The People Who Were There, and the People Who Were Not

You will find this strange and interesting thing unfold as you go on a journey of innovation. Innovating formally means stepping out of the stream of the known. And that means stepping out of the stream of who you were.

Gossip by Thomas Sully (19th Century)

We all go through cycles of innovation in life, but there comes a moment in time where some humans choose to take the step of “major innovation.” What this means is that they are not just switching from Punk to Rap, or an interest in Art to Ballet--they are literally pushing off from the known body of knowledge into the unknown to find what actually exists on the other side.

Sometimes this journey of Christopher Columbus ends in new discoveries, but for many it ends in ruin. That’s why this period of choosing to step out into innovation is a critical moment in life. You will be able to tell who is real and who is not by the degree of their support for you in this tenuous stage. Not everybody has to reach out and hold your hand through this dark night of innovation -- but you will notice that some people are subtly trying to hold you back, while others are happily pushing you forward.

It’s been a very interesting phenomena for me to see those who have tried to subtly hold me back over the past many years I’ve been exploring Archetypal Cosmology. I mean for all means and purposes for somebody outside of this field, whatever I have done may have seemed like completely random, disconnected experiments. But for those few in the know, can appreciate the journey of bringing the theories of Tarnasian Archetypal Cosmology into the broad fields of mainstream society including art and commerce.

In this “gestational” period, nothing much is happening at least on the outside... it’s the classic entrepreneur’s tale. While friends with stable jobs are racking up annual promotions, vacations, cars and homes, you--as the innovator--seem to be going nowhere. But what is actually happening is that the essence of who you are, and what you know, is going through critical cycles of innovation into the wild unknown, thus laying the foundation of proprietary knowledge.

The goal may be to get through these innovation cycles as cleanly as possible as the Eric Reis’ of the world will advocate -- but when one is doing these innovation cycles at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, art, history, commerce, and tech -- there is a kind of forced cadence of actually waiting for history to transpire, or the human animal to adapt, to see how intuitions are playing out.

So very valuable work is happening -- the foundations of IP -- and yet it may seem like not much is going on. There are no high fives from the boss, not even news articles of fundraising given our interest in creating a vehicle for planetary transformation that incorporates both the finesse of human leadership, with the autonomy of a self-governing system as possible. All there is, is the existence of faith, or belief, in those around you for who you are and the path you’ve chosen for yourself.

A very funny thing starts to happen as your journey of innovation deepens... at first, the negative vibes from those around you is because they seem to be pushing ahead... but as the arc deepens, the negative vibes shift, and really it is because you are continuing to push forward--figure out problems, continue to exhibit deep creativity, and have what is essentially a future with an unknown ceiling. And yet for them, the early sugar rush of corporate promotion gives way to the reality that there is a ceiling ultimately in place for those who chose stability over risk in the critical 20s and 30s.

I share this because--as things start to work out for you on your path--always remember those who were there for you through it all. They are gifts from God. And have sympathy for those who were holding you back, but feel no fear walking away from them.

The great crux of life is that while every moment we believe we are living our story--it is actually just the neutral canvas of reality that is unfolding. What I mean is--the story we are carrying in our head is not as real as the simple fact of the metabolic evolution of life unfolding. These simple words are not sufficient to explain this completely, but venturing deeper into the paradigm shared by Jiddu Krishnamurti and Jesus Christ are a helpful entry point.

I’ll try again... all the time we are living, we are thinking “this is my story, this is my work, this is my relationship” -- but underneath all this is a neutral sense of “what is” -- we find that these stories may not be as real as the simple “what is” in front of us. Two people carrying two stories looking at the same thing. What is that “thing” when the difference between the stories are removed?

Many times the stories we carry are fragmented dividing barriers between “what is” and “who we think we are” to keep a consistent sense of identity rolling along. We can revisit this later...

I recall even Joel Osteen speaking with Oprah mentioning the importance of being aware of those in your life who are no longer able to contain where you are going. Who are trying to undermine or hold you back. It’s sad, we can have empathy, but it’s ok to walk away.

The wide open world awaits. At the end we die. And we have no idea what truly happens at that point. Reincarnation. Heaven. Nothing. Thus, we seek a spiritual life in the face of an ultimate unknown--paying deep attention to the wisdom of the past--while always acknowledging that the only source of truth is one’s engagement with “what is” in the moment.

Thank God for those who were there through the transformation. And send a small prayer as well for those who were not, wishing them well, but maybe closing the door.