Here's to the crazy ones - Spiritual Entrepreneurship North America Tour 2012

Four and a half years ago, I started my “spiritual path”, with the help of a teacher who had worked closely with Eckhart Tolle.

During that process, I had the big realization that the things I learned about life through that spiritual work was directly relevant to my life as an entrepreneur. And thus, my concept of spiriutal entrepreneurship was born.

So what does “spiritual entrepreneurship” even mean?

To me, it means several things.

It means to actively let your intuition as a guide to discover who you are and what you want to do. Thing such as what business to build, the values to build it on, the vision for what it is and wants to be, the products you create, and so on.

What I’ve found is that this isn’t something that you just make up as you go, it’s not something you can merely copy from someone else. It’s more like there’s a hard, non-negotiable kernel of truth inside you, sort-of like the Manhattan schist buried, underneath all the things that civilization has thrown on top, and your job is to uncover and honor that as the foundation of everything you do.

It means realizing that we entrepreneurs are artists and craftsmen, and our business is our expression our work of art. We’re not merely technocrats fulfilling a role.

It also means recognizing that we’re not on this eaarth to merely survive and build monuments to our mortality. We’re here to fulfill our soul’s mission, and the business or social movement or whatever it is you’re entrepreneuring, is a direct expression of that mission. We want to make put our footprint on the world, not for ego gratification, but because it is why we’re here.

It means realizing that a big part of our mission - if not _the_ biggest part - is the work within. Our own personal growth. We need to not only discover our true selves, but our egos need to grow along with our soul’s demands, or it will actively sabotage us and prevent us from doing the work.

It means looking inside for the answers. You can use others as sounding boards, to get ideas, strategies, input, feedback. But at the end of the day, you’re the only person who knows what you need to do. The final authority lies with you. In the words of Sting: “Let your soul be your pilot.”

It means actively striving for inner peace and presence in the moment, through meditation, relaxation, breathing, a good night’s sleep, massage, exercise, sex, a warm bath, or whatever works for you. Your body is the vessel through which you materialize your vision, so you need to take good care of it through exercise, sleep, and the food you stuff it with.

It means working with your conditioning, all the beliefs and thoughts that are crammed into your unconscious mind, guiding your life every minute of every day. All the things you were taught by grown-ups and peers, that you absorbed, but that aren’t actually true for you. If you don’t rid yourself of those things, your children, or your co-workers or your family or others around you have to bear the burden. It is your responsibility to work through it.

It means basing all your work on the knowledge that at a soul level, you are already perfect and perfectly safe. There is nothing that you need to do or become or accomplish or prove in order to be okay, acceptable and accepted, lovable and loved, safe, and happy. Everything already is exactly the way it is supposed to be, right now, and the world doesn’t need you to change it. 

But, as it turns out, operating from the place where you absolutely know this to be true, is the exact best way to actually have the impact you so desire.

So this is the interest that I’ve been pursuing for close to four years now. And it can come as no surprise that Steve Jobs has been a great inspiration for me for a long time.

Right now, my beautiful wife and I are touring the US, looking to meet people who do work in this area - tech entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, investors, yoga teachers, spiritual teachers, writers, thinkers, doers - people doing creative, crazy, caring, crass things, things that inspire, things that change the world.

If you are one - or you have suggestions, leads or contacts for us - on people working at this intersection that you think we should meet, please let me know at lars@pinds.com.

Thanks!

//Lars