All Lined Up, All the Time

I just started talking about stuff I don’t love and a shelf fell out of the cupboard here in the kitchen. We really do create our own luck—and world. Better talk about stuff I love.

Physics has known this for a century—that the perspective of the observer directly influences the outcome of an experiment. So why haven’t we harnessed it yet? Why don’t we create our way into that which we want? Why don’t we act as if what we know is true is true? Isn’t that irrational?

A huge change occurred in my thinking while I was undergoing treatment (primarily self-directed) for depression. I was dutifully following along, doing exercises from The Feeling Good Handbook, and talking with my guy. I was doing meditation and “self-care” type stuff and I felt like I was seeing some progress but not enough. What was worse—I realized that if I was to get well enough to get a job, wife or kids, I would have so much to “process”—so many exercises and little rituals to do to keep me percolating—that I’d be working full time just to stay present, be happy, be normal, or whatever you want to call it.

Then it hit me. Everything I was doing was to mitigate the effects of the past on my present. I was worried that I hadn’t _______ enough, or was afraid that so-and-so felt _______. If there were exercises that made me feel better in the present about the past, then certainly there were more effective exercises—thoughts or actions—that would create a future where I didn’t need exercises. Instead of putting my energy toward forgetting the past, why didn’t I just ignore the past and put my energy toward ruthlessly creating a future I wanted? Why was there any difference? Why didn’t I just take responsibility and complete ownership?

Every time I felt myself feeling down and browsing something like self-help, I would ask myself if I was tired of it yet (reading self-help). If I was, and I wanted what was next, I would ask myself “Why don’t you just do what you want then?”

No healthy person’s perfect day contains reading self-help books. Not even those that are right. To be sure, there are many valuable perspectives and insights to be gained from some of these books, but the goal is to not need them. The goal is to live the life you want. The question is: who is going to give you permission to live the life you want?

Especially if it’s a bit weird (and if it’s valuable, I bet it’s going to be a little weird). Especially if it’s different than you parents’ (if it’s going to be anything it’s going to have to be different than your parents). Especially if your boyfriend, friends at work, friends at home, college buddies don’t get it. What if no one gets it but you? And that’s the whole point?

Krishnamurti, who had enormous money and love problems, said that the truth is a pathless land. And he was absolutely right. The truth—for right now—has never happened—except for right now. It is therefore completely unmarked territory. You may find your way to yesterday’s gate in, or last week’s easiest path, with a self-help book, or musings from a site such as this, but the real—all the love—is available to each of us without instruction. I would argue that it is the best gurus (an oxymoron?) and/or books that show us this—that we don’t need them.

Or you can just skip the exercise of figuring out how to talk by listening and just try it yourself. You are an authority. And we are all in charge of what the world looks like in your jurisdiction. Whether we admit it or not. We are all broadcasting 24/7: fear, love, satisfaction, doubt, relaxation, understanding, hurry, worry or peace. We don’t even have to talk to you to know what it is. We feel it.

And it may not even be what you are saying. For the truth isn’t in the speech—it’s in the delivery—in the ether.

Another great Krishnamurti saying is “the word is not the thing”. And this, too, is right on the money. My good friend Eben Eldridge used to say “everyone knows the vocabulary”, and he was exactly right. You could eliminate every “negative” word from your vocabulary and still spew nothing but hatred. You can swear and offend people and still smell like roses. The truth is, that the word is not the thing.

The thing is…

The thing is love. The thing is feeling. The thing is caring and belief and faith. The thing is the thing. And you can’t fake it for a second. You either are feeling it or you’re not. And we are at the point in history where enough people are sentient of this warm, hard fact, that our culture and economy is becoming aligned with this most certain truth. This spiritual truth.

Right now the critical mass of power still resides with those that guard the credentials—the letter of the law, if you will. With this crowd, if you said “love”, you meant “love”, dammit! And there’s nothing more to say on the matter. This side is capital, reason, the material world. How the hell could I mean anything else when I say love?

But the tipping point is rapidly approaching. It may even have come and gone. And from here on out, it’s exponentially with those who hold the feelings—who hold the intent. Who have sacrificed credentials to get at the true truth—the real truth. Who have risked material security for spiritual truth. This side is labor, intuition, and emotion. And from here on out—even the material rewards will overall go largely their way. They have done the homework. They have learned how to see. They have proven their worthiness. Now they will be first.

And the old guard is going to come running, boy! The pimps and gurus and experts are all going to be facilitators and coaches and enlightened amateurs, now. And it will be up to us to decide who’s love and who’s full of shit. It will be up to us to discern people’s intentions. And to do that we will need every ounce of discretion in our body. We will need every clue we can find.

The most important thing, though, is the we feel comfortable discerning. We are sensitive and rightly so. We are friendly and amenable, etc. But for progress to continue apace, our discernment is of the utmost importance. Many of the people, corporations, etc., competing for our attention won’t even know themselves if they are here or there. They will have good intentions but lack the courage to be themselves. Lack the gut. Have skipped the homework.

And the difference will be slight. The difference will be jeans with a loose thread vs. a loose thread on jeans. One will have been made out of love and the other out of fear. And by choosing one we are already creating a world made of either love or fear. We are doing this right now.

Similarly, in our work, we face the same dilemmas. Do I leave this in or edit it out? How much editing is fear and how much is respect for one’s audience? How much is neurosis? —Especially for a people who have been editing forever. How much time and emphasis do I put on production qualities and how much of this “style” is actually just a convenient way to avoid addressing the larger questions of story, belief, intentions, etc.? Why wouldn’t style be effortless, natural, transparent, vulnerable?



ps: I saw a great Extreme Makeover yesterday where a punk rocker got put back straight. I don’t watch the surgery stuff, or even like the show usually, but it reminded me of how integrated looks are into our sense of self. Not that looks are everything but that you just can’t fake it either way. Don’t be afraid of the middle—of yourself and what you want. The middle can be deep in a way that the extremes often never feel.

You Thought Love and Money Weren't about Sex?

I don’t know exactly where to start with this but I suppose I should jump right on in. Show you all that I really am beyond hope. (Good or bad?)

There’s been a lot of talk recently about business having a gut and trusting your gut—and for the most part they’re right on. The truth, though, is that it’s much, much larger than that.

It’s not just a gut that business will have to have to compete spiritually (thrive in the long run), it’s everything. This stuff that I’m talking about—that many people are talking about—is intimately connected to all parts of the body. One’s gut is only the beginning.

Does this mean that you’ll be a better negotiator if you do sit-ups? Yes, but that’s not the only way. It may be the most humble way (a healthy ego is another way to negotiate some things well, as are considerable acting skills).

That the ideas I present are rooted in the body means only one thing: that they can’t be faked. If you ever thought you could just get the money and then worry about feeling rich and loving in the material world (and I’ve tried it numerous times), then in the spiritual you can be sure that this is impossible. The very fear that causes you to think you can’t be happy (or loveable, or relaxed, or worth it) until you’re with money, will ensure that you are chasing this train forever. In the spiritual world it’s first things first. And second and third. And everything else comes from that. Everything. The feeling is all you have—and it’s the feeling that makes you valuable. When it’s gone there’s nothing.

As opposed to the material level, where ill-gotten gains are possible—and even the norm—on a spiritual level there is no way to fake value. Another way of saying this is if you want to feel it—the truth, your house in Winnetka, your beautiful wife, your life—you must go about it the way your soul wants. And in accordance with the physical attributes you were given (or chose—depending on who you ask).

What does this mean? It means that in this world you will be asked by whatever powers that be if you are willing to give up yourself—your soul—for any reason. And money, the wife, kids, social pressure, the economy and the boss are all right up there. This usually takes place by putting us in a situation where it looks like we will have to sacrifice everything to be or do what we want. It may or may not be true—we may or may not lose anything, but we will be asked. Often repeatedly. We are in charge—god just asks the questions.

What does it mean that the spiritual is rooted in the material? This means that the left half of your body is the feminine side, and the right half is the masculine. This means breathing through your nose means something different than breathing through your mouth. It means that just about everything can be seen symbolically (unless you try to see everything symbolically, in which case, from what I can tell, there’ll start to be a whole lot of garbage messing with you to tell you to get on with it).

This means living your life with an inhalation first and an exhalation second may be most of the difference between living inspired and feeling exhausted. The most concrete and repetitive act of setting priorities—the body I chose to come here as first. Self-care, self-love first. You ruthlessly, lovingly first.

This means that the front of your body is the future and the back is the past—and that transferring your weight properly to the floor (through the muscles of your core instead of the bones of your back) means you are ready for whatever’s next. Posture counts. Looks matter too—maybe not in the way we think—but start asking yourself why you wouldn’t be twice as beautiful and have the posture you always admired on others. Think Pilates.

This means that the left half of your brain is the one that’s struggling for control and interested in keeping chatter going at all costs (this half is associated with the right side of your body and your left eye). This means that your right brain is just sitting there, perfectly happy to enjoy silence and really wishing someone would come visit. This means the world doesn’t need to be saved—just improved (if we so choose). And that the whole thing is right in front of us to enjoy whenever we want. This means politics is much better at getting rid of what we don’t want than at creating what we do.

This means that we can’t get any better than what we eat or feel feelings beyond the thoughts we choose to think. Or something like that. The specifics may be somewhat unique for different people, but if you’re interested in developing better feelings and more lovely thoughts I can’t recommend ignoring the jist.

