Andrew - you may be whacky, and so am I. What you have described so briefly and so well I had to take a whole book. Actually two of them.
Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Andrew Ballance Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 6:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual Wow, I love where this discussion has gone. I really appreciated Tania's story said about how spirit is preserved outside of the ritual space... in the ongoing story of a system. In these last two posts, I have been prompted to reflect on this polarity/interaction/tension between what Harrison calls Mythos and Spirit. If Mythos is ritual and myth, then these to me are mechanisms for ensuring the continuation of Spirit. Myth is story, and story is a part of culture (I lean towards this definition of culture: "the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another"). Also if Ritual is a set of steps used to recreate Myth, or to act congruently with Myth then... Mythos is a way of ensuring that a particular Spirit is preserved. Mythos is the making of something. Whereas Spirit is the being of something. It strikes me that in some of our work we (as external agents, disturbing an existing system) when we use something like OST, we are creating a space and tone in which new Mythos can emerge. We do this consciously. It is very much like the interaction that cognitive behavioural therapy recognises between doing and feeling. If you do something often enough, not only does it evoke a particular mood in the momet, but also generates a longer term perceptual shift - as well as (the more recognised) vice versa. In this way, through providing a space in which new ritual and myth can occur, through providing an empty space that can be filled with whatever is in the room, through modelling ritual, we move the system into a behaviour where it identifies its Spirit. Well, that's the way I see it. That's just whacky me, I'm sure!! :) ----- Original Message ---- From: Harrison Owen <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 8:28:35 PM Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual Nancy - For sure the world is filled with dead rituals along with their cousins, the myths. That is just what happens when Spirit moves on. But just because we have some dead ones does not invalidate the class. Myths and rituals (what I call Mythos) are profoundly useful if only because they form the essential ground of our self understanding. In a very real sense, we are the stories we tell (and the rituals we enact). But as our consciousness changes (evolves or devolves) all of that is made manifest in our mythos. I suppose you could get into an interesting conversation about whether Mythos creates consciousness or visa versa. I would guess it sort of goes both ways. The church has a wonderful word for myth and ritual, but because it is churchy, people tend to shy away from it - but it still has power I think. The word is Liturgy. Comes from two Greek words "laos" and "ergos" (people/work) - and can be translated "what the people do." I like that. All of life is liturgy. It is what we do. And why bring any of this up on OSLIST (apart from the fact that you gave me an opening, for which I thank you)? I think that when we pay attention, deep attention to what is happening in Open Space, we are quite apt to catch Spirit in the act - performing new stories/myths, new rituals, new mythos. It is what the people do. Sure they are having a meeting. Maybe they a designing a new airplane, launching a new business, solving deep problems in their community, and that is very important. But they are also creating new understandings of what and who they are. It is a birthing process, and we are privileged to be there in that moment. I think it helps if we have some idea of what is going on, even if we don't understand (or even care about) the details. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nancy Wells Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 11:17 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual Interesting topic... form exists as long as there is life ... we create form in as many ways as we choose... and... ritual is, in my mind, only of value if there is a deeper understanding of what is behind the ritual.... call it spirit, call it nature, call it unity... if one is just 'going through the motions' of a ritual then it has lost its sense of meaning/purpose... so if you find meaning/purpose in ALL things, then no matter what the form or ritual can you come to the same place? Or do some forms/rituals lend themselves more easily to coming together? Certainly the circle form has been around in many cultures for centuries... Just random thoughts floating through... Nancy _____ From: Scott Willard <[email protected]> Reply-To: OSLIST <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Imposed Structure, Self-Organisation, Ritual Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:42:26 -0700 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! Autos. <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48245/*http:/autos.yahoo.com/new_cars.html;_ylc= X3oDMTE1YW1jcXJ2BF9TAzk3MTA3MDc2BHNlYwNtYWlsdGFncwRzbGsDbmV3LWNhcnM-> * * ========================================================== [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 * * ========================================================== [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 * * ========================================================== [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
