Do we just do what we are programmed to do? Are Troublemakers born,
rather then made? Tricksters? Warriors? Storytellers?
Is free will an illusion? Is [the Law of 2 Feet] therefore a joke, a
rather funny joke actually, and one that is on us?
"Like the output of a programmed computer, only one choice is ever
physically possible: the one you made," Coyne wrote.
"Mele pointed out that the study participants' brain activity accurately
predicted their eventual decision only 60 percent of the time. In his
view, this suggests people can consciously choose to override their
brains' predispositions.
"Therefore, he wrote, "I do not recommend betting the farm on the
nonexistence of free will."
http://www.livescience.com/19213-free-fate.html
On 6/27/15 8:13 AM, Harrison via OSList wrote:
Paul – I cannot dispute that something called “Harrison Owen” was
present. But I was just giving you an “inside report” of my
experience. I never doubted my presence, but how, why, or for what
purpose I showed up remained pretty much of a constant mystery to me
prospectively. Retrospectively it all seems to make some sort of
sense, and with a little effort I can spin a marvelous tale. Or at
least I enjoy it.
Specifically, I never got a job that I went after. I never went after
a job that I got. I did “choose” a career, but that blew up in the
first few years. Very honestly, I always seems to be well on my way to
the next part of my life before I had even a small clue. Talk about
life plan. Is that self organization? I don’t know, but it works for me.
Harrison
Winter Address
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854
301-365-2093
Summer Address
189 Beaucaire Ave.
Camden, ME 04843
207-763-3261
Websites
www.openspaceworld.com <%20www.openspaceworld.com>
www.ho-image.com
OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archives of OSLIST Go
to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
*From:*OSList [mailto:[email protected]] *On
Behalf Of *paul levy via OSList
*Sent:* Saturday, June 27, 2015 3:10 AM
*To:* Michael Herman; World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Cc:* Harrison
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] 30 Years ... and Counting!
Harrison
You had everything to do with it. You were there, and it could never
happened without you, for you are it-self.
Warm wishes
Paul
On Saturday, 27 June 2015, Michael Herman via OSList
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
i want to add something to what you're saying about acting UPON the
system and acting IN the system, paul. i think there's a third way.
it's common, as you say, for people to separate and try to have some
effect UPON the Self, the circle, the system. we call it managing,
directing, imposing, controlling, and improving – and the shape is the
same even if we're trying to improve "open space." it's all outside
and unsatisfied. then there is, as you say, acting IN the system.
people announcing sessions, floating around as butterflies, and so on.
the third way takes a certain kind of person and/or a good deal of
practice, maybe even a little luck (a few martinis, perhaps?). the
third way is when little individual separate selves manage to speak up
AS the Self. this is just the opposite of the manager self attempting
to speak for the Self.
in those moments, mostly fleeting, of necessity, because it's hard to
hold that form, hard to stay on that wave, (or maybe because there's
often so little that can or must be "said" or "done"), when we speak
AS the gathered Self, we are still our selves, but our selves are not
in charge. we do and become things, as harrison suggests, that we
might not otherwise choose or intend or even want. but whatever
happens...
the wave of Self picks us up and moves us AND we are that wave. we
must always and everywhere be holding space for ourselves and diving
for cover in Self, or is that holding space for ourSelves and diving
for cover in self? <grin>
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 5:40 PM, Harrison via OSList
<[email protected]
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','[email protected]');>> wrote:
Paul... Being the contrarian that I am, I rather think that the “Self”
in question is -- itself -- a product of self organization. Weird, I
guess – but that has definitely been my life experience. The “self”
that I am definitely was not the product of my intent or design. It
may not have happened “all by itself,” but I didn’t have too much to
do with it, as least as I am aware. How about those bananas?
Harrison
Winter Address
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854
301-365-2093 <tel:301-365-2093>
Summer Address
189 Beaucaire Ave.
Camden, ME 04843
207-763-3261 <tel:207-763-3261>
Websites
www.openspaceworld.com <http://%20www.openspaceworld.com>
www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com>
OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archives of OSLIST Go
to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
*From:*OSList [mailto:[email protected]
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','[email protected]');>]
*On Behalf Of *paul levy via OSList
*Sent:* Friday, June 26, 2015 8:01 AM
*To:* Harrison; World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Cc:* Steve Piersanti
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] 30 Years ... and Counting!
Harrison
I do like this little phrase "organising - all by itself"
I've wondered, via this list, before: what is this "self" that organises?
When, I stand, as a self (called Paul) and behold the world process
(in which I stand) - I stand apart as the beholder, but also behold
the wonder that I am part of that world process as well.
Apart and belonging. the universe seems to have within it, an ability
to behold its-self. (Itself - Its self)
Here's a poem I wrote a while back, in a little book called The Poetry
of Change:
Cleft...
Like a cleft stick
You are no longer
Whole
See?
Yet even
Whole
You were ripped from
A tree.
It's easy to forget that the ability to behold self-organisation and
to share it so eloquently on this list, as Harrison does, requires a
self to behold it (and to know it is a self doing the beholding). When
we behold self-organisation, we necessarily behold ourselves at the
same time. Self-organisation is an act of self organisation (not the
lack of a hyphen in the second one). Organisation is beautiful and the
distaste for it is silly and pointless. Because organisation and
self-organisation are one and the same thing.
There is a form of organisation however where the self imposes its
temporarily separate will onto other selves and, in the process
forgets itself. It forgets that it is part of the system it is
imposing its will upon. There can be many reasons for this which I
won't go into here. When one or more selves forget they are part of
the thing they are imposing their will on, the whole system can go
into a state of suffering because it temporarily loses its wholeness.
