Kerry wrote: If everyone was there, we would not need to do the work. It would have already been done. In the meantime, all we can do is keep on trucking.
For sure we keep on trucking - especially in those spheres where the human spirit is shackled - which seems to be just about everywhere. Eastern Europe may present special challenges and opportunities, but I also have to say that the American corporation can be equally deadening - it may just look a little nicer. However, I guess what I had in mind was less about doing/not doing "the work" - than about the way we do it, and what our frame of reference might be. Listening to a client talk before their experience in Open Space, it often seems that they are anticipating that I (if I am the facilitator) will be bringing something radically new, a previously unknown gift (That, of course is on a good day - alternatively they may be anticipating disaster). There is, of course, a sense in which they are correct. Open Space and Spirit shows up - and maybe for the first time in a long time. For participants and facilitator this can be a pretty wild and positive experience - which goes a long way towards explaining Michael Pannwitz's addiction. I think we all get hooked! However, I find I get in a lot of trouble if I start to believe my own press. Yes something new showed up (Spirit) - but no - I didn't bring it. Spirit was already there. I find that keeping this "fact" clearly in mind to be very helpful. First, in terms of my own confidence. When I look at that group in the opening circle and say something like - "You are exactly the right people" this is not just words - but total certainty. True, the group may have all sorts of doubts, and my words may strike them as being more in the nature of a wild hope than anything approaching reality. But from the inside (of me) I am just sharing the obvious. Secondly, I find it useful to keep the cart and the horse in the proper order. The analogy gets a little screwy, but if I ever fell prey to the notion that I was the driving force, and acted that way, it might do momentary wonders for a tattered ego (mine) while inflicting untold damage to the group. They would simply have exchanged one guru/expert/dictator for a new one. All of this becomes most interesting when you juxtapose the addiction we feel with the necessity to let it all go. But that is probably another strand to be followed whenever. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 Phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://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 Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
