Thank you so much Chris. This is so beautiful and Crystal clear
Tova 
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ב-Jan 4, 2015, בשעה 23:21, Chris Corrigan via OSList 
<[email protected]> כתב/ה:

> All good things from people named John!
> 
> My friend Toke Moeller often shares the insight that “purpose is the 
> invisible leader” and I share that too.  Purpose can be stated and unstated, 
> and like everything in the realm of complexity, is always changing. 
> 
> In order for emergence to happen, it happens within boundaries, and that 
> includes the emergence that later comes to redefine boundaries. My point 
> earlier was that stated purposes can help a great deal AND you need to leave 
> space for the possibility that any way you state it or understand, there is 
> always a high chance that your purpose itself may not serve, or may be at 
> odds with a different, hidden and often more powerful purpose.  
> 
> This gets summed by my other friend Tim Merry who says “Culture eats strategy 
> for breakfast.”  This means that no matter how clever you are or how 
> articulate you are about purpose, goals and intentions, if you are opening 
> space, culture will show up, and it is sometimes the more powerful purpose.  
> 
> This is why holding space is often terrifying.
> 
> Chris 
> 
>> On Jan 4, 2015, at 12:40 PM, John Watkins <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>> John,
>> 
>> My experience is that open spaces (and open systems) are "purpose-seeking" 
>> systems, and getting clarity through emergence about purpose is probably one 
>> of the most important aspects of people opening space together.  Purpose is 
>> dynamic and powerfully grounding in a sense of essence or the being-ness of 
>> the emergent group; it's like a strange attractor for the emergence of 
>> meaning and aligned action.  Goals, on the other hand, are inert and static; 
>> they tend to shut down rather than open up space.  If you set goals before 
>> you gather together and make meaning, often all they do is reinforce the 
>> "limitations that we mistake for our goals," to cite one of my teachers.  We 
>> end up with what we started with, not something with new potential and 
>> power.  Goals can be helpful, though I prefer to think about intentions and 
>> aspirations and what I want to accomplish instead.  So, I would go for 
>> purpose first, and use goals only as a crutch (this is a good purpose for 
>> them, BTW), or even, retrospectively, once purpose and meaning and intention 
>> and aligned actions are envisioned and something has been accomplished.
>> 
>> John Watkins
>> 
>> On Jan 4, 2015, at 2:37 AM, John Baxter via OSList wrote:
>> 
>>> I feel Chris like we have seemingly conflicting suggestions, but might be 
>>> talking about different things.
>>> 
>>> Reading about games recently (McGonigal's Reality is Broken) got me 
>>> thinking about goals.  And specifically, how goals are different from 
>>> purpose.
>>> 
>>> Don't know whether this will help but here goes.  I am only just thinking 
>>> this through so it is not well tested.
>>> 
>>> Goals are an element of a good game.  They are almost part of the rules of 
>>> the game, like an agreement - something that we buy in to as part of 
>>> participation.
>>> 
>>> The most productive spaces I have been part of have had a clear goal for 
>>> that space (that is understood and agreed to by all).
>>> 
>>> I haven't used the word 'goal' to describe this before and maybe it is not 
>>> the best one, but it feels right to me to use a different word than 
>>> 'purpose' which always seem in reality to be impossible to pin down.  I am 
>>> always aware that there is a broad web of different intents and purposes 
>>> and ideas that no individual will ever compute (even just those within 
>>> themselves, let alone others!), that will always be fuzzy.
>>> 
>>> Personally, having a solid 'goal' for a space is a fundamental part of 
>>> holding that space, any space.  It need not be written down, but I need to 
>>> feel it, and ideally it is as transparent as possible in the invitation and 
>>> for participants (part of the social contract of participation).
>>> 
>>> Cheers
>>> 
>>> 
>>> John Baxter
>>> Cocreation Consultant & ​Co​Create Adelaide Facilitator
>>> jsbaxter.com.au | CoCreateADL.com
>>> 0405 447 829​ | ​@jsbaxter_
>>> 
>>> Thank you to everyone who came, helped or spread the good word about City 
>>> Grill!
