Harrison, I really appreciated your thoughts on community. I referred to community as pseudo for the "obvious" reasons of OST creating a contrived, short-term, and focused communal boundary. As I reflect more on this, I see that I applied some obviously falty logic.
You would have been just to remind me that the only thing that is contrived is the time and place to show up. There is no one requiring that the space be short-term, that is up to the participants. Lastly, there is a sense where community just happens and that is magical and spiritual, but individuals have to "focus" (be intentional) on putting themselves out there for the magic to happen. Even if it is a short period of time, that brief moment in space where others feel connected is worth the investment. Thanks for helping me to think more on this. I'll keep rolling it around. Other thoughts are welcome. The notion of creating space for spirit and community is where I see the power of OST. So I really value this virtual conversation. Stick with "mythos manifests spirit," I really like it. Scott Willard Affinity Consulting Group affinity-scottwillard.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Harrison Owen <[email protected]> To: Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:34:11 PM Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual Scott Love it! Back in my “early days” back when I was writing and thinking a lot about myth, ritual, culture, story etc. I coined a phrase I really liked. “Mythos manifests Spirit.” I used the Greek “mythos” as sort of a catch basket for myth and ritual – for the simple reason that myth is spoken ritual, and ritual is acted myth. You can’t have one with out the other. So one word for the two of them. And the function – is to manifest Spirit. But this is more than acting and story telling unless it is really good acting and story telling. Not just facts about Spirit – but face-to-face encounter. Sounds a little esoteric – but I think we all have the experience. When a good story teller is really on a roll, you don’t just get “facts about” – you get the feeling – Spirit. If you really want to go there, check out the 1st section of my book, Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organizations. http://openspaceworld.com/Spirit.pdf But I am curious. Why do you call it “pseudo- community”? My experience in Open Space is that the experienced community may be very surprising, unexpected, even mind warping – but very real for all of that. I have even been so bold as to call it “Genuine Community.” But does it last? Well yes and no. What definitely does last is the memory that it occurred. And that memory very often becomes the bench mark against which other “community” experiences are judged. It is not uncommon to hear people say after an Open Space and once they have returned to “the real world” – why couldn’t we do “that” (OS) all the time? Why not indeed? And what’s to say that the experience in Open Space is not the real world? We weren’t doing drugs. Nobody was hypnotized. Just a bunch of folks getting together – and it can happen any time you want. Makes it pretty real to me. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training 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 -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Willard Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 1:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual One thing that I would add to the definition of ritual is that ritual is all about spirit. I just finished reading The Healing Wisdom of Africa- great book. I believe it was by P.M. Some' and he states very clearly that ritual is an opportunity for spirit to impact the lives of the observant. To me, that's what happens in OST. One idea sparks the room and the market place, conversations, evening news act as litany that welcomes the spirit of unity and community to emerge. Writing this, I wonder about what happens after folks leave the room. While in the ritual space of OST a pseudo community is formed. Do folks have experience in fostering community once the meeting is closed and folks go back to their homes? I see the meetings that happen all over the world, where folks go back time after time for OS on OS, but what about smaller scale scenario's? Scott Willard Affinity Consulting Group affinity-scottwillard.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Andrew Ballance <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 5:45:56 AM Subject: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual Hi again! On the subject of my writing.. When it rains, it pours.. I didn't want to clutter the previous post with too much reflection and interpretation. [If you didn't read the previous post, you need to, or you might not know where this is coming from] There appeared to be a polarity at play here, between order and chaos, or between imposed structure and self-organisation, something that the chaordic thinkers have probably already chanced upon. To paraphrase what some of the participants said, "Why do we need Open Space? Surely we can just decide to be free, and have whatever conversations matter, that's our decision and responsibility, and if anyone needs some help doing that, I'm here to help." This is an important point: Open Space is a structure. To my mind, though, there is an important dimension to it: it is a ritual structure. Rituals allow us to say or do things that don't normally come out in everyday conversation, they set the tone and say it's ok to express yourself now in a particular way. There are two definitions of ritual that I find quite interesting in this context: - any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner - a prescribed code of behavior regulating social conduct, as that exemplified by the raising of one's hat or the shaking of hands in greeting It's clear to me that OS already is the first of these. That's great, because that's the way we get results, or rather that's the way in which we as facilitators regular social conduct for a period of time. But what about that word 'prescribed'? What do you think of that? What happens if it is prescribed? By whom? If it's not by anyone in particular, then that means OS is accepted practice. But as accepted (expected?) practice.. does that limit its effectiveness? Is that no longer a structure that generates energy, but one that feels like an imposition and so acts as a dampener? OK, enough philosophising for one day. Not that I expect we can come to an answer to these questions, I'd be interested to hear what other people think about OS as ritual? Andrew * * ========================================================== [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 Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check out new cars at Yahoo! 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