Coach as Instrument: What Is Being Asked of Us Now?

This Week's Attunement

“Man knows himself only to the extent that he knows the world; he becomes aware of himself only within the world, and aware of the world only within himself”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

What do you believe about the role of a coach? What matters about what we coaches do?

To explain what I believe about the role of a coach, I'll have to start all the way back to why humans exist. (Yeah, I'm going there.)

Why do humans exist? What's the point of us?

The scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan said, "'The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself."
What the heck does that even mean?

Well, to me, it means this (and I suppose we all have our own interpretation):
If the Cosmos, the Universe, Collective Consciousness, God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient (all the Omnis), then he/she/they/it is everything, everywhere, all the time (a little like the movie by a similar name).

And if that's the case, what is the meaning of existence itself?
I believe that humans (and other living things) were created with a brain and body that separates us from the Consciousness we are. We "forget" we are of Consciousness.

So, humans who are of Consciousness and (for the most part) don't know that exists so that Consciousness can experience itself, can know itself, from the place of not knowing.

Hence, we are a way for the Universe to know itself (BTW, the unspoken point of the movie, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once is that life only has the meaning that we give it, and every moment is equally valuable. Good stuff!)

By now, you might be thinking, "OK, Alison, we've heard your rant and read your tangent. What does this have to do with the role of a coach?"
OK. Right. So…

If humans exist so that the Universe/Cosmos/Consciousness can know and experience itself, then we coaches are instruments of the Universe, of Consciousness, or something greater than ourselves, because we help our clients know and experience themselves.

I believe our clients come to coaching because they want to experience more of themselves or they want to experience themselves differently (I get that this is a pretty anthropocentric view, and it's mine).

When we coaches are working in concert with the Universe, we are not trying to "add value," "get our clients to see or do something," or "make something happen."

We bear witness to each moment as it emerges, looking for how the client wants to know and experience themselves in that moment, facilitating what's already underway in the growth and development of the client.

(BTW, it's OK if you don't believe this. And consider what you believe about the Universe and humans and how that relates to your role as a coach.)

So, if we coaches are instruments of the Universe, and we are supporting the Universe in knowing itself by supporting humans (our clients) in knowing themselves, then:

What is being asked of us now?

How is the Universe as we know and experience it changing?

How is what our clients need from us changing? What does that mean for us as coaches? As Instruments of the Universe?

I suspect that the answer to this question differs for each of us. Because we each have a completely unique slice of Consciousness within us, and we each support our clients in their knowing and experiencing themselves in our own unique way.

If you'd like to explore this question further in community with other coaches, I invite you to join Dr. David Drake and me in exploring these questions and more in the Finding Ourselves and Our Way Forward series.

This series provides you with a safe space to explore, ask questions, and connect on a deeper level with yourself and others so that you can reinvigorate your coaching practice.

Together, we'll explore who we need to be to meet our clients and the world where it is.