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




You Can't Get This From Me

Napa Valley, California, USA

September 29, 2012



I am indebted to Art Schreiber who inspired this conversation.



You can get a lot from me. There's a lot here for you to get.

You can get reading material from me (that much is obvious by now). You can get Conversations For Transformation, an internet series of essays from me. You can get most of Werner Erhard's current academic papers from me, extraordinarily meticulously crafted works which are rapidly gaining recognition worldwide in respected academic and business institutions. You can get a wide selection of photographs of Werner throughout the years from me, reflecting the ever changing yet never changing  face of transformation. You can get a collection of remarkable Werner Erhard quotes from me, many of which I captured myself verbatim as he spoke them. Read them at your leisure. Then read them again at your leisure. Their value regenerates itself again and again and again. You can get an awesome slide show of Werner working in India from me. Bringing enlightenment to India?  That takes boldness, daring, and verve. Not for amateurs. Definitely not for the minor leagues. And you can get many of the available Werner Erhard videos from me, all of which are well worth watching. I promise.

You can get this from me.

You can also get my own modest attempts at writing Zen koans  and haiku  from me. In addition you can get my autobiography, the story of my life from me. And if you do, please notice the story of my life isn't who I am. Who I am is Conversations For Transformation inspired by the ideas of Werner Erhard (sooner or later the story of my life will be told - I want to support it being told accurately). You can also get the intersections  of my life from me, those side bars, twists and turns along the way, the experiments and disciplinary practices which paved the way for and led me to transformation.

You can get this from me.

Actually (speaking newly with rigor) none of them  paved the way for or led me to transformation. Transformation doesn't require any of them  as a prerequisite or as a context. But to say they paved the way for and led me to transformation is good enough for jazz.

You can get friendship from me. I am your Friend. You may even get a tour of the fabulous Napa Valley in California where I live, from me. On occasion you can get great surfing stories (both reminiscences as well as current) from me. But only if I'm in the mood. There's a time and a place for everything including "talking story", and the truth really is I'm not a story teller (so if I do "talk story", I'm not very good at it).

You can get this from me. You can get all  of this from me.

Then there's a lot you can't  get from me.

If you're staring intently at your face in the mirror, shaving or applying mascara, if you're in the moment  and in that  place with yourself when there's only you and your integrity, you'll choose whether or not you'll live the rest of your life in integrity ie you'll choose whether or not you'll live the rest of your life honoring your word as yourself. You'll weigh up the pros and the cons of living life this way. For a while it may even look like you really do  have a choice to not  live life in integrity. You may even admit you're attracted  by the option of not living life in integrity. You'll look for someone or something fundamental  to draw on to make this either / or, black or white  choice.

You can't get this from me.

You're confronted by situations in life which require you take responsibility for the way things are and for the way things aren't. You'll take this responsibility, or you won't. You'll make excuses, or you won't. You'll blame others, or you won't. The way you choose whether or not you'll take responsibility for the way things are and for the way things aren't (in other words the way you choose whether or not you'll take responsibility for the way life turned out)  impacts everyone around you. The way you choose whether or not you'll take responsibility for the way life turned out, impacts your future. This is a daunting, sometimes intimidating  place to stand. It's more than that actually. It's at times it's outright terrifying. Where do you go to get solid ground under your feet before making this choice? To whom  do you go to get solid ground under your feet before making this choice?

You can't get this from me.

When you realize what it all comes down to is you're the cause of your entire life, everything in it, everything that's happened in it, and everything that's ever happened to you, then you can choose to take on living as source, or not. You can also avoid  living as source, or not. You can run from living as source, or not. When you look for someone to brainstorm your options  with in the matter of who's source in your life beyond a simple discussion, there's no one to turn to. What you're confronted by is "Am I being 100%  source in the matter of my own life?". And if you're not, "Will I take on  being 100% source in the matter of my own life ... or won't I?". You'll want a sounding board  against which you can make this essential choice, indeed this essential choice you were born to make, the only choice out of which your authentic life  can ever really start to take shape.

You can't get this from me. You can't get any  of this from me.

You can only get this from you.



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