Hi all,
when I came across my first Open Space meeting in 1998
(???) at the lake of Starnberg, led by Katrina Petri, with Harrison Owen
as special guest, it was a good experience, but not a special "aha" for me.
The theoretical background, the idea behind the concept, as far as I understood, was
very natural for me, I had neither to overcome any resistance nor did I get totally
new perspectives. So I dived into the process drawing images and showing people what
they had said. They seemed to like it, because everybody was on his way from
group to group and liked to get the whole picture together with the details he
remembered.
Open Space
Technology was for me just one of the several large group interventions I was eager to
learn more about.
When I look at it now, it was so natural, because it mirrored
my believe system, which I had acchieved under heavy struggles. I had come to the
conclusion, that the wisdom always lies in the group, or in the employees,
or in the person, and no external trainer or superior CEO or
parent or representative of some religion or state knows better what somebody else
should do or think.
I had found friends and mirrors of my insights in many parts of the inner and
outer world, like the mystics, or the early 'Reformpädagogik' , an educational movement
in Germany and England a
hundred years ago, and had based my former work as a consultant and facility
programmer in the field of architecture on exactly the same believe that people
know what they need, and only need the help of an obstetrician to recognize it
themselves. One of my prophets was Christopher Alexander with his books 'A Pattern
Language' and 'The Timeless Way of Building' from the late 70ties.
And
then Florian Fischer brought me in contact with the Oslist. I owe it to him that
I found so beautiful people like Chris Corrigan and Birgitt Williams and
Marei Kiele and Artur Silva and the treasures of the widespred wisdom and
experience, day by day. Thanks to you all!
When I see you now discussing the four principles and
one law, I have my two cents to contribute. It seems to me, that the reason for
the fast spread of OST all over
the world might be exactly this law and these principles, functioning as a label, which at the first
look seems so mundane and absolutely not dangerous. They are so easy to remember,
that many people think "oh, that's it? Interesting! And it costs nothing?" It's
kind of a trick: no word about the desired outcome, the customer value, the spiritual implementations, about love
or self realisation or Michael Hermanns levels. Maybe sometimes a little mumbling "oh,
is this a Buddhist view?" when it comes to the two principles Artur
is talking
about. But in general, OST: a simple brand.
So,
since OST for me is no religion, no dogma, nothing to believe, but a good
manifestation of the real thing, a tool that works, I would propose to let it as
it is.
Behind and
besides, the believe system behind OST is much older and can be found in
many moldings.
Here for me begin the worthwhile themes. And besides: What also fascinates me, is using the OST tool in the context of
sustainability, as Birgitt Williams does, combining it with other spiritual
tools like Medicine Wheel.
Mit freundlichen
Grüßen
Best regards
Reinhard
VISUELLE PROTOKOLLE
Kuchenmüller & Dr.
Stifel
Munich Germany
Tel: +49- 89- 202 447
48
Fax. +49- 89- 202 447
49
