[Oe List ...] Chronological History - Our Common Future Oaxtepec

Mon Jun 12 14:46:48 PDT 2017

What I recall of Harrison Owen is his total orientation was about
"self-organizing communities" which he always tried to demonstrate at his
events (I attended workshops with him at a couple of conferences 25 or more
years ago). Everything was bottom-up, and I think he would have been about
180 degrees different from our pre-planned, facilitated events, such as
Town Meeting or Strategic Planning.  Where he might have crossed over into
some common territory with us was in valuing the group's wisdom, feeling it
to be stronger than that of a brilliant individual.* I wasn't there either
in Oaxtapec in October '88.

Thanks, Beret and John and others for your work on this part of archiving
our OE/ICA history.

--Joyce Bonafield-Pierce

*groups I participated in at these other venues did actually lead into
group wisdom, and a surprising level of organization, yet I can't say I
learned anything about a 'method' in these events.

On Mon, Jun 12, 2017 at 3:35 PM, W. J. via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

> Beret and colleagues,
> Just a brief note of thanks to John Epps and a comment.
> First (and obviously), I wasn't there. Nevertheless...
> Second (and more obviously), Harrison Owen (without the final 's')
> violated every professional boundary I can think of for an outside 'guest'
> presenter when he insisted on upending the format and throwing out the
> structure of the meeting (without being invited to do so).
> One might conceivably contend (though I would have no basis to suggest
> this, since I wasn't there) that the highly structured 'lock-step'
> operating mode of the Order had the unintended effect of screening out or
> avoiding some elements of reality, which might have something to do with
> what some could call a 'death spiral,' resulting in a decision to call the
> Order out of being--an unplanned outcome. According to John.
> So maybe Harrison Owen was a prophetic voice (more or less), perhaps
> unintentionally, to disrupt the Order's 'lock-step' way of being in the
> world. Despite the reality of crossing all kinds of professional
> boundaries. Who knew?
> What do you think, guys?
> Marshall Jones
>
>
> On Monday, June 12, 2017 9:05 AM, Sunny Walker via OE <
> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
>
> Beret,
> Chalk one up for senility…our video was of Bilbao, not Oaxtapec!
>
> *From:* OE [mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net] *On Behalf Of *John
> Epps via OE
> *Sent:* Monday, June 12, 2017 9:28 AM
> *To:* Beret Griffith <beretgriffith at gmail.com>; Order Ecumenical
> Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [Oe List ...] Chronological History - Our Common Future
> Oaxtepec
>
> Hello Beret
> Thanks for your good work on the archives, and for your questions about
> Oaxtapec. I’ve scanned my files and discovered that memory will have to
> suffice. I do have some memories of the event that may be worth recording.
> *First,* the place was gorgeous. However it was selected, it was an
> excellent choice.
> *Secondly*, there were at least three “outside” notable worthies as guest
> speakers: Harrison Owens, Jean Houston, and David Campbell.
> *Third* is a story: I was assigned to be on the regulatory to plan the
> event. Karen Snyder and LeDona Wagner were also on that team, along with
> others who I can’t remember. We arrived on sight a week in advance and got
> to work. Most of us had experience of planning Priors Councils and Summer
> Programs, so it was sort of a familiar task, though challenges were
> significant: dealing with the dispersed location of the housing and the
> incorporation of the guests into the program. We worked morning til night
> in dialogue with the Panchayat and finally came up with a detailed design
> that seemed to incorporate the activities and dynamics we all wanted to
> happen.
> Sorry, but I don’t have a copy of that design.
> Anyway, at the appropriate time, we presented our design to the priory for
> their modification before finalization. It had assigned times, places,
> teams, and activities in what we considered a trans-rational format that
> would get us where we wanted to go.  Harrison Owens, who was invited to sit
> in on the meeting erupted with objections at such structures. This was
> before he published *Open Space,* but he was already committed to a
> structure-less process, and recommended that we ditch our plans and let
> happen whatever would. As a group wedded to intentionality, that seemed
