whole enchilada. Harrison 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, MD 20854 USA phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected] Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
