let-slip-from-mind

let slip from mind

George G Clark, 14 September 2009

If there is a real ten-ton truck careering down the hill then step out of its way. If you are imagining a ten-ton truck careering down the hill then you can safely ignore it and let it slip from mind.

To change the metaphor, think of a flight simulator and a real plane. The real plane has to be carefully returned to earth before you can safely switch it off: but you can switch off the simulator at any time and walk away - you can let it slip from mind.

So - there are real ten-ton trucks; but less than we commonly suppose! Most often we have the option to withdraw attention from the imagined past and future and to be at peace in the reality of the present moment.  So why do we routinely ignore the option?

Is it because between birth and death we are (a) obliged to meet our essential basic needs and (b) urged to indulge in many extra fads and fashions? To most of us the extremes are undesirable ie joyless, ascetic renunciation at one end, and rampant, frivolous consumerism at the other. So how do we decide where to strike the balance?

It has a lot to do with social programming - but this is not carved in stone! It is an ongoing process that drives and is driven by internal and external forces. And there is some freedom to thoughtfully choose this rather than that.

So do you feel called to let slip from mind the imaginary ten-ton trucks that appear in your fad and fashion simulator? What matters in your life - to what should you give mind space - what is really real?

We don't have to let go, we simply have to not hold on.
Joseph Goldstein

entrepreneurs rejuvenate the human condition?

George G Clark, 11 September 2009

A BBC video clip[1] suggests that the further development of the planet might be driven in part by fire in the bellies of young entrepreneurs[2]. These are the shakers and movers with the get up and go that is needed to promote change for the better. But there is always the danger that there will not be enough of them and that many will burn out. So - what sparks the fires, what fuels them, and how brightly should they burn?

The simple answer is that there is no simple answer! Entrepreneurial priorities vary with context and that is constantly changing. And appreciation of context depends on the breadth and depth of the appreciator's point of view. Gloriously expansive viewpoints now exist[3] - they range from quantum to cosmic levels and attempt to deal in an integrated way with issues in themes such as the social, technological, environmental, economic, political, legal and spiritual[4].

From my own point of view the raging fire in the belly that drove my early multi-tasking as a social entrepreneur[5] is now a mild, mature glow in the unconscious. I prefer doing only one thing at a time - and with regular intervals for time out. Should this be viewed as (a) pathological and regressive or (b) a natural evolution towards a long-established pattern of social and spiritual entrepreneurship that embraces the transpersonal and the transcendent?[6] What place therefore for older heads in the grander scheme of things? In rejuvenating the economy and the human condition what might be the optimal mix for youthful, raging fires as against mature, relaxed glows?

A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change[7].

A spiritual entrepreneur is someone who recognises and seeks to address a spiritual challenge (personal or cultural): they use entrepreneurial principles to mobilise growth in the breadth and depth of spiritual knowledge, speech and action that increases happiness, peace, and compassionate justice.

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[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8249760.stm

[2] the video relates to business entrepreneurs, but there are social and spiritual variations on the theme

[3] see for example the works of Fritjof Capra and of Ken Wilber

[4] STEEPLeS

[5] the youthful urge was to discover better ways to be human

[6] most cultural traditions recognise stages on the path from cradle to grave

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_entrepreneur

Target Essay: Robert A.F. Thurman Professor of Buddhism, Columbia University