The Practice of Peace Author:Harrison Owen Harrison Owen invented Open Space Technology to move groups to insight and action. In hundreds of circumstances in South Africa, the Middle East, multi-national corporations, and local communities around the world, Harrison has opened space for people to discover new ways of thinking, talking, and being together. He and others have used Open Spa... more »ce Technology more than 40,000 times is 83 countries with groups from 5 - 2000 people. This simple self-organizing process sets the conditions for people to explore possibilities and take action together - to make peace with themselves, each other, and their environments.
In his own words:
~ Peace is not the absence of chaos, confusion, and conflict.
~ conflict in all of its forms is an essential, albeit painful, element of life, and life without conflict is only a lobotomized shadow of its former self.
~Peace then is a process, not a thing; a journey and not a destination.
~ The true power lies with the incredible capacity of self-organizing systems to create Peace for themselves and with their environments.
~ Order appears in chaos. Nobody did it. Not a committee or executive in sight, but things definitely get organized at a new and higher level of complexity.
Who can set the conditions for peace to self-organize? Anyone and everyone --
~ Business and political leaders
~ Neighbors
~ Lovers and friends
~ Engineers and sales people
~ Teachers and learners
~ Parents and children
~ You
The Practice of Peace opens a space for peace to emerge in each of us and for all of our collectives.« less