Transformation
is
slippery.
Just when I think I've gotten it down, just when I think I've
gotten my articulation of it ie my definition of it down, just when I
think I've nailed it, it reveals itself newly. It
shows up
newly. It morphs. Just when I think I've seen all of them, it
adds another facet, like an ever-expanding
jewel.
It's probably correct to say it'll never stop doing this. It's probably
correct to say if it didn't keep growing then
I wouldn't keep growing. I grow to reach it. It grows
more. So I must grow to reach it newly.
There's no
resting on any laurels
here. And there are always
laurels
in any life expanding in
transformation.
Yet to rest on any of them is to ring the death knell of
transformation
itself. The
laurels
of
transformation
aren't anything to crow about. At best, they're to be enjoyed and
shared in any way
imaginable
except resting on them - a
deadly
folly. There are goodies, to be sure, in any life expanding in
transformation
- just ask anyone who knows
Werner's work.
Yet going for the goodies (so to
speak)
just plain doesn't
work.
It's sharing what's possible that's paramount in
perpetuating
transformation,
rather than accumulating goodies. What's interesting to note, however,
is that in sharing what's possible, the goodies seem to accumulate all
by themselves.
One of the fundamental shifts in appreciation which has occurred for me
as I look ongoingly to articulate the onset (ie how it comes about) of
transformation
itself - both in my own life as well as in the life of others, in my
family, in my
friends,
in those around me - is the shift from regarding
transformation
as something which can be (quote unquote) gotten, to something
which can really only be (quote unquote) given. First it's
gotten ... from then on it's given.
That's not a trivial distinction. It's quite profound, really. It only
comes with a certain maturity. Perhaps the only time ie perhaps the
only occasion it's appropriate to speak of
transformation
in terms of (quote unquote)
getting it
is on the very first occasion ie on the very first occasion
transformation
is ever experienced. Once
transformation
is experienced on the very first occasion and gotten, then
getting it
may no longer be as powerful an access to
transformation
as giving it.
To be re-gotten (which gives the experience again),
transformation
must be given away (which re-gives the experience again and perpetuates
it). The way
transformation
is given, which is to say the way
transformation
is brought forth and shared is through
language
ie through
speaking
and
listening.
By bringing forth
transformation
through
language,
I don't mean simply through talking about it. I don't mean
simply through chatting about it. I mean through
committedspeaking.