One of the reasons we are being asked to commit so fully this time around—in essence to go the distance before we see any (material) rewards—is that we are at the point in history where everything that can be done on half a being has been done. You can invent a heart pump drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes and never feel your mansion, beautiful wife, and five kids. You can also teach the world the validity of anger and immediacy in art and end up killing yourself. But that’s all been done and now there’s nowhere left to hide. We want art and culture made by adults. So that’s where our travels to create take us. I don’t like to get apocalyptic but it does feel like people the world over are being asked to choose how they want to live. The margin for error—or room to mess around—seems to be narrowing.

A lot of this body stuff seems to be based around integrating energy. Not taking in anything too low-energy in the first place and also being adept at embodying the high energy that can come with creation and inspiration. I’m not a purist by any means (I gave up everything—from cigarettes to wheat—kicking and screaming) but it is simply what works. And you can’t front on that. My general rule of thumb is to make sure my critical mass is what and where I want, and then not sweat the miniscule stuff—as long as my body tells me it’s okay. As I get farther into it, though, I will say it seems like my body wants even better regulation.

Regulation of what? Good question. Two of the primary things for me are blood sugar and acidity.

Both are given a good start by The Blood Type Diet. And if you haven’t read up on this I’d advise you to at least peruse a copy at a bookstore. It really does work. The problem is that we are addicted to many of the foods that work least well for us. I don’t know why, but it’s true.

For blood sugar, what your body wants is to burn long and slow. This means more, smaller meals (haven’t quite gotten to this one yet) and probably more vegetables and less starch in the morning. Protein every time you snack. I finally just gave in and started eating ground beef and vegetables for breakfast. With a little quinoa. As my aunt told me: it’s what the rest of the world does.

The exact details that I was told are that your body wants at least 50% low carbohydrate vegetables at each meal, with the rest divided equally between protein and high carb stuff. This differs for different blood types depending on what you body wants. It’s hard to eat this way but it works miracles. Stuff like sugar, alcohol, bread, pasta and the like are basically pure sugar and will zap your love quicker than you can say diabetic coma. Straight up, straight down, long recovery. Very sticky.

Acidity (or Alkalinity) is a measure of pH. Your body wants to be balanced this way as well. Different foods are different pH levels (or create different pH in your body?) and, who would have guessed it, we tend to go for the acidic stuff. Which is? Sugar, peanuts, processed foods, alcohol, some beans, etc. There is some discrepancy between this and the Blood Type Diet (red meat is high pH in theory but Type O’s are to consume it every day for example), but more than anything I’d just let this be a reminder that what works for you—what makes you feel best long term—is what works for you. There are a few books on this type of stuff. One is Alkalize or Die but I don’t even like the title so I can’t recommend it. A lot of people this far out get a little messianic (sometimes for good reason) in their struggle to get their message heard. Keep your powers of discernment tight. Food is a wonderful thing and the purpose is to enjoy eating it.

By now, if you are in your right mind (or even your left), I know you’re saying What the #@$*? Why on earth would I give up everything I hold dear and the twenty-two things I find pleasurable on this earth? Just to do art? Just to make money? It’s not worth it.

My brothers and sisters, I would never ask you to even consider such a sacrifice for the sake of the economy. Or better production—creative or not. Do it for the sex. Do it for the love. Do it for the feelings. Do it for the feelings you’ve always felt you could have but were an inch (one cup of coffee) away. The feelings you’ve gotten a few times with the right people. The feelings you thought were impossible to maintain.

What if you could walk around like that?

That all this stuff is rooted in our bodies not only means that we’ll never get anywhere better than our health (or much stronger than our discipline), but that once we take our happiness and well-being seriously, it will lead the rest of our life—like a kid with a balloon. (Sorry for the cheesy image—it needed something).

What if your job not only didn’t compete with your sexual drive but was dependant upon it?! Hello?! Dallas?! What if you could trade that candy bar or piece of cake for what you really wanted—intimacy that lasted? That grew stronger and built up. What if two hours a night was standard—even with kids in the house? Do I have your attention yet?

Our strongest addiction, and in some ways the most essential, is to love. We want to join with our partner and lose ourselves (the bad way, not the Eminem way) even more than we want to join with a candy bar and lose ourselves. This is represented most essentially in the sexual act—it is in this entirely and most magically creative act that we are given the opportunity—time after time after time, second after second, moment after moment—to be ourselves. To resist death. (This is taking me a little while to write—it must have been a long time). When we succeed in being ourselves—when as men we hold on in the face of the eternal and as women we give in to the moment—we feel bliss beyond that we’ve ever known. And it’s great exercise for living the rest of our life—done properly. When we do alright or just get by, we get a kick but it soon starts evaporating and draining the relationship (and us).

For a man to be himself in a relationship with a strong and enticing woman he must be strong and be able to resist time and again giving himself up to her. The sexual politics on this are deep and I have a bit of a cold so I’ll forgo it until another day but start with the book The Multi-Orgasmic Man. It should be required reading for anyone interested in love—both emotional and sexual (and don’t think they’re separated). There’s also a Multi-Orgasmic Couple but as we men so seldom get our own stuff anymore, I’d start with the former. There’s also a book that women (and the men who love them) may be interested in called Sexual Teaching of the White Tigress—it’s a pretty old form so I wouldn’t advise swallowing it whole but it does have some great, great secrets. This stuff will make you look and feel years younger.

The key to all this stuff is to remember that the road map to what you want is YOU! There may be outside information that helps and great sources for secondary knowledge but you’re gonna have to go to the lonesome valley alone—and you will be called upon to account—to yourself—if you did it like you wanted after none of this material stuff matters. Not even art! That’s right—art doesn’t matter shit either. We want to make it so we do (and if we don’t because we’re afraid we’ll surely re-visit)—but it’s the feelings—the energy—the soul that we care about primarily. All matter is energy. And solids are just by-products of our higher—more inspired vibrations. If we lift ourselves up—even ignoring art when it doesn’t enrich our life—then what we create can’t help but radiate loving joy.


A couple other resources: The Diet Cure—a fantastic book about amino acids and supplementing. The author initially started treating alcoholics and drug addicts (with an equal success rate as AA) and then moved on to eating disorders and more stress-related cases. If you never “feel right” except with coffee, or sugar, or whatever, you may have depleted aminos. They are a naturally occurring chemical in your brain and quite easy to supplement. Anyone who has gone through a sustained period of stress or addiction or strange diets is at a high risk for having depleted aminos. You supplement them and learn how to eat for a while (she also recommends the Blood Type Diet and alkalinity stuff) and then you’re done. The book can be a little confusing but worth it’s weight in gold.

Carolyn Myss has a few good books about the relationship between the body and energy—Anatomy of the Spirit comes to mind but pick up any of hers that appeal to you. She’s pretty darn good.

The Way of the Peaceful Warrior isn’t a great book in terms of literature but it is worth reading for very important tips on breathing.

For those way out there—or not afraid of the possibly way, way out—there’s a guy named Prem Raj Baba in California who wrote The Joy Book and The God Book. He’s a nut and god bless him, a great one. He’s challenged me to the core and I still can’t say I’m ready to discount one thing he’s said. The Joy Book is very good on breathing (and valuable about integration as well).

The Four Agreements is good too—but be careful, as with most of this stuff there are ideas that can slip into the less loving side of our brain (do your best) and reinforce certain Puritan shortcomings.

The trick—again—is to translate this stuff into your own life. It’s about you—and no workshop or book is going to provide a complete answer (and thinking so can slow us down). Ain’t no more gurus anymore—just us chickens!

All the best!

Early Money is Like Yeast and Culture Vultures

My sister introduced the term Culture Vulture to me the other day. I hadn’t ever heard it but it made me chuckle. I guess that’s what people with actual cultures feel when they look down and see rich white people who’ve “come for dinner” and somehow forgotten to leave.

The musician who ended up playing world music, even though he’s from a very specific place (and time). The newly minted yoga devotee who feels if we could just get everyone chanting Sanskrit. The Buddhist who calls his fellow Americans “hungry ghosts” because he’s clamped a tight lid on his “Western consumerism”. The white suburban kid who out-sags Too $hort.

We live in a global culture—and are entitled to enjoy all its riches. So what’s the difference between an influence, an inspiration and a vulture?

I’ve came head to head with this exact question in a number of settings and it brings to mind one of my favorite stories.

Woody Guthrie was taken in by Leadbelly and from what I understand “studied” with him. I don’t know the exact structure of their relationship but legend has it that Woody, after seeing Leadbelly play something especially inspiring, asked him to show him how to play it. Leadbelly, according to the story, responded: Show you? If you want it you’re gonna have to steal it.

I liked this story but never fully understood it until it came time for me to stand on my own two feet culturally and ideologically. I was, at the time, very close friends with a man to whom I owed a lot. Who had showed me an immense amount about love and life. And I’m sure at times I looked like a culture vulture to him. Anyway—we got to the point where we differed in opinion and I saw that I was going to have to break if I was going to stay true to what I believed in. This was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

After I had gone through the histrionics of standing up—and taken full responsibility for everything I believed in—I understood Leadbelly’s dictum. If he had showed Guthrie, and Guthrie had turned out to be a punk—or soft—or schmaltzy—then he’d run around telling everyone “Leadbelly taught me”. And use it to establish himself “playing Leadbelly” as an authority. Which is the scholarship—the opposite of a creative and vital culture. If he was forced to steal it, he would have to make it his own. He would be forced to incorporate Leadbelly as an influence but be less able to mimic him. And he’d have to do it with a combination of brazen nerve and respectful reverence. He’d have to be alive.

