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
A Matter Of Trust
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
February 8, 2010
This essay,
A Matter Of Trust,
was written at the same time as
The Life You Have.
I am indebted to Cathy Elliott who inspired this conversation.
This is how it is with the common folk lore way of trust: you're
trustworthy ie I trust you because over time you've proved to me you're
trustworthy. The starting point is there's no trust, and I don't trust
you until you behave in a way which makes me sure I can trust you. In
this way of looking at trust, I give you my trust because and when
you've shown me you're trustworthy.
Everyone knows this is how you decide if you can trust
someone or not, right?
Werner
Erhard
asserts that's not it at all - in fact it's ass backwards. The
truth is you're trustworthy because I give you my trust. Said
another way, your trustworthiness isn't something you earn from me.
Rather, your trustworthiness is a context I grant you. I
don't trust you because you've proved to me I can trust you. I trust
you because I trust you.
This distinction is both subtle and profound.
Looking at trust Werner's way, trust is something I create for you
rather than something you earn from me. Trust is an opportunity I
stand for unconditionally for you. Trust is a quality I
own. Looking at trust Werner's way, trust is a space I generate for
you, in which you can interact with me. It's a permission I grant you
to participate with me unconditionally.
Looking at trust the common folk lore way ie when I trust you once
you've proved to me you're trustworthy, is like waiting for the winning
numbers to be drawn before I'm willing to take a chance betting them on
the lottery.
From at least one perspective ("So and so can't be trusted"), it
doesn't make any sense at all standing for trust
unconditionally. From another perspective ("So and so hasn't
proved he/she can be trusted"), it positively
won't make any sense at all granting trust
unconditionally.
Given the way we look at things before we bring transformation to bear,
trust looked at Werner's way really can't make any sense
at all. That's because given there's no experience of mastery over our
lives before we bring transformation to bear, given there's no
experience of being the
source
of our lives before we bring transformation to bear, given there's no
experience of creating our lives before we bring
transformation to bear, there's little chance creating a quality like
trust Werner's way will ever make any sense at all.
But that's hardly new by now. Living from a context you invent for your
life rather than living life reacting to your circumstances doesn't
ever make any sense at all. It doesn't ever make any sense at all, that
is, when looked at from any perspective devoid of transformation. It
doesn't make any sense at all that trust is a space you create for
others rather than a quality they prove to you or earn from you, when
looked at from a perspective devoid of transformation.