Open Space Freedoms

The Law of Freedom: you are free to be where you choose to be, doing what you choose to do.
Butterflying: transformation, hovering, being open to receiving, being beautiful just being you
Bumblebeeing: cross-pollination, maneuverability, healthy ecosystem
The Bluebird: the hopeful pursuit of happiness

The Law of Freedom

There is one rule, and it must be obeyed. It is such a strong and important rule that we call it a Law.
You are free to be where you choose to be, doing what you choose to do. You only need your own permission to move between groups, actions, conversations. You can pursue what brings you joy, chase whatever has special interest for you in the moment.
You can make time and space for the things that feel important and alive in you, and you only need to do it for as long as that is true, however long that may be: minutes or months.
If you find yourself somewhere that you feel your time and energy is not being best used, if you’re not giving or receiving anything that seems to you a good use of your time, you can simply move on to a different place and discover a new vibrant connection to the experience.
You can also take time out whenever you like, if you feel overwhelmed or just need a break. You’re not obliged to explain why to anyone: just do what you need to do for your own wellbeing.
In this process, we recognise that everyone’s energy and ability to be present, take part, contribute, and receive, will be variable. There are busy times, messy times, low energy times and can’t-do-social times, as well as hyper-focus times, talking-for-hours times, and big excitement times. There’s room for all of this variation in Open Space.
When someone enacts the Law of Freedom and moves on, the reactions of others can be a gesture of support. If someone leaves your conversation, it’s more than okay to not acknowledge them leaving, and just carry on doing what you’re doing.
The practice of noticing and respecting the Law of Freedom in ourselves and each other is part of actively Accompanying each other. Click here to find out more about Accompanying.
The Law of Freedom is also an invitation to act in consideration of ourselves and others. Where our own comfort levels will allow, how we react to each other can be a welcome gesture of consideration or support. The Copenhagen Interpretation regards our Access Accord as very much being about having a collective experience in consideration of each other.
How we react to each other can be a welcome gesture of consideration or support. Your consideration of your own tolerance levels will tell you how able you are to respond.
One more very important thing about the Law of Freedom. If a situation makes you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, you are not obliged to stay in that situation: you have the agency to move away immediately, and you don’t have to explain why to anyone.
The return to feeling comfortable might be as simple as doing something else, or taking a break, and that’s great. But if you need some support to get back on the path to feeling comfortable, our Access Accord has some information about where there can be (and where there cannot be) provision of support within The Copenhagen Interpretation. Click here to see the Access Accord.
Here are some useful metaphors for things you might find yourself doing at gatherings.

Butterflying

Transformation

Cocooning and emerging: if we enter as caterpillars, we emerge as butterflies. It is the state in which we will now continue our journey. This happens in small moments during the process, and also through the process as a whole.

Hovering

Bearing witness is a hugely important and powerful part of this process. Being seen and/or being heard is how we help each other emerge. Lots of butterflies fluttering around is a sign of a healthy environment.

Being open to receiving

Having a centre of non-doing validates inaction in the process: stillness allows quiet, delicate or shy things to emerge and be witnessed. This is about allowing things to emerge, allowing yourself to notice. Letting it come to you, not chasing it.
It can also be about receiving message from the group. When you’re hovering, you might attract spontaneous chats. These are really important ways to connect, find out what’s up for people, find out what they have brought.
Your interactions and responses within casual chats might open up possibilities for yourself.
If you are perfectly still for a while, you might find you start receiving messages from yourself / your own ideas, thoughts.
It might also be that you are just sensitive to how a group is feeling: butterflies are very sensitive to environmental change.

Beautiful

There will be times when you are taking time-out, time aside from everything. Times when you are perfectly still might be daydreaming time, beautiful thinking and thinking beautiful time.
Maybe you’re just staring into nothing for a while. That’s very important too.
Whatever you are doing or non-doing, you are always being beautiful. Existing in whatever state you’re in, is beautiful. That’s not about action, it’s not even about inaction. You are you, and that is beautiful, and that’s enough. That’s plenty.

Long slow thinking

All of these things are part of the process of long slow thinking. We rarely have or make time for long slow thinking, but it is crucially important, especially in this fast-past and radically changing world. Long thinking. Slow thinking. Beautiful.

Bumblebeeing

Cross pollination

Picking up and dropping off ideas, connecting the hive mind, evolving and generating (ideas, feelings, connections, actions, stories) is what makes this whole process move forwards. It’s what allows us to evolve within the process, as individuals and as a community.

Manoeuvrability

The ability to move and respond, to buzz about, to adapt. Fidgeting, being busy, being buzzy: these are all welcome, bumbling things that keep the space feeling alive. We might all experience moments of bumbling - not being quite sure what to do next, or how. It is fine to let yourself bumble: find out where the nectar is when you don’t have a plan.

Ecosystem

A healthy ecosystem has lots of pollinators, movement and diversity. Different things are emerging, connecting, and responding in different ways. We are here with our own capacity but we are also part of a community, part of the storyworld, and together we are part of an ever-evolving ecosystem.

The Bluebird

Happiness

The Bluebird has often been used as a symbol for hope and the pursuit of happiness. This is the sign that you are welcome to do the same here.

Collaboration

In company, and certainly in collective creativity, it can also be useful to bear in mind that everyone is simply pursuing their own Bluebird, or just trying to work out what their Bluebird is. If you're having trouble understanding where someone is coming from, it might help to talk about each other's Bluebirds.

Characters

Even the characters have a bluebird they are chasing. Figuring out what their Bluebird is can be a very helpful thing in storytelling.
Click here for information about our version of Open Space
Click here for information about the Open Space Principles

Creative Commons

This page is part of The Copenhagen Interpretation of an Access Accord v6. This draft is dated 14th December 2023. The Access Accord is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Everyone is free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format), and/or adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) for any purpose, even commercially, with acknowledgement wherever possible that this was the original source. If you use it and can let us know, you will be supporting our future fundraising work – thank you.

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