This process is what is known as “making it your own”. Once you make an influence your own it’s yours. I don’t know where the legal definition lies but everyone can feel the difference. The difference is between Vanilla Ice and Eminem. This is Missy Elliott and Timbaland sampling tabla drum beats vs. the guy who comes to your yoga class. This is the difference between all mediocre artists and all great ones. The great ones have taken the opportunity of being alive to commit their life to what they have chosen to do—completely and eternally. This is why kids and the mentally ill do pretty well at art—because they don’t know any different. But their output will never create a culture that feeds sane, mature adults. That we’ll have to do ourselves.

When you make something your own you bring it into a culture that is primarily yours—that is primarily you. When you become enraptured with a foreign culture and wish to forget yourself, you hang around and trying to usurp power by proximity. You go to the dance but refuse to get down. Or you refuse to get down with your own people, back at home, sober, in your regular clothes.

In my opinion, white people (and not all white people are white—but I'll leave that one alone for now) are ripe for this kind of abuse because we feel we’ve got nothing especially appealing to bring cultural influences home to. We’re living in castles but can’t feel our crowns, grounds, or adoring citizenry. In one of the strangest moves ever, we’ve largely given up cultural authenticity and “voice” to those we deem disenfranchised. A move that is ridiculously effete and inexcusably violent at the same time. Plus, we’re a bit scared of shaking ass.

So—why am I sitting here discussing it coolly like a white (in non-fiction form) instead of shaking it like I preach (doing the do)? A very good question—and an A+ to anyone who asked it (and I want to see your artwork as soon as you’re willing to kick my ass on it). The simple answer is I am—and I want to do more—so I want your money. You respond, for whatever reason, much more to the motivation of non-fiction—to a sales pitch—than to the inspiration of a picture or a novel. And I’m one of you. So the pitch is part of the art. Once you/we sacrifice financially for the mysterious unknown—just because you believe in it, just because you feel it—you’ll get pitch-free art. Until then it is my understanding that you won’t buy anything without seeing it’s provenance. So I’m gonna sell the shit to you. Your alternatives are marketing people talking about love or new agers trying to convince people they can do what they want (which seems to be so far to pretend they’re Native Americans or foreign shaman). If I were you, I’d go with me.

Money, money, money. Mon-aaaay.

Listen, we’re all tired of punk rock and dirty co-ops (and pretentious Whole Foods’) and drinking until 2 in the morning and waking up with coffee the next morning and wearing black and being ironic and cool and being the editors of the world, but no one wants to step up to the plate and create what’s next. Most white art is corny, depressed, activist (against the against), or just incomprehensible. A lot of it is childish and immature. The kids are the only ones with the time and energy to go make it.

I wrote a book called The Love Artist. It’s exactly about all this shit. I put it out on a label called White Gold. I priced it at $40. That’s the minimum I’m willing to charge for what’s real in a fake culture—with people who don’t even believe the real is possible. If you want a $24 book go talk to David Eggers and see where that gets you. Oh, and attack when they see vulnerability out of habit. And are scared shitless by their own asses. And a bit lazy.

At first I thought it’d go through the roof. Who wouldn’t pay $40 to get to know someone? To hear a real story? To see a main character smart enough so not fall victim to the plot? But I underestimated the lack of belief in my people. And their attachment to their copious amounts of money. When I shopped it around to agents I was told that east Indian writers were hot. They had a point, I was tired of white people too. That this wasn’t white in that (the bad) way but was in the good way I thought was obvious. But obviously not obvious enough. Book people didn’t believe a real white story was possible. (Plus, since they charge so little they’re basically selling cookbooks).

If the record industry is five years behind and gets caught up periodically by the Dr. Dre’s (who then discover the Eminem’s who then discover the 50 cent’s) then the book industry is 40 years behind (still with Kerouac?), doesn’t ever get caught up, and never gives anyone their own label to discover anyone else on. I guess people don’t expect anything real from books anymore. Real is for classics. The tomb. And black folks of course—Soul on Ice, now that’s real.

Most of my friends didn’t even buy one. I told myself that I’d sell it cheap or give it away to anyone who asked (expressed vulnerability) but few did. Everyone who read it said it was great. I say that five years later—having sold no more than a few boxes. And not even really remembering the person I was when I wrote it. And giving all the glory of getting it done and out to god. It is good. But that doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter if it’s my book or Johnny’s band or Barbara’s painting—we just need a fucking way to live. We need inspiration to create and no one even thinks it’s possible. We need a way for artists who aren’t type uber-A and hell-bent on conflict (or type B and reluctantly moping) to make money and work in public. We need places to go and talk and dance and not be drunk or high. As it stands even successful musicians make money mostly off of touring. I’d never make a CD just to try to get people to a concert. And the painters recycle their own depressed, coffee and beer fueled, counter-culture thoughts. None take responsibility for how they feel and what they create. None believe that they are leading thoughts and feelings around the world. None believe. And in a sense they’re right—why put love, why put yourself, why put anything real—into your work when you’re surrounded by vultures? By hungry ghosts.

So we get a culture that reflects us. Divided and at war. And stay frustrated. Mainstream and vapid and cheap or “independent”, “deep” and cheap. But always cheap. And what’s so deep about depression? And what’s so fun about the processed and professional? Why are the trendiest galleries and artists getting more and more into “outsider” art—bad art? What is so corrupting about reason and “trying”?

I don’t even care about the battleground anymore—I describe it primarily in the hopes of sparking interest in an active and joyous peace. God bless the kurta’d white yogi with an adapted name her guru gave her. Go sit at her feet for years if you think nirvana is eastern. God bless the boob-jobbed beauty queen who wants a singing career too. I trust you will find appropriate songwriters and choreographers. Do it all—and hard and emphatically—but don’t pretend it’ll matter. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the real you will awaken only when famous, or is honestly solitary and dark. Be hungry for yourself. And understand that there can—there has to be—a culture that is about you. And you’re worth it. That loose and aching muscle that can be developed into a whole life. That tight feels like you’ve never been left—and never will be. It is possible. In fact it is inevitable. The question is when and where. The question is will we do it before we destroy ourselves and pick over every other culture on earth with our hungry tourism? Will we do it before we consume the ozone layer (or starve saving the ozone layer) trying to feel alive?

If you’re ready to be the world’s first money artist, please contact me. For $5 million I could most likely have the album ready in a year. I’ve already done the book and have the paintings. For $50,000 I could probably get close. Without any bells and whistles. Going more frustratingly slow. But hey, it couldn’t get much slower than it is now. And I know you’ll want to see results before you really commit.

There’s no reason on earth that the world’s most powerful people don’t have a culture of their own. Don’t have any love but have made every product. The simple fact is that we haven’t paid for it. And everyone else has.

A Few Notes on Strengths and Exponential Growth

I’ve been thinking a lot about self-led growth recently—taking responsibility for my own growth as opposed to waiting until something becomes “problemized”. One of my largest hurdles has been figuring out how to grow (I probably called it changing before) without being “wrong”—without creating a problem or demon to crush and kill and push off of. How to be gentle enough with myself that I didn’t spend a lot of time analyzing what was wrong with me and looking backwards just to get to the next step. I also found that when I “wrongized” myself or someone else, it made a vacuum that my ego was just dying to jump into.

“Problems”, in my experience can be very, very hypnotizing. And take a lot of time and effort. I’ve found it’s much easier and efficient to admit what condition or state I want more and go straight towards it—damn the torpedoes—and dropping less lovely things along the way if necessary. Basically, instead of bashing down whatever wall or barrier I felt existed, just making myself vulnerable and opening up to living with a greater or deeper desire.

A couple of ideas around these ideas:

The first is why mess with the best? Not only has there been a lot of research (Gallup) showing that the best is the ripest opportunity for growth (and offers the highest return on investment). Committing to growth (which is different than improvement—cause nothing’s really wrong—our standards have just been raised) before one encounters “difficulties” can be tricky but it returns rich rewards. It also keeps the ego out of success and the focus on what works long-term (the process of growth instead of the results of past growth). This is not to say I don't mark and enjoy success—I do—but I focus on the feeling it brings instead of the products or trappings. I let it inspire me. (If it doesn't bring a feeling—why did I want it anyway? —An excellent question I've asked myself many times.) Many, many great companies run into difficulties as a result of success. Even more are one hit wonders.

Second, the best inspires. If we really are here to love (and live comfortably because of that) and not the other way around (go make money and then love when I retire or die), then what we have to offer primarily—to both the economy and others—is inspiration. Money may motivate, but beauty, efficiency, quality, grace under pressure, stories and relationships inspire. Go for the love first—be vulnerable—and you’ll have the effect you’ve always wanted. Once you can have the effect you’ve always wanted (and can remain yourself—have fun—doing it) you can’t help but make money I’d argue.

Third—let’s raise our standards. Many, many of us suffer from low standards. We don’t believe in what kind of a life we can really have. We don’t take responsibility to enjoy the one we have the way we want. Money isn’t going to save anyone’s life any more than a new cell phone will get you more exciting calls. Drama may beckon but you can’t enjoy yourself anywhere but right here, right now. Put yourself first. Once you’re enjoying every minute and dancing through the streets with nothing, who could resist that real-estate deal?

