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
Who He Is For Himself
Coombsville Appellation,
Napa Valley,
California, USA
February 17, 2013
This essay,
Who He Is For Himself,
is the seventh in the complete group of
Experiences Of A Friend
(click
here
for the open group
Experiences Of A Friend II):
I want to be crystal clear what I'm saying here. I'm saying
Werner Erhard
invented
transformationby distinguishing it then speaking it, in the same way as Sir
Isaac Newton invented
gravity
by distinguishing it then speaking it, in the same way as Professor
Albert Einstein invented relativity by distinguishing it then speaking
it, in the same way as President John Fitzgerald Kennedy invented
landing a man on the
moon
by the end of the decade (then, by 1970) by distinguishing it like a
possibility then speaking it.
There are as many different experiences of
Werner
as there are people on
the planet.
For people who haven't heard of
Werner,
if you told them he invented
transformation
(of course, you'd then have to distinguish
transformation
for them), they'd have an experience of him - one way or another. For
people who have heard of him, their experiences run the gamut from the
hostile to the indifferent to the amazed to the delighted "What took
you so long to get here?". Given
transformation
is what it is, this range of expressions is entirely appropriate.
You could experience
Werner
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 experience him along with the brilliant
Mr Alan Watts
as one of the most formidable and getable exponents of
Zenthe world
has ever seen - or heard. You could experience him as
just a regular
dude
learning to ride a motor bike, or as a family guy
taking his mother out
on her birthday.
You could experience him as an
interviewerinterviewing,
or as an
interview-ee
being
interviewed,
equally
at home
bringing forth
transformation
both as a listener (questioning, inquiring) and as a speaker
(answering, responding, sharing).
But if you ask people what is it about
Werner
which is so enrolling (or un-enrolling as the case may be:
Werner
is controversial - of that let there be no doubt), their answers
would be all over the map. There are many philosophers. There are many
great minds. There are many
leaders.
There are exponents of
Zen.
There are certainly more than a few dudes who ride motor bikes. And
there's no shortage of guys who
celebratetheir mother
on her birthday. So what is it? What is this je ne sais
quoi quality, this enrolling quality, this
quality on which all experiences people have of
Werner,
converge? Indeed, what is this quality out of which
transformationinexorablyburst forth on to the world
stage
on the
Golden Gate Bridge on that
fateful midweek morning in March 1971?
For me, the essential experience to have of
Werner
out of all the experiences it's possible to have of
Werner
if you're going to get
who he really is
(which is to say, the essential
Werner
experience to have if you're going to get who invented
transformation)
is the experience of who he is for himself.
So that I don't step on your experience, so that I leave you with this
as an open ended, ongoing inquiry rather than provide mere platitudes
and pat answers to the question "Who is
Werner
for himself?", I'm not going to wrap this up in a pretty box with a
nice bow and ribbons. Rather I'd like to leave it untied and a bit
ragged.
The question to ask, really, isn't "Who is
Werner
for himself?". The question to ask is "Who are you for
yourself?". The people I've experienced in
this work
who are most like
Werneraren't like
Werner
at all. Yes, that is the very definition of
paradox.
The people I've experienced in
this work
who are most like
Wernerare the people who are most like themselves. This is why I
assert the question "Who are you for yourself?" is your access to who
Werner
is for himself.
See, there's nothing unreachable about this. There's nothing unusual or
even exceptional about this. When I ask "Who are you for yourself?",
this isn't a grandiose question. I ask "Who are you for yourself?" like
a dude. I ask "Who are you for yourself?" like a motor bike
rider. I ask "Who are you for yourself?" like a guy or a gal who
loves their mother.
I ask "Who are you for yourself?" not like a cosmic being,
not like an enlightened soul - both of which are too
fraught with meaning and significance to be truly valuable. No, I ask
"Who are you for yourself?" like a person, like a human being - because
if you're not that, then it's all completely
inauthentic
from then on out.
So ... who is
Werner
for himself? My answer to this question, is another question: who are
you for yourself? Besides which, my answer to the question "Who is
Werner
for himself?" only reveals my experience of who
Werner
is for himself - whereas your answer to the question "Who are you for
yourself?" reveals your experience of who he is for
himself.