In a complicated way, I think givens can be very empowering. But they have to be real givens.
I think the last time I talked about this a couple of years ago, I used the story of people inventing the airplane. The Wright brothers had a good sense of the givens of flight: gravity, air pressure, lift and power etc. They knew that they had to combine a certain set of technologies in a way which allowed them to exceed these givens in order to fly. And they did it. Coincidentally, the week before the Wright brothers flew their plane, the editors of the New York Times published an editorial which stated in essence that powered human flight was an impossibility. Also coincidentally, the editors of the New York Times did not invent the airplane. What I have always taken from this story is the value of using givens to transform one's thinking. By studying and understanding all the things that prevent humans from flying, the Wrights produced a solution that permitted flight. The Times editors on the other hand were pitching a belief as a given and they were proved wrong almost instanly. A story like that will keep you on the ground for ever. I have no problem identifying and naming real givens in order to overcome them. I don't like to "create" givens that limit the endeavour in order to maintain the illusion of comfort and control. People are capable of the most amazing transformations. Telling them otherwise is disingenuous. They'll prove you wrong everytime and take to the air while you remain rooted on the ground. Chris ------------------------- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com * * ========================================================== [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