Fourth—and this is a good one—it’s all sensitive dependence on initial conditions. This is something I picked up from Chaos theory. The idea—which is scientifically sound by the way—is that complex systems like the weather, society, the economy, etc are incredibly dependant on initial conditions. This is the butterfly in China causing a hurricane in Iowa. Initial conditions are like DNA. And it’s true. This is “tipping point” to the tenth power. And means that you are a tipping point for the whole world. The root causes of radical, rapid and enormous growth are miniscule just like a virus. Or an individual. What this means, in my opinion, is that your intention and how you start anything—everything—is replicated again and again. If there’s a shortcoming (something you wouldn’t marry but didn’t think you could do better than) in your initial thoughts, you’ll run into it again and again until you’re forced to go back and do surgery. Or get divorced. Why not just go straight for it? Admit everything from the start. A White Gold corollary may be: love is all we want. We’re not into the gift economy yet (just wait), but practice believing in your wildest dreams coming true instantly. Imagine the entire world being saved easily in an instant. Wherever we’re headed we’ll get. But we’ll never get anyplace we’re not headed.

So why grow or improve something that’s doing great? Any growth or improvement now will pay off a hundred fold down the line. Let’s beat our butterfly wings—or stop to rest on a flower—whatever the spirit moves us to do. We’ll never have more clear instructions for future growth than what we want right now. But let’s go deep—let’s pretend we can start from scratch—that we’re free. I know this contradicts years of psychological thinking but I’m ready to contradict it for love. And have felt the rewards. Let’s think big and allow growth and changes in plans as they happen.

And improvement isn’t necessarily working harder—au contraire. Organic farmers make more money per acre plowing under a crop every two or three. In the inspiration economy rest, relaxation, play, transition, getting ready and downright down-time is crucial as well. We can’t achieve our way to love. We can’t advertise it like a used car and expect it to feel like a Lexus. We can’t conquer or consume our way to it. We conquer ourselves and it walks through the door. Or we create the conditions and then see it just up ahead. Haven’t you seen the movies? The more we grow and commit to being ourselves, the more appealing stuff we get to enjoy being ourselves around.

Which brings me to the best reason to improve the best: because we know not what we do. We don’t even have a sense of how good life can get, of how engaged and calm and content we can feel every day. How much love we can feel all the time. And we need inspiration. We need models--and not dumb or shallow models. Brilliant and engaged, emotionally mature models! Great mom models! We want to bounce out of bed and jump into bed! We’ve got motivation in droves—too much. We know there’s barely anyplace sane to sit—but why on earth do we think that good customer service, or joy, or wonderful grocery stores, or friendship, or love and support, or double digit growth are rare or hard to come by? Isn’t it all us here? Aren’t we all smart and capable? Don’t we all do the work? Aren't we all professional expert consultants? Could it be that we’re all waiting for someone else to go first? Deliver us a life that we can go consume after working unhappily (or moderately happily) to make money (or even save the planet). Why don’t we think it’s all one? Why don’t we think it’s instantaneous? Why don't we think it's our natural state? Why don’t we think it’s easy? I, for one, am willing to bet that it is.

The Freedom of Freedom

I just got back from church and as usual I’m inspired. That must be why church brands have such staying power—they inspire. Of course, some try to convert people, focus on faults, or do pushy outreach—advertise—but that seems to me to be low-hanging fruit. And I’d be interested in seeing a breakdown of people’s movements within different faith traditions. I’ll bet it moves toward less “preachy”, less proselytizing faiths as education level and income go up. And as time goes on. An interesting model to think of in terms of an inspiration economy. (And they have bake sales and beer made by monks—why not cell phones? Just an idea.)

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. What I want to talk about is growth.

The sermon at my church today was about sin—how our true nature is conflict and we can only be saved by god. This is the part I like least about church—and the part, as I understand it, that keeps millions of my peers from ever darkening the door. (Focus on the crucifix.) Or lightening the door as the case may be.

If we are the children of god, and our priests our symbolic “fathers” of the congregation, then why on earth would they spend time telling us we were born to sin and can barely help but lie, cheat, steal and maim? The sermon today went around the world to discuss the worst things that have happened in recent memory—genocides, the tsunami, etc. and then directed it down (the sermon is delivered from a raised pulpit) on one of the most loving, caring, engaged and gentle group of people I have met in a long time—the congregation. To motivate them? I guess. It felt played out though. Either our welts are too scarred and thick—or the open sores too tender and raw for any subtle message to get through.

And I’m sure the people in the congregation, myself included, aren’t above a minor infraction against the purity of the planet now and again, but I hardly see it as their primary problem. These are, after all, the people who (under the leadership of the man giving the sermon) have not only stayed put in a deteriorating neighborhood (we have a security guard watching the cars on Sundays) but have also largely rebuilt it (450 units of housing over the last number of years and more in the pipe).

If I was a parent, would I dwell on a child’s faults for an hour a week? When I only saw them for two? Would I tell the child that it would never amount to anything without outside intervention? Not in a million years. I had people tell me this bullshit when I was young and I can still remember every word of doubt. So why do we tell it to ourselves?

I very clearly remember my dad’s girlfriend telling me I’d never amount to much. I believed her at the time (and for quite a while after). I certainly didn’t feel like I was heading toward much. I can also remember my 10th grade English teacher telling me she thought I copied a paper. I didn’t but she didn’t have the courage to ask or accuse me in person. Instead she just wrote the insinuation on the paper and marked me down. Both great reasons to get drunk every weekend as far as I could see. If life will never amount to anything why bother? If it’s never going to be fun or full of adults who seem like caring people who’ve got it together, why work at anything?

But I don’t think we should confuse this with the nature of the universe. The bible, if it’s any indication, is pretty clear that children shall not be held accountable for the sins of their parents. And that we are all the children of god. And created in his image. Sure, there are some rough parts here and there, but people were rough 2000 years ago. Tough times calling for tough measures, etc. The doctrine of original sin was invented by Augustine long after the New Testament was written. Which means that the message that we are forgiven is much more primary. Which means that it is as if we are reborn. That we are reborn. And can create and live how we choose. Or—to put it another way—are creating and living how we choose.

What is clear to many, however, and why I believe original sin is so appealing, is that it appears as if we are broken. And essentially so. It appears that being divorced from our true loving nature—that divorce—is our natural state. It feels that just growing up and going out and entering the workplace and trying to start relationships.

But if we are truly the children of god—and god is all loving—they why on earth would we be continually punished for the fall—something we had no control over? Or, why would we have been created with choice and then be constantly blamed and punished for using it? For exploring, doing the right thing, and making mistakes?

I don’t want to go too far into this because I don’t believe it has anything to do with us—or our relationship to god. But I do believe it’s worth mentioning because it forms such an enormous part of our relationship with ourselves and each other. The great theologian Howard Thurman said there are three stages of freedom: the freedom of naivete (like a child), the freedom of resignation (like a teenager), or the freedom of struggle (like what we think of as an adult). If I may be so bold, though, I would add another. The freedom of freedom.

We may not have much concrete experience with this last one, but I cheerfully bet my life that it’s there. That it’s here—that it surrounds us, infiltrates us, and informs our every waking moment. Even though we may choose to disbelieve it. This does not mean the world is perfect and we’ll never have to struggle. I believe this means that the world is beautiful and we can enjoy it while making it much, much better.

With original sin—if ourselves and others are untrustworthy, if the world is broken—then they (and we) are best approached with doubt and disbelief. Progress, under this system, comes from separating people and parts and applying methods of blame and retribution throughout. Through constant testing and the application of pressure. And reward, of course. But reward comes after. After one has walked the gauntlet of doubt and disbelief: school, college, church, work, etc. After one has shown loyalty and subservience to the methods and those who hold and maintain the knowledge. Those that still believe—those that can still get out of bed—are rewarded. And become reluctant kings and queens. The toughest and most hardened. The most macho. They don’t get out of bed because they believe—because they feel it or want to—they get out of bed because they have no choice or are otherwise compelled. They can disbelieve their disbelief. They are relatively pure existentialists.

The alternative I suggest is one of faith and belief. A gauntlet of support and love tempered with a dab of doubt and testing—just enough to keep it real. (I mentioned in a previous post the 12:1 positive to negative ratio that a book I saw said produced the most efficient work environment).

This means taking as much responsibility for ones own actions and being as possible. For ones’ own growth. And not being a victim—to the workplace, our culture, a boss, our friends, the shareholders, one’s family, or even a short-sighted notion about the nature of god—as much as possible. Of course I can’t control the corruption levels in the city of Chicago and the inefficient recycling program and the middle east problems—but I can create what is most important to me and follow what inspires me. As the world around me is part of what informs me—where I live—it can’t help but be included. The difference is in putting it second. In not waiting for it to be who I am. I may face it’s corruption or cruelty (or insecurity or incompetence) as part of my course but if I anticipate it—if I put the cart before the horse or give voice to what it is thinking—that’s on me.

If we are living in a state of separation—or sin—then it is due to us here on earth, not a power up above. And it is up to us to rectify it. It seems to me infinitely more likely that we, through lack of faith, actively create and re-create our environment—for better or worse, rather than living as victims in a world we inherited broken that we are unable to fix. Wait--that sounds like the bible.

