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




Mind Control

San Francisco International Airport, California, USA

June 13, 2016



"If you're going to put me on a pedestal, climb up here with me."  ... 
This essay, Mind Control, is the thirtieth in the complete group of Experiences Of A Friend (click here for the open group Experiences Of A Friend II):
  1. Stepping Back
  2. At Home As Self
  3. Empty Windows
  4. Futile Like A Freedom
  5. Shut Up And Do What You're Doing
  6. Werner As Intention
  7. Who He Is For Himself
  8. Source Quote
  9. Puzzle Solved, Mind Unraveled
  10. Eye To Eye
  11. Mystical Connection II
  12. Relentless
  13. Being Around Werner
  14. Being Always In Action
  15. Shaken Up And Teary
  16. On Being Sad
  17. The Complete Presentation
  18. Force Of Nature
  19. Everyone's In Love With Everyone
  20. I'm Old School
  21. Werner At The Speed Of Choice
  22. I Get Who You Are From What They Do
  23. The Significance - Not What Happened
  24. You Know I Love You - And I Know You Love Me
  25. Speaking To People's Relationship With Werner
  26. A Master At Being (And Having People Be)
  27. Werner As Source
  28. A Man Who's All There
  29. My Heart And You
  30. Mind Control
  31. Again And Again And Again And Again And Again And Again
  32. Unwavering
  33. The Leadership Course III: Pillar Of The Community
  34. American Genius
  35. Legacy II
so far, in that order.

It is also the sequel to a group of four written in Washington DC, June 2016:
  1. City Girl
  2. Two Busies
  3. Washington DC Words
  4. Completion: An Inquiry Into The Point Of It All
in that order.

I am indebted to Gopal Rao, a Landmark Forum Leader and the Operations Manager for Landmark in India, who makes the transformation of a billion  people his personal business, a big  player, who inspired this conversation.




It's quite likely people will talk about you forever. Your work is known worldwide. The difference it makes in people's lives is legendary. It's been said more people have opened themselves intimately, wholly, and completely to you in conversation than to anyone else throughout history. Then there are the qualities you display as a human being. For example, people wonder if you've developed the power to control your mind (they say "power"  - I prefer "ability"). That's notable. Others wonder if you've developed the power to control their  minds. That's radical. I've got some observations to share in both these regards.

Many of those who've had the good fortune of working closely with you (ie many of those who've had the good fortune of being around you while you work, a total which reaches into the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands ... and more) say they're struck by how quiet your mind is. I find that interesting. No one can see  or hear  another's mind, yes? Ergo  how do they know? They don't. But its play  can be deduced. So when they tell me how quiet your mind is, I know they got that on a subliminal level ie they grokked  it from you (as Robert Heinlein may have said). What's even more noteworthy is others have noticed what they call the mind-quieting  effect of being around you. They say being around you results in the quieting of their own  minds. When they experience this quieting of their own minds around you, they wonder whether you did it to them  ie they wonder whether you have the special power to control other people's minds.

Personally I prefer to stay away from such conjecture ie I prefer to avoid the debate on whether or not anyone has special powers. Here's why: if anyone has special powers, then we all have those special powers. And if we all have special powers, then they're not "special", yes? Singling out one person because he or she has so‑called special powers, is counter-productive inasmuch as it distracts from discovering we all have the same powers - if not manifest, then certainly like a possibility.

It's in this context that everyone will have their own answer to their unanswered question of you: "Did you quieten my mind?". But listen: there's no responsibility  in that question. That's why I prefer suggesting pointedly what most likely happens is this: you overwhelmingly and clearly demonstrate it's possible to be quiet  ... with respect to  ... your own mind  (watch: those eight italicized words are very, very carefully and deliberately chosen). When people get that, there's a kind of an "A-Ha!"  moment resulting in the quieting of their own minds. The only point worth scrutinizing is: who did that to them?  Who quieted their minds? Did you do it to them? Or did they, taking a cue from your demonstration, do it to themselves?  Clearly there's power and responsibility and replicability in the latter. There's none in the former.

We've obsessed over mind control from time immemorial. From almost the time we started thinking, we've tried to control our minds. How futile! Ain't that just like a dog trying not to be a dog?  We've obsessed with finding ways to control our minds. We've developed disciplines and techniques which seek to control our minds. We consume alcohol. We smoke. We undergo therapy, we read books, we attend lectures and classes, all with mind control (in one form or another) as the goal. It's a time consuming endeavor - not to mention cash consuming. Yet you, without doing anything in particular, without suggesting anyone engage in this discipline or in that discipline or practice a technique to control their mind, not only have a way of being so quiet with respect to your own mind which is so imminently grokkable  that others can be quiet with respect to their own minds too, but you also never mention  mind control as an access to  or as a prerequisite for transformation. Really.

And there's the rub: a master of mind control paradoxically doesn't try to control his mind. A master of mind control doesn't try to quiet his mind (or tame  his mind, as it's sometimes articulated) either. A dog doesn't try not to be a dog. A master of so-called mind control is simply quiet ... with respect to ... his / her own mind. It's a quality you demonstrate. When you demonstrate it the way you demonstrate it, it's grokkable and replicable.



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