Conversations For Transformation: Essays Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard

Conversations For Transformation

Essays By Laurence Platt

Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard

And More

After Dinner Conversation

Napa, California, USA

November 25, 2016

"If you don't take it out into the world, you didn't get it in the first place." ...

I am indebted to Anita Lynn Erhard and to Deborah Erhard who inspired this conversation.

Whichever facet of the national spectrum you align with now (and arguably more than at many other times in history, today's national spectrum is truly multi-faceted), whichever religious persuasion or ethnic roots you're invested in, whichever class or financial bracket you occupy, whichever country you're a resident of and whatever its intentions for our planet are (or aren't), in other words from whatever point of view you look, we all actually have something in common: it's we could each equally aver the world today is seriously out of whack with what's possible. You're a hawk? The world is seriously out of whack with what's possible. You're a dove? The world is seriously out of whack with what's possible. How poignant is that! Of all the unlikely things there are on which we could all possibly agree, it's got to be that one.

Coming from transformation, that's an interesting place to stand. While we say the world is out of whack with what's possible, what's also true is more than at many other times in history, more people are engaged in and are living in the global (ie in the worldwide) conversation for transformation. That's interesting to me. In our world which everyone agrees is out of whack with what's possible, what's ongoingly available to everyone is living a transformed life ie living a life experienced as full, whole, complete, and satisfying. It's not "either / or": it's both. But Laurence (you may ask) isn't that selfish? Isn't that elitist? Isn't that separatist? Isn't it exclusive?

It's not. Personal transformation is never exclusive. To the contrary, personal transformation is, for each of us, a function of our relationship with who we really are, and so consequently is a function of our relationship with who everyone else really is. Global transformation then, is a function of personal transformation - one human being at a time. Sorry, but the world isn't transformed by voting out old policies in favor of voting in new policies, and then (when we've disavowed experimenting that way) nor is it transformed by voting out those polices in favor of voting in other different policies (is it just me, or have vast numbers of us become really convinced it does work that way?). No, the world is transformed by standing in being complete, then looking from there at what's possible, then taking the appropriate action.

Now: is that "the truth"? Who knows! They're topics for good after dinner conversation with friends, for soirées with people who've looked into other human beings' faces and seen their own, for those privileged, miraculous moments in the company of great people who realize the miracle of being is ours for the taking, the taking of which brings transformation to bear on the world. To me there's nothing as satisfying, nothing as thrilling, nothing as beatific, nothing as authentic, nothing as open or as straight-talk-engaging as the company of people coming from transformation and what's possible, instead of bickering, arguing, and world-weary dissatisfaction.

Here's the fracture in world-weary dissatisfaction: it asks why people don't get more done for the benefit of the world. A more astute question is: is it possible to get anything done which will ever make any difference at all, if whatever we do is predicated on us not knowing who we really are? Can anyone who doesn't know who they really are, ever get anything done that will make a lasting difference in the world? No it's much more than that. It's can anyone who doesn't know who they really are ever be satisfied by anything anyone else does? Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Wait! Isn't that what's going on most of the time everywhere? Uh oh!

This after dinner conversation (and other conversations for transformation like it) comes with a challenge, a welcome responsibility: once you've experienced who you really are, it leads to a unified vision of the transformation of the world, with no one and nothing left out. Oh? And who says it leads to that, Laurence? I do. If you don't get it leads to that, simply from your own experience of its essence ie its true nature leading to that, then I say you didn't get transformation in the first place.

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