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

Make It Yours

765 California Street, San Francisco, California 94108, USA

November 27, 2010


This essay, Make It Yours, is the companion piece to Give It Away.

I am indebted to Mehul Mehta who inspired this conversation.


I have a premise.

Before I share my premise with you, I want you to know I'll not say it like it's "the truth". If it could be said there's one distinction which is the bedrock  of transformation, it's the distinction between "the truth"  and my opinion  of the truth - no matter how much I cherish my opinion, no matter how deeply I feel  about it.

My premise (which is to say my opinion) may be  the truth. And it may not be. I don't know if it is or if it isn't. It's just a premise. When I say "I have a premise", that's  the truth! I do have a premise. I'm not lying to you. But to say my premise is "the truth"?  Even if my premise seems (to me at least) to be so slam-dunkingly, so forehead-slappingly  obvious ... so what?! so what?! That doesn't make it "the truth". You can't live Life transformed if you're unable to or if you're unwilling  to distinguish between "the truth"  and your opinion of the truth.

<aside>

Speaking rigorously, anything  I say about "the truth"  is always and only my point of view ie my opinion of the truth.

But that's a subject for another conversation on another occasion.

<un-aside>

My premise, my premise which seems obvious to me is this: Life works better when you know who you really are.

For example, relationship: you can't make relationship work if you can't bring yourself into a relationship because you don't know who you really are, because you don't know who you're bringing  into the relationship. And if you  don't know who you really are, how's the other person supposed to know you?

For example, direction: you can't choose a direction in Life, you can't successfully set the direction in which you're going if you don't know where you're coming from  ie if you don't know who you really are. For that matter, how do you successfully set the direction in which you're going if you don't know who's  going, because you don't know who you really are?

For example, religion: you can't worship God, you can't really love  and adore God if you don't know who you really are ie if you don't know who's doing the worshiping, if you don't know who's doing the loving and the adoring. How do you be  the space in which God can show up if you don't know who you really are, if you don't know who you really are as the space in which God can show up?

So, given my premise "Life works better when you know who you really are", the way I see my  relationship with Werner's work is it's usefulness expands exponentially, it's worth catapults stratosphericly when it becomes your  relationship with Werner's work.

Say whut?  I couldn't say that about anything else  without sounding like a sycophant ... except in this  context. In this context when I speak about my relationship with Werner's work, I'm really speaking about my relationship with who I really am. Which is to say I'm really speaking about my relationship with you. Which is to say I'm really speaking about your relationship with who you really are.

That's Werner's work. Take it and make it yours. If you say you get it but you don't take it and make it yours, you didn't get it in the first place.


Communication Promise E-Mail | Home

© Laurence Platt - 2010 through 2016 Permission