Even if using metaphors has been debunked in the meantime I add this little piece: Hi Doug,again with delay as I am working my way through hundreds of mails I have saved but not read yet. I like your popcorn methaphor - and the little dirt, a little manure, a few seeds and some rainy days and in no time you get flowers ower all - magic!Here is one I used different times: OST is like the Überraschungs-Ei (suprise-egg?), a chocolate-candy for children with a little toy inside sold by Ferrero in Germany and different other countries: you get 3 things for one price. The chocolate-egg-add promises play, fun and chocolate. And in open space one gets extraordinary results, team building and personal developement. And even fun on top.Greetings, Marei "Douglas D. Germann, Sr." <mailto:76066....@compuserve.com> schrieb: > Dear friends-- > > In the last few weeks I have been increasingly frustrated by the responses I > get from people to my descriptions of a community OST event I am otherwise > having fun dis-organizing. <grin> > > When I try to describe the magic of OS, I get responses like the one the > other day: "Oh, you mean it is a networking event?" > > So I have been thinking of what kinds of metaphors might communicate the > magic, mystery and awe we find in experience. > > What concrete metaphors can you think of for something that produces > unexpected results, out of all proportion--quantitatively or > qualitatively--to what the initial conditions were (that is, people gathering > to converse)? > > Here are a couple I have come up with, so far: > > This is like shaking a bottle of pop--and then popping the > lid. It is like popcorn--a little corn, a little oil, a > little heat--soon a reaction gives us enough food for a > party! Or who could predict, without knowing humanity, that > a party in the back seat of a '56 Chevy would lead to dirty > diapers at 4 am? This is a boiling roiling pot; a darkroom > where pictures of the future can be developed; a > germinating kettle for works new and wonderful. A few seeds > in the wind, a collection of moisture, a little time, and > soon even the desert blooms. A little dirt, a little > manure, a few seeds, some rainy days, and in no time you > get flowers all over! A little dollop of batter in the paper > becomes an overflowing muffin. > > This is a creative group--I am sure you will be able to come up with greater > metaphors than these. > > :-Doug. Germann > Seeking people making community change. > > *
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