The Poet and the Game of Transformation
I have often wondered at the impact of the powerful training of Landmark Education on my poetry. Most of the poetry that I wrote before Landmark Forum was written by a person who was very lonely, very depressed, frustrated and agonizingly suffocated. It was the poetry of the person who hardly believed in love, who hardly had any power, and who preferred to 'stay away' from life, others and even from one's own self. So my poetry too was very lonely, full of darkness and grief and which preferred to ' stay away' from life, others and my self. He definitely had the necessary ' on-the-court distinctions' for writing very creative poetry, and it definitely gave him fulfillment in his life- in fact it was among very few things that really gave him fulfillment in life. This was the reason he kept writing poetry in spite of general indifference from people. He said that he wrote poetry because he 'had to'; it was a compulsion, it was one of the ways of surviving. He told people that he 'was' a poet, when all he did was write poetry.
In fact, one of my best friends and fellow poets Hemant Divate suggested to me that I dont need these things like the communication program or the Landmark education and hinted that one should leave 'the exit door open' once one enters something fully. He was referring to my involvement with Landmark, of course. He told me about all these things in my 'Interview' with him. Many people have expressed their concern regarding my involvement with Landmark in various and I totally get their concern and love for me. However, they don't know what Landmark can create in life and whats more they don't even know that they don't know. Far from blaming them or making them wrong, I cheerfully recommend Landmark Education to them once again!
Hemant told me this in an 'interview', which I had with him. This very fascinating 'distinction' in the Self-Expression and Leadership Program, the last phase of the Curriculum for Living', called 'The Interview', which obviously is not the same as what people generally understand as the interview. The distinction Interview follows the distinctions 'Community' and 'The Map of communities' where the participants are asked to make maps of various communities they are part of and think about what people in the communities think about them and how they see them. The interview is about actually going to the communities and finding out what they actually think about us and how they actually see us. The key idea in the SELP is that our expression is not where we are but where others are. Who we are exist in other people's way of looking at us, in the way they listen to us and in the space they provide us to be who we are and who we are not.
Coming back to poetry, the poetry I wrote before the Landmark Education came from the 'identity' named Sachin Ketkar. My Identity consists of my Act, my Sentence,my rackets and my strong suits. My act ( the command I gave at the experience of failure and which is clearing for my identity) is ' Stay Away' from life, people and my self, my strong suits ( the ways of being I have to get produce results I have been producing in life over decades) are being 'analytical/learner', being 'nice/adaptive', and being 'self- dependent', my chief rackets ( unproductive ways of being comprising of a persistent complaint+a fixed way of being) are ' Others don't understand me or care for me' ( so stay away) and ' I am no good or inadequate' (so stay away) and my Sentence ( I wanted to be X but I am Y) is that "I am 'unwanted'". My identity comes from 'something is wrong' and 'this isn't it'. My identity comes from the bad experiences of my past which I constant put into future. There is no new possibility in my identity, no fulfillment, no love, no power, no self expression, and no peace. The training is all about distinguishing my identity 'on the court' and ' putting it aside', so that new realm of possibility and new opening for action arises. It takes one to the source of who one is and who one is not. I discover my true self , the self which is not a 'thing' or 'experience', but the clearing/ space/Being/ Possibility inside of which my life shows up. Before Landmark, the identity had me, now I have identity. This discovery transforms who I am in my eyes, who I am for myself. This is after all what the game of ontological transformation called the Landmark education is all about.
So now onwards the possibility is that my poetry can come not from my ' experiences'or my past or my identity but from the space and clearing inside of which my experiences and my identity shows up.Instead of coming from 'something wrong' and 'this isn't it', it can come from 'this is it and it is perfect'. It can come from the possibility of abundance of love and power.
