I am indebted to Curt Hill who inspired this conversation, and to
Charlene Afremow
who contributed material.
When I first got
Werner Erhard's
distinction
"out-here"
it altered my reality - that is to say, it altered reality.
Period.
Much has been spoken about and much has been written about erroneously
misconceiving
"out-here"
as "out there". Misconceiving
"out-here" as "out
there" is entirely predictable, given how we're thrown to
be about
who we are
- restated with
rigor,
"... given how we're thrown to be about where we are". I'm
talking about how we're thrown to locate our experience of
who we arein space.
The way we're thrown to be about where we are, the way we're thrown to
locate our experience of
who we are
in space, is "I'm
in here
..." (pointing to my head) "...
and the world is out there ..." (pointing away from my
head toward the world). That's the thrown misconception.
OK, lets say I accept it's a misconception. Let's say for argument's
sake I accept I'm not
in here
(pointing to my head). Then where am I? Out there?
(pointing away from my head toward the world).
Try this on for size: the accurate expression isn't "I'm out
there" (pointing away from my head toward the world). Saying
it that way ironically only serves to further trap me
in here
(pointing to my head). Try on the accurate expression is I'm
out-here"
(with a sweeping gesture for
presence
rather than pointing in any particular direction).
That's what altered reality for me. It doesn't really do much good
explainingout-here.
It does even less good trying to
understand it. But it's an idea which can be gotten and
experienced.
Getting
out-here
is a matter of shifting my experience from being
"in here"
to being
out-here.
In other
words,
getting
out-here
is a
contextual
shift.
That's why once I get
out-here,
I have a new frame of reference, a new
context
for my life. But it's more than that actually - it's waaay
more. It's a frame of reference for
workability.
Given Life as it's lived is
out-here
(with a sweeping gesture for
presence
rather than pointing in any particular direction) rather than
in here
(pointing to my head), it simply
works
better to live Life
out-herewhere Life is lived.
No mystery here.
A New Facet To The Diamond
Then one day recently I discovered another piece of this
distinction, a new facet to the diamond. Even without this new
discovery, the distinction
out-here
is awesome, life-changing, reality altering. And
with this new discovery, it's outright
moving.
I was watching a friend at work leading a
seminar.
I've watched him lead
seminars
and participated in a few of them myself for over fifteen years. He's
good, very good at what he does. This time I noticed he
was no longer very good at what he does. He had, in the interim since I
last watched him working, become off the charts brilliant
at what he does. He was
present
in a way I'd not experienced him before. Watching him, I could tell he
was completely being with the people in
his seminar.
He was completely being with the material he was
presenting. The way he was completely being with the room ie with the
physical space got me sitting up and paying
attention
in a way I'd not sat up and paid
attention
before - and if there's one thing about me you should know, it's I
always sit up and pay
attention.
It was truly awesome, a veritable tour de force.
Later I shared my experience of him with another friend. I told her how
newly and powerfully
present
he was in the room. And this is what I said verbatim: I said "He was
really out there in the room, really out there in his
expression.". And my friend interrupted me, saying "No, he wasn't
out there. He was
out‑here.".
And I actually thought to myself "She doesn't get it ...".
I had it that
out-here
is a way of being for me ... or for whomever the first
person speaker is. What my friend was being in the seminar was out
there in the room. That's how I would say it about
him. I had it that I could only say
out-hereabout myself ... or it could be said by whomever the first
person speaker is, about themselves. What my friend was being in
the seminar was out there ... at least in my estimation.
Then this dawned on me: it was I who didn't get
out-here
completely - not her. This is the other piece to
out-here,
the new facet to the diamond:
out‑here
is not only an experience I (or whomever the first person speaker is)
express about myself. It's an experience I (or whomever the first
person speaker is) also express about another. I had it that
when I share my own experience, I say "I'm
out-here"
(speaking about myself). I had it that when another shares his own
experience, he also says "I'm
out-here"
(speaking about himself). But when I speak about
another then I would say "He's out there", and when
another speaks about me then he would say
"He's out there.". It's a simple matter of spatial projection -
or so I thought ...