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
Power Play
The Artist's Studio, Spring Drive, Tam Valley, California,
USA
June 25, 2012
This essay,
Power Play,
is the companion piece to
Serene Passion.
It's not worth much even as idle water cooler chit chat
or as
locker room banter
to say "Breakdowns precede
breakthroughs.".
The thing is ... of course they do. And: so
what?! It's useless (albeit well intentioned) as
encouragement to point out to someone in trouble that
problems precede solutions. Of course they do. Again:
so what?!
Reminding someone in difficulty that the darkest hour is just before
dawn, while giving a nice warm feeling, doesn't solve anything or
do them any good, really.
Nice warm feelings aside, these statements wouldn't be worth the paper
they're written on if you found them inside Chinese fortune cookies.
But as perspectives from which to reinstate a predictable,
reliable edge when things aren't
working,
they're really valuable. If all that happens to a breakdown is it's
corrected, it's actually a missed opportunity. If all that happens to a
problem is it's solved, it's another missed opportunity. What's missed
are opportunities to leverage one unworkable situation to
cause a new situation with a far greater degree of power and
workability
which until then wasn't possible.
In this way, breakdowns become leverage for breakthroughs to solve
bigger problems. Problems become leverage for new possibilities for
solving bigger problems. The broader
context
for this assertion is: small problems are solved by
creatingbigger problems to solve.
The problem of world hunger can be solved by
creating
a bigger problem of figuring out how to get people to become self
sufficient farmers, or by figuring out how to distribute food from
areas of the world where there's so much of it that half is consumed
and half is wasted (anyone who's ever eaten in an American restaurant
knows exactly what I'm talking about) to areas of the world where food
is in short supply. The problem of being in a new place and out of
touch can be solved by
creating
a bigger problem of figuring out what's best for the community and how
to
serve
it, then
participating
flat out. The problem of languishing in a life without purpose can be
solved by
creating
a bigger problem of figuring out what's wanted and needed in the world,
then discovering ways to provide it. Even the problem of having grown
children who've left home (you know, the problem known as empty nest
syndrome) can be solved by
creating
a bigger problem of figuring out ways to acknowledge them and validate
their sense of being, then delivering that acknowledgement and
validation selflessly without any thought of getting anything back in
return. Furthermore a whole other raft of problems can be
solved by
creating
a bigger problem of figuring out how to make a difference in the world
and then making a difference.
The following assertion is intentionally provocative (I don't want it
to be a Laurence Platt comforter - I want it to be a
Werner Erhardsamurai sword): if you've hurt your finger and it's
causing a problem, then cutting off your arm solves the problem. No
kidding it does! Small problems are solved by
creating
bigger problems to solve.
Although it may sound the same at first, if you re-listen it carefully
you'll hear this isn't the same principle as the biblical "If thine eye
offends thee, pluck it out" (as
Jesus Christ,
quoted by both apostles Matthew and Mark, may have said). Here's why it
isn't the same:
"If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out" solves a problem by
eliminating it. Not bad ... but it doesn't forward what's being
distinguished here. I don't merely want to have a conversation about
eliminating problems. I want to start a conversation about using
problems to leverage solving problems and in so doing expanding what's
possible rather than simply resolving what isn't
working.
"If you've hurt your finger and it's causing a problem, then cutting
off your arm solves the problem" on the other hand (please pardon the
intentional pun ...) solves the problem by
creating
a bigger problem to solve. Having the
presence
of
mind
to interfere with the drift of small problems by
creating
bigger problems to solve, is the true power play.
Another expression of that is this: a way of handling being stuck with
a small problem to solve, is by
creating
a bigger problem to solve, to be stuck with.
Anticipating
your
next
question, does a solution to a problem really have to
involve something to be (quote unquote) stuck with? In a
word,
yes. What meaning and significance do you bring to being
stuck with a problem to solve? Listen: you're
always stuck with problems to solve. On the day I die, on
the day I draw my last breath on the planet, there'll
still be problems left unsolved on my to do
list. What living for me is, is a glorious adventure continually
climbing a mountain of problems to be solved, the top of which I'll
never reach.
There's no mature
transformation,
there's no
mastery
of living, there's no real
peace,
there's no appreciation of your unique accomplishment, contribution, or
who you really are,
there's no satisfaction with the process of Life itself until you get
this.