>>> Summary and links: cocreateadl.com/localgov/grill-summary/
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 6:46 AM, Chris Corrigan via OSList 
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> Sometimes though, fuzzy purpose is really really useful.  I’ve had 
>>>> situations where a group is really sure of what it is doing, and what it 
>>>> exists for and yet nothing is working.  
>>>> 
>>>> This happens a lot with mainline churches these days, many of whom are 
>>>> certain that they can recreate the “success” they had in the 1960s.  They 
>>>> are certainly clear on their purpose, but the harder they try, the worse 
>>>> they make it for themselves.  
>>>> 
>>>> And so we have run OST meetings where the purpose was unclear and fuzzy 
>>>> and people simply proposed topics that interested them.  And it turns out 
>>>> that that is a good way to discover the new directions you are trying to 
>>>> get into.  Of course all groups need a boundary, and in the case that 
>>>> immediately comes to mind, the question was “What else can we be?” 
>>>> 
>>>> People felt that was too fuzzy to get any kind of strategic work done, but 
>>>> what happened was that it invited people into a now three year journey of 
>>>> wayfinding together.  Which, it turns out, is a good purpose for a church.
>>>> 
>>>> I think it’s not my job to “help people discover what they should be 
>>>> doing” even in Open Space.  I can, however, help hold space so that people 
>>>> can explore the fuzziness and confusion that they find themselves in AND I 
>>>> can model behaviour of not needing to know, of avoiding premature 
>>>> convergence of ideas and purpose, so that the innovation and wisdom and 
>>>> leadership at the margins can come forward.  
>>>> 
>>>> In the parlance of software developers, not knowing what to do is a 
>>>> feature of living in this world, not a bug.
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> 
>>>> Chris
>>>> 
>>>>> On Jan 3, 2015, at 2:00 AM, Anne-Béatrice Duparc via OSList 
>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I love how you put it in words John. I will discuss it today with the 
>>>>> caller. Indeed there is much that seems already prepared and "shoulds". I 
>>>>> hope I can help them let go of it. 
>>>>> Thanks for the reminder,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Message: 3
>>>>> Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:56:24 +1030
>>>>> From: John Baxter via OSList <[email protected]>
>>>>> To: Gail West <[email protected]>, World wide Open Space Technology
>>>>>     email list    <[email protected]>
>>>>> Subject: Re: [OSList] First open space, advices needed :)
>>>>> Message-ID:
>>>>>     <CAJpg6=RAR3tnEUhzgFsTZ6HSZTKsUh=eb06qfopbmhenwsb...@mail.gmail.com>
>>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>>>> 
>>>>> If you can help the group to become clear about what the most important
>>>>> focus/challenge/question is for them *now*, then they will be able to let
>>>>> go of all those preconceived discussion topics in order to address their
>>>>> priority.
>>>>> If the purpose is fuzzy then all people have to go on is their baggage and
>>>>> prepared ideas.  This makes it hard for people to embrace the space, and
>>>>> they are likely to walk away disappointed (though they may still get a lot
>>>>> done).
>>>>> 
>>>>> Overall, it will be useful to help people find what they really want to 
>>>>> *do*,
>>>>> vs what they think they should *talk about*.  I don't really know how to
>>>>> describe this better, nor how you should do it.  But it might help.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Cheers
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> *John Baxter*
>>>>> *Cocreation Consultant & ?Co?Create Adelaide Facilitator*
>>>>> jsbaxter.com.au <http://www.jsbaxter.com.au/> | CoCreateADL.com
>>>>> 0405 447 829
>>>>> ? | ?
>>>>> @jsbaxter_ <http://twitter.com/jsbaxter_>
>>>>>  
>>>>> Anne-Béatrice Duparc
>>>>> (0)76/378.69.98
>>>>> Comité de BIEN-Suisse Initiative fédérale pour un revenu de base
>>>>> Génération RBI www.rbi-oui.ch
>>>>> Association Solid'Art
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