... e e cummings, A Poet's Life, read out loud by | |
This essay,
Tie The Brush To My Hand,
is the second in the eleventh trilogy
Questions For A Friend:
|
The first trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. |
The second trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. | The third trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. |
The fourth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. | The fifth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. |
The sixth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. | The seventh trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. |
The eighth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. | The ninth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. |
The tenth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. | The twelfth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. |
The thirteenth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. | The fourteenth trilogy Questions For A Friend is: in that order. |
1) |
Just when I think you can't be any
clearer,
you are. Just when I think you can't
speak
transformation
any more explicitly, you do. Just when I think you can't imbue
your work
with any more raw
power
than it already has, I look again and I see you have.
First question: "Speaking as a 39 year veteran of your work, it's clear to me that over the years, you've made its presentation simpler (never easier) and more direct as it accesses greater power in less time with fewer words. How do you do that? What's your linguistic plumb line (if you will) for becoming ever terser?" |
2) |
After you experienced
transformation
for the first
time,
you said you saw you had to do three things: a)
share
what had happened
to you with others; b) take
responsibility
for your own
ego,
so that your
transformation
would not turn into just another
ego trip;
and c) confront and clean up the things you had done from an
untransformed space. I
wonder
if at that
time
you also saw how enduring
your work
would be (soon we'll be marking its fifth
decade).
Second question: "Your work today continues to demonstrate an ever-increasing momentum and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon, if ever. When you first got it on the Golden Gate Bridge in 1971, did you know then it would still be working as powerfully as it is for as long as it has, 46 years later?" |
3) |
When I was younger and naïver than I am today, I
assessed every
leader
of every one of your
senior programs
in which I
participated,
making
certain
they met my measures for
leading
your work.
When I
got
clear
every one of them did, I
stopped
assessing them. It had dawned on me if they weren't properly vetted
by you, they wouldn't be
leading
your work
in the first place.
Third question: "The people you train to lead your most senior programs have to meet many rigorous measures over many stages. What is that one particular final measure they must meet, by which they give you the total certainty they're qualified to lead ie to re-create you?" |
4) |
46 years ago there was no
open
listening
for
transformation
worldwide.
Earlier iterations of
your work
were confronting because (in my
opinion)
they had to
break through
not the
language
barrier
but rather the
listening
barrier.
As a result, there's now an accumulation of 46 years of
open
listening
for
transformation
worldwide.
So
your work
doesn't need to be as confrontational as it once did. In this space
of
open
listening,
something new is
possible
which earlier, wasn't.
Fourth question: "Is there anything fundamental which differentiates what your work additionally makes available today, from what it made available when you began 46 years ago, especially given the now 46 years of experience building up to today?" |
5) |
Some people characterize themselves as "seekers" ie as "searching
for
the answer".
But
there is no
"the answer"
- as you've
famously
asserted. A
powerful
question
isn't one which has
the answer.
A
powerful
question
is one which has lots and lots and lots of
answers.
With all that said, it seems likely
the answer
to the
question
"What makes a difference?" must be
"Language.".
Fifth question: "When I consider qualities which make a difference, intention and commitment etc come to mind. But can anything ever make any real, lasting difference if it's not spoken? So isn't language the paramount quality for making a difference?" |
6) |
The heart
wants what it wants (Emily Dickinson said that). When I
love
someone, I want to
be around them.
I want to be near them. I want to be
close
to them. Throughout
my life
I've indulged myself this
way,
even though it sets me up to lose when I can't
be around them
or near them or
close
to them. So I'm looking to see if I can
recontextualize
(I
love
that
word)
what's
possible
when I
love
someone, such that whether I'm
around them
or not, it's a win - for everyone.
Sixth question: "A coach of mine I trust explicitly suggests I create a new connection with you: by being with you 'out of time and space'. Please speak to this. While I'm intrigued by its possibility, isn't there a risk it would leave me simply imagining things?" |
7) |
Everyone sends you their
love.
And what everyone wants to know is what you're up to these days.
The boldest of your current public
profiles (at least, the boldest I'm aware of) is the
Leadership Course.
Given my guess (and
projection)
about
the way
you work,
whatever
you're working
on now will emerge later and break
barriers
to
transformation,
as the sequel to the
Leadership Course.
Please say in which area(s) this will occur.
Seventh question: "What projects are you working on now? What new work are you scheduled to develop in the future?" |
8) |
The last
time
I
asked
you
who you are
for yourself, your
answer
was unchanged from the previous
time
I
asked
you the same
question.
On both occasions you said you are "a place where
the truth
can go to
work".
I could assume your
answer
will still be the same if I
ask
you the same
question
again for a third
time.
But it's also
possible
that in the interim (and especially given what you do) you've had a
breakthrough
and have re-generated
who you are
for yourself.
Eighth question: "Six years ago when I was in Marrakech Morocco, you answered my question 'Who are you generating yourself to be for the future?' by including 'Make of myself a place where the truth can go to work.'. Is this who you're still generating yourself to be for the future? Or are you something new now?" |
9) |
Since each of
my three children
graduated,
the
conversation for
transformation
(in one form or another) has been ongoing with us. We
re-create
the distinctions whenever it's pragmatic and useful to do so. And
if they don't bring them to our
conversations,
then I do. That said,
where the rubber really
meets the road
is in
the way
I be with them. It's proved to make great things
possible
for us in our
relationship.
And
the way
I be with them is
sourced
by
the way
you be with me.
Ninth question: "I have interactions with my children in difficult times when I'm at a total loss to know how to be with them. So I drop back, punt ... and be with them the way you be with me. It always works - brilliantly. What is it exactly about being present and simply listening that's so healing?" |
10) |
You introduced me to
e e
cummings'
poetry
(I'm deeply grateful). One of what for me are his most compelling
quotes,
is one you've cited from his introduction to his classic
compilation titled New
Poems.
The second sentence of the fifth
paragraph culminates in the stunning "... a
human being;somebody
who said to those near him,when his
fingers
would not hold a brush 'tie it to my hand'--".
Tenth question: "Have you accomplished what you set out to do? If not, what's left?" |
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