| "If you're going to write a book then write a book. If you're not then don't." ... |
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lasering Laurence Platt's dilemma of whether to write a book or not |
To be sure, there's nothing wrong with being creative in order to survive. If you're out-going enough to make that work for you, it's a near ideal situation. In the genre of self-help success writings, Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain said you've made it "when your vocation becomes your vacation". But listen: the idea of keeping them distinct as a matter of integrity, is a powerful call. I've given consideration to the possibility of blurring the lines between my vocation and my vacation. For me it's clear: whatever this is that I do, it doesn't work well that way. Both have their unique concerns, especially integrity concerns. Keeping them distinct is de rigueur for Conversations For Transformation. This works. For it to work, my first task was to establish myself and my life as financially viable. That created the freedom to write. That's the context in which my life works. Look: mostly, it's s'posed to be the other way around: mostly you're s'posed to write, make money from writing, then you can be free. I turned that whole model bass-ackwards because it occurred for me I had to. And to be quite honest, that's not my original idea. So where did it come from? It's often leveled as a criticism of the way Werner has set people up to participate in the work of transformation, that no one is paid to assist! Horrors! Quelle exploitation (and what naïveté it is to allow yourself be led like a lamb to assist without pay!). OK, let's look closely at the wisdom of the way he's set it up (yes, I did say the "wisdom"). Assisting isn't a job. It's a contribution. Making a contribution freely isn't something we're well-versed in. The choice to assist without pay, is an opportunity to experience freely coming from a space of generosity and contribution, without justifying it with the lure of being paid (which is our default modus operandi). That's what Werner's set up. Transformation isn't a commodity you buy. It's not for sale. It can only be self-created then generously given away. You'll notice this fits almost none of Wall Street's financial scenarios. And while it's certainly not the only possible scenario in this genre (the truth is just about every one of Werner's programs have a registration fee), generating transformation then giving it away freely carries with it the heart of what transformation really is, in a way that most of the books in the self-help success section of Amazon.com never will. Given how the world is, it's smart (very smart) to establish financial viability in parallel, if you intend giving transformation away. |
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