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
A Place To Come Back To
Inglenook, Rutherford, California, USA
November 13, 2015
"I am 'I am'."
...
There are places I've visited throughout
the world
which, in spite of the fact that there are still many other places I've
not yet seen and would
love
to visit, are worth coming back to. I'll include one or two of the
Fiji islands
(Akuilau
and
Malolo Lailai
for example) in the south Pacific Ocean among them. They're relatively
easy to get to. If you've seen either of the movies The Blue Lagoon
(Brooke Shields) and / or Castaway (Tom Hanks), they're
Fiji
so you know the decor. They're places which, given their stark, sheer,
uncompromising naturalness, have the ability to call on and bring forth
from us the very best of what it is to be a
human being.
The
Fiji islands
are examples of physical places to come back to which
have the ability ie the physical ability to remind us of
who we really are.
Then there are those spiritual places which have the
spiritual ability to remind us of
who we really are.
One such place for me is the
Oudekraal
kramat
aka the
Oudekraal mosque
in
South Africa
which is reached by climbing a hidden path up the
mountainside
following a meandering
drive
heading south along the west coast of the Cape Peninsula as you leave
Cape Town. With the sheer Twelve Apostles range on your
left, and the majestic breaking waves of the Atlantic Ocean crashing
onto massive boulders on your right, even calling this vista
magnificent and the perfect
background
for spiritual communion, is to woefully understate it. It's definitely
a place to come back to. It's a
power
place for me - that is, it's a spiritualpower
place for me.
While I'm
considering
which places to come back to, my
attention
is caught by the phrase "come back to" - literally. It
reminds me of something else, at first je ne sais quoi. Then I
realize what it harkens to: it's the process of
meditation
and its deployment of a sacred sound or mantra which you
"come back to". You
sit.
You
meditate.
And when you notice your
mind
has
hijacked
the onset of the experience of bliss consciousness (as it invariably
will: that's its job), you come back to the mantra. So there are
physical places to come back to, and there are spiritual places to come
back to, and there are even
meditative
places ie retreats to come back to, all of which in one way or another
put us squarely (back) in touch with
who we really are.
Some time around now (it may have been closer to four
decades
ago, or maybe it was three years ago, or maybe it was two months ago,
or maybe it was a week ago, or maybe it was just this morning, but
nonetheless some time around now) I experienced an
awakening,
the result of which was I
cut out
the middle man.
"Cut out
the middle man"? What does that mean
Laurence?
It means this: as seductive as places of awesome physical beauty are,
I don't have to go there or come back to them in order to experience
and / or to be
who I really am;
as alluring as places of pristine spiritual beauty are, I don't have to
go there or come back to them in order to experience and / or to be
who I really am;
as attractive as places of immense
meditative
beauty are, I don't have to go there or come back to them in order to
experience and / or to be
who I really am.
No, I am "I am". Now this is a place to come back
to.
"I am 'I am'" is where it all starts - all of
it. And while I say it's "a place to come back to", the simple truth of
the matter is I'm always here ie I'm always in this place. So coming
back here isn't of the same order of things as coming back to an
island
or coming back to a
mosque
or coming back to a retreat to get (back) in touch with
who I really am.
Rather, coming back here is coming directly back to
who I am,
cutting out
the middle man (no
island,
no
mosque,
no retreat). It's the profound yet simple matter of reinstating the
awareness (which you can do anywhere) that you're here (and always have
been here, and always will be here) where it all starts.
"I am 'I am'" is the
awakening.
And you are "I am" too (that's not a typo). This is a
place to come back to. Actually no: it's the place to come
back to.
