Recently I had the distinct pleasure and
privilege
of having conversations with a minister from the United Church of
Christ,
a student of the Bible and an adherent of the word of
Jesus Christ,
and then with a devout Muslim, a student of the Koran and an adherent
of the word of Mohammed, later with an orthodox Jew, a student of the
Torah and an adherent of the word of Moses, then with a practicing
Hatha Yoga,
a student of the Vedas and an adherent of the work of
BKS Iyengar.
All four, it turned out, were also
graduates
of
Werner's work.
In these conversations, what came out first and foremost was how these
four devotees regarded
Werner's work
as empowering to their respective arenas of worship, how
Werner's work
(amongst other gifts) allowed them to strip away the deadening
positions and beliefs they had inadvertently mired their faiths in,
allowing them instead to experience the material directly
for the first time.
All four told me in similar words Werner's
conversation for
transformation
is really holy and sacred in the truest sense
of both those descriptors.
Now ... the other side of this coin is: it's all holy and
sacred. There's nothing in this world that isn't holy and
sacred. Holy and sacred, as seen on the high road to
enlightenment, is really just normal. Furthermore, on the high
road to enlightenment, a state of being without
ego
is touted as an ultimate state. I assert being without
ego
is
ultimate
ego.
In both these regards, I prefer Werner's slightly irreverent notion of
"dogshit" reality.
You don't have to ask me to explain what
"dogshit" reality
is. Think of a self-proclaimed wise man thinking he's
made it, when suddenly he steps in
dogshit.
You have to be something of a rogue to appreciate it. In order to avoid
the trappings of the
already always listening
when it comes to the holiness and the sacredness of the
conversation for
transformation,
you have to choose the low road to enlightenment rather
than the high road. The irreverence of the low road to enlightenment
pokes fun at even our most precious beliefs and practices. It has to.
It has to consider even our most precious beliefs and practices may
just be
already always
listening
- unexamined deadening positions and beliefs even though they may be
cherished unexamined deadening positions and beliefs.
On the high road to enlightenment, I'm enlightened as long as I believe
in enlightenment. On the low road to enlightenment, I'm enlightened as
long as I speak enlightenment.
There's
nothing wrong
with the high road to enlightenment. I love its piety,
sanctimoniousness, reverence, respect, joy, and beauty ...
AND ... I question how effective it really is, given
peoples'
already always listening.
When the holy and sacred
conversation for
transformation,
ceases to be effective because over the years people, with their best
intentions foremost, have starched it with meaning,
interpretation,
and significance and thereby reduced it to jargon in the
already always listening,
then it's time to reinvigorate its vocabulary and to bring forth
who we really are
in its delivery.