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


GoFundMe

Aurora Borealis:

An Inquiry

Vallejo, California, USA

January 8, 2025



"If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" ... Bishop George Berkeley (1685 - 1753)

This essay, Aurora Borealis: An Inquiry, is the companion piece to


Photography by Joshua Nelson Platt

Silver Street, Boyne City, Michigan, USA

10:40:07pm EDT Thursday October 10, 2024
Aurora Borealis
Here's a fact which stretches my comprehension: the visibility of some celestial objects depends on the time of day / year, and the location from where they're being viewed. The constellation Orion and our sun for example, while only visible at certain times of the day / year, are visible from all locations on Earth. A few, the Aurora Borealis ie the "northern lights"  for example, while also only visible at certain times of the day / year, are only visible from certain locations on Earth. And as far as I know, none of the other celestial objects are visible at all times of the day / year, from every location on Earth.

Orion's visibility from any location on Earth, makes it all the more remarkable since it's therefore one those rarest of objects (celestial and otherwise) to have most likely been viewed by every one of the one hundred and twenty billion people, past and present, who have ever walked the face of this Earth. But given the time of day / year, and its location, the same can not be said about the Aurora Borealis - not to mention other celestial objects either. Analogously, who we really are  doesn't show up everywhere.

So consider this: enter stage right who we really are as the full possibility of being for human beings. If we were like Orion, who we really are would be seen everywhere, even if it didn't show up all the time. If we were like the Aurora Borealis, who we really are would neither be seen everywhere, and nor would it show up all the time. Really.

That being said, it may be that who we really are for ourselves as human beings, is more akin to the Aurora Borealis than it is to Orion: we would have to engage in a certain kind of work / we would have to engage in a certain kind of conversation (call it a conversation for transformation  if you will) in order to access it ie in order to make it available, especially at those times in those locations when it isn't ordinarily available. If you don't see Orion from where you're located, wait a while: pretty soon it will come into view. But if you don't see the Aurora Borealis from where you're located, it might never come into view - no matter how long you wait. You may have to travel to one of the locations on Earth from where it's visible, then wait there for it to come into view.

If the Aurora Borealis shows up at times / in locations where there's no one to acknowledge it, does it even happen? If the presence of who we really are transforms / empowers our lives but no one's in a conversation for it, does it have the power of giving full expression to our lives ie does it even happen?



Communication Promise E-Mail | Home

© Laurence Platt - 2024, 2025 Permission