One of the distinctions of the Landmark technology which was taken deeper and expanded in the Advanced course and SELP, is 'DO-HAVE-BE' vs. 'BE-DO-HAVE', i.e. the mode of Becoming vs. Being. In Do-Have-Be, our default mode of living life, the mode of Becoming, we think we frantically hunt for what do we need to do, so that we can get the results we want to have and which will lead to us 'being' who we want to be. For instance, what should I 'do', so that I 'have' lot of money, so that I can be 'happy and fulfilled' , is one common question human beings ask. This is the default mode of life, the mode of 'becoming'. Unfortunately inside this mode, our 'being' ( happy and fulfilled) depends on our 'having' what we want and on our finding the ways of 'doing' what we have to do. So if my business fails, my being will be sad and frustrated. However, in the real life, our being determines what we do and what we do determines what we have- the real life moves in BE-DO-HAVE direction, the direction of Being. Which means if a person who fails in business is depressed and frustrated, he will do what a depressed and frustrated man does and he gets what a failed and depressed man gets. This becomes a vicious cycle. So instead of asking what should I do to earn lot of money, Landmark Technology suggests we should ask who should I 'Be' so that I will 'do' the things necessary to 'have' lot of money.
Coming to my life as a poet and creative writer, before 'playing Landmark Education', I used to often ask myself - What should I 'do' as a writer so that I 'have' recognition and fame, so that I get thrill, joy and happiness in life. So my joyousness and happiness depended on what I did and what I got from doing what I did. Obviously, I did not 'have' much recognition and fame and so I was depressed and frustrated. But life moved in 'Be-Do-Have' the mode of Being, and hence, I 'did' what a depressed and frustrated man did, and I got what a depressed and frustrated man got- more depression, more frustration and a handful of poets who were more, or at least, as depressed and frustrated as I was!!! Out of this frustration due to lack of recognition, I also contemplated writing novels, as many poets probably do, in-order-to achieve what my friend and fellow senior colleague Prof Salat calls ' fifteen seconds of fame'.
As I am half way through the Self-Expression and Leadership Program (SELP), I am a different person today. I do not prefer to 'stay away' from life, people and myself. I am possibility of love,leadership and creativity. So what I will be writing most of the time will be written by a different person. 'On-the-court distinctions', the devices and techniques remain with me but the person who uses them will be different. So today I can write from Be-Do-Have, as a possibility of abundance of love and power, not as a compulsion or strategy to survive, so I will 'do' what a person with abundance of love and power does and 'have' what such doing gives me. Besides, I am not worried about how people will receive my poetry, because I know that they will receive it hundreds of different ways and none of them will be 'true'. Hence, I will not write'in-order-too' achieve fame, but as a possibility of love, power and fulfillment, and that I know that 'being' a poet is unreal, writing poetry is reality.
So how will my poetry look from now onwards? Many close friends have already told me that there is shift in the way you write. How do I know how it will look when it will be what it is and what it is not in your clearing, in the space you provide, in your listening, and I acknowledge you all, my readers and the readers to come, for your generosity of providing space for my writing to show up, irrespective of your liking or disliking it, for my poetry IS your generosity.................
In fact, one of my best friends and fellow poets Hemant Divate suggested to me that I dont need these things like the communication program or the Landmark education and hinted that one should leave 'the exit door open' once one enters something fully. He was referring to my involvement with Landmark, of course. He told me about all these things in my 'Interview' with him. Many people have expressed their concern regarding my involvement with Landmark in various and I totally get their concern and love for me. However, they don't know what Landmark can create in life and whats more they don't even know that they don't know. Far from blaming them or making them wrong, I cheerfully recommend Landmark Education to them once again!
Hemant told me this in an 'interview', which I had with him. This very fascinating 'distinction' in the Self-Expression and Leadership Program, the last phase of the Curriculum for Living', called 'The Interview', which obviously is not the same as what people generally understand as the interview. The distinction Interview follows the distinctions 'Community' and 'The Map of communities' where the participants are asked to make maps of various communities they are part of and think about what people in the communities think about them and how they see them. The interview is about actually going to the communities and finding out what they actually think about us and how they actually see us. The key idea in the SELP is that our expression is not where we are but where others are. Who we are exist in other people's way of looking at us, in the way they listen to us and in the space they provide us to be who we are and who we are not.
