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




Disclaimer

Landmark Integrity: The Bottom Line Seminar, Tehama Street, San Francisco, California, USA

October 26, 2009



This essay, Disclaimer, is the companion piece to I Do What I Am.

It is also the third in an open group inspired by Landmark Programs: I am indebted to Lane Entrekin and to Sara Carter who inspired this conversation.




I don't do this for money. If you're reading this, you know these Conversations For Transformation are yours free.

Yes I've considered writing a book. I've discussed the possibility with Werner. He says "If you're going to write a book then write a book. If you're not then don't.". He's right on. I'll write a book, or I'll not write a book ... AND  ... there's a line in the sand  between Conversations For Transformation and a book. Conversations For Transformation are free. A book won't be. I don't need the money. I can give Conversations For Transformation away free. So I do. Actually, the way this works is it's a gift to me  to give Conversations For Transformation away free. But that's not why I do this.

I don't do this for recognition. Yes it's great people get value for themselves from Conversations For Transformation. But it's they who create the value they get for themselves - not I. I know that. I'm not naïve.

Guessing conservatively, six hundred and fifty people worldwide read each essay in the Conversations For Transformation internet series (on average, two new essays are published every week) within days of their publishing to the internet. On occasion, it's as many as eleven hundred. That's not what drives me. I'd write Conversations For Transformation and publish them to the internet if no one  read them. Soon, the Conversations For Transformation website will receive its two hundred thousandth view. But I don't write Conversations For Transformation for the numbers.

Neither do I write Conversations For Transformation to help  people. I've got no interest  - zero, nada, zilch  - in the "self-help"  section of the bookstore. These Conversations For Transformation aren't designed to motivate  you, and neither are they intended to be thought provoking or interesting. And they may indeed be both thought provoking and interesting - if you say so. But that's not why I do this.

I don't talk much about Conversations For Transformation. If I'm asked, as I sometimes am in person or by e-mail, to explain  something in them or about them, I decline. They succeed exactly the way they are, or they don't. They're experiential. It's not simply I'm reluctant to discuss them. It's more than that. What I'm really reluctant to do is drag them out of the realm of direct experience and into the domain of opinions, explanations, thoughts, and beliefs. You get what you get. You don't get what you don't get. There's no Leonardo da Vinci on hand to explain the Mona Lisa.

If you were to ask me why I do this, why I write these Conversations For Transformation for you, I'd answer you in a way which, unless you're willing to be a listening for a Zen answer, can be infuriating. It may even sound as if I'm avoiding  your question. But I'm not. I'm fully present to your question.

What I'd say to you is "I do this because this is what I do.".

That's it. And that's all. It's the truth. Really  it is. There's no other reason. There's no ulterior motive.

But if you pressed me, or simply weren't willing to be a listening for the Zen answer, then I'd capitulate and I'd say my intention in writing these Conversations For Transformation for you is to create a space, available via the internet, in which transformation can show up.

That, and for you to discover your experience of and your relationship with Werner.

Like I said, I do this because this is what I do.



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