Harrison Owen 

The originator of Open Space Technology describes how opening space widens our window of opportunity- our Now. 
 
        Now is a funny thing. It is all we have, and yet there seems to be nothing there. Ask about the duration of now, and it can be this week, this day, this hour, this minute-and pouf-it virtually disappears. By definition, neither the past nor the future exists. All we have is now, and it seems always to be slipping through our fingers. 

        When now disappears or shrinks to an instant, life is swallowed up by regret for the past and anxiety for the future. The window of opportunity-Now-is painfully small. 

        Where it is possible to expand our Now, at the very least there would be more time/space for doing what needs to get done. I believe the ultimate gift of Open Space is the expansion of our Now. 

        Now is experienced as seamless. It may be a small Now or a big Now, but it is all Now. As the perception of Now expands, the magnitude and texture of the whole is perceived. This is quite different from thinking about something, for thought drives toward pieces. 

        The domain of Now, which in reality is the hometown of Spirit, is never entered by force but only by contemplation, with respect. The perception of Now comes to fullness in Open Space, safe space, sacred space. 

        Organizations operating in Open Space manifest in their totality a fancy way of saying "It's all there, warts and all." In the concrete situation of an Open Space event, all who care are invited to share in the communal process of being, and becoming fully, what they are. 

        As participants enter the circle, before words are spoken, a rich field of shared meaning emerges in the void confronting, and connecting, everyone. Even when antagonists occupy the same space, as in competing departments, interest groups, peoples, or professions, they are united by a common concern for the issue at hand, be that the future of a country, the design of a project, or the creation of doors. 

        The initial experience is one of intense focus and concentration. All eyes are fixed on an empty space, attention riveted on nothing. The emptiness is mirrored by a blank wall, soon to become the bulletin board and then site of the marketplace. But in the moment, there is nothing. Now is very concentrated, dense, pregnant. 

        Then a virtual explosion is triggered as the participants flood the center, borne by expectation and anxiety and bringing that which has heart and meaning for them. Prospectively, the moment of explosion takes forever to materialize. In retrospect, it happens in an instant, and suddenly there is a sense of presence. The Now grows. 

        The intense activity at the core spills outward, breaking through the circle, heading toward the wall. People and ideas expand, defining new space, creating new circles. In a dance as old as humankind, the circle forms and reforms, defining new centers of meaning. 

        As the initial organizing meeting closes, multiple circles are established in breakout rooms and corridors. An organic, living being appears, creating its own time and space, a Now peculiar to itself. 

        Hard practicalities emerge, design decisions are made in a fraction of the normally anticipated time. Technical details are handled with dispatch. The circle gives birth to other circles, the Now expands, and wholeness, connection, and community make their appearance. 

        Now expands in funny ways, rarely according to whatever plan may have been in place. That which was strange becomes familiar, and the bits and pieces dissolve into a more fundamental unity. In prospect, the expanding Now is often viewed with anxiety, for surely if the perceived boundaries are enlarged, things could get out of hand, control could be lost. Strangers would appear, and they might contaminate the space and time of the organization. 

        Retrospectively, the expanding Now appears as a blessing. The natural, pre-existing connections of life are made manifest. New power and new opportunities connect, and with the wisdom of hindsight, it is seen that the connection always existed. It was only an arbitrary set of boundaries that limited the sense of possibility. 

        How far can the Now expand? The mystics of our world would answer, "There is no limit." Now can expand though all of time and space. Indeed, with a fully expanded Now, there ceases to be any sense of near or far, past or future. It is all Now. In a word, time and space literally disappear, for it turns out they are only arbitrary constructs. 

        If the mystics are right, the limitations of time and space are self-imposed. Now does not expand, it simply is. It is our consciousness of Now that may expand, and we are limited only by our willingness and ability to engage the journey. 
 

Harrison Owen's new book, Expanding Our Now: The Story of Open Space 
Technology, will be published in September 1997 by Berrett-Koehler 
Publishers. He can be reached at 301-469-9269 or owen@tmn.com.</bigger>