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Here are some musings from Doug Germann about OpenSpaceTech…

I must confess to you that I am at a loss to describe to you this meeting. We come to it and meet in a way that shares more of us than we ever planned to share, and it makes us whole; it reveals our beauty-individually and as a community. It causes us to go our and do something we thought larger than us, beyond our reach, but there it is, being done. And when we come away, we come away changed profoundly and surely, and yet we are unable to put in words in what way nor prescribe a way for others to get there.

And yes, that’s pretty much how it is for me, too. It’s all the little aligning and connectings that take place that clearly, if still mysteriously, support new action. I like Doug’s line too, about “What if conversation is how we consciously evolve?”

In the course of conversation in the VirtualChautauqua with Michael Ray, he makes this observation, on his way to saying something else…

At the same time (or “that being said” as everyone seems to say in the media nowadays in the same place that before that they would say “at the end of the day” and before that would say “the bottom line is.”)…

Language, and the very subtle shapes we create with it, are so important. This progression he notes, this shift in reference from quarterly (bottom-line business focus) to daily, to just a moment ago, to at the same time, is so subtle and so important.

The capacity to be and do, to pay attention and attend to, many things, inside and outside, self and others, past and future at the same time must be our most important practice and learning now.

Lisa Kimball sent an invitation yesterday for a new Virtual Chautauqua event, September 15 (now) though the 30th, with author and teacher Michael Ray. I”m finding his book, Highest Goal, to be both brilliant and helpful. Some of my favorite bits from Jim Collins’ foreword:

…the story of a businessman who visited a Zen master seeking enlightenment. They sat down for tea, the businessman blabbering on about all the issues and challenges in his life, and his quest for achievement and direction and meaning and purpose and . . . the master said nothing, pouring tea. With the cup full, the master kept pouring, the tea flowing into the saucer, onto the table, and finally into the man’s lap.

“Hey! What are you doing?” yelped the businessman, leaping up as the scalding hot water seeped into his pants.

“Your cup is too full,” said the master. “You add and add and add and add and add and add to your life. There is no room for enlightenment until you empty your cup.”

…I’ve come to believe that there are two approaches to life. The first, followed by most, is the “paint by numbers kit” approach to life. You do what other people say. You follow a well-traveled path. You stay within the lines. And you end up with a nice, pretty—and unimaginative—picture. The second, followed by few, is to start with a blank canvas and try to paint a masterpiece. It is a riskier path, a harder path, a path filled with ambiguity and creative choice. But it is the only way to make your life itself a creative work of art. To paint a masterpiece requires a concept, a place to begin, a guiding context in the absence of the comforting numbers and lines in the premade kit. That guiding frame of reference is the highest goal, and bringing it into your life with the help of Michael’s discoveries is what this book is all about.

…A core process—both in the course and in this book—is the idea of “live-with” heuristics. These are mantras of living that you implement for a period of time (usually a week or more), and reflect on the experience. At Stanford, we were challenged with such livewith assignments as: If at First You Don’t Succeed, Surrender. Pay Attention! Ask Dumb Questions. Destroy Judgment, Create Curiosity. Don’t Think About It. Be Ordinary. And the hardest livewith of all: Do Only What Is Easy, Effortless and Enjoyable.

You can join, or just read through, the two-week conversation with Michael at the VirtualChautauqua.

Corrigan pointing to Tracy Gary today, who inherited a lot of money, but lives on $35-45K annually. She spends most of her time doing service work around the world and working to give away her money.

Seems to go with this Trix comment in Pollard…

In Ojibway, the word ‘debiziwinan’ means both ‘abundance’ and ’sufficiency’.

Oh, to have enough, and be happy with just that much.

Uncertainty is unnerving. Fluidity makes everything possible.

Zapchen

This point comes from Martin Barnes at Bank Credit Analyst…

The current 11% year-on-year gain in real house prices compares to a 50 year average of only 2%. The current growth is three standard deviations above its mean, and historically, this has broadly been a mean reverting series. The odds are high that the growth in real house prices will fall below zero in the next few years.

via John Mauldin’s free letter, which I devour every week.

Dave Pollard posting some guiding principles for Next-Society Models. Among a nice round list of 11 principle characteristics, I especially like his suggestion that new social models should be replicable but not necessarily scalable:

If the model only works in special rare circumstances, it’s probably not a very useful model. But there is some evidence that small is beautiful, and some of the best models in the world just don’t scale. In that case, don’t make ‘em bigger, just make more of ‘em. The Waldorf schools might never scale to a centralized global system, but they seem to work very well as a replicable, tweakable model.

Was surprised to see that Dave had eluded the net of my blogroll. That’s been fixed, under Blogs. See also a whole new blogroll section called Gifts. Many of the things listed there are indeed replicable, if not scalable. Remarkable, as well.

Corrigan points to Wilcox, where I find these two pieces on community participation. The latter has easy if not already obvious links to Asset-Based Community Development. Fits well with the spirit and practice of a business client conversation this week, focusing on “making the most of the opportunities we have” and Euan riding his bike to work.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to help. And reading many people and pieces that point in various ways to the problems caused (or just not solved) by the provision of services. Meanwhile, the service providers are screaming that only they know how to do it right. It seems that little people taking direct care of other little people in need, in all their messy and creative little ways, is confusing for professionals following Plans and Procedures. I hope David Brin is right about the coming Age of Amateurs, when we will all reclaim our right, responsibility and regular practice of providing for ourselves, and each other, things like grief counseling and disaster support.

When the floods came to NOLA, I suggested to my mom that she ask around for friends of friends who might need help. Within just a few hours, two different neighbors happened to mention having people down there. It turns out that one of them had already given to the Red Cross. She’s got a brother-in-law down in NOLA, but the conditioned response was to give to the anonymous agency rather than give to family. I’d like to see us reclaim for ourselves our own abilities to do good. Not buy or hire or lend or deliver good. To actually do it, feel it, see it happening, for ourselves and others.

Mulling too many pieces of community research, policy debate and current events to link it all here, but this from Ram Dass via Chris and Nipun sums it well:

As chaos increases - and there’s a lot of inertia in the system that seems to suggest that is the direction we’re going in - it behooves us to prepare ourselves to ride the changes. If, in the face of uncertainty, people are busy holding onto something, the fear increases, then the contraction increases, and prejudice increases. The question is, what are you adding to the system to shift the balance? What you’re adding is yourself, and what yourself has to be is somebody who can handle uncertainty and chaos without contracting… I’ve gotten over the feeling of being somebody special… I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people.

What more can I say? How can I help?