> heretical (to me), but that’s essentially what happened. Of course, the
> guests had scheduled times for their presentations, but beyond that, our
> carefully crafted plans went down the tubes! 😊.
> Later, during the week Harrison and I met on the porch of our cabin for
> pre-breakfast coffee and informal chats with cordial collegiality, though
> neither of us managed to convince the other of the effectiveness of our
> respective dynamics.
> *Fourth*, and this is not for publication, the discussion and decision
> about dissolution of the Order was never in any of the pre-plans. We had to
> leave the conference a day early, but nothing about such a move had been
> publicly discussed before then. The later announcement came as a complete
> surprise and probably contributed to my “Theology of Surprise” book. What’s
> happened since has obviously been beyond our wildest expectations, but at
> the time it came as a bolt out of the blue.
>
> I hope you find these memories useful as background information.
>
> John
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 10, 2017 at 5:10 PM, Beret Griffith via OE <
> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
> Wendell,
> I know you checked for Oaxtapec documents. Wondering if you checked
> Frank's drive for the video?
>
> Colleagues,
> Do any of you have a copy of that Sunny Walker and Rick Jones filmed as a
> report of the event?
>
> Thanks, Beret
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 10, 2017 at 5:56 PM, Beret Griffith <beretgriffith at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Perhaps the three of you can pool your memories and come up with Oaxtapec
> information and stories.
>
> Beret
>
> On Sat, Jun 10, 2017 at 5:42 PM, Dennis Jennings <
> dennisjennings1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Mary Warren Moffat was in attendance at Oaxtapec.  As I recall, she fell
> and broke her leg while there.  Nevertheless she is known for having a
> great memory
> about these events.  Al Lingo was there also. He likely shepherded Andrew
> Young.
>
> I would probably need to be sitting with a group of people to help
> stimulate my memory of events.  I am pretty sure I do not have any written
> records.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> On Jun 10, 2017, at 4:59 PM, Beret Griffith <beretgriffith at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hello again colleagues,
>
> There is very little information on the Chronological History re: Our
> Common Future Conference in Oaxtepec in the archives, so very little in the
> ChronHist. There are a couple of brochures and very LARGE MP3 files of
> Andrew Young's talk. (via Wendell Refior)  now available on Wedgeblade.net
> <http://wedgeblade.net/>.  (see link at the end of this message).
>
> And, Oaxtepec represents a huge turn for the organization. It would be
> very good to have more details on the event and outcome.
>
> Mary Laura suggested those of you individually named above as colleagues
> she recalled were at the conference.
>
> Glenda Long Eggerling looked at the timeline and wondered if there is more
> information surrounding the Order being called out of being at the
> Oaxtepec.
>
> Glenda's questions:
> 1.      Is there information about the gathering?
> 2.       Who led conference?
> 3.      What was written about dissolving the Order? Is there a document
> declaring the structures of the Order being called out of being?
> 4.      Role of the Panchayat?
> 5.      When was the Panchayat called out of being?
> 6.      Who was on the last Panchayat?
> 7.       What were the practics of letting people know, manage the staff
> centers,  etc, etc.?
> Below is the link to the Chronological History 1952-1988 to see the
> original text in the document. You cannot add material in this part of the
> document.
>
> https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/20197.pdf
>
> Go to page 110 to see text. If you have changes please send to myself
> beretgriffith at gmail.com & David Dunn  dmdunn1 at gmail.com and additions
> will be made to the text.
>
> Thank you! Beret & David
>
> ________________________________________________________-
>
> Andrew Young - Part 1
> ICAI Address to ICAI Summer Conference in Mexico City Part 1
>
> https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/20060.mp3
>
> ICAI Address to ICAI Summer Conference in Mexico City Part 2
>
> https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/20061.mp3
>
>
> --
> *Dennis Jennings, Certified ToP Facilitator/Mentor Trainer*
>
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>
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