The beingsphere, in contrast to, say, the
atmosphere or even in contrast to the northern or
the southern hemisphere isn't the so called
inner world as in the yogic "Look within!" nor as
in the therapeutic "How does it make you feel inside?".
Neither is it useful to think of the beingsphere as the world we move
around in, as the world in which we reside ie the so called outer
world, the world we see geographically when we open our eyes.
Werner
Erhard
originally distinguishes and articulates "beingsphere". Every so often
an idea comes along which changes everything - or, spoken with rigor,
every so often an idea comes along which changes the way of
looking at everything. For me the idea, the notion of
"beingsphere" changes everything. It's a masterstroke, a stroke of
genius. In this essay, the distinction "beingsphere" isn't Laurence
Platt's original idea. In this essay, the distinction "beingsphere" is
Werner Erhard's original idea interpreted by Laurence Platt.
What is the beingsphere? A more powerful question to ask may be:
Where is the beingsphere? Where does the beingsphere
show up? The beingsphere is the most immediate world we
human beings inhabit. It's also the most obvious. However oftentimes
even the most obvious milieus, like water to a fish, like air to
a
bird,
are so obvious that at first even their own inhabitants
can't distinguish them. So now let's distinguish beingsphere.
Where human being shows up as human
beings is in the domain of language. The beingsphere,
the most immediate world we human beings inhabit, in part shows up in
the realm of conversation, as what we speak, as what we speak
about, as what concerns us, as what our concerns are. Who human
beings are is
constituted in language.
What we collectively speak, what we collectively language
into existence including both narrative language like
story telling, gossiping, reporting, opining, and
generative language like asserting, promising, inventing,
and inviting all occur within the domain called beingsphere. In
other words, the beingsphere is the domain in which human beings show
up being human.
Werner's
work, the work of transformation, doesn't set out to transform the
inner world. "Inner world" is a non-rigorous concept with not much
power. If I surgically cut you open, I'll not find a world
in there - there's only hamburger. Neither, contrary to a widely
held and popular misconception, is the intention of the work of
transformation to transform the outer world. The work of transformation
isn't charity nor is it missionary work. The work of transformation
isn't directed at ecology although in a transformed world,
ecological issues will get handled. The intention of the work of
transformation isn't to transform the atmosphere. The
work of transformation isn't directed at politics although
in a transformed world, political issues will get handled. The
intention of the work of transformation isn't to transform the northern
or the southern hemisphere.
The intention of Werner's work, the work of transformation is to
transform the beingsphere.