Replying to LO27832 --
At 11:19 AM 02/13/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>Some where in the cobwebs the term "Closed Environment" lurks in relation
>to LO, but I cannot remember the full meaning. Can someone help?
>
>Mike Thomas
Your posting must have jogged something in me (twice now). Thank-you. I
keep sitting and thinking that we make this learning and growing thing way
too hard. Not that it's ever easy... but are we making it too hard?
Nobody wants to listen to us if we say "hey maybe it's this simple, or
that simple..." Remember the story about the farmer who wouldn't buy a
new book on farming techniques because he said "he wasn't farming half as
good now as he knew how to?"
Maybe we close our systems by the uncivil way we treat one another?
Maybe all the techniques in the world will do zippo until we tackle the
hard work of being civil, compassionate, loving, supportive, serving....."
Yes, we certainly need to understand systems and dynamics (in whatever
language and learning style that works best for each of us)... but
without the love and civility, what good does it do in the long run? How
can we learn more about creating (fostering, nurturing...) open systems,
not closed ones?
Here's a story that a friend told me last evening. It would be
interesting to hear what you see in the story (or is that see what you
hear???).
Eddie took his family to the Museum of Natural History in Cleveland last
summer. Eddie was looking at a sealed glass case that contained an
ancient bone from some long-gone inhabitant of this earth. He told me
that he never actually looked at the artifact because his attention was
drawn to a spider web (cobweb -- see there's some connection). As tightly
and carefully as the glass case was sealed, Eddie wondered how the spider
got inside. Anyway, so here's this spider. Sitting at the edge of this
beautiful web. Waiting. Patiently. In a closed system. For supper.
Eddie asked me "do you suppose we seal ourselves off too tightly in life
and then wonder why things don't go so well for us?
As I drove home last evening, I kept saying to myself "Hey, my web's all
set up. Why isn't anyone dropping by?"
Some of you may have read Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet." If you have,
have you read "In The Garden Of The Prophet?" In that follow-on work, he
poses the dilemma people face after their awakening. No-one seems to be
that interested in your epiphany. He comes to the conclusion that in
order to share (give) our gifts, we first must learn to receive gifts.
We believe we're lacking in our ability to give, but he suggests that
we're more lacking in out ability to receive -- fully, graciously,
authentically. Isn't that a part of leadership -- authentic followership?
This seems to me to be connected to the whole idea of open systems and how
we treat one another --especially in the periods of swift change that open
systems precipitate.
Take care,
John
-- John Dicus | CornerStone Consulting Associates - Leadership - Systems Thinking - Teamwork - Open Space - Electric Maze - 2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City, OH 44280 800-773-8017 | 330-725-2728 (2729 fax) mailto:jdicus@ourfuture.com | http://www.ourfuture.comLearning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
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