I believe there is no feeling or reward that comes later from accomplishment or trial necessarily. We do grow but we don’t have to wait or respond properly to feel what we want. The only feeling—the only life we have or possibility for enjoyment—is right now. Today. This second. And that feeling may never go away. All the future holds is age and death (although I’ll bet we have something to say about those as well). Life may not even change that much when we die. We’ll no longer have to get up and feed ourselves, of course—but will we really magically develop a belief in ourselves just because we’ve seen the cost of living a whole life without it? Don’t we watch A Christmas Carol enough? Even if we were going to develop the feeling of belief when we die—why on earth would we wait? Why not just stop panicking and do what we want right now?

What if this life on earth were part of a continuum? Part of a larger experience but not entirely distinct from it? What if they’re fighting the same battles over there as here? What if it’s all connected and feels kind of the same? And what if all you had to do to win was believe? Now or then? And believe again.

What if this planet was the place to be? What if having a body and getting to run and jump and play with kids (and have sex—hello!?) is more fun than floating disembodied on the other side? What if we really want trees and butterflies and grass? (And rocks and cell phones and the movies?) What if your body here actually felt more like a gentle buoy than a caffeinated rollercoaster once you committed to feeling it. If you gave it the time to rest and relax. If you fed it lovingly and let it unwind when it was tired. If you gave up on the stick and invested in carrots.

I think a lot of this sin stuff was developed to combat the ego, which to be sure has had it’s sticking points. I think a lot of people equate what they want with being selfish or ego-driven. I know I did. And as I turned into myself I probably did see some ego flare-ups. But they relaxed as I got my legs under me I learned what to avoid and deepened my desires. Our question is: wouldn’t we devour the planet and cheat on our wives if we let ourselves go? My answer: if that’s what you want. It seems to me that’s what we’re doing right now. (Our response: it’s the people who are doing what they want that are messing everything up. My answer: most religions look similar (including secular humanism), most people are religious (including athiests, agnostics, communists and existentialists)—who the hell is doing what they want? Who can you point to who’s feeling it? Who’s living as if life were a gentle path of rose pedals on a pond, and had to be collected and appreciated—to be felt and loved—one by one? You act as if the suburbs, a Ferrari and a trophy wife works—what part of that do you pine for? As if more candy ever made you feel better after you were done eating it. The right is doing it because it’s the right thing and the left is doing it because it’s—the left thing. We all end up so unsatisfied that no one can present a inspiring—or inspired—way to live. —And it wouldn’t take many.)

What if the trick now was to balance assertiveness with compassion? Mesh the east and west? Go for both the self-interest we know works and work toward the community we really want?

But back to sin and controlling the ego: What if the place we were was to not attack or discount the ego but relax past it? And thank it for keeping us alive all those times when we were tired and someone came at us with less than holy motives. When we lost our job and had no faith. Those times when it was us against the world.

Your ego isn’t a bad thing. Neither is mine. It has a very definite purpose. It’s not the way I want to live but it’s not going to kill me either. In an overabundance it prevents intimacy and love—and I definitely don’t want that. In an under abundance I can’t even move. It can separate. But it also has helped me define myself when I was confused and everyone else in the world had a great idea about who or what I was. Turns out they were wrong—for me. They may have been right for them—and if they put it that way I usually listened as long and as hard as I could. And if I wanted to continue the relationship I worked toward a solution or better understanding. And I want relationships—but I’m not willing to give up myself to have one. Not even with god. Hubris is not pride but excessive pride.

I don’t want to live on my ego—or even with it around much. But I wouldn’t kill it if given the chance. It’s been very useful. And I know there are a few more suckers out there with some bullshit up their sleeves. I remember what happened yesterday when I brought my belief and love out singing. –Sometimes it was appreciated and sometimes it was crushed. My ego reminded me to return to myself when external fear tried to infect my delicate love. Fear can handle anything—loves everything—except love. Criticism loves criticism—even of itself. It is a virus after all. And drama wants only more drama—no matter what the story line. In a sense we’re being used. With our consent. By drama and fear and doubt. And our ego can help us know it. Exercising it isn’t the answer, but neither is ignoring it. So until I’m holy enough to love undaunted into the hideous face of unbridled fear and doubt (and I pray that I some day am), I’ll thank my ego for being my friend. It’s not me, and it communicates strangely sometimes—but usually when I wouldn’t let anything else through. It helps me understand where I start and others end—even when I want nothing more than to sign up for the program.

In my opinion, the implications of this are large but somewhat simple. We are all responsible for our own happiness. We are all whole as adults unless we choose to be otherwise. It is not that we are to be blamed for everything that has happened but that we have an enormous say in where we are and all that is to come. We are forgiven—returned to purity—every moment should we choose to believe and act as if that is true. Which is not to say that we might not have to struggle, fight, relax and/or pray to remain that way. I’ll use anything that works.

We have seen but a glimpse of what we can create. As it stands we know we can build economies, countries, space stations, water purification plants, systems of justice, houses, beautiful relationships, joyful celebrations, playground and gardens. We know we can make enough to live working 20 hours a week doing something we love to do, and are capable of ecstasy, contentment, joy, relaxation, faith, inquiry, understanding, belief, self-determination, discernment, asking for help, communication and responsibility.

The question now is: what do we want?

The Future is Now

Proof that if you think about something for five minutes someone will do it. I’ve been wanting to pay for things with my phone for years. Lets go future!

Mobile Phone Wallet

Inspiration Economy Manifesto

I believe our culture and economy is moving from a material emphasis into a spiritual emphasis--with an accompanying shift from goods and services ("what" and "when" stuff) to relationships, content and other assorted "how" and "why" stuff. I believe that the effect on business will be massive. The effect on our culture, however will be even more wonderful and enjoyable. We'll finally get down to living as the focus of our life. Instead of working. But first there are a few barriers to get over.

One current barrier is people not buying what they want (because of insecurity, fear, low self-esteem, Puritanism, etc). The other is businesses not producing what they want ('cept a notable few--most of the ones returning double digits these dark days). A huge one is the cultural/idea workers not producing what they want. (As loyal members of the counter-culture and essentially anti-business--and with few places to labor self-directed without starving).

There are easy ways to bridge this gap. One obvious one is to differentiate mass-market goods by content--that is, a good magazine is $8 (or $16) and a good CD is $40. Think about the last movie that really impacted your life and the last weekend you had a movie you were really excited about seeing. Now what would you pay for a killer, life-changing movie this weekend? --If your choice was that or Electra (which it is)? In our current economy there's little encouragement for putting any tender loving care into our culture. So we get kiddy stuff, professionalism, and the odd depressing "art" movie (with a growing number of slightly wonderful surprises).

The currency for this emerging economy is inspiration. It's not a speed or even a business thing, full inspiration requires vulnerability. You can't hunt someone down and "WOW!" them--that's a bit like stalking. And a lot like most corporation's marketing. The inspiration economy will operate with a more magnetic appeal. Like a beautiful woman walking down the street. Their culture, mission, people, procedures and products will draw you toward them.

Most companies today aren't things you want to pay any attention to. Or spend any time with. But that's not because we're busy--it's because they're ugly, gross and manipulative. We've got all the time in the world for Hallie Berry (I know I do). Corporations will eventually figure this out and stop being gross 4 days a week and trying to work with make-up on Friday night.

Things will be moving so fast they'll have to. They'll have to be real and beautiful all day every day (this is different than trying to be perfect or "professional" every day--much different). From fake boobs back to real boobs.

This vulnerability is not something a lot of men or businesses are good at. Or even many women these high-powered days.

But it is coming, and we won't be denied. There is no way to sustain love and attention but through vulnerability. And love and attention are the only way, in an increasingly crowded marketplace, to sustain profits.

Call it the prophet motive.

There are millions of very, very affluent consumers waiting in the wings right now because our mass culture--the quickest growing sector of our economy--doesn't offer them anything. They've got a nice car and house and a flat tv--so what else is there? In ten years, I believe we'll have a mature, vital, fun, honest, beautiful mainstream culture. For adults and kids alike.

There are many, many aspects of this quantum culture that could mean a lot to business. A lot of the ideas are starting to bubble up one at a time in books like Now Discover Your Strengths, Tom's books, Good To Great, Tipping Point etc., but the ideas that connect them haven't really been understood, and therefore they can easily be misapplied.

One great example is the concept of stickiness the The Tipping Point. In the old, material world, the stickier the better. We have to grab consumers. The perfect sticky product is an addictive drug like coffee or soda or something like pornography or gambling. And those are all making great money. But if you look at the progress of disease and how organism often cure themselves--things tend to get worse before they get better. A forest, for instance, becomes overrun with underbrush before being returned to a relatively healthy state after a natural forest fire. But if you suppress small fires, you get an enormous one that wipes out everything.

I would suggest that much of what business sees now as sticky is like underbrush right before a fire. The more porn or coffee or soda a person has, the less valuable porn or coffee or soda is to that person. This is true of all motivational/material products, services and content.

Truly inspirational content, on the other hand, is like a healthy relationship. As soon as someone watches an Oprah show, she (or he) is more ready for her magazine, not less. The product doesn't deflate the consumer's ability to consume (or be healthy). True stickiness doesn't really stick. Since Oprah is more real than almost anyone on TV she is safe to spend more time with. If she was just saccharine (Access Hollywood) she'd be intolerable. Access Hollywood is the model for most corp.s PR, marketing and customer service.

