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 Structure For
Who You Are
Really:
A Speculation
Alston Park,
Napa Valley ,
and Buchanan Airfield, Concord
California, USA
March 28 and April 6, 2018
"The
Mastery Course
is a structure in which it is
possible
to
discover
for yourself
who you are
really . This structure allows for the
breakthrough
of the
Mastery Course ."
...
answering
Laurence Platt 's
question
"As the
breakthrough
of the
est Training
was unleashed in confronting
'You are a machine !',
what
creates
the space for the
breakthrough
of the
Mastery Course ?"
in
Questions For A Friend
XII
This essay,
A Structure For
Who You Are
Really: A Speculation ,
is the sequel to
An Experience Like A Red Balloon, A Life
Like A Concrete Form: A Manifesto
The Newest Piece Of Work
in that order.
That compelling
anticipation
you
hear ?
It's the first ever
Mastery Course ,
starting some
time
around ...
now
... ie even as we
speak .
Werner's Mastery
Course
is a structure in which it is
possible
to
discover
for yourself
who you are
really .
How
do I know that? I know that, because
Werner
told me that's what it is, during
my conversation with him
about creating the breakthrough of the Mastery
Course .
So
now
I'm
wondering
what exactly is "... a structure in which it is
possible
to
discover
for yourself
who you are
really"? I
mean ,
what does it
look
like? What's its
essential
nature ?
And (more to the
point )
if you're going to build one, what raw materials would you use?
Structures are
ordinarily
built with
brick
and mortar and wood and sheetrock (at least, some of them are). But
this is a structure
Werner
built (wait: I know
Werner ,
and it's probably more accurate to
say
it's a structure he's "... ongoingly building
and refining"). So ergo in all likelihood,
its raw material is
language .
That's my best
opening
salvo - and I'll bet it's a pretty good
opening
salvo actually. But in
point
of fact? I have no
idea
- I
simply
don't know .
And the
answers
to all these
questions
aren't likely to be found by googling them either. Yet I
get
them - that is, I
get
what this structure is, pre-verbally ie I
get it
at a level which is prior to
speech .
I
get it
by
direct experience
before it's
constituted in
language .
Listen :
I'm not the expert - no, not by any stretch of the
imagination .
I'm just an
ordinary
dude like you ie a dude who's in the same
inquiry
as you (and when I
say
"dude" in this
context ,
I'm
saying
it unisex -ly). Whatever I
say
about
Werner 's
structure in which it's
possible
to
discover
for yourself
who you are
really , is pure speculation on my part. And there may be no
value for you in speculating if a definitive
answer
is what you're
looking
for. Yet speculating about / wrestling with these issues
(any issues really) is the
source
of
unimaginable
value to be
discovered
in
Werner's work .
In speculating here, I have many theories, one of which is this: part
of our inability to
discover
for ourselves
who we are
really (which is to
say ,
part of our inability to
discover
for ourselves the space in which
who we really are ,
shows up )
is that there are so many other
pieces
of
our machinery ,
which also
show up
in that space, which we haven't yet distinguished as not
who we really are
(in fact which we've falsely
identified
with
who we really are ),
rendering us not
seeing
the forest for the trees , so to
speak .
Intellect,
ego ,
mind ,
thoughts ,
memories ,
feelings ,
emotions,
bodily sensations
etc all
show up
in that space, vying for
attention .
They , in and of themselves, don't
get
in our
way
of
discovering
for ourselves
who we are
really . But our not distinguishing them for what
they are, leaving a blurred, undistinguished mass
filling
the space,
absolutely and impenetrably
gets
in our
way .
So
how
can we put each of those
pieces
in their place (ie put each of their heads up on a pike , so to
speak )
where they can be scrutinized and
clearly
seen
for what they are, leaving
who we are
really , as
clear ,
distinct, obvious, and (most of all) as accessible?
Another of my theories is this:
Werner 's
brilliant
way
of putting each of those
pieces
in their place, is by giving them something to do , something so
all-engaging that they, consumed by their tasks, stay out of
the way
long enough for
who we are
really , to be
clearly
gotten
- effectively and
decisively
ending their siege. That would imply (and here's the
truly
wild part) that the structure he's
speaking
into existence, is
created
by totally engaging intellect,
ego ,
mind ,
thoughts ,
memories ,
feelings ,
emotions,
bodily sensations
etc - in other
words ,
by totally engaging those very
pieces
which when undistinguished,
get
in our
way
of
discovering
for ourselves
who we are
really . The
language
of the
Mastery Course
would then
simply
have to generate
razor -edged,
laser-pointed
conversations
(all of which are
truly
Werner 's
forté) that engage each of these
pieces
completely
... and voila! the structure would be
created
and in place, in which
who we are
really , could then be
completely
discovered .
Now ,
is that
"the truth "
about
Werner's Mastery
Course 's
structure? Gee,
I don't know
-
look :
I really
don't know .
No kidding! ... and it may be . I'm just speculating.