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
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Werner's Work: Data, Processes, Sharing

Cowboy Cottage, East Napa, California, USA

March 21, 2023


"Of all the disciplines that I studied, practiced, learned, Zen was the essential  one. It was not so much an influence on me; rather, it created space. It allowed those things that were there to be there. It gave some form to my experience. And it built up in me the critical mass from which was kindled the experience that produced est. Although the est  training is not Zen, nor even anything like it, some features of est  resonate with Zen teaching and practice. It is entirely appropriate for persons interested in est  to be interested also in Zen."
... 
sharing his experience of Zen with Professor William Warren "Bill" Bartley III, Werner's official biographer, in intersection 4 "Zen", in chapter seven called "Quest" in part II, "Education", of "Werner Erhard: The Transformation of a Man - The Founding of est"

"If you don't take it out into the world, you didn't get it in the first place."
... 
This essay, Werner's Work: Data, Processes, Sharing, is the tenth in an open group on Werner's Work:
  1. The Heart Of Werner's Work
  2. Zen And Werner's Work
  3. Werner's Work Is Coming Back To Hawai'i
  4. Werner's Work Is Coming Back To Hawai'i Again
  5. Werner's Work Is Coming To Fiji
  6. Werner's Work Is Coming To The Dominican Republic
  7. Much More Than A Compendium: Reflecting On The Source Of Werner's Work
  8. Werner's Work Is Back In Hawai'i
  9. Werner's Work In Academia
  10. Werner's Work: Data, Processes, Sharing
in that order.

I am indebted to Sanford "Sandy" Robbins who inspired this conversation.


I've been a graduate of Werner's work for forty-five years, I've experienced most of its shapes, forms, and iterations, and I still  don't know how  it works.

But then again, neither do I know how an orange works giving orangey-ness. Look: there's a world of difference between knowing how an orange works giving orangey-ness ... and experiencing it directly, just as there's a world of difference between knowing how Werner's work works giving transformation ... and experiencing it directly. Yet the plain truth of the matter is if you taste an orange, you get orangey-ness - unerringly, directly, finally. Like that, if you participate in Werner's work, you get transformation - unerringly, directly, finally. And when you do, "how" is irrelevant. Understanding defers to experience.

Ideas when present or absent account variously for transformation, and barriers to it. An orange set up in bowls gives orangey-ness. Werner's work set up in ideas, gives transformation. What are their servers? They are: data, processes, and sharing. Wielded deftly together, they tease out ideas which lay siege to the mind, long enough for who you really are to break free, disappearing barriers to transformation, and allowing it to thrive as your natural Self-expression.



1)  DATA

The data served by Werner's work are facts, information, and veritas  for you to consider and inquire into. Some of the data served are your own tired old blindly accepted / never challenged beliefs, and some of the data served are Werner's counterpoints. Tired old blindly accepted / never challenged beliefs may be barriers to transformation. Counterpoints (including re-examined old beliefs) set up transformation to thrive. Any served data have no persuasion or coercion. You'll consider all served data. You'll choose whether they're worth accepting or not. If you choose not to accept them, you don't have to.
2)  PROCESSES

The processes served by Werner's work are directed inquiries, guided discoveries, maybe even the contemplation of a Zen koan or two (Werner has said "It is entirely appropriate for persons interested in (this work) to be interested also in Zen"), the net result of which is the holding up to the light of new invented views ie possibilities. Tired old blindly accepted / never challenged views may be barriers to transformation. New views (even re-examined old views) set up transformation to thrive. Any served processes have no persuasion or coercion. You simply follow the instructions, and take what you get.
3)  SHARING

Sharing is the third server of Werner's work. And it's not merely that there's value in people sharing what they've gotten (when I listen you sharing what you've gotten for yourself, I get another facet of what I've gotten for myself). It's that a distinguishing element of transformation is being out-here  in the world. Transformation lives  out-here. Sharing is being  out-here. Sharing / being out-here takes transformation out into the world. And if you don't take it out into the world, you didn't get it in the first place. It's not that transformation requires proof (like a diploma, or something), but sharing's a good sign.



Werner's work works. Simply put, it gives transformation, its milieu is conversations, its currency  is ideas. It's not unheard of for new graduates to observe that Werner's work gives transformation simply in the re-consideration of our views of life, old and new. And as a measuring statistic, well over 90% of new graduates say Werner's work gives an experience of such quality and import that it's maybe only surpassed by their own experience of family - and listen: I've been hearing that for forty five years, and more. As remarkable as it is, I'm no longer surprised by it. And I was a skeptic - at least I was to begin with.


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