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

Werner's Work Is Coming To Fiji

San Francisco International Airport, California, USA

December 3, 2013

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." ... Margaret Mead

This essay, Werner's Work Is Coming To Fiji, is the companion piece to

in that order.

It is also the fifth in an open group on Werner's Work:

in that order.

It is also the sixth in an open group World Transformed:

in that order.

I am indebted to Ofelia Fonts and to Loata Baleinavere and to Sam Lemay and to Vaimoana Litia Makakaufaki "Moana" Niumeitolu and to Anna Taglieri who inspired this conversation, and to Sam Lemay who contributed material.

The Lost Weekend

I went to Fiji thirty five years ago for a two week vacation between changing job locations from New Zealand to the United States. A year later I was still there.

It's a long story. I call it the lost weekend.

Is Fiji paradise? Only you can say. The backdrop, the gorgeous clear lagoons, the white sandy beaches and fabulous sunsets are all there. All the hallmarks of paradise are there, to be sure. But is there transformation in a place just because it looks a certain way? And the answer of course is no ... or (spoken with rigor) not necessarily, depending on who you're being. And spoken with even more rigor, the answer is also not necessarily, depending on what you're speaking. Transformation, after all, isn't in any fabulous sunset. Neither is it in any crystal clear lagoon: it's in my mouth.

During that lost weekend I fell deeply in love with Fiji, her people, and their idyllic, blissful South Pacific island spirit of Bula. Yet I've never had a concrete opportunity to stand for transformation for Fiji and her people - at least, not until now.

The Invitation

On Tuesday December 3, 2013 I made the following worldwide announcement to two thousand people plus by e-mail, intending to enroll them in co‑generating with me the possibility of Werner's work coming to Fiji. Please notice at the time, the announcement was expressed as a work in progress.

Conversations For Transformation

Essays By Laurence Platt

Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard

And More

Werner's Work Is Coming To Fiji

Cowboy Cottage, East Napa, California, USA

December 3, 2013

Work in progress.

* * *

I'm thrilled, delighted, and very, very happy to announce the first ever introduction to Werner's Work in the Fiji islands!

Aligned with and supported by the Landmark Worldwide Center in Auckland New Zealand, a team of dedicated graduates from the Fiji Islands and elsewhere have long considered the possibility of The Landmark Forum being offered in Fiji. The presentation of this introduction creates the possibility of The Landmark Forum in Fiji becoming real at last.

You are invited to attend with your family and friends, and to participate in whichever way supports you. We promise you and your guests will have an extraordinary and decisive experience of the difference The Landmark Forum makes in peoples' lives. Our intention for this introduction is to give people the opportunity to participate in The Landmark Forum in Auckland and other cities until we build up the base of graduates and leaders in Fiji to offer a sustainable Landmark Forum and Advanced Course in Fiji on a regular basis.

Here are the details of the introduction:

Time And Date:

9:00am to 12:00pm noon Saturday December 21, 2013

If you'd like to set your clocks and your listening to international time to support this historic event, Fiji local time is thirteen hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, eighteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, and twenty one hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.

Location:

Tanoa Plaza Hotel, Room #3
corner of Gordon and Malcolm Streets
Suva
Republic of Fiji

This venue can accommodate one hundred guests.

Opportunity To Play:

The introduction will be led by Ofelia Fonts who will travel to Fiji for this purpose. We are building the team to support Ofelia and to produce the event. The following eleven positions are open, and you are invited to play on the team:

Room captain (should be a Landmark Introduction Leader)

Ten members of the registration team (should be Landmark graduates)

To play on the production team, please contact

Sam Lemay by e-mail SamLemay@gmail.com or by phone USA (401) 300-8197

General Information:

For more information about this introduction, about inviting guests to participate in this historic event, to attend, or to share, please contact any of the following:

Ofelia Fonts by e-mail MaryTaxTech@hotmail.com or by phone USA (952) 356-9511
Loata Baleinavere by e-mail Lotsy2004@yahoo.com or by phone Fiji (country code 679) 961-4706
Sam Lemay by e-mail SamLemay@gmail.com or by phone USA (401) 300-8197
Vaimoana Niumeitolu by e-mail IndigoArtista@yahoo.com or by phone USA (571) 316-6981

This introduction to The Landmark Forum is coming to Fiji because of Ofelia and Loata and Sam and Vaimoana among others, four of the many tireless sources standing for it.

Vinaka Vaka Levu!

* * *

Coming soon.

Communication Promise

E-Mail | Home

Permission

Werner Erhard made this work available in Hawai'i, intending transformation is a gift to the native Hawai'ian community, the Hawai'ian nation. When I went to South Africa in 1979 and, out of a conversation with Werner, led the first ten guest events in the major cities enrolling the first one thousand people, effectively starting Werner's work there, there's no question the raison d'etre of that episode was the gift of transformation to the South African community, the South African nation. Similarly this new opportunity for transformation in Fiji is a gift to the native Fijian community, the Fijian nation.

Now, having said that, I want to distinguish and immediately distance myself from any possible semblance of arrogance which may be mis-construed here, arrogance which could be mis-heard as "I gave the gift of transformation to the Hawai'ian / South African / Fijian community, the Hawai'ian / South African / Fijian nation.". That's not what was said. In the case of all three nations, Hawai'ian, South African, and Fijian, as well as every other nation on our planet, there's really no I who gives transformation. To consider it's I who gives transformation is to be extremely unclear on the concept. Rather, it's simply that transformation is a gift. That's the truth, and that's what was said.

The Past Recontextualized

Life has a way of coming full circle (could that be because it's already complete?). Whoever we're being at any moment in time, whether realized or not, is imbued with the possibility of who we'll be in the future. And so when we look back from the future on who we were in the past, who we were being then is inextricably bound up with the becoming which gives us who we are today ... except without transformation, it's not a created, intentional kind of becoming - rather it's just a ball ricocheting around on a bagatelle table kind of becoming.

Seen from this moment looking back, seen from the brink of transformation in Fiji in the future looking back (which is to say seen from the brink of the possibility of transformation in Fiji in the future looking back), transformation recontextualizes (I love that word) the lost weekend in Fiji. Who I was being then was the future of Fiji transformed. I just didn't realize it at the time.

It moves me to tears. It's something to celebrate. What's to celebrate is the miracle that there's now the very real possibility of Werner's work coming to Fiji just because we, you and I, stand up and speak Werner's work is coming to Fiji. And a miracle, as we all know, is something that validates who you are rather than diminishes who you are - which is to say a miracle is something that validates what we speak rather than diminishes what we speak.

Communication Promise

E-Mail | Home

Permission