You can contact me at celloguy48 AT gmail DOT com. "Matthew" is a pen name. Most of what I write here, especially about myself, does not need to be kept private. My children and family and friends and students are all entitled to their privacy, so for now I'm just "Matthew." I love that name; and it seems fitting, somehow, to use a pseudonym to blog about my relationship with a many who became famous under his own made-up name.
Werner Erhard, through the programs he designed, has had a huge impact on me. I participated in the est training, many graduate seminars, many assisting opportunities, the Six-Day course, and became a Guest Seminar Leader during the period 1980-85. Once both famous and infamous, revered and reviled, Erhard left the U.S. in 1991 and seemed to vanish from public view. A new documentary about him, Transformation: The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard, is beginning to create a new public awareness of his impact.
The clips of Erhard in the trailer for the film triggered many memories and new awareness of the insights I gained and the growth I achieved in his programs, as well as some regret about the way some friends and relatives were put off, to on degree or another, by my attempts to "share the training."
I'm also looking back at and critically assessing my experience of the "est" culture I was once so heavily involved in. And I'm committed to drawing anew on the abstractions I learned and skills I developed in Erhard-designed programs.