My suggestion here is that the porn and cokes of the market may rise and fall but the long term (and exponential) growth (especially now) is in that which is real--that which adds to the consumer's life in a vital and meaningful way. It loves the consumer but not only or blindly. It is itself first and foremost. The intrusive, manipulative, and detrimental--like advertising, sugar, etc.--though they may reap short-term highs (just like the products they promote) are eventually going to be left out by the natural evolution in consciousness by consumers. (Or be subject to cycles and fads). Yoga, meditation, happiness, organic food, and environmental values aren't a trend but the result of thousands of years of human evolution. They are an outgrowth of the blossoming of human consciousness. As are cell phones, Zegna blazers, Lexus's and masseurs. The healthiest, the highest quality and the most loving won't be leaving the covers of Time and Newsweek anytime soon. (Happiness is on Time this week).

So, what to do? There are many applications of this type of model to current business. Most businesses will grow at a regular rate. However, every company that wants to stick around will have to break on through to the other side. Smarter companies will shut down and regroup or try to make the leap once they've done the math. There are just too many advantages to operating in this relationship-first paradigm that can't be replicated by traditional corporations. The ramifications for management are radical. (They're the Oprahs or Maury Povichs of their companies.)

The irony, of course, is that those corporations that give up on profits as their modus operandi will have a chance to be enormously successful, while those that put money first will fail (or grind it out for production work). What a great time to be alive.

And Talk about God with the Homeless

I just finished relatively small amount of menial administerial work (for a client, not myself) and boy, let me tell you, the spiritual word, work, world can’t come fast enough for me. Everyone is afraid to make a decision so research has to be done. In the research, half the people say it depends on what it looks like, why don’t you just start something or it would depend on the strategy. It’s boring enough that I would never trouble you with it here. Suffice it to say that no one wants to stick their neck out. But a good proportion of the people still resent the time it takes to make a decision by group. Ugh, if any of us had any support at all we could move so much faster.

What management really does is replicate itself. It models behavior that is recreated all the way down the chain. Arrogant management—arrogant customer service. Fearful management—scared services. And all of this—all—gets to the customer. Every bit of control, arbitrary decision and nonsense.

This is what it means to live in transparency. People are so sophisticated now that they can tell everything. All that may register is that they like it or don’t but they’ll see everything. Even if it’s just from an ad. You can’t produce love from fear—ever.

Which means you can never fake spiritual or cultural value. Ever.

I saw a thing about an Apple iPod ad that some customer made in his free time that ended up getting large (on the net)—a couple of people said that it didn’t mesh up with their campaign. What?

Can I go on record here as saying that we don’t care about campaigns? We don’t care about contrived consistency. If you knew your own ass you’d probably have a deep and predictable idiosyncrasy that we could all love, but it wouldn’t worry if the logo was in the same place every time. Do you want your sex consistent that way? No, you want it to return the similar (or better) feel every time. Which involves doing things different always. Being present. Being alive. Hello!?

I can’t wait to see a company with a 3-D logo—that rotates it every time they use it so that we, the customers, see a fresh perspective on what the company is every ad we see. (I already pitched this to the coolest, most avant co. I could find—they balked). And there’s the lovely thing about a spiritual economy—everything is out in the open. I could tell you every marketing “secret” that I know and it wouldn’t matter. What these companies lack is the will, the guts, the balls, to put their vulnerability into play. To play! And that’s why a lot of them will go the way of the dinosaur. Everyone’s happy now ‘cause they’re cool. They don’t dream about Netscape—who innovated a whole new way of looking at the world and then got whupped by my friend Thomas Reardon (among others) at Msoft.

The game is long my friends and you may already be behind. That doesn’t mean you have to speed up. Speed is only one small way to advance. In fact you may find the greatest reward from slowing down and getting deliberate. Becoming yourself. Getting more essential.

Go ahead, Whole Foods. Go ahead skateboarders, musicians and artists—all you cultural innovators and cool hunters—go ahead and innovate and find. The million ton gorilla is right behind you. A little sleepy and slow, but it’s steps are big. It’s grasp complete. As soon as you think you’re cute you’re done. The game is long and change happens fast. You can win—you’ve got the goods. Something no gorilla will ever have. You have access to knowledge—the truth—the ground. But you’ve got to want to win. You’ve got to take responsibility for continual growth.

And you’ve got to turn around and face that gorilla.

If you’re too good to move up—someone else will. If you’re too cool to move down—someone else will. If you’re too mechanical to go spiritual—someone else will. If you’re too spiritual to be grounded—someone else will.

And it’s not that there’s anything wrong with you. You’re perfect. But you’re a flower too. And you not only want to grow, but also to spread your seed. Some of that growth requires a winter’s death. Some of it requires smelling manure. And some of it requires stretching and some sitting in the sun. How will you know what to do? Easy—you’ll be yourself. Your self has no preconceptions or limitations. Your self wants to wear (or make) a $10,000 gown some days. And put on thrift store jeans another.

Your self wants to butt heads and run numbers with CEOs. And talk about god with the homeless. It even wants to talk about god with CEOs and run numbers with the homeless. It just doesn’t think it can. But the world is open now, and all that’s holding us back is ourselves. Not the soul of ourselves, but the fear of ourselves. The truth is we don’t have to protect ourselves anymore. Unless we want to. We are forgiven every second. When we divide our company, our life, our hearts, all we get is division. Which means not only a more sheltered life, but also a more limited market.

How Much Good News Can You Take?

Lots of great stuff in the newspaper today.

First up: Apple profits quadruple. And I don’t even think they’ve started to really capitalize on what it is that they’re doing. The iPod is a great start but it’ll be much bigger. They are the creative platform. Everything is moving creative. Nice that they’ve gone down-market, but I’d also go up. Up, up, up. I think I already mentioned a Prada edition Powerbook. Or a White G. Why not take it all?

Second: Kraft decides to stop advertising crap to kids. That’s very loving. Before long we’ll realize we’re all as valuable and sensitive as kids and stop advertising crap to ourselves. Note to sticky product producers: get ready to compete without addiction.

Third: the new food pyramid. This stuff isn’t a trend. This is a movement that’s been evolving for hundreds of years. Ignore at your own risk. Be healthy, be happy, don’t drink Squirt.

Fourth: Happiness on the cover of Time. If I had a dime for every time in the last year that something as frou-frou (and lovely) had been on the cover of Time or Newsweek in the last year I’d have at least two dollars. They always try to materialize it (scientists say…) or give it some grounding in “legitimate” thinking (studies show...) but the bottom line is that this is what people are thinking about and where they are. Great stuff!

Fifth: Vijay Singh’s caddy—probably compensated over a million dollars last year—quits! He says Vijay’s a jerk. If there was ever an example that you just can’t pay people enough to be lame to them, this would be it. Life’s just too short and too enjoyable for them to put up with nonsense and small-mindedness for money any more. On the flip-side let's start thinking about what we can do with our life or business to attract the top, most disgruntled, best caddies/people/employees. Why not just give up on trying to mitigate the downside altogether and just start creating the up.

A great world out there today.

More Spiritual Competition

What all leading brands share is a culture ahead of the curve. As we move into a more spiritual world, it is my firm belief that culture will become more and more the proving ground for profits. Brands are really a measure of goodwill—love. Goodwill fosters relationships and relationships bring money. Look at it this way: it’s all who you know. And who wants to know you.

A couple of examples: skateboarding. The sport is growing but sales of skateboard stuff is off. The culture is on the wane—there’s just little left to the cool-guy self-made outsider athlete. Too grunge and rebellious. Another way of looking at it: these companies have been fighting to differentiate themselves for so long and so hard that the only thing now that’s novel or interesting is sameness: the shared values that they have defined themselves as being against. This is most of youth and counter-culture.

Whole Foods: another favorite (ps: I only critique the brands I love), and where I shop. They are almost all culture. They certainly don’t have any silver bullet.

The USA: whoa! Never has the world been more in our court. Yesterday’s Palestinian elections shows that even in the middle east the world is going our way. But our culture and arrogance has never been more in focus. Some even doubt our motives when we provide aid. As well they should. We’ve got a bit of work to do on the spiritual front. Plenty of opportunity for growth. Maybe a little guts and faith on the left or some relaxation of integrity on the right. Or maybe just a rejection of us and them and a finding of our true middle. Where all us folks are.

White People: Doing pretty well with Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Eminem and Spike Jonez. A bit of love for G. Bush promoting Condi and Colin Powell but everyone knows that the Rumsfelds and Cheneys are still calling the shots. There’s that integrity issue. That’s going to hurt us in the long run. A bit hyper too.

The beautiful thing about corporations (everything?) run on spiritual values is that no one can fake the funk. In fact the funk is all there is. With all the ISO 9000 heads around it’ll be a while before things get relaxed enough that quality is an issue. By then there will be people who do relaxed ISO 9000(?).

Now let's talk dollars and sense. If in the material world competition is based on management culture and economics smarts. If a corporation or a government has a blind spot and sets a poor fiscal policy, a competitor or hedge fund can come along and bet on the more true course. This is how competition has been working for years. And to very successful results.

But the emerging world, in my opinion is only based on the material world. It’s emphasis being spiritual. Another way of saying this is that it would be hard to find a carmaker still in existence that still made lemons. So the material foundation of the economy has primarily found its center—it’s accepted practices and standards. The competition now moves to the qualitative aspect of goods, services and content (of being?).

The lovely thing about this, I believe, is that now corporations will begin to compete over essentially who can be the most enlightened. Who can do their work with the least negative impact on our material resources and greatest positive impact on people’s lives, the planet, etc., etc. If a Whole Foods refuses to sell Ivory soap because they don’t like the company (or any other reason besides the customer doesn’t want it) then the market will correct this cultural blind spot.

