The three essays comprising this trilogy are not about
the Mastery Course per se. Neither do they intend to recreate the rich
body of distinctions and the
breakthrough
in transformation the
Mastery Course unerringly, powerfully,
rigorously,
inexorably
delivers. To get those, register yourself in the next Mastery Course.
There's no investment more worthwhile. Really.
Rather, this trilogy comes from my experience with
Werner
and
Dr Joseph DiMaggio
and over five hundred other
participants,
staff, and people who assist, in the three-day Mastery Course in
London
in November of 2019.
You can get a lot
being around Werner
- transformationally and pragmatically. And there's actually no need to
separate the two: transformation is pragmatic. You can get a lot
being around Werner
that's profoundly valuable, enormously freeing, deeply satisfying. To
be in a conversation with
Werner
is to be exposed to new ideas, to hitherto unknown perspectives, to
breakthrough
ways of being with
the world.
Mostly, to be in a conversation with
Werner
is to be exposed to the possibility of transformation as
direct experience.
And it matters not what the conversation is about. It could be
about anything: business, sailing,
fine food and wine,
anything. Yes it could also be about being a master of life. But
the net result with
Werner
is always the same: you're a
bigger
person than you were before the conversation started.
Wait! How does this "it could be about anything" work?
Don't I have to be in a conversation about transformation in order to
get transformation? Don't I have to be in a conversation about being a
master of life in order to get being a master of life? Consider this: a
conversation, when you're being in a conversation with
Werner,
is holographic: the whole is in each of the parts; each of
the parts is the whole. Like that, transformation is holographic: it
shows up in his speaking - about anything.
Who we really are is a conversation (in a manner of
speaking, yes?) and to be engaged with the conversation that is
Werner(who is
Werner,
if you prefer) is to have
access
to a
portal
to new ideas, hitherto unknown
perspectives, and
breakthrough
ways of being with
the world.
Around
Werner,
you get
enlightened
by being in a conversation with
Werner.
That much may seem obvious. What's not so obvious, as I said, is the
conversation could be about anything. That which is of real, enduring
value, is conveyed only secondarily as the topic of the conversation
(as relevant as it may be). Primarily that which is of real, enduring
value, is conveyed simply by being in the conversation itself. This is
not
business as usual
(stated another way, perhaps more colorfully,
"Dorothy, I have a feeling
we're not in Kansas anymore.").
With that said, no matter what there is to get from (being in a
conversation with)
Werner,
no matter what its value, no matter how opportune, eventually you'll
have to confront a
paradox.
Confronting this
paradox
matures us as human beings, escalates us as minor league players to the
majors. The
paradox
is: what you may want to get from
Werner
will get in your way of what's really there to get from
Werner.
It will actually get in your way of finding the motherlode
of
cheese in the tunnel.
Say whut? Did you get that?
If you're going to get the motherlode of
cheese,
you have do something other than get the material from
Werner:
you have to discover it for yourself. That's at best. And at
very least you have to pay
attention
to the material you get from
Werner,
then re-discover it for yourself. Therein lies the distinction
between this and following a traditional path, taking on pre-written
codes of (spiritual) conduct, or assuming an
already
always
belief system pertaining to being a master of life. There's nothing
wrong with any of those approaches to being a master of life. Look:
they work for their founders, yes? The only question is: will they
fully transfer to others as well?
So here's the thing: the
access
to being a master of life isn't to duplicate the behavior of other
masters of life, hoping that some of who they are and what they do,
will rub off on you - even though there's a
worldly
consensus that this approach is a workable path to being a master of
life. The real power lies in discovering the material for yourself.
That's the
access:
you have to discover it for yourself. Then it's mastery of life as
lived, rather than as a path followed or a method implemented.