Werner
Erhard's
work
(teasing out transformation ongoingly as an accessible, living,
contextual experience available to everyone
as our natural
Self-expression)
is best referred to as a "rich body of distinctions". That's because in
teasing out transformation, it meticulously transcribes the plethora of
distinctions on whose platform transformation stands. The distinctions
of transformation have expanded and evolved to include distinctions on
whose platform
leadership
stands, on whose platform
mastery
stands, on whose platform
integrity
stands, on whose platform
integrityin finance stands, on whose platform
word
(as in "Who I am is my
word")
stands.
I assert we could
tersely
regard all but one of these
linguistic
implements as simply corollaries to the central thesis at
the heart
of his
magnum opus.
And for me, the central thesis at
the heart
of his
magnum opus,
is the discovery of ie the getting of the difference
between who we are as all the
internal
machinery
(if you will) and who we are as the space ie as the
context in which the events of our lives (including all
the
internal machinery)
occur. In my experience, that's the razor's edge of our transformation,
the implement without which all the others would be reduced to mere
intellectual conjecture. Without it, we'd have no real power to
transform our day to day lives. It's a pivotal differentiation, toward
which the venerable
Alan Watts
pointed
Werner.
It's the one on which
Werner's work
and being transformed, pivots.
It's also the clarion call to authenticity. How so, Laurence?
Like so: if I say I know who I really am, yet my life as it's lived
blurs the difference between who I am as all my
internal machinery,
and who I am as the context in which the events of my life occur, then
I'm a fake ie then I'm being inauthentic ie then (in a
word)
I'm an impostor and not being who I say I am ie I'm not
being who I say I really am. What compounds matters are
the demands and minutiae of day to day living which relentlessly grind
me into blurring the difference between the two. So it's not that I'm
an impostor from time to time. It's that in simple terms of
being authentically who I really am, I'm an impostor - period. You
can't be "just a little" pregnant. Like that, I'm an impostor 100% of
the time.
Who I really am is the context in which the events of my life occur -
like a distinction, like a possibility. Yet I show
up like I'm all my
internal machinery.
I also often show up like I'm my body. And I sometimes show up
like I'm my
identity.
This is evidenced in those times when I get defensive. I defend who I
am. But I don't defend who I am as the context in which the events of
my life occur. The context in which the events of my life occur is
what is. As such, it requires no defending. No, when I get
defensive, I defend my position. And my position isn't who I
am. My position is a function of all my
internal machinery.
That's what makes me an impostor: who I really am is the context in
which the events of my life occur, yet I defend my position which is a
mere autonomic function of my
internal machinery.
As I explore this essentially human
trap
further, I notice I even talk as an impostor. I talk about
myself (that's my ... Self ie who I really am) as
"I / me".
But
"I / me"isn't who I really am (ie it's not my ... Self).
"I / me"
is just something that shows up for me (it's just something that shows
up for all of us actually). I notice all the tired old
opinions from which I've cast myself ie all the interpretations I grew
up with (which everyone grew up with, I suppose) are those of an
impostor. The truth (another key distinction) is I've lived most if not
all my life as my body / all my
internal machinery
/ my
identity,
not as who I really am. That makes me an impostor.