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




Werner As Intention

Cowboy Cottage, East Napa, California, USA

November 19, 2012



"It's much easier to ride the horse in the direction he's going." ... 
This essay, Werner As Intention, is the sixth in the complete group of Experiences Of A Friend (click here for the open group Experiences Of A Friend II):
  1. Stepping Back
  2. At Home As Self
  3. Empty Windows
  4. Futile Like A Freedom
  5. Shut Up And Do What You're Doing
  6. Werner As Intention
  7. Who He Is For Himself
  8. Source Quote
  9. Puzzle Solved, Mind Unraveled
  10. Eye To Eye
  11. Mystical Connection II
  12. Relentless
  13. Being Around Werner
  14. Being Always In Action: A Possibility
  15. Shaken Up And Teary
  16. On Being Sad
  17. The Complete Presentation
  18. Force Of Nature
  19. Everyone's In Love With Everyone
  20. I'm Old School
  21. Werner At The Speed Of Choice
  22. I Get Who You Are From What They Do
  23. The Significance - Not What Happened
  24. You Know I Love You - And I Know You Love Me
  25. Speaking To People's Relationship With Werner
  26. A Master At Being (And Having People Be)
  27. Werner As Source
  28. A Man Who's All There
  29. My Heart And You
  30. Mind Control
  31. Again And Again And Again And Again And Again And Again
  32. Unwavering
  33. The Leadership Course III: Pillar Of The Community
  34. American Genius
  35. Legacy II
so far, in that order.

I am indebted to Maxine Mandel Potts who inspired this conversation, and to Judy Golden and to Jon Toelner who contributed material.




How good is Life that we may be together this way: each of us, humanity united as one  in our experience of who we really are and the possibility of being for Human Being. As the sun rises over the east hills of the Napa Valley, the wine country  in California where I live, it's my privilege to be with you like this. Personally I'm not very big on electronics. I prefer you close up, face to face, larger than Life, and twice as natural. However, the opportunity for us to communicate instantly and freely with anyone and everyone all over the planet may yet prove to be the saving grace of the internet.

Transformation is personal and it isn't. It's personal because it's a possibility for who we really are. It's not  personal because it doesn't come from "I" and nor does it come from "me" and it's certainly not "mine" (as George Harrison may have said). It could be said rather than being "mine", transformation is "its"  (be with that for a moment).

Recently it was suggested (I took it as a compliment) I'm blessed  to be able to do what I do. Blessed ie being blessed  is attractive ... but it isn't what this is for me. Really it isn't. What I am, to be able to do what I do, is committed. And when I tell the truth about it, this isn't a commitment I created. Yes there are commitments I create. Yes there are commitments I author. But authoring Conversations For Transformation isn't a commitment I created.

Let me say more about what I mean by this:

I look at my life and I see this commitment is already present. That's what this is for me. Because this commitment is already present, there's no reason  for what I do. Rather, I do this because this is what I do  (as Alan Watts may have said). All I'm doing is following through with this already commitment. Claiming I started it or trying to end it or trying to interfere with it or even claiming responsibility for it (like it's some good idea  I came up with) would be like claiming I started or trying to end or trying to interfere with or claiming responsibility for breathing  - like breathing is some good idea I came up with. That's not an option. No, the truth is I'm used by  this already present commitment.

What Is The Possibility Of Relationship? - 1984
Werner Erhard

It's also been suggested I make it (quote unquote) look easy. That's nice. Listen. Let me tell you something: it's not easy. It ain't easy. It's never easy. This seldom goes my way ... or  ... I could say it only  goes my way when I make my intention Werner's intention. I'm constantly  giving up my way in this matter - which is never, ever  easy for any human being - believe me: I know! I can't begin to tell you the number of times I've thought "Forget this! I'm outta here!"  and imagined putting a notice on the Conversations For Transformation home page saying "This website is no longer available" ... but fortunately the feeling soon passes and I get back to work, more empowered and more insightful than before.

You could characterize Werner in many ways. You could characterize him as the guy who invented transformation - and I say that in the same way as I characterize Sir Isaac Newton as the guy who invented gravity, in the same way as I characterize Professor Albert Einstein as the guy who invented relativity, in the same way as I characterize Nicolaus Copernicus as the guy who invented the heliocentric  solar system. You could characterize him as the founder of several extraordinarily successful  organizations held in reverence by staff and customers alike. You could characterize him as the inspiration for hundreds and hundreds  of businesses delivering coaching and programs which profoundly impact  the quality and the workability  of peoples' lives.

You could characterize him as a rough cut  self-taught philosopher with a dazzling gift for the Socratic  method, having none of the usual formal education and qualifications in these areas, yet held in high esteem by some of the greatest minds on the planet. You could characterize him, along with Alan Watts, as one of the most formidable and getable  exponents of Zen the world has ever seen. You could characterize him as just a regular guy  learning to ride a motor bike or taking his Mom out for her birthday.

All that's valid. But if you're going to play in this global possibility of transformation I suggest you characterize Werner as intention. When I first heard him speak "It's much easier to ride the horse in the direction he's going" I assumed the horse  he referred to in this now infamous aphorism, is the inexorability  of Life itself. And who knows? That may indeed be what he was referring to. Now nearly thirty five years later I wonder if the horse isn't Werner as intention  ...  and if I'm going to play in this global possibility of transformation then that's the horse for me to ride, that's what there is for me to keep up with, that's what there is for me to set my compass to.

Now here's the thing: I don't know for sure if any  of that's true - it's just an inquiry I'm in. This is what I do  know: characterizing Werner as intention and as nothing but  intention for these Conversations For Transformation to ride in the direction he's going, works.



Communication Promise E-Mail | Home

© Laurence Platt - 2012 through 2020 Permission