As part of a telecourse, I wrote a list of the worst that can happen if I share The Work with someone who has never heard of it (see below). One of these thoughts is that he will misuse The Work.
A turnaround is that I will misuse the Work. I misuse The Work when I think I know the outcome, when I try to fit the outcome into an image of what I think it should be or what I want, and when I do it to feel better. When I do it with a motive, thinking I need The Work to do something for me, I am not open to whatever may reveal itself through a sincere inquiry. The belief of what I want or need The Work to do for me creates limits for my mind, it’s – to put it bluntly – a prison for my mind. And that’s not really why I am doing The Work.
The gift in doing The Work with a motive, believing I need or want – or even can – get something out of it, is that I get to see the beliefs behind the motive, and I can take these to inquiry. So doing The Work is not just a way of investigating a particular thought, it’s also a way to bring up additional beliefs – through answering question no. 3, noticing my beliefs about my facilitator or client, noticing my beliefs about myself as a facilitator or client, and noticing what I think I want, need or can get out of inquiry.
Here is my initial list:
The worst that could happen if I share The Work with someone who has never heard of it.
He will think I am a know-it-all/arrogant. He will feel bad for not knowing about it already.
She will reject it. She will tell me I don’t get it.
She will see me as weird. She will see it/me as new-agey. She will see it/me as superficial (a play with thoughts, nothing more). She will see it/me as naive. She will see it/me as engaging in wishful thinking and escape from reality. She will see it as making people complacent and less engaged. She will tell others I am weird etc.
He will see it as a cult/brainwashing. He will see me as belonging to a cult/brainwashed.
I will come from a should/belief and turn her off from TW. I will present it in a way that turns the person off from TW. I will be clumsy in presenting it.
He will misunderstand it. He will use it in a way that’s misguided/inefficient/destructive.