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

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Highway 1

Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz, California, USA

July 22, 2021


"The source of what people do and what they don't do is that people's actions are in a naturally, necessarily directly connected dance with the way the circumstances on which and in which they are performing occur  (show up) for them."
... 
This essay, Highway 1, is the companion piece to Driving In A Watercolor.

I am indebted to Aaron Bartlett and to Baba Ram Dass aka Dr Richard Alpert who inspired this conversation.


I'm driving on Highway 1, the spectacular mostly oceanside road that traverses the entire west coast of the United States of America from Canada to Mexico. Few who have driven it are left with any doubt whatsoever that it's one of the most spectacular roads to be driven anywhere on Earth, and certainly one of the most beautiful and inspirational - that is, if it's indeed appropriate / fitting to deem a road  either "beautiful" or "inspirational" or both, at all.

Highway 1 weaves tight esses  left and right, up and down as it meanders left and right past rocks and cliffs, up and down over hills and gorges. You'd better not have a specific time by which you committed to reach your destination when you're driving to it via this route. That's not to say you couldn't have one, or shouldn't make one, or are unable to estimate one. It's because you wouldn't want to. The best way to fully appreciate a drive of this magnificence, of such splendor, is to not commit to any particular arrival time, and to simply arrive when you arrive. You'll want all the time in the world to appreciate a drive like this as fully as possible for as long as possible, uninterrupted, undistracted.

I've got my hands on the steering wheel in the "ten o'clock" position, holding it firmly but not tightly, consciously but not concentratedly. I watch in a kind of cosmic bemusement  as the road goes by, seemingly all by itself. All the curves and bends are going by, seemingly all by themselves ... and that's when I notice something else, something that puzzles me / perplexes me when I first notice it. "Am I imagining it? Or is it really happening?" I ask myself.

What I notice, is this: I don't seem to be doing anything with my hands ... and yet it's them  turning the steering wheel, not me. How can it be? If I'm not moving my hands, then who (or what)  is moving them, causing them to turn the steering wheel and steer the car?

This is a discovery! To put it further to the test, without letting go of the steering wheel I consciously stop steering. I relax, and watch what happens. And it happens again! I can barely grasp what I'm witnessing; I can barely let it in. What I see is this: when the car gets to a critical point in an ess, my hands turn the steering wheel  even though "I" have made no attempt to steer. Neither have I made any attempt to control my hands. I've sent no message to them to turn the steering wheel. And yet ... as the next ess approaches, there it is again: my hands are turning the steering wheel, smoothly, easily, and perfectly, executing a smooth, easy, perfect turn.

What I've seen, rocks me to the core: if I'm not directing my hands to turn the steering wheel and thereby steer the car, then (again): who (or what) is steering the car? Asked another way, who or what is the source of the action  of my hands turning the steering wheel? It's clearly not I. But if it's not I  ... then who (or what) is?

And that's when I hear (or re-hear) (as if for the first time) Werner distinguishing for the world, the source  of what we do. Said another way, I hear (or re-hear) (as if for the first time) Werner distinguishing for the world, the source of our actions. And when I get it (or re-get it) (as if for the first time), I'm astonished at how obvious it is, astonished at how simple it is, astonished at how I've never gotten it before with such stark, demonstrable clarity.

This is what he's distinguishing (this is Werner Erhard):


<quote>

THE SOURCE OF WHAT PEOPLE DO AND WHAT THEY DON'T DO IS THAT PEOPLE'S ACTIONS ARE IN A NATURALLY, NECESSARILY DIRECTLY CONNECTED DANCE WITH THE WAY THE CIRCUMSTANCES ON WHICH AND IN WHICH THEY ARE PERFORMING OCCUR  (SHOW UP) FOR THEM.

<unquote>


So Highway 1 occurs  (shows up) for me, meandering left, meandering right, rising, falling ... and my action  (steering) is in a naturally, necessarily directly connected dance with the way Highway 1 (circumstances) occur (show up). It's my hands turning the steering wheel, connected with (in a dance with) the way Highway 1 occurs (shows up) for me, and I have nothing to do with it. That's  the source of my action (steering) - dramatically, incontrovertibly demonstrated. Wow! ... I mean ... just ... Wow!

All at once, I've gotten who (or what) is really  steering the car: Highway 1 meanders to the left? My hands (in a dance with the way the road occurs for me) turn the steering wheel to the left (and "I" have nothing to do with it). Highway 1 meanders to the right? My hands (in a dance with the way the road occurs for me) turn the steering wheel to the right (and "I" have nothing to do with it).

Listen: this is profound. But it may not be obvious at first, that the source of the action that steers your car, isn't you. The source of the action that steers your car, is the way the meandering road occurs (shows up) for you. And that may not be obvious / easy to get if this idea doesn't fit into your categories.

But look: don't believe it just because I said it. Try it on for size for yourself. If it fits, take it: it's all yours now. And if it doesn't fit, discard it, and drive on. Spectacular Highway 1 is calling.


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