The Reform Conversation, Work and Inspiration

I was at a beautiful Landmark event recently and conscious of the difference between the feel of being in the reform conversation and the feel of being in the good stuff of the conversation about possibility.

The bottom line is that the reform conversation is about the vessel that brings possibility to others. It's about structure, methodology, policy. This is not (directly) a conversation about possibility, and it's especially not a conversation about possibility for us (we who work for reform) because it's not about us, not about what works for us, not about what we like.

This conversation is not intended to be fun (...except when we make side comments with smiley faces). :-)

Hopefully you get something out of the reform conversation for yourself, such as a fresh perspective on one aspect of Landmark or another, light shed on something that had been a blind spot, awareness of where you may have been out of power and possibility, etc. People also find value here as a clearing for discussion that is intentionally free from both Landmark agreement and the stridently anti-Landmark posts seen in some of the public Landmark sites. These benefits can stand on their own to make this conversation worthwhile, but in the end, they are not what this conversation is about.

Borrowing from the introduction of the Yahoo reformers group, the group is here to "discuss and coordinate actions to reform the Landmark structures and methodologies at the source of some negative perceptions, consistent with the possibility of Landmark as an open, welcoming, extraordinarily effective engine of powerful living for all." If I may inject a little story, this is work. Hard work.

This is one of the factors in why it can be challenging to enroll those who don't see the costs and pitfalls of Landmark's current methodologies into the reform conversation. From Landmark agreement (see post on Hazards of Agreement), the reform conversation looks like work, negative work, unnecessary work, no play, no joy.

The core joy and inspiration for participating in the reform effort derives from a couple of sources. First is reducing or eliminating the negative impacts that we have discussed, which on its own is a very substantial contribution. Second, and even more powerfully for me, the joy and inspiration for participating here comes from creating a future where people who yearn to live powerfully and live a life they love have easy access to a powerful conversation for transformation, with no sense of pressure, no sense of weirdness, no fear of manipulation...whatever it is that keeps people away today. Easy as going to the park on a Spring day like today.