From 50 Years of Thinking

There are moments of succinctness that are exquisite to me. Slow cooked over years to become beautifully blended. Distillations that are the essence.

Today I saw some of this on the Open Space Listserve, offered by Harrison Owen. He offered it as his version of story. What was, is, and with invitation to come.

“From 50 years of thinking and looking, two conclusions and some follow-ons. I don’t know that they are “true” but they account for my experience.

1) All systems are open. All systems, human and otherwise are open to each other, interconnected, interdependent and always moving.
2) All systems are self –organizing. The open, interconnected systems interact and co-evolve, each system making demands and offering gifts to all other systems. The result is a living community which dies, in whole or in part, when it runs out of time/space in which to grow.
3) Opening space provides the essential condition for continuing life. When space is opened for human communities, life can be renewed. This is an ongoing and natural process. And we have learned to initiate the process intentionally – which is what happens with Open Space Technology.
4) To this point, our efforts have been limited to “better meetings” and a little bit beyond. Next act is enhancing the naturally occurring opening of space, the Tahrir Squares of this world… and much, much more. That’s the quest, I think – and the invitation.

Way to go Harrison!

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