Rather than an oxymoron I would think paradox. Space in our experience exists because it is bounded. No boundary -- no OPEN space. But the critical thing is the nature of that boundary. If it is, or becomes, immovable we get in trouble. Life is limited, and eventually dies. Or worse, if we perceive a boundary to be immovable (when it is not) we effectively self limit our life possibilities. Boundaries, it seems to me, provide definition and identity. If I am everything, I am nothing at all. Boundaries have a positive effect. On the other hand, immovable boundaries lead to stifled lives, dogmatism, and rigid orthodoxy. Not the sort of life I would have in mind for myself or anybody.
Harrison 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 Douglas D. Germann, Sr. Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 10:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: open space as an oxymoron? To my good friends-- A musing from this morning: What we are about in open space is really not space but spaciousness, more precisely spacelessness--no boundaries. Sure we talk of responsibility, but that responsibility arises from the very spacelessness, the very openness. Open space is an oxymoron: it is either bounded or open. :-Doug. Germann Seeking people making community change. From a lightly raining South Bend, Indiana, where we need the rain--and the unboundedness * * ========================================================== [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
