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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Your Body Will Thank You:

Reflections On Aging

Oxnard, California, USA

October 25, 2023

"Mastery is not about being in an aesthetic place of love and kindness. That's just the beginning of mastery. Mastery is about having the world showing up as it is. And 'I' is just another piece in the world."


...

"Years fell from his face."

... Professor William Warren "Bill" Bartley III, Werner's official biographer, in chapter nine called "True Identity" in part III, "Transformation", of "Werner Erhard - The Transformation of a Man, The Founding of est"

This essay, Your Body Will Thank You: Reflections On Aging, is the companion piece to Transformation And Medication.

I am indebted to Joan "Joani" Culver who inspired this conversation.

Werner Erhard

Werner looks at life and notices what shows up in front of him, as what's so - and that's what there is to deal with. When I try on his view (I discover it for myself looking at my life that way) it empowers me to deal with everything in my life including my body aging and what it portends for my health, in a transformed way.

The onset of transformation doesn't mark the onset of immortality or the cessation of all my aging and health issues. Rather it marks the onset of a recontextualization (I love that word) of everything in my life including aging and health issues. In the beginning, transformation (transformation alpha); in the end, transformation (transformation omega); and in between I deal with what there is to deal with. That's transformation: it's not fixing my life (there's nothing to fix). Rather it's an empowered way of dealing with what's so, transformed.

I've crossed a line (I don't know when exactly, it was gradual, I barely noticed) in recognizing I'm aging. Prior to that, I was a context of false bravados: "This'll go on forever", "I'm invincible", and "I'm bulletproof.". Then (imperceptibly at first, inexorably) a new context made its presence known. My erstwhile context for living "This'll go on forever, I'm invincible, I'm bulletproof", slowly shifted as I confronted / came to grips with the finite mortality of my life. I saw I was aging. And a question had replaced my erstwhile context of bravados. It was "How much longer is there?". At first I got sad. This beautiful life was aging, slowing down, coming to a close, in its final stretch. Then, when I broke through the sadness, I realized there was an opportunity: the opportunity to have each moment I had left count, to clean up my life (again), to purge everything no longer needed. The intergalactic spaceship, having reached its desired trajectory, can now jettison its external tank.

Listen: only a fool believes taking care of their body when they're younger guarantees no health issues in aging. Now, my body thanks me for having taken care of it when we were younger. I've ensured it's equipped to deal with the almost certain health issues that go with (as Alan Watts may have said) aging. Regular exercise, hydration, and a moderated diet when I was younger, went a long way toward setting it up for aging. If you are not intent on investing time taking care of your body when you're younger, be prepared to spend a lot on health-care when you're aging. Start now, and your body will thank you.

Autophagy

And then there's the miracle of autophagy. Get to know what it is. From the Cambridge International Dictionary:

<quote>

Definition
autophagy

("aw toffa djee")
noun

a natural process in which the body breaks down and absorbs its own tissue or cells

<unquote>

Why be au fait with it? It's your body's built-in ability to heal itself, to break down and absorb its own tissue or cells needing replacement. In a real sense, your body wants to be healthy, it wants you to be healthy. That's your body: a machine, one of whose functions is to maintain good health. The message of autophagy is take care of your body and your body will deal with disease, focus less on dealing with disease ie on treating symptoms and focus more on supporting your body to do its god-given job (ie dealing with disease). Counting on autophagy doing what it's designed to do, gives a path to designing a health regimen that works with your body rather than against it or in spite of it. In aging, autophagy is your ally. Promote it now. Your body will thank you.

The New Health Of Transformation

Transformation could be said to be a shift in the context in which we hold our lives - in other words, it's a recontextualization (I love that word) of our lives entirely. It brings a certain new health, if you will. Many of our erstwhile health issues, clear up just in the process of life itself. You'll see it in Werner's photograph (above). Years fell from his face. Transformation isn't health-care. What it does is bring the possibility of being healthy. A certain clarity comes with transformation which allows us to not create health issues in the first place (that's right). Before I experienced Werner's work, I was what you would call accident prone. Something was always happening with or to my body. I caught colds. There was always something wrong in my physical well-being. I fell off my bike. I broke my nose. I split my forehead surfing (twice) requiring stitches ... you know, that sort of thing. Then I began observing the condition in which I lived with regard to my health as if I were the cause of it, even if I didn't really get that totally. What I saw looking at it that way was interesting.

My father Asher Manfred was a general practitioner, a family doctor. He provided the very best in patient care. He loved taking care of people when they were sick. He visited them at their homes to treat them. And I discovered it was my racket to make myself sick or to get hurt as a great way to get his love and attention. Discovering I did that, was a breakthrough for me. From then on, I cut it out. From then on, if I wanted his love and attention, I asked him for it. It completely transformed my health. The spate of physical injuries ceased. And I stopped catching cold. To this day I no longer own a handkerchief.

Be A Master Of Life And Health

Be a master of life and health. Being a master of life and health is not about not aging or getting sick. Being a master of life and health is about having the world showing up as it is, and aging or getting sick show up in the world as it is, now and then. That's what's so - and so that's what there is to deal with.

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