I, along with many other folks, have just finished wandering through "The Da Vinci Code" in preparation for seeing the movie. Hardly great literature, but definitely a good read - exactly the sort of thing one needs as a warm up for the summer-lite reading. It is obviously marvelous fiction in terms of most of the plot, organizations and characters - but I was surprised just how deeply I became involved for reasons having nothing to do with all the plots and counter plots.
Who knows how it happened exactly, but it is pretty clear that sometime around the 3rd-4th centuries the presence of the Feminine took a distinct nose dive in the West. A long time ago, when I actually thought I would be a REAL academic, I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about the multiple religious bodies in what used to be the Roman Empire. One of my favorites was Magna Mater - or the Great Mother, also known as The Earth Mother, The Goddess. Turns out, She was real popular with a number of folks in the Roman Legions along with many others. As such Magna Mater constituted more than a minimal threat to the Empire and the Emperor, who rather liked being God himself. It also turned out that the Great Mother was not quite the nice lady all of us might hope for, but that is a different tale. To make a long story very short, and oversimplified, The Great Mother was run out of the Empire, and although a lot of folks might blame the Christian Church, I think the truth of the matter is that those early Christians and Christianity simply provided a handy alternative. If you couldn't have The Great Mother, what were you going to do? However it happened, the Feminine has been largely absent/repressed in The West, an observation which is hardly novel at this point. Perhaps one of the best statements comes from Riane Eisler in her notable book, "The Chalice and the Blade." Which, incidentally, should be required reading before seeing the "Da Vinci Code." :-) I might argue that Riane had a little too much "Chalice" and not enough "Blade" - but that is obviously a male speaking and for sure serious correction, even over-correction was in order. So what does all this have to do with Open Space? Starting perhaps a dozen years ago I noticed that when we were doing training programs, a significant proportion of the participants were women. Initially the ratio might have been 3/1 (males to females), which might not seem like much now, but even a dozen years ago, professionals in the field (of OD, Facilitation etc) were predominantly male. More recently the ratio has switched almost completely - 3/1 females to males. I even had one program where the ratio was 15/1! Watching this tend I came to a conclusion - Women Get it! But what about the Guys? Over the years it has become apparent the male of the species is by no means excluded, but I think there may be an extra loop of learning, at least for some of us. It is all about consciously accessing our Feminine. Of course, what is sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose, and I believe that my female colleagues improve their capacity to open and hold space to the extent that they consciously access their Masculine. Which brings me to a central point - Balance, or better yet, a dance of male and female energy. Perhaps this could be part of the answer to the ongoing conundrum - how could something so simple (OS) be so powerful and simultaneously feel so good? In Open Space the continuing dance of male and female insures that the whole of humanity is present. Not just male. Not just female. But both -- in constant conversation. There might also be another clue to a continuing mystery - How could it be that something with the track record of Open Space (easy, economical, and effective - with massive experience) still be perceived as weird, far out, "touchy-feely," and definitely not to be used HERE? The answer might be that, when seen from the testosterone laced executive suite (where the inhabitants are mostly male, but females are infected as well), Open Space becomes a definite threat. It is not just that the Feminine shows up - but she shows up as an equal partner in the dance. That would be sufficient to threaten any Emperor! Now back to the Da Vinci Code! Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
