Pushed wrong button again. ho
Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 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 Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: Harrison Owen [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 8:12 AM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: Human Beings and Human Doings All being and no doing make Jack and Jill exceedingly dull. By the same token all doing and no being makes them both pretty shallow. For my self, it is not an either/or -- but definitely a both /and. The problem at the moment for many of us, however, is that we get so involved in doing (whatever)there is scarcely time/space to be. Also, and in as much as this is the OSLIST, where the conversation (typically) is about facilitating Open Space, it has seemed appropriate to me at least to speak rather more about Being in our work, if only because it seems to get left out of many other parts of our lives. And for the facilitator in Open Space, the quality of their being becomes quite critical since there is so little to do. Of course, if everybody jumped on the Being wagon, nobody would get anywhere, if only because the trains would not work. Fortunately, there are a whole mess of Doers out there -- who will do better I think if the catch their breath and let it be -- just for a second. ho Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 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 Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Phil Culhane Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 9:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Human Beings and Human Doings A couple times now, beings and doings have come up, from a peer group I highly respect, and I find myself on the other side of the philosophical line. So I`ll explain how I see it, and hope for some illumination - someone to please point out that certain flaw in my logic. When I do an OS for a corporate entity, I will sometimes ask the participants to consider what that entity is, for a moment. Let`s use the Government of Canada, to get out of the abstract. I ask them what is the government of Canada. They tell me laws, policies, lots of land, buildings, papers and paperwork, and I say yes and if we piled together all those laws, policies, land, buildings, paper and paperwork and stared at it, would it be the government of Canada. If all of you left your offices and went home, or on permanent vacation, would those et ceteras go on being the government of Canada. No. Alright, so the government of Canada is you - you the participants as a subset of you, all the public servants and related community that claim membership in the government of Canada. So if you all went to the office, and sat quietly at your desk, doing absolutely nothing, just being, as it were, would you then be the government of Canada. Again, no. So - it is the actions you do as the membership of the government of Canada that is the living breathing entity we know as the government of Canada. Not plants, buildings, etcetera. Not human beings. But human doings. So it is about doing first. Being, yes, as usefully as you can be, but being alone, what does it accomplish. Mother Teresa once shared a beautiful point with Bob Geldof. She told him - there are things you can do that I cannot, and there are things that I can do that you cannot. We both must do them. Again, and I don`t count myself a Catholic, I just call wisdom as I see it, a highly regarded source seems to be saying that, above all, its about doing. The only thing we can control in this lifetime (that I know of) is our actions. Are we not responsible to god, the universe, truth, or whatever we hold most high, to do, as best we can, before all. That's my current mindspace. I`ve been there for a couple years. I will be extremely grateful if someone can point me to a different place, where it is about being first, and then, only maybe, about doing. Profound apologies if I`ve taken anything out of context. Phil -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of BJ Peters Sent: May 26, 2004 9:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Four Principles, One Law - and organisations (was half-way technology) Comments below in this color: On Saturday, May 22, 2004, at 03:02 PM, Therese Fitzpatrick wrote: > Marei wrote: > "Writing this I realize that now, barely a year later, > I go directly into the question: What do I really want? What do I > really think? > What do I really want to say? Where and with whom do I really want to > be?" > Marei-- I love your questions, as they are the path to truth, IMHO. > Form, in my present moment, seems > irrelevant. It is about 'being' first, then, maybe, only maybe, > 'doing'. . . > Theresa-- the simplicity of your conclusion is profound, in that your questioning journey led you from complexity to simplicity in little more that a heartbeat. If only I could make the leap so quickly. . .Thanks for your contribution. --BJ * * ========================================================== [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 * * ========================================================== [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 * * ========================================================== [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