With governments and countries it will be the same. If a country (or county) is culturally hard for women, or smart people, or hard workers, that country will find itself at a disadvantage economically. With an increasingly diverse economy dependant on diverse skills and strengths, those without a diverse population will be at a disadvantage. The system will strive toward balance instead of exclusion.

Corporations will act as hedge funds—sitting back and generating spiritual knowledge until it finds itself ahead of the curve. The with so much capital looking for ideas and cultural knowledge, it won’t be hard for these generators to turn their ideas into gold. Ruthless spiritual competition (a few of its methods being relaxation, meditation, and play).

The winner is everyone who can generate inspiration and enjoyment—360°. No, 360° is played out, this is 3-D, baby! In real time. This is real life. And most corporation aren’t even relaxed enough to feel it. There’s no way they can compete. They don’t have any faith.

Scared Money Don't Make Money

Maybe I should not try to not write on Sundays. Maybe this is a day I find too much inspiration from the good lord. Maybe I should take Fridays off.

I listened with rapt attention in church today while a woman in my bible study class talked about how god’s children are out of time—are eternal—and that while we may be in time to work or get to school, etc., we are not beholden to that paradigm. (Another great insight from bible class was that busy stood for “buried under Satan’s yoke” but I won’t get into that one at the moment).

I sat there thinking you’re right—so why do we still act as though we are at work, at school, and even at church? If we know there is an inner “non-time” that can save us from tsunamis, lead us to food or water, and help us find true love, why don’t we acknowledge it even slightly in what we do with our lives? Or believe that it can lead us to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Why would every boss freak if we just walked out for two days. Or two hours? Why do we expect to be unhappy at work. Or a very simple one—why can’t we enjoy all the riches we’ve created? Why don’t we feel how rich and blessed we are? How can we be the world’s richest ever society and have such an astronomical of anxious kids, depressed adults, etc., etc., etc.?

How can we move faster and more efficiently than any people ever and never have any time? Where is the love?

But as I sat there in church I thought that I have been given the answer. By god. Through inspiration. I also know that this false poverty (time and otherwise) isn’t going to last long among the richest people ever. And that made me starving for it to get the frick moving. (Or bring it towards me if you prefer the quantum approach). So I decided to come here and pray about it.

So let’s go. I know that there is huge money out there that wants to spur belief—and access creation. And reap profits, gain fame, create valuable products and content, and do interesting things. And save the planet, bring about a new sense of community, etc. Well here’s your chance to get it all at once. You can now invest in White Gold.

I haven’t brought this up yet—cause I thought I was doing something more business (which made me less valuable, go figure)—but I wrote a book that’s perhaps the clearest example of the quantum culture I describe that I could possibly describe. All this business stuff now that I talk about has been inspired by the book. It’s the source and this writing is like byproducts.

So I’m not just talking jazz. I can also blow. And I realize we may have to take this case to the streets if we want to keep control, flip the script, and get the money. Once Zegna and Apple are coming to us it’ll be all over. We can name our price. If Whole Foods has developed something that’s culturally 5 years ahead, White Gold may be 10. I don’t know. And I don’t bring this up because I made it—everything I do is inspired by god. What I did was learn how to relax. The rest came pouring out. It was an end run from the start and I seem to have bet properly. Thanks to some great help from some great people and a lot of hunches.

But I’m sitting at home trying to scrape together $60 each month for my Sprint bill. It doesn’t take long but you’d be amazed at how much blood these punks can draw while extracting their pound of flesh. I can do it, it just feels inefficient to me. And I feel that there are a whole bunch of people sitting around being eternal for a few hours a week when with a little transition we could be doing it for hours a day. Days a week. Months a year. Decades a life. And that once we’re heading the right way we can close down 2/3 of the hospitals and just live the life we want in the first place. (How many more stories of I got sick, almost died and then saw the light can we take?).

And even better—and possibly the best reason to invest millions immediately—the sooner we create a meme that allows for both food and love, the sooner our children get to grow up straight into what they want. Without the missing 15 drunk years that it now takes (not to mention that there’s no where loving to come out). It’s my firm belief that the most creative, most valuable, most vulnerable people—often with the most to give—are the ones who end up dead, on the street, drunk, etc. These are the ones sent down here to make this an ambrosia-filled wonderland. To put right brained activity in every home and office. To fill our lives with the wonderful mystery of being alive, with feeling and wonder. With play and spontaneity. These are those who are so spiritual, so right brained, so alive that they just don’t fit. And we’ve made no room for them. With all our money we don’t have a witch doctor. A court jester, patroned painter, or personal tailor. Or a monk living with us to give us advice and counsel. We’ve professionalized everything and now professional people. The unprofessional, though we starve for it, we consider child’s play (and so get childish play and plays). Is it any wonder that our sex—our intimacy—is even becoming professional? Add up porn, impotence, and predictable sex and it’s hard to believe they’re a small fraction of what’s going on intimacy-wise. Didn’t we say we’d call uncle when sex got boring?

These right-brained folks know the score—everyone does their own calculus every minute of the day. And being big enough to make money from art these days is just stupid. The audience is so starved they’ll try to rip you apart. Another great reason to start slow and charge for the love.

And the answer right now to “is it worth it?” for the most sensitive of us, the most creative, and the most spiritual right now is no. There’s “be a self-help guru” (and the line is getting long) or buckle down and get a day job and paint about how much you hate it off the side. Living is simply too expensive for a van Gogh to get through. He painted for 10 years total—it takes 10 years now just to become the person who would paint the next shit!

And this isn’t necessary—and as we make a more loving culture and economy it will take less time—but right now you have to fight to become the person you want, then fight to relax, then fight to paint. It’s awfully hard to build a loving culture with that much fighting. It’s just too much. Right now we get better youth culture because that’s the only people who have time and support.

And from a straight business perspective—who wouldn’t start a company to develop the next 10 van Goghs if they had any faith? Van Gogh was worth millions a day in current dollars—perhaps a couple billion over his lifetime. Even a producer like Swizz Beats can make a $100,000 beat in ten or fifteen minutes (or could). If he was working for a mature audience—one who would pay $40 a cd instead of $14—well, you do the math. And if we had the only adult, spiritual, mature, vital album in the world, $40 would probably be too low. I’d price it higher.

What we’re going to bring is faith. There are Swizz Beats’ (like Kanye—who’s also a producer) who are dying to grow up—but lack the vision, time, or faith perhaps. Or maybe they know there’s no record label who could do it justice. Or maybe they’re just unwilling to put their vulnerability out there for $14.99 a pop. I wouldn’t. God bless Kanye for dropping it.

We’re also going to bring marketing know-how. And an understanding of the demographic. Because we are it. I’ll buy Timbaland beats (and believe me I’m going to try to get them as cheap as possible) and put something on ‘em myself. Or, perhaps someone will get hyped enough from reading this that we’ll just put the two together. If it comes together I know I can hear it. That I can guarantee.

And we’ll have the visuals. The framework. The book. What I’m talking about is a global takeover. At the last minute. Taking back the economy from the hands of death. Thanatos for you Freudians and Marcuse fans. We gonna put the Eros way up in it. The way we supposed to do from the get. As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be.

It’s gonna be sticky in just the right way, yo! Non-stick! True Tempered!



Ps: When deciding if you want to bring your money, realize that you will be asked to extricate your fear, concern, expectations, etc—so that we may make love with it. We’ll keep an eye on the bottom line but this ain’t your mother’s company. We take naps. We breathe. We cook lunch. We chill and think. Then we roll. It might take minutes, it might take years, but really, what else is there to do?

Love,

Eben

A Spiritual Mass Culture

Fiends ain't comin fast enough
There is no cut that's full enough
I can't fold, I need gold, I re-up and reload
Product must be sold to YOU

--GZA “Gold” from Liquid Swords

Perfect description of the material economy—stickiness and all. Move more product even if it means the destruction of your neighborhood. More fiends equals more time/love for your people/family. Us against them.

Dear momma don't cry, your baby boy's doin good
Tell the homies I'm in heaven and they ain't got hoods
Seen a show with Marvin Gaye last night, it had me shook
Drippin peppermint Schnapps, with Jackie Wilson, and Sam Cooke
Then some lady named Billie Holiday
Sang sittin there kickin it with Malcolm, 'til the day came
Little LaTasha sho' grown
Tell the lady in the liquor store that she's forgiven, so come home
Maybe in time you'll understand only God can save us

--Tupac “Thugz Mansion” --released from beyond the grave.

A good transition rhyme. Still a little sticky but knows what time it is and where true value lives. Loveable but still might fuck up the neighborhood. Got one foot in each world. As a testament to the value of quantum culture, Tupac is still releasing #1 records from his grave. Still think you wanna make ball bearings?


So here go my single dog radio needs this
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh?
Well let this take away from my spins
Which will probably take away from my ends
Then I hope this take away from my sins
And bring the day that I'm dreaming about
Next time I'm in the club everybody screaming out

(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks)
The only thing that I pray is that me feet don't fail me now

Kanye West “Jesus Walks” from College Dropout


But I ain't even gon act holier than thou
Cause fuck it, I went to Jacob with 25 thou
Before I had a house and I'd do it again
Cause I wanna be on 106 and Park pushing a Benz
I wanna act ballerific like it's all terrific
I got a couple past due bills, I won't get specific
I got a problem with spending before I get it
We all self conscious I'm just the first to admit it

Kanye West “All Falls Down” from College Dropout

Chi-town in the house! Kanye’s up for 10 Grammy’s. This is quantum culture at its current best. (There's still plenty and plenty of room for improvement). You don’t have to be perfect, or saved, or anything, just honest. Probably be an alright neighbor. (I think he's managed both the watch and the house now).

