Everyone's comment on this occasion has one thing at its center, gratefulness
for
OST's life changing impact.
Count me among'em!!
Elwin GuildPortland, CT
From: Daniel Mezick via OSList <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>
To: oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 7:51 AM
Subject: Re: [OSList] 30 Years ... and Counting!
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:
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div.yiv5306195737WordSection1 {}#yiv5306195737 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 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:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] 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
<oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> 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 <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org> 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
Summer Address 189 Beaucaire Ave. Camden, ME 04843 207-763-3261 Websites
www.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:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] 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 <oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>
wrote: Come this 4th 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 80th 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 30th Birthday, and as I approach my 80th – Good Luck and
Carry On! 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 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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--
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{text-decoration:underline;color:#0000ee;}Daniel Mezick, President New
Technology Solutions Inc. (203) 915 7248 (cell) Bio. Blog. Twitter. Examine my
new book: The Culture Game : Tools for the Agile Manager. Explore Agile Team
Training and Coaching. Explore the Agile Boston Community.
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