“Responsibility begins with the willingness to take the stand that one is cause in the matter of one’s life. It is a declaration not an assertion, that is, it is a context from which one chooses to live. Responsibility is not burden, fault, praise, blame, credit, shame or guilt. In responsibility, there is no evaluation of good or bad, right or wrong. There is simply what’s so, and the stand you choose to take on what’s so. Being responsible starts with the willingness to deal with a situation from the view of life that you are the generator of what you do, what you have and what you are. That is not the truth. It is a place to stand. No one can make you responsible, nor can you impose responsibility on another. It is a grace you give yourself – an empowering context that leaves you with a say in the matter of life.”
-Werner Erhard
Werner Erhard at an Academic Conference in 2008
_____
Werner Erhard Quotes 
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 13, 2011 at 9:36 am
greattheophany
I have been empowered by that distinction created for me over 24 years ago and others for whom that was established much earlier and more for a following generation and more yet to come and not even born yet! And the context is decisive! So how far and how big dare I take that? I remember those great 3 C’s in growing and expanding the areas of my life – that I still look back on when I realize something went array or got stale or ordinary and that I wasn’t inspired by or just got stopped. Capabilities – oh I have capabilities to do just about anything I put my efforts toward. But to be truly extraordinary, it is the other two ‘C’s that are critical to fulfilling that which I am building. Namely, Competencies and Capacities AND not doing it alone! Thank you Werner!
December 15, 2015 at 10:55 pm
Barb mcintosh
Is this quote from the talmud?