Like Kanye, you’ll think you’re going to loose your shirt but will end up with a full closet. And boatloads of love. Well-placed vulnerability wins every time.

From Consulting to Coaching

Hi All,

One of the things about being a quantum brand is that you get the making of the movie running concurrently to the movie itself. As the inspiration economy is real time (how relaxing) and not a scripted performance, mistakes, slow periods and being off your game are all part of the deal. Hallmarks of the real. From “we’re perfect” to fake mistakes to real ones in one generation—not a bad time to be alive, huh? From 3’s Company to “reality” television to the real—possibly televised.

This also brings up one of the most lovingly subtle and important aspects of inspiration—vulnerability.

I’ve had a few discussions with people this week where it felt like I was proselytizing. I can do this when I feel like I am not being got (although ironically usually when people are listening—and which makes them tune me out). If I thought about it for more than the few minutes that I have it’s probably when I’m not listening to myself at an essential level and responding to a fear in the first place. But that may be a bit esoteric for my purposes here.

My point here is that the inspiration economy, which I would say is the goal of our emerging quantum culture, looks doggedly for the how. In a very real sense my value is not determined by what I write but by how I write it. It’s not like I made any of this stuff up—it’s how I combine it (what I choose can be seen as a how as well).

This week I felt my how was barely surviving. It tends to get the thinnest around the holidays, around stress and around meals. One reason I think I was so fascinated with the indigenous tribes that avoided the tsunami (another account of a tribe of 250 that all survived today in the Trib), is that part of me can feel the plates of the economy, of our culture shifting. Unfortunately, instead of relaxing on my what, I just ditched the how.

I got jiggy with the drama. Which is fine on the micro—as they say: “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”, this blog could easily be boring—but once it enters the macro, drama is then contradicting what I claim to be talking about. Raising my voice to be heard about relationships. Um-hmmm.

Part of me is excited for what all this stuff means, another part of me wants to spread the word, and another part every once in a while says “run for the hills”. Sometimes it gets listened to, sometimes not. I don’t mean to trivialize what is going on in SE Asia, India and Africa but I do think that what we notice in the world around us can be a reflection of what want to know about ourselves. As above, so below. And atoms look like solar systems.

I had a million great reasons to panic—money, time, tired, stretched—but I forgot that I don’t want to live that way. I don’t want to be another relationship pimp. I don’t want to be right (for anyone except myself). I don’t want to be in charge of the world. I just want to do my thing. And then rest and kick it with the fams. Eat at Tank (the great Vietnamese place on Broadway and Argyle) and fantasize about making it non-smoking.

So I panicked—and made myself worth less. I wouldn’t say worthless, all things being love and all, but definitely worth less. See how hard it is to grow without drama? Without anything (which is really anyone) to push off of? I give myself a B- and will switch subjects before this gets self-indulgent.


(ps: A great study—I can’t remember who it was but it’s in a fairly popular book—showed that the most progress was made in a business environment with a ratio of 12:1 positive to critical statements. Anything less than that was too negative and anything above that was too fake. I’m going to throw it all in to keep it real. And real time. Just make sure you discern me like a mug. I ain’t right. Not the least when I try to be. Steal what you want and ignore the rest. I’ll work on producing higher quality shit.)

Tiger Woods and Improving the Best

A great article about Tiger Woods in the paper this morning that led to a couple of thoughts about conversations I’ve had with a few folks over the past day or so.

I’m only really interested in improving the top brands. And let me tell ya why.

Forever business has been hammering on underperforming sectors and divisions. The greatest opportunity has been seen in a stock or corporation that is “underperforming”. Buy low sell high, y’know.

This is fine for the material world—and can work great in the spiritual as well, but primarily what works in the world of creativity and “strengths” is improving the best. There’s a great book on this called “Now Discover Your Strengths”. This has lots of personal and personnel applications but the most exciting opportunities are systematic and institutional.

What their data show is that it is vastly easier and more rewarding to improve strong performers operating with their strengths than underperformers developing “core competencies” (and it’s Gallup so they have lots of data). A strength shows an aptitude. And aptitude—desire—is non-replaceable.

I was talking with John Moore from Brand Autopsy (www.brandautopsy.com) about Whole Foods and his question was the same—who would tinker with a double-digit performer? Rob Engleman, from the Engleman Management Group (www.englemanmanagement.com), who I met with yesterday said the same thing.

What I said to them, and honestly believe, is that a corporation that can change without severe outside pressure—can innovate (in a material or cultural sense) and then innovate again—will find itself with exponential depth and ability. Rather than multiplicative. And its profits will follow. Right now our expectations are so low we don’t even believe the company we dream of is possible. The growth we dream of. The life we dream of.

We survive and token-change along until outside forces (god, the competition, tsunamis, whatever) force our noses to what we want and then reluctantly take enough steps toward our own truth to mitigate the immediate circumstances. We have a mid-life crisis and so divorce the wife. We get sick and so stop eating sugar for a few days. We awake hung over and so swear off drinking (and last until the next stressful Friday).

To get into the world that we know we are capable of, this type of tokenism—with ourselves and in business—will have to stop. In a very real sense it is a manageable victimization. We feel we cannot grow, or change, or be ourselves (or stop eating sugar) while we are on this planet, in this economy, with our family. This, of course, is not true.

As I’ve been getting into in the last few days of posts, what this really amounts to is drama. And drama is the quintessential addiction (and #1 sticky). But the competition isn’t going to kill us if we don’t make our logo red like theirs (actual meeting decision), our partner isn’t going to leave us if we either assert our desires or show our vulnerability, and we’re not going to spontaneously combust if we set about making the culture and economy we’ve always desired. There’s no reason that to grow up and raise children we have to move to the suburbs and forgo neighborhood relationships. Or pay for private schools. There’s no reason that we have to stop listening to current music from ages 32 to 52 (when we flip and start listening to Yanni or Tuvan throat singers out of desperation). We can have and build a mature, spiritual, vital, fun, real mature culture of our own.

All we’ve got to do is pay for it.

But back to Tiger Woods. Genius that he is. Quantum competition killer that he is.

Tiger, who’s spent the last year working on his swing (and getting married—see what happens when we decide to grow consciously), says he’s starting to feel in the groove again. This after a year of drubbing in the media (see where listening to them will getcha?), after people speculating that love was messing up his golf game (what planet do these people live on?). Deepak Chopra even suggested that he needed to loosen up. No one had any love for Tiger. Luckily, his love for himself was unconditional.

In front of the whole world he had the strength and courage to make himself vulnerable and appear wrong. For a whole year. I’d like to see one CEO who had the guts to go up against Wall Street for even a year because of an inner conviction.

Tiger has won tournaments in both November and December. And has taken the flaw out of his swing. When asked if he was back to where he was before he said no. –I’m better. Better than when he broke all those records and looked unbeatable. He knew that he, like Whole Foods, Microsoft, and a whole bunch of professional skateboarders, had taught the competition an awful lot of new tricks. And that the grommets (the hot, young upstart kids) were coming. He knew he had to make himself a king.

In the article he is quoted as saying that he knew a bad day would have to be 69. Instead of the 72 it could be when he was knocking everyone’s socks off.

Luckily he’s applying quantum knowledge in the material world. Spiritual competition doesn’t require anyone to lose. Once you’re in it’s just a matter of how well you can win. There really is a whole world to think up, create, build, learn from and enjoy. You didn’t think the promise of god was this tight-ass nonsense did you? We haven’t even seen a decent painting painted in 20 years. And half of y’all don’t even have time to feel the love you’ve worked so hard to maintain.

All we have to do is start making what we want and buying what we want. And I believe it’s not only possible, but immanent. The question is: do you wanna go? Ain’t no one gonna lower the truth.

We could even start giving venture capital to people who we think see the way out (in?). But that’s another post. Until then commit to growth and ignore everything you don’t love. Take complete responsibility and let yourself relax and wiggle into even higher states of being when you’re already at your peak. Ignore every single wound or slight that has ever happened to you—yesterday included. And pretend you are free to do as you like.

Cause you are. I’m off to tabulate survey results.

Two Great Resources

This is totally addicting (—sticky if you will). I think I could blog all day.

A couple of great, deep resources that probably don’t get mentioned enough in business and cultural circles:

The Anarchist Banker by Fernando Pessoa. A short story—brilliant. By the guy I’ve heard referred to (in print) as a lost modern master, along the lines of a Henry Miller. I think he was a little too depressed to be of quite that stature (who could blame him—he never quit his day job), but he sure got down to it in this one. He was basically discovered when he died—he had a trunk full of scraps of writing. Some as little as a few lines. Some from different voices and as if written by difffent people. All in all a great reason to make the transition to the brilliant creative soul you are and let others handle the paperwork (don’t worry, it’ll all get done). Let your freak flag fly!

Tonio Kroger by Thomas Mann. Another short one by another master. The title character leaves the mainstream of society to find himself only to end up lonely and unimpressed by the bohemians. This is about going full circle—and a brilliant and short exposition on why a counter-culture isn’t the reason either. Finding this earlier would have saved me about three years. Maybe more, Way to kill it Thomas!