Coming back to poetry, the poetry I wrote before the Landmark Education came from the 'identity' named Sachin Ketkar. My Identity consists of my Act, my Sentence,my rackets and my strong suits. My act ( the command I gave at the experience of failure and which is clearing for my identity) is ' Stay Away' from life, people and my self, my strong suits ( the ways of being I have to get produce results I have been producing in life over decades) are being 'analytical/learner', being 'nice/adaptive', and being 'self- dependent', my chief rackets ( unproductive ways of being comprising of a persistent complaint+a fixed way of being) are ' Others don't understand me or care for me' ( so stay away) and ' I am no good or inadequate' (so stay away) and my Sentence ( I wanted to be X but I am Y) is that "I am 'unwanted'". My identity comes from 'something is wrong' and 'this isn't it'. My identity comes from the bad experiences of my past which I constant put into future. There is no new possibility in my identity, no fulfillment, no love, no power, no self expression, and no peace. The training is all about distinguishing my identity 'on the court' and ' putting it aside', so that new realm of possibility and new opening for action arises. It takes one to the source of who one is and who one is not. I discover my true self , the self which is not a 'thing' or 'experience', but the clearing/ space/Being/ Possibility inside of which my life shows up. Before Landmark, the identity had me, now I have identity. This discovery transforms who I am in my eyes, who I am for myself. This is after all what the game of ontological transformation called the Landmark education is all about.
So now onwards the possibility is that my poetry can come not from my ' experiences'or my past or my identity but from the space and clearing inside of which my experiences and my identity shows up.Instead of coming from 'something wrong' and 'this isn't it', it can come from 'this is it and it is perfect'. It can come from the possibility of abundance of love and power.
One of the distinctions of the Landmark technology which was taken deeper and expanded in the Advanced course and SELP, is 'DO-HAVE-BE' vs. 'BE-DO-HAVE', i.e. the mode of Becoming vs. Being. In Do-Have-Be, our default mode of living life, the mode of Becoming, we think we frantically hunt for what do we need to do, so that we can get the results we want to have and which will lead to us 'being' who we want to be. For instance, what should I 'do', so that I 'have' lot of money, so that I can be 'happy and fulfilled' , is one common question human beings ask. This is the default mode of life, the mode of 'becoming'. Unfortunately inside this mode, our 'being' ( happy and fulfilled) depends on our 'having' what we want and on our finding the ways of 'doing' what we have to do. So if my business fails, my being will be sad and frustrated. However, in the real life, our being determines what we do and what we do determines what we have- the real life moves in BE-DO-HAVE direction, the direction of Being. Which means if a person who fails in business is depressed and frustrated, he will do what a depressed and frustrated man does and he gets what a failed and depressed man gets. This becomes a vicious cycle. So instead of asking what should I do to earn lot of money, Landmark Technology suggests we should ask who should I 'Be' so that I will 'do' the things necessary to 'have' lot of money.
Coming to my life as a poet and creative writer, before 'playing Landmark Education', I used to often ask myself - What should I 'do' as a writer so that I 'have' recognition and fame, so that I get thrill, joy and happiness in life. So my joyousness and happiness depended on what I did and what I got from doing what I did. Obviously, I did not 'have' much recognition and fame and so I was depressed and frustrated. But life moved in 'Be-Do-Have' the mode of Being, and hence, I 'did' what a depressed and frustrated man did, and I got what a depressed and frustrated man got- more depression, more frustration and a handful of poets who were more, or at least, as depressed and frustrated as I was!!! Out of this frustration due to lack of recognition, I also contemplated writing novels, as many poets probably do, in-order-to achieve what my friend and fellow senior colleague Prof Salat calls ' fifteen seconds of fame'.
As I am half way through the Self-Expression and Leadership Program (SELP), I am a different person today. I do not prefer to 'stay away' from life, people and myself. I am possibility of love,leadership and creativity. So what I will be writing most of the time will be written by a different person. 'On-the-court distinctions', the devices and techniques remain with me but the person who uses them will be different. So today I can write from Be-Do-Have, as a possibility of abundance of love and power, not as a compulsion or strategy to survive, so I will 'do' what a person with abundance of love and power does and 'have' what such doing gives me. Besides, I am not worried about how people will receive my poetry, because I know that they will receive it hundreds of different ways and none of them will be 'true'. Hence, I will not write'in-order-too' achieve fame, but as a possibility of love, power and fulfillment, and that I know that 'being' a poet is unreal, writing poetry is reality.
So how will my poetry look from now onwards? Many close friends have already told me that there is shift in the way you write. How do I know how it will look when it will be what it is and what it is not in your clearing, in the space you provide, in your listening, and I acknowledge you all, my readers and the readers to come, for your generosity of providing space for my writing to show up, irrespective of your liking or disliking it, for my poetry IS your generosity.................
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