1. How do you apply spiritual concepts into business life – and if you do, does it really work?
Anthony told us about his test, how he applied spirituality into practical, daily business life. The spiritual principle, with all the mambo-jambo eliminated, was this: There are only people and their relationships in the world of humans. The measure of success in business is this: are the relationships getting better, staying as they are, or getting worse?
Anthony tested this for the first three years, and IT WORKED! The money result was growing, because the relationships were improving. Money was, in other words, the by-product of meaningful relationships.
The next three years were different, because now Anthony had something to loose – there was a certain amount of money coming to him, but only if the operation would stay profitable. Everything changed from having fun (“I didn’t really need the money”) into a struggle (“I had to defend what I had achieved”).
Janis Joplin sings about this: “Freedom ‘s just another word for nothing left to loose.”
2. Fundamental formula for life; the bad and the good one
First the bad one, the one most of us use: “What’s going on, so how do I feel?” This is a slave’s (or drug addict’s) strategy, it starts from the outside and reacts to that. We let the environment decide, and then try to please the environment. The initiative is in the hands of others.
Rajayoga means the yoga for the kings – I would hope for queens as well? It used to be a qualification to rule a kingdom, now it is a qualification to rule your own life. So, if we just stated a slave’s formula, what’s the king’s/queen’s formula?
Here comes the good formula, the one that changes everything around: “How do I feel, and now what’s going on?” Now that I master my own mind and feelings, looking from that viewpoint and from my personal safety and power, how do I see my environment and the situation I’m in? From this place I can accept the Now and shape the future. I am the king/queen of my life!Of course, a really enlightened king/queen does everything in her power to help everyone to become a king/queen. We don’t need others to be slaves in order to be rulers – we don’t want to rule others, only our own lives.
3. My own movie theatre
Anthony took us to our own movie theatre, where you become the watcher or observer, instead of being identified with what’s going on. You just calmly watch, and from that calm and safe place you act, if you see it necessary.
This exercise might help in answering the obvious question: How do you shift from the first formula to the second one? How do you find your inner place, and learn to stay there at all times, in any situation?
Meditation is a great help, but actually if you’re at your center only when you meditate, you’re in trouble – this is at least my personal feeling. How many minutes or hours per day do you meditate (sit cross-legged on a cushion or something like that), and how much time do you spend living your normal life? The answer is “24/7 meditation” (I just invented this phrase), in other words being calm and centered in the midst of action, all the time. Anthony’s movie theatre might be a good way to go towards that direction - just remember all the time that you are the watcher, not the movie.
I think Gurdjieff talked about “self-remembering”, isn’t that idea close to what Anthony was telling? Perhaps Brett and Jeff could give the talk on Gurdjieff’s thoughts, as we have previously discussed?
Thank you Fraser for bringing Anthony to our meeting, and thank you Anthony for sharing your insights with us. We also had a couple of newcomers, please join the group on a regular basis.
Rule wisely, kings and queens!
Pekka
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