"I've met some truly great people - great women, great
men. What's always been there in every such meeting is what I get when
I'm in the presence of their greatness: it's "You ... are
a truly great human being.". I met one of the world's
great film directors. And what I got being around him was "You ... are
truly great human being.".
I met one of the world's
great Zen masters.
And what I got being around him was "You ... are a truly great human
being.".
I met one of the world's
great yoga masters.
And what I got being around him was "You ... are a truly great human
being.". Then
I met Werner.
And what
I got being around him
was "I ... am a truly great human being."
I am indebted to Larry Pearson
who inspired this conversation.
"Transformation" it's long been said, "is a rich body of
distinctions.". It's important you know that that's not an original
Laurence Platt quote. So I really don't have any right to modify it,
add to it, change it in any way etc, and then reclaim it as my own. But
if I were to add something to it, it would be the gerund
"speaking", as in "Transformation is speaking a
rich body of distinctions" - or to put it more succinctly, "To be
transformed ... is to speak a rich body of distinctions.".
Now I don't mean speaking the distinctions in the sense of enumerating
them, citing them as if from a dictionary, or quoting them, even if
quoting them may play a critical role in enrollment / being enrolling.
Rather, I mean speaking the distinctions in the sense of coming from /
being
used by them
- in other words, having first mastered the distinctions of
transformation, speaking them
as my natural
Self-expression
(and transformation, to be sure, is only spoken - it's not
spoken about).
And that's the possibility of being transformed, of
sharing transformation, and enrolling others in the possibility of
being transformed. Speaking the distinctions of transformation
as my natural
Self-expression,
works. Yet explaining how and why it works,
demonstrably
ruins it. Transformation isn't gotten that way. Explaining the hows and
the whys may be intellectually
interesting
for people. But it's not enrolling for people. The way you
get enrolled in the possibility of being transformed is by sitting with
the idea of it in your lap like a hot
brick
ie by simply being with it. It's not gotten by understanding it. It's
only gotten by being with it. More than that, it's not enrolling when
it's being understood. It's only enrolling when it's being being (no,
that's not a typo: I do mean "being being" -
another a hot
brick
for your lap).
That said, there's an inevitable,
inexorable
corollary to this thesis which took me a while to get clear about:
while my Self-expression is uniquely my own, the rich body of
distinctions which is transformation, is universal ie it's neither
unique to me nor is it unique to you. Rather, it's the same for
everyone. So enrolling people in the possibility of being transformed,
is a matter of speaking / coming from the universal distinctions of
transformation
as my natural
Self-expressionwithout obfuscating those universal distinctions with my own unique
person.
All the masters of enrollment I know, are trained / have trained
themselves to leave people with the distinctions of transformation, not
with their person. Being a master of enrollment doesn't require being
a central figure in a cult of personality. Being a master of enrollment
is largely a matter of speaking the distinctions of transformation in a
way that allows them to be
front-and-center-stage,
without the person who's delivering them adding his / her own
significance. That's enrolling.
Right now, I'm listening spellbound, mesmerized / I'm in the presence
of one such master of enrollment - no, right now I'm listening
spellbound, mesmerized / I'm in the presence of one such
legendary master of enrollment. And what I'm getting from
him is the rich body of distinctions he's
speaking / being.
His speaking is pure, transformed enrollment. Yes, who he is as his own
person is also
present.
But it's only secondary - as if
invisible
/ in the background. It's like a ...
demonstration.
I don't know how he does it. What I do know is his person just doesn't
get in his way. He's just not coming from person. He's coming from the
distinctions /
used by them.
So all I'm left with are the distinctions. And that's what transforms.
It's what's enrolling. It's an extraordinary
performance,
a
privilege
to be in the presence of.
