Life is Transformative

Carmel By The Sea, California, USA

This essay, Free, is the companion piece to Give It Away.

I am indebted to Sheila Providenza and to Ingerlil Teute who inspired this conversation.

Arguably the most commonly asked class of questions is "Why?" questions, questions seeking an explanation. Just as arguably, although "Why?" questions have an impact interimly, they don't have any real power ultimately.

The issue isn't whether things can be explained or not. That there's an explanation for things, that there's a cause of things is certainly one of our most cherished beliefs. "Why?" questions inquire into that cause within our preferred belief system, within our limited view of an already expected explanation.

The issue is rather one of causality itself. We ask "Why?" until we discover a cause which seems plausible within our preferred belief system. Then we stop inquiring, seemingly satisfied with what we've discovered. Yet if we expand our limited view, if we expand the box a bit, if we start thinking outside the box, we hear the next question calling to be asked is "What's the cause of this cause?". After that question we hear the next one calling to be asked is "What's the cause of this cause of this cause?" etc on and on and on, and there's no end.

In other words "Why?" questions are powerful only within a limited domain. And within a limited domain, the trouble with accepting an answer to a "Why?" question as true is it's based on an arbitrarily accepted cause. It's based on a false cause. In matters of Self, in matters pertaining to Conversations For Transformation, "Why?" questions aren't powerful ultimately. Ultimately Self is cause. Self is source. It is because it is because that's what it is - est.

"Why?" questions asked in a limited domain stopping short of that are inadequate. They don't cut to the heart of the matter. There's no reason ultimately. Things are just what's so. The Emperor isn't wearing any clothes ... he hasn't got anything on! Things are what they are because they are because that's the way they are.

There's no reason for writing these essays. They don't mean anything. I write them because I write them because that's what I do.

Conversations For Transformation is a uniquely internet expression of my acknowledgement (and, in many cases, my interpretation) of Werner Erhard's work. The possibility of writing a book of Conversations For Transformation comes up often. I look at it. It's a moment to moment thing with me. Even a successful artform expressed through a different medium than its origins' isn't guaranteed to work. Your favorite book, for example, made into a movie doesn't necessarily carry over from paper to the big screen. The screenwriter's imagined view of things may jar with the view you imagined as a reader. And don't even get me started on The Beatles reworked as elevator muzak ...

The internet is a malleable medium. Works on the internet can be ongoingly and always changed and tuned and retuned. A real consideration about switching the medium for Conversations For Transformation from the internet to a book is a book, to one degree or another, is chiseled in stone and can't be edited or refined once published.

There's a lot to be said for writing a book. There's a lot to be said for not writing a book. I've considered writing a book. I've considered not writing a book, leaving Conversations For Transformation as a purely free expression on the internet.

I asked Werner about it. He said "If you're going to write a book then write a book. If you're not then don't.".

That's so Werner.

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Conversations For Transformation: Essays By Laurence Platt Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard, And More

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