Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Education for Life

No, they dont teach you such things at school or college or even at your home. This is something that is never taught at all. Thats why the Landmark Forum is so remarkable. It offers you the technology to discover a new way of being which is so powerful that you feel you can do simply anything. It shows you how you can overcome constraints imposed upon you by your past and build a future which is not based on your past. Thanks to insistence of my friend, I attended the Forum in Mumbai which was held from 10 th July to 14th July and discovered this new way of being for myself.

The technology consists of a set of conceptual distinctions and metaphors which help you discover who you really are and allow you to take charge of your life. It basically helps you to shift your rigid ways of thinking and fixed points of view which make your life miserable and unproductive. It teaches you to unshackle your vision. This technology is delivered through a series of conversations in which the people are invited to participate and look for themselves at their lives. For instance, one converstation distinguishes between ` what happened' to a person and the `story' or the interpretation or the conclusion which the person himself has made. We are invited to see how this story is nothing but an interpretation and how the person himself is responsible for making it and clinging to it. We are also invited to see how this interpretation is running and ruining our lives. These `stories' become who we are and imprison us. The rigid ways of being based on these stories are of two types. One is the productive and positive one( `the strong suit') which enable us to produce the results which we are producing and the other is a ` racket' or the unproductive mode of being which brings immense misery to us and everyone around us. The rackets are essentially `the blame games' , the stories which we use to hold someone else responsible for our miseries. One may even have a racket with oneself. They enable us to avoid responsibility. Their payoff is self justification ( you are wrong and I am right). The technology consists of many such distinctions in which we are asked to participate as ACTORS instead of AUDIENCE( COMMENTATORS, OBSERVERS OR ANALYSTS). The distinction here is between being ` on the court' and being ` on the stands.' The former one involves playing the game and the later one is merely about talking about things without taking the responsibility, risk and involvement. The audience obviously is often the racketeer. There are many such distinctions provided through fascinating conversations.The techonology is profoundly philosophical and enables you to see things as they are and empowers you to make yourself and your future.

I felt extremely light and energetic after I `came into the court' in life and started taking ACTIONS instead of merely trying to understand things conceptually. I discovered that my every relationship was a racket and I was carrying an immense grievience box on my shoulders. I even had a racket with my computer and two wheeler!!!! So here I am on the operation unloading and can feel the surge of confidence and energy already.

Our coach Gurmeet Singh Khurana was extremely dynamic, powerful and fun! It was indeed a wonderful experience. More on this later!

1 comment:

Aranyatmaja said...

Sir,
It was indeed a gr8 write-up about Forum. The way you have presented it, actually helps revising those distinctions. I m gonna use this blog as a ready reference to those distinctions. Thanks a lot for making it available.