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




Every Morning, Every Evening

Andretti Winery, Oak Knoll Appellation, Napa Valley, California, USA

April 13, 2017



"The only thing you are going to do today is: what you do today. Therefore, the only thing there is to do today is: what you do today. That's all there was to do when you started no matter what you thought or think."
... 


The grand realization (if you will) for all human beings, is that being whole, full, complete, and satisfied, is the result of ie is generated by (ie is made possible by) a linguistic act. It's probably true to say that in various shapes, forms, and colors, this realization is the endgame  for all religions, all spiritual quests, all transformational programs, and all other sundry disciplines we human beings have ever invented to involve ourselves in.

What does "being satisfied is made possible by a linguistic act" mean? It means it becomes possible as a result of you saying  so ie it means it becomes possible as a result of you saying you're whole, full, complete, and satisfied - in other words, it's the result of you speaking it into being. Without the power of speaking-into-being  as an option, we relegate being whole, full, complete, and satisfied to a "someday"  of lengthy, protracted (not to mention complex, complicated, and unreliable) outcomes of one or more of prayer, practice, and career paths to projected (ie hoped for) achievement, success, and accomplishment.

Now listen: there's nothing wrong with achievement, success, and accomplishment (or prayer or practice, for that matter). However the idea of pursuing them while already  being whole, full, complete, and satisfied (rather than pursuing them in order to become  whole, full, complete, and satisfied) literally alters everything. In particular it alters the way we live life. To be specific, it interferes with ie it violates  our ordinarily limiting notions of what's possible for ourselves and for our lives. Life can then be chosen to be lived on a platform of already being whole, full, complete, and satisfied, rather than in feeble attempts to manipulate life in order to hopefully become  whole, full, complete, and satisfied ... someday. Considering our limited time on the planet, and what's at stake, that's really a no-brainer  choice.

It's often heard in conversations among creative people (and I'm not only referring to writers, poets, artists, musicians etc here, but also to anyone who lives their life creatively - which accounts for a great deal of us) that it's against the backdrop of being dis-satisfied, that we're driven ie we're inspired to do our best work and to become satisfied. I also often hear it claimed in such conversations that if we were always satisfied, we wouldn't aspire to anything - or similar variants of this notion.

I personally eschew that way of looking at things. I'm not denying it's a conclusion some people reach - no, it's a conclusion many  people reach. What I'm suggesting is it isn't necessary  - in other words, I'm saying being dissatisfied isn't a prerequisite for being satisfied. Neither is knowing dissatisfaction a prerequisite for knowing satisfaction. Being one or the other or both can and will occur at various times throughout life. I assert there's really no causal relationship  between what we do, and how satisfied we are or not. What we do is what we do. How satisfied we are, is how satisfied we say  we are (that's a lot closer to the truth than it sounds).
Werner's work makes transformation and an enormous wealth of distinctions and possibilities available, included in which is the possibility of being satisfied at the get-go  ie at the outset  ie before  we do whatever we do. This way, everything we do, we do already being satisfied (which is to say everything we do, we do coming from  already being satisfied). It's impact is far-reaching. It's a possibility I, for one, both pragmatically as well as prudently, am committed to keeping a wary eye on.

Every morning, I have the power to choose the day, and to be satisfied before it begins. Every day, the only thing I am going to do, is what I do - not one item less, not one item more. Every evening, I celebrate the gift of having lived another day of life, and of good work well done.



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