I love the mapping of The Hero's Journey to Open Spaces.
"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of
supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive
victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the
power to bestow boons on his fellow man."
(Joseph Campbell) (via the Wikipedia -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey)
Doesn't that describe the experience of OST beautifully?
Consider the major stages of THJ:
1. A call to adventure - the invitation to an unstructured event with
unspecified results
2. A road of trials - discussions that may go any way, people who may not be
in alignment, different approaches to organizing/leading/guiding each
discussion
3. Achieving the goal or "boon" - "be prepared to be surprised", finding
unexpected results yet achieving the goals/intent of the event
4. A return to the ordinary world - the sad part, it's over, convergence
leading to action?
5. Applying the boon - putting the results to work
I'd love to see further detailed analysis. And off the top of my head, I'd
say it's a pretty compelling mapping between THJ and OST.
Thanks, Harrison!
Doc
P.S. I just ordered a pair of temple bells (or is it singular, since they're
joined with a cord?) and some talking sticks. Perfect timing for my next
events next month.
--
Steven "Doc" List, CMP
The Money Is In Your Blind Spot!T
Keynote Speaker, Facilitator, Consultant, Master of Ceremonies
Workshop Presenter, Author, Coach, Career Management Professional
AnotherThought, Inc.
4815 W Braker Ln, Ste 502-111
Austin, TX 78759
V: 512-246-3533
M: 512-924-9248
F: 512-233-2943
www.AnotherThought.com
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anotherthou...@gmail.com
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of
>> Harrison Owen
>> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 8:22 AM
>> To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu
>> Subject: Temple Bells and other Esoterica
>>
>> There is little doubt about it, OST is strange. But the strangest part
>> is
>> not the use of Temple Bells - but rather the fact that it (OST) works
>> at
>> all. As far as I can tell OST violates every single theoretical and
>> practical principle when it comes to the management of meetings, as
>> well as
>> management in general. Everybody "knows" that nothing useful will
>> happen
>> without the presence of The Leader, who takes charge of things,
>> insuring
>> that the carefully made plan or design is implemented. The Plan is the
>> product of long and tedious hours and its implementation is
>> accomplished
>> only by means of strict command and control. Anything else is weird,
>> counterintuitive, wrong, and probably illegal, immoral and fattening.
>> Which
>> brings us to OST. Frankly it could not, and should not happen - But it
>> does.
>>
>> For participants around the world, now numbering in the millions, all
>> of
>> this creates something in the nature of cognitive dissonance. You know
>> one
>> thing to be true, and then the opposite happens! Fortunately, most
>> people
>> (our participants) are much more interested in results than they are
>> in
>> principles of theory and practice. And they get results - even have
>> fun in
>> the process. What a relief compared to the usual state of affairs!
>>
>> But for professionals in the field (managers, executives, other
>> facilitators) - all of this is a real problem. If Open Space works so
>> well,
>> easily, and often, then one might question why they are working so
>> hard. And
>> that would be just the beginning of the questioning. Some years ago, a
>> very
>> senior official in ASTD (American Society of Training and Development)
>> told
>> me that if what happened in Open Space actually occurred, then 95% of
>> what
>> they were currently doing under the heading of Training and
>> Development -
>> need not be done. That is pretty shocking, particularly if all your
>> professional status and salary depend on what you were doing. In that
>> moment
>> it became quite clear to me why people (in general) love Open Space,
>> and the
>> professional community does its best to ignore it, at the least.
>> Under the
>> circumstances, I would do the same.
>>
>> My personal response to all of this has been to accept the challenge
>> and
>> dive as deeply as I could into the puzzle: OST works. It shouldn't.
>> What's
>> going on? It has been a lot of fun, and all of you have been deeply
>> contributory to the adventure. Collectively, I think we are beginning
>> to see
>> some sense in the non-sense! For me a critical step came when I began
>> to
>> think of OST as simply an example of the great force of self-
>> organization at
>> work. This is not something we invented or created. In fact it seems
>> to have
>> been going on for 13.7 billion years.
>>
>> But clearly that is not the only way to look at things, nor is
>> self-organization the only thing that is operative in this funny thing
>> we
>> call Open Space Technology. To this I might add the shamanic act of
>> Bounding
>> the Circle, the age old mythology of The Hero's Journey, and of course
>> -
>> Temple Bells.
>>
>> "Bounding the Circle" may not be familiar to some people, but every
>> time we
>> (as OST facilitators) walk the circle at the beginning of a gathering
>> - that
>> is exactly what we are doing, and some people might call it weird. But
>> I
>> think it is very important to understand how Bounding the Circle came
>> to be
>> a part of Open Space. It just happened. Way back when - I found that
>> at the
>> start of a gathering it seemed like a good idea to walk around the
>> circle so
>> folks might see who I was, and simultaneously see who else was in the
>> circle
>> as their eyes followed me around. Nothing esoteric here - just seemed
>> like a
>> good thing to do. What surprised me as I and friends and colleagues
>> did this
>> simple walk, was how powerful it seemed to be in terms of exciting and
>> focusing the spirit and energy of the participants.
>>
>> One day it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was simply doing what I had
>> seen
>> countless Medicine Men doing when I was in Africa. In fact, it was a
>> simple
>> ritual from millennia past. It worked then. It works now. Isn't it
>> surprising, the fundamentals of human community are still fundamental!
>> But
>> the really important point is that I never sat down to deeply study
>> Shamanic
>> Traditions, and then said to my self - Right, Let's do this in Open
>> Space.
>> Quite the other way around! I did it, and then wondered why it worked.
>>
>> I could say basically the same thing for Temple Bells and the Hero's
>> Journey. They just happened, and then we all had the wonderful
>> opportunity
>> to ask, How come?
>>
>> This conversation has been basically ongoing, and for me it is one of
>> the
>> richest parts of our community life. And now - What about Temple
>> Bells? Or
>> the Hero's Journey??
>>
>> 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
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>>
>>
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