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conscious capitalism
November 2006 
like breaking the spine on a new hardback...
Posted on Oct 6th, 2006
by 
Grant
Grant
The first entry is always the hardest, but here goes...
Greetings. I'm Grant.
Great to be here. After hearing Brian Johnson on Integral Naked, I thought I'd stop by Zaadz. The water looks good, so I'm jumpin' in!
Zaadz...MySpace for the conscious community, Cultural Creatives, or whatever we call ourselves. We, who are interested in consciousness, growth, all things holistic, organic, integral and evolved. Sustainability, social justice, spiritual activism...they're all threads of the same cloth. When I first realized that , sitting on a surfboard in San Diego...it cracked open for me. Using Ken Wilber's AQAL framework, the 1st person I perspective cracked open to the 2nd--to the thou, we and us and to some extent the 3rd person it as well. It was a flash of nature mysticism--unitus mysticus? A felt-oneness with the natural world.
It is more than a poetic sentiment to describe that experience as a sense of oneness and unity, especially half-submerged in the ocean. I think we humans are like 60-70% water and the compound closest to the consistency of human blood is saltwater. The inner and outer, both literally and figuratively became one.15 years of work on me,(psychotherapy, Gestalt and bodywork at Esalen, meditation, yoga) turned outward to a felt certainty of unity with the other. First to my fellow surfers--a bow to the radical thou, my fellow surfer tribe members. Then to the natural world all around me. It was all alive....and I was it!
Later that week, in a vigorous Ashtanga yoga class, covered in sweat, I popped again, even harder. That sense of overwhelming abundance and perfection...humilty, gratitude and compassion all in one. Complete and fully cooked as a human being, tears streamng down my face, the question that bubbled up for me was...how can I serve?
That was 7 years ago and I've been trying to answer that question ever since. I made way up here to the SF Bay Area, weathered the dot-boom and bust, worked at a Fortune 500 company, started and recently sold a start-up in San Francisco. I'm trying to weave a diverse background with degrees in psychology and education (master's in instructional design and technology) and professional experience in marketing and corporate training...and most recently franchising (replicate the good?)...and create my right livelihood.
I've decided to take the handle of Boundary Spanner, as I think it's at the edges where cool stuff can happen. You know...at the boundary of inner/outer; public/private, for-profit/non-profit. My own life has taken me to these edges, largely because I've been so unsatisfied in the traditional bounds imposed by society. Spiritual development or personal growth as practiced seemed too unbalanced and too narcissistic. Social and environmental activism seems too antagonistic, despite it's noble ideals and intentions. Non-profits were inherently unstable, unable to sustain themselves through charity and a compelling mission statement. Business...well, you know business. All that greed and focus on short-term financial performance (especially with public companies) makes them evil...or at least nor working for the greater good.
What turns me on? Sustainable Development. Conscious Capitalism. Social Entrepreneurship. Social Enterprise--and Franchising (more later.) Spiritual Activism. Engaged Spirituality. Looking forward to finding like-minded souls. After a quick look around, I think I may have come to the right place.....more later.
Drop me a line if anyone resonates with this.
Peace, light and love.
Grant
Greetings. I'm Grant.
Great to be here. After hearing Brian Johnson on Integral Naked, I thought I'd stop by Zaadz. The water looks good, so I'm jumpin' in!
Zaadz...MySpace for the conscious community, Cultural Creatives, or whatever we call ourselves. We, who are interested in consciousness, growth, all things holistic, organic, integral and evolved. Sustainability, social justice, spiritual activism...they're all threads of the same cloth. When I first realized that , sitting on a surfboard in San Diego...it cracked open for me. Using Ken Wilber's AQAL framework, the 1st person I perspective cracked open to the 2nd--to the thou, we and us and to some extent the 3rd person it as well. It was a flash of nature mysticism--unitus mysticus? A felt-oneness with the natural world.
It is more than a poetic sentiment to describe that experience as a sense of oneness and unity, especially half-submerged in the ocean. I think we humans are like 60-70% water and the compound closest to the consistency of human blood is saltwater. The inner and outer, both literally and figuratively became one.15 years of work on me,(psychotherapy, Gestalt and bodywork at Esalen, meditation, yoga) turned outward to a felt certainty of unity with the other. First to my fellow surfers--a bow to the radical thou, my fellow surfer tribe members. Then to the natural world all around me. It was all alive....and I was it!
Later that week, in a vigorous Ashtanga yoga class, covered in sweat, I popped again, even harder. That sense of overwhelming abundance and perfection...humilty, gratitude and compassion all in one. Complete and fully cooked as a human being, tears streamng down my face, the question that bubbled up for me was...how can I serve?
That was 7 years ago and I've been trying to answer that question ever since. I made way up here to the SF Bay Area, weathered the dot-boom and bust, worked at a Fortune 500 company, started and recently sold a start-up in San Francisco. I'm trying to weave a diverse background with degrees in psychology and education (master's in instructional design and technology) and professional experience in marketing and corporate training...and most recently franchising (replicate the good?)...and create my right livelihood.
I've decided to take the handle of Boundary Spanner, as I think it's at the edges where cool stuff can happen. You know...at the boundary of inner/outer; public/private, for-profit/non-profit. My own life has taken me to these edges, largely because I've been so unsatisfied in the traditional bounds imposed by society. Spiritual development or personal growth as practiced seemed too unbalanced and too narcissistic. Social and environmental activism seems too antagonistic, despite it's noble ideals and intentions. Non-profits were inherently unstable, unable to sustain themselves through charity and a compelling mission statement. Business...well, you know business. All that greed and focus on short-term financial performance (especially with public companies) makes them evil...or at least nor working for the greater good.
What turns me on? Sustainable Development. Conscious Capitalism. Social Entrepreneurship. Social Enterprise--and Franchising (more later.) Spiritual Activism. Engaged Spirituality. Looking forward to finding like-minded souls. After a quick look around, I think I may have come to the right place.....more later.
Drop me a line if anyone resonates with this.
Peace, light and love.
Grant
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