Bernd - How could you possibly apologize for the delightful posting to this LIST? For me useful conversations always go in a circle with lots of mud and gold along the way. And I feel this conversation is profoundly useful. Thank You!
And your question is provoking in a very good sense. I started to answer and realized that any answer was inadequate - the gateways were so numerous as to be uncountable. Even worse what might seem like a gateway became a blind alley in retrospect. And blind alleys suddenly opened in unexpected ways. The story of my life! But maybe it is possible to answer on a more generic level? Two words stand out for me: Attractive and Anomaly. And then there is what I might call the "Tap Door." Most of the gateways of my experience first appear as Attractive. That attraction is usually rather subtle, rather like the smell of baking bread. There is a growing awareness of something nice - but what that might be I am never quite sure. And so there is the gentle urge to investigate. None of this is to be confused with what some might call "mission and purpose." Truthfully I have only a limited sense of what got my attention and no idea of where it might lead. Curiosity would be a good word here. Sort of like a kitten exploring a shopping bag, or something. The bag image, however, is misleading because I never have a strong sense of inside and outside - I get gently sucked in J I become aware of "being inside" only after the fact and usually with a feeling of anomaly. Things don't quite make sense, and my expectations are out of line with my experience. In the really fun situations I feel like Alice in Wonderland, knowing that "This isn't Kansas." There is also a sense of discomfiture and disorientation which has a bitter sweet quality. What I have taken to be given and assured is somehow compromised. In worse case scenarios "up" becomes "down" - but it is surely exciting. Space is open. The we come to the "trap door" experience. On a perfectly calm, fine day while walking along minding my business - suddenly I fall through a hole. Nothing subtle or gentle - but space opens with a rush that literally takes your breath away. In the moment there may be a bit of panic (a lot of panic?) - but in retrospect such times have become the watersheds of my life. I can't say I would like to repeat them, but I have no regrets. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Dr. Potomac, MD 20854 USA Phone 301-365-2093 www.openspaceworld.com www.ho-image.com (Personal Website) To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST Go to: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bernd Weber Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 12:01 AM To: World wide Open Space Technology email list Subject: Re: [OSList] The 5th Principle / Sardinia leading to "Gateways to Sustainable OS" Lisa Heft wrote : One less thing, and one more remembrance that telling a fact does is not the thing that makes a person feel it. Being in an experience does. Then HO wrote: The 5th Principle could help us to avoid missing all the truly great Open Space of the world simply because they don't have a "proper" venue as we might understand "venue." So if you were to ask was Tahrir Square an Open Space I suspect the immediate answer from a lot of people would be No. After all the venue was not pre-determined, people did not sit in a circle, and for sure you could not find the facilitator. Case Closed. The differentiation between OSTech and OS Spirit (often used explicitly a while ago, but apparently melting together for the last couple of 100s of postings) seems to be useful if I connect these thoughts: >From the OS Spirit "point of view" used by Lisa here: Open Space is where you feel/perceive/experience it (so: if you are able & open yourself: it is everywhere) >From the OST "point of view" used by HO in your playful way to point out the contradiction: Venue, pre-determined, circles, facilitator,... So the way I see it now is: all such efforts that are usually limited to short periods of time, which I had the luck to experience in my life like ... OST, freedom-movements, reaching a level of dialogue without domination (see: Habermas) e.g. in advanced group-dynamics' trainings sucessfully analyse resistence structures (see: Freud), free schools meditation ? ? ? ... they all can become gateways on the voyage towards something that may not be limited to a short period of time: sustainable OPEN SPACE And maybe I did not make it clear in my first posting: although I do not need the 5th principle for explicitly facilitate OST, HOs 5th-principle idea reconnected me mentally to the many places/spaces I had "accidently" and luckily gone to during my life exactly when the context/conditions/karma? for opening was in place. And it was so evident, that I could not believe that I had not seen it before. I only had to accept that the experience spaces in my head that I had labeled as "temporary bubbles of freedom" melted together with "Open Space" this morning. So thank you for this multi-logue on a (non-?) fifth principle of OS(T) And here comes an invitation. I would be very interested to get also your ideas and creativity for completing the "list of OS gates" that I opened above. MY QUESTION IS: "WHAT OTHER GATEWAYS ON THE VOYAGE TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE OPEN SPACE HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED OR KNOW OF?" Bernd P.S. Decision taken meanwhile: I WILL facilitate an open space as second part of the workshop "Playing with the Waves (of Change)" in two weeks near Ephesos in Turkey (see below). P.S. 2 Sorry for the last 2 long postings, but when new ideas are whooshing around in my head I am not able to express myself in a few clear words, its always mud and gold together Bernd Weber Change Facilitation s.r.o., A Global Partner Who Makes Change Happen in Complex Environments; www.change-facilitation.com, www.change-management-toolbook.com [email protected]; (iPhone Austria: +43 664 135 4828, landline + 431 5968657); Sri Lanka landline +94 11 2785859, iPhone Sri Lanka: +94 777740757, NEW: Intensive Learning Workshop "Playing with the Waves of Change" www.change-facilitation.com/ You want to have the design for a "Playing with the Waves (of Change) WS 2 completely taylor-made according to your individual learning interests & needs & limitations? Then go to the questionnaire at www.surveymonkey.com/s/5ZDS6JQ If you get Email from my account <[email protected]> please do not use the reply button but answer to <[email protected]>, because my change-facilitation.org INBOX is not working for the time being.
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