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




Friend Of The Physical Universe:

Manifesto II

Cowboy Cottage, East Napa, California, USA

August 10, 2015



"The physical universe is my guru."  ...   answering the question "Many people have a guru. Who is your guru?" 
"If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune." ... Count Basie
This essay, Friend Of The Physical Universe: Manifesto II, is the companion piece to It is also a component of the supergroup Friend: It is also the sequel to Friend Of The Planet.

It is also the prequel to The Physical Universe Is My Guru.




If who I am is my word, and if integrity is honoring my word as who I am, then my life is given by my speaking. My speaking ie language is the leverage I have to create, to invent, to bring forth. When I create ie when I invent, when I bring forth, I can bring forth that which already is ... and  ... I can bring forth that which already isn't. Given the possibility of possibility, yes we do have the power to bring forth that which already isn't.

Before I learned to invent anything new with language, I had to learn to invent that which already is. "Wait! Why is it necessary to learn to invent that which already is if it already is, Laurence?" you may ask. It's a good question, the answer for which may just be "Because life works better this way.".

I didn't plan it like this ie I didn't set out to learn to invent that which already is. However what I noticed was if I don't invent that which already is, then I would be living a life which was perpetually at odds with ie out of sync  with the physical universe. "Inventing that which already is" is a euphemism for being totally aligned with that which already is (ie with the physical universe), for accepting that which already is, for surrendering to that which already is. Inventing that which already is, in other words, is being in a relationship with the physical universe in a way that has me being cause in the matter of my experience of it, rather than has me being a guest actor playing a bit part cameo role on its stage. Being willing to invent that which already is ie being willing to be cause in the matter of your experience of the physical universe, is what it is to be a friend of the physical universe.

Once I've manifested myself as a friend of the physical universe ie once I'm being cause in the matter of my experience of that which already is, I'm ready to invent that which already isn't. In other words, being a friend of the physical universe, is the smart  person's prerequisite to inventing possibility.

What's the connection between the physical universe, and possibility? ie what's the connection between being a friend of the physical universe, and inventing possibility? The physical universe is a given. In addition to the physical universe, there's one other component of life which is also a given, and that's possibility. Possibility is a given, not so much as a component of the already is  physical universe, but as a component of our being human ie it's a given of our human-ness (if you will). The power to bring forth that which already isn't ie the power to invent possibility goeswith  (as Alan Watts may have said) being human. It just may be that before we can really invent possibility, we have to be willing to be cause in the matter of our experience of the physical universe ie we have to be willing to be a friend of the physical universe. If we're not, inventing possibility is as elusive as balancing is when trying to stand up in a hammock. When possibility is elusive, all that's available to us is change ie all that's available to us is more and more of the same old same old.

Listen: without transformation, change is the only yardstick for what we're capable of. Without transformation, inventing possibility isn't the status quo  - yet if you tell the truth about it, possibility was all you knew  when you were a child, yes? Without transformation, inventing possibility gradually became an aberration as you grew up. Yet inventing possibility ie deploying transformed language really is our essential power which change has obfuscated.

It's my intention that these Conversations For Transformation (any conversation for transformation actually) will undo all that, and will herald a new era of communication, transformation, and freedom. That's my stand as a friend of possibility. And my being a friend of possibility is enabled by ie is empowered by ie is made possible by my manifesting myself as a friend of the physical universe.



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