I am indebted to Sam Lemay and to Ofelia Fonts and to Loata Baleinave
and to Vaimoana Litia Makakaufaki "Moana" Niumeitolu and to Anna
Taglieri and to Anthony Maria Noel and to Alberta Lemay and to Andrea
Fono and to Frank Rocky and to Jonathan Batres and to Julie Bartleson
and to Luke Qiritabu and to Mani Subramanian and to Mary Symmonds and
to Tama Liga who inspired this conversation.
There's a way of living, which is to say there's a place to come
from, a way of relating to life in which we're prone
to dominate yet avoid being dominated, in which we're
thrown to be right and avoid being wrong, in which we'll
strive to win and avoid losing. Contrary to what it may
look like, not much thought goes into this. It's a primitive response
(call it an instinct if you like - actually it's almost a
reflex). It's taken for granted, unexamined, and unchallenged.
We conclude it's what's to be learned about life as we grow up. We know
everyone knows it's the smart way to be in life - as if
it's obvious. And when we live this way, we consider we're in the
know.
In the
context
of this way of living, the paradigm for winning and avoiding losing is
"In order for me to win, someone or something else has to lose.".
Listen (here's what's not so obvious): when your compass is set to
winning and avoiding losing, you've already lost ie you're
already "coming from lose" (so to speak).
Transformation
offers a totally fresh paradigm for winning. The paradigm for winning
in the
context
of
transformation
isn't "In order for me to win, someone or something else has to lose.".
That's the way of a
you or me
world.
In the
context
of
transformation,
the paradigm for winning is "In order for me to win, everyone and
everything has to win ... and ... we've
already won" ie I'm already "coming from win"
(to to speak). This is the way of a
you and me
world
(as
Werner Erhard
may have said).
All that said ie having set the listening for this
conversation, I'll now share a recordbreaker of an event
with you.
Often when we say a record has been broken, it occurs within the
context
of a competition ie in a win / lose situation: someone
wins (the new recordbreaker) and someone loses (the old record holder).
But this recordbreaker didn't occur in that
context.
It didn't occur in the
context
of win / lose - which is to say it didn't come from lose. Rather it
occurred in the
context
of win / win - which is to say it came from win. No one lost. Everyone
won. Here's
what happened.
One of the first people I enrolled in the possibility of
Werner's work in South
Africa
before
his programs
became available there, traveled from Cape Town
South Africa
to London England to
participate,
a distance of six thousand miles requiring twelve and a half hours
flying time, the longest distance anyone had ever traveled until then
to
participate
in
Werner's work
for the first time. In 1979, it was an impressive record. Nothing and
no one else came close. It was a record which stood for decades ...
decades that is, until it was recently broken in
Fiji:
some of the first people to enroll in the possibility of
Werner's work in Fiji
traveled from Suva
Fiji
to Boston Massachusetts USA to
participate,
a distance of eight thousand miles requiring seventeen hours flying
time.
A record has been broken, but this isn't a competition. This isn't win
/ lose. This isn't
Fiji
wins and
South Africa
loses (this isn't rugby ...). This is win / win. This is
the people who enrolled to travel eight thousand miles from
Fiji
to
participate
in
Werner's work
for the first time, win. This is the guy who enrolled to travel six
thousand miles from
South Africa
to
participate
in
Werner's work
for the first time, wins. This is the people who brought
Werner's work to Fiji
win. This is the people who brought
Werner's work to South Africa
win. This is
Fiji
wins and
South Africa
wins. This is
Werner's work
everywhere wins. This is you the listener win. This is I win. This is
everyone wins.
It's more than that actually. It's much more. Here in the
United States of America,
Werner's work
is readily available. In the San Francisco Bay Area for example where
it all started, it's estimated one in every eighty people is a
graduate
of
Werner's work.
There are four centers delivering
Werner's programs
within a fifty mile radius. Every once in a while I'll ask people
whether or not they're enrolled in a seminar. And if they aren't, their
reason often is it's too far to travel.
That's right. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the
epicenter (if you will) of
Werner's work,
fifty miles is "too far to travel".
I wish someone would explain "it's too far to travel" to the people in
Fiji
who traveled eight thousand miles to
participate
in
Werner's work.
What did they hear was possible for this recordbreaker of an
undertaking to make it worthwhile? That's what I'd like to know. I wish
someone would explain "it's too far to travel" to the guy in
South Africa
who traveled six thousand miles to
participate
in
Werner's work.
What did he hear was possible for this recordbreaker of an undertaking
to make it worthwhile? That's what I'd like to know.