This can happen in a conference when a small group of selves impose an
agenda on the whole "self" of the community. The smaller group of
selves have temporarily attempted to place themselves outside of the
whole system of which they are always a part.
When we use open space technology, we restore the wholeness of the
system by allowing each self to act both separately and together in
the world-process. There's a harmony because both beholder and
beholded come closer together and even show themselves as the same
thing. The circle represents its well. It feels like a remembering
(Re-membering - we put the "whole body" back on again).
What's beautiful about open space is when each of our separate selves
gets up and temporarily acts as if it is separate from the world-self.
"i want to lead a session on" or "I use my my two feet" or "I become a
butterfly. Not the world temporary. Control is often benevolent when
it is transient asnd temporary.
In Open Space, these passing acts of separate self ('lovely
selfishness' I call it) are very close to the experience of whole
self-organisation - because the circle is strong - self and Self are
very close together in a kind of playful dance.
Also self and Self are close together in Time. We are creating the
agenda as selves and as a collective SELF in an improvisational way.
Improvisation is the way the universe breathes and moves.
In a traditional conference, those little acts of each self (cooking
up the agenda way in advance) becomes separated in time from the
agenda that is experienced together (as a together-self). We act as if
our little selves are separate from the whole. We try to act UPON the
system from outside instead of IN the system. Here organisation
becomes something in which selves role play being separate. There is
no circle. The universe if "over there." At best we hold the whole
circle or community in imagination.
The day of the conference arrives. If there is energy,
self-organisation manifests anyway and the conversations happen in the
coffee breaks. Even in open space events, where we create the agenda
on the day, the conversations happen in the coffee breaks. we even
create our own extra or different coffee breaks outside the formal
timings, using our two feet.
Oh no. I beg to differ. Self-organisation doesn't happen all by
itself. Self-organisation happens out of itself. And itself is a
beautiful thing. Self-organisation is a process of ORGANISATION. In
the human realm it happens as an act of synchronous improvisation. We
organise and we control but we just do it closer to the moment and out
of an experience of the whole. Temporary, separate "selfishness"
becomes synonymous with play. Individuality and Community weave a
lemiscate pattern.
Each individual self acts both separately and collectively all of the
time.
The universe was made so that human beings could self-organise it.
(Dives for cover)
Paul Levy
On 24 June 2015 at 18:46, Harrison via OSList
<[email protected]
<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','[email protected]');>> wrote:
Come this 4^th of July it will be 30 years since something called Open
Space Technology happened. At the time, we (that would be me, for
sure) didn’t have a clue what it was or where it was headed. Since
then it seems like a lot of good stuff has come down. Of course we
need to remember the learnings from the ‘60’s – “Never trust anyone
over 30.” Well... we just got there! Everybody should be well advised
that what happens next is TOTALLY their responsibility... Or something.
What happens next is definitely your responsibility. Having entered
into my 80^th year, I am well past the age of discretion. But I do
have a few thoughts that may, or may not, be germane.
I don’t think this is the end of something. I do believe it is the
beginning. And... There will always be a time when “the first timers”
(as participants or facilitators) gets the WOW Experience (Thank you
Tom Peters). Kind of like the first ride on your bicycle. Millions of
people have done it before you. But your First Ride is always unique
(for you).
There will always be times when bits and pieces of our common
experience in Open Space are held out as “singularities” – something
strange and unique. The latest version is called, “Liberating
Structures (Thank you Henri!).” Wonderful Idea, I think, but just a
very small part of the whole.
And for all those wonderful people who are attempting to wed Open
Space to Agile (Dan et al you know who I am talking about) – I say
Three Cheers! And I also hope that the day will come when it is
recognized that truly Agile organization are fully, consciously,
intentionally – self organizing. At that point, you don’t have to wed
anything to anything. Just be what you already are. Which is another
way of saying that SCRUM (along with all the other “techniques”) sound
nice, but are yet one more example of “working too hard.”
And What Next? Truly, I am out of crystal balls. But I rather think
the beginning will begin when we call “Full Stop” on any attempt to
organize anything. And in that momentary space (Open Space?) just
notice what is organizing all by itself. Amazing! And we didn’t do a
thing. Which leads naturally to the next question... How do we take
advantage of the winds of our existence to bring our ships to harbors
of fullness and greatness?
And then we may take a lesson from Sailors and the Sea. Sailors do not
create the wind or the Sea. Although many have tried. All have failed.
But they have learned to ride the winds and the seas to their
advantage. We have the same opportunity.
On this 30^th Birthday, and as I approach my 80^th – Good Luck and
Carry On!
Harrison
Winter Address
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854
301-365-2093 <tel:301-365-2093>
Summer Address
189 Beaucaire Ave.
Camden, ME 04843
207-763-3261 <tel:207-763-3261>
Websites
www.openspaceworld.com <http://%20www.openspaceworld.com>
www.ho-image.com <http://www.ho-image.com>
OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the
archives of OSLIST Go
to:http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
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--
Daniel Mezick, President
New Technology Solutions Inc.
(203) 915 7248 (cell)
Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/>. Blog
<http://newtechusa.net/blog/>. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/>.
Examine my new book:The Culture Game
<http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/>: Tools for the
Agile Manager.
Explore Agile Team Training
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/> and Coaching.
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/>
Explore the Agile Boston <http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/>Community.
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