if inviting is focus on me and my being open, and engagement is focus on others/group and their/its being...
or if inviting is appreciating and engagement is noticing needs/gaps... then the pain seems to come when i collapse or otherwise get stuck on one side.... pulsation... breathing... flow between the two... mutuality... finding inviting, finding engagement, back and forth pulsing, refining until there is not only the awareness of one and then awareness of the other, but also simultaneously awareness of the both... this is what seems to cut through the pain... if i can hold this mutual view... this pulsing back and forth is what happens when we get a little soapy water and try to blow the biggest bubble possible... balancing inner air and outer result... the pressure taken to fill the bubble and the restraint needed to keep it on the little loop a bit longer so it can grow still bigger yet... or when riding a bicycle... a little left, a little right... pulsing between... we don't call it "not falling off the bike to the left and not falling off the bike to the right" we focus on the both... and call it "riding a bicycle"...so we are doing these mutuality things all the time... it can actually be practiced with anything. bring attention fully to yourself as a body, a self, that IS, eyes closed, then open and look at a tree, a squirrel, a cockroach, any other being... and notice as attention/focus literally jumps or creeps or leaks in the direction of noticing that that other being also IS... once you find this movement, it's possible to do practice... me them me them me them... watching attention watch. this then comes back to what i've heard you say long time ago, harrison... when folks asked "what are you doing when facilitating open space" ...picking up cups... "yes but what are you really *doing*" ...and i think your answer was something about "witnessing" ...so i would offer the word "witnessing" ...paying attention... and suggest that it is the quality of noticing self and others, pulsing so as to make the two appear as a one... called riding the tiger or holding a space... balancing between perfectly solid control and the emptiness of absolute unknowing... peace then can include confusion, chaos, conflict and their more welcome reciprocals, in mutuality, as the confluence of the view that is naturally there, always there, as you say harrison... if we only notice the two sides everything as the one. maybe you'll say more about your witnessing, harrison? Julie Smith wrote:
Hmmmmm..... maybe that's the big difference. Doing OST (as a facilitator) means you invite, but you don't engage. Being OST (or just being in the way florian describes) means you do both at the same time. My experience so far is that doing both is painful. That is probably a reflection of the energy of the community I entered. I wonder what's on the other side. Julie * * ========================================================== [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
-- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 300 West North Avenue #1105 Chicago IL 60610 USA (312) 280-7838 http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space ...inviting organization into movement * * ========================================================== [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
