I agree, and sometimes, (and sometimes quite often), clock time is part of our naturally occurring sense of of pacing and flow. Different kinds of music, different kinds of beat - but hey, 4-4 has brought us plenty of lovely rhythmic music as well.
On 30 October 2013 15:36, Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote: > I think it was St Augustine who remarked that he knew exactly what time > was except when he had to explain it. Slippery creature! Raises some > interesting questions, like Who’s time? What time? Which time? Some years > ago in West Africa, I learned that the “right time” (as in being ontime) > depended totally on where you were. If you were in the capitol city, one > hour +/- was OK. In a regional center it was 1 day +/-. When out in the > bush, it was 1 week +/-. It also seems to be true that time is pretty much > what we think it is. So in a small Midwest town in the US, some people > think it is “fast time” and others are for “slow time.” Here’s the story. > In this small town about half of the people make their living as farmers. > The other half work in a manufacturing facility. When daylight savings time > comes along, problems arise. The manufacturing folks need to integrate with > the national shipping system to get their products out “on time” – Fast > time. Cows on the other hand don’t wear watches, and wouldn’t shift their > milking time anyhow – Slow Time. The dividing line is the Main Street, and > crossing the street takes you from fast time to slow time – and you just > have to remember which side of the street you are on. Or something...**** > > ** ** > > When it come to Time in Open Space, my learning has been that emergent > systems create their own time. Which is to say there is a naturally > occurring sense of pacing and flow – all of which have little or nothing to > do with “clock time.” **** > > ** ** > > Harrison **** > > ** ** > > Harrison Owen**** > > 7808 River Falls Dr.**** > > Potomac, MD 20854**** > > USA**** > > ** ** > > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)**** > > Camden, Maine 04843**** > > ** ** > > Phone 301-365-2093**** > > (summer) 207-763-3261**** > > ** ** > > www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com%20> **** > > www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com%20> (Personal Website)**** > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of > OSLIST Go to: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *paul levy > *Sent:* Wednesday, October 30, 2013 6:56 AM > *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list > *Subject:* [OSList] Exploring the Principles: Whenever it starts is the > right time**** > > ** ** > > Sharing one more of three. Your comments and insights most welcome...**** > > ** ** > > warm wishes**** > > ** ** > > Paul Levy**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > We can become trapped by all kinds of dogma in our lives. One of them is > start times. Businesses clock people in and out and there are sanctions for > poor timekeeping. We grow up with school timetables and many of us probably > remember being told off or even punished for being late to class.**** > > ** ** > > In music, if the orchestra doesn’t start together, the music will not > sound pleasant! Yet, in purely improvised jazz, anyone can start. We join > in as and when.**** > > ** ** > > In open space, we are encouraged not to get hung up over time. When it > starts is when it is meant to start. The dogma of starting on time is a > dogma of forcing. It becomes another imposed structure. It might turn out > we all do turn up for a session bang on time and start bang on time as > well. Or it might be that some pre-start chit-chat turns out to be just the > buzz needed for us to start a little later.**** > > ** ** > > The start time of an open space session is not set and imposed. The start > time in the agenda is an intention at the time the session is offered. “I’d > like to offer a session on Time Management in the Red Room at 11am. The > time set is experienced as true at the time it is set. And, already the > world has changed; we have moved on, the narrative may shift significantly. > One session may over-run and the follow-on session may wait for those > people, or may not. The right time emerges out of the need of the moment.* > *** > > ** ** > > This can and does free us up. It offers the chance to be lazily late, or > to simply allow the time to start to emerge as needed by the situation. > What stops this principle descending into a lazily, chaotic programme? > According to Jack Martin Leith, one of the few people who has ventured to > critique open space, it all comes down to awareness. At an open space event > there is a collective responsibility to be aware of the reason the Open > Space event was created and also of the other people attending: “I believe > that each participant should maintain awareness of these outcomes > throughout the conference. This awareness should extend to the conscious > use of time and space, such as starting meetings on time (because people > are aware that time is limited) and not letting them overrun (because they > are aware that other people need the space).” (Reference, with case > examples, here - > http://www.jackmartinleith.com/more-effective-ost-and-rtsc/)**** > > ** ** > > Start time should never be a rule; it is more of an impulse. It’s often > remarkable how, on reflection, allowing the start time to “show itself”, is > often viewed afterwards as just the right time to start.**** > > ** ** > > This doesn’t come easy to those addicted to structure, those who need to > know what lies up ahead in the fixed plan. It comes easier to those who > like to go with the flow, who like to improviser, and also those who are > lazy and also those who are relaxed. Different cultures treat start times > differently and open space conferences that involve a meeting of different > cultures can really show these different views and behaviours in action.** > ** > > ** ** > > “Whenever it starts is the right time” isn’t an invitation to be lazy with > time, nor to never agree a start time and stick to it. It is an invitation > to view start times as emergent.**** > > ** ** > > A group or community, in open space, can often sense together when > something needs to start. And that isn’t always the time stated in the > programme.**** > > ** ** > > When we live by the principle “whenever it starts is the right time” in > open space, we give permission to others to flow in their own way. We give > them space to be, and in doing that, we also give the community space to be > an, as a result, space for possibility opens more easily. There’s another > side to this coin: When a group meets in a circle (physical or symbolic) or > a conversation or to do work together, a collective responsibility can > form. The group becomes an organism, even as it is made up for individuals. > The group can find, often without words, the right time to start. One > person can take the needed in-breath, and then we all start to sing. > Sometimes we all breath together. This is captured beautiful in the words > of philosopher, Rudolf Steiner:**** > > ** ** > > “A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the > whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the > strength of each one is living.”**** > > ** ** > > So, the right time to start can be born from one person’s impulse, from > the nod between two people, or even from the synchronicity of the whole > group.**** > > ** ** > > There’s a lovely paradox here that many open space facilitators have > failed to understand. Some people hold firmly to a start time and attempt > to uphold it. They create a dogma out of the start time. And this is also > fine. If an individual manages to persuade or even cajole an entire room > into starting at a fixed time, then this is the right time to start, if the > people in the room follow that lead. Along the line of “it starts when it > starts” and “it starts in exactly three an a half minutes” are all kinds of > people, will impulses and skills of assertiveness. To impose the principle > as a rule that excludes time fixedness is as bad as excluding the principle > itself. So some sessions will start just as planed earlier in the day, down > to the last second and others won’t. And both are perfectly lovely.**** > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > >
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