I love to listen to experienced people when they go to the edge of their understanding and peer out. Ricardo is a retired entrepreneur. He is a student of technology, a practical man who pays attention to detail. He now teaches leadership at a prestigious university and it is a calling, a labor of love. Continually, he ponders how to do it more effectively. In doing so, this practical man of technology puts together his insights and speaks like a mystic. Here are some of the things he told me.
“When I was a young professional, I was smart and capable, but I was not mature. After decades of ups and downs, my cognitive structure has been cracked open. Today, I more frequently transcend ego. I see the reality of spiritual consciousness. Today, I find myself teaching young people who are just like the young me. They live in a fast-paced world, they are constantly pressured to move forward without deep reflection. There is no focus on the nonphysical.”
“Leadership takes root in the nonphysical. What goes on at our core is crucial to what happens outside of us. To become a leader, you must learn to examine your daily journey. You must reflect and draw out the lessons in the richness of what is transpiring. You must bring your logical mind and your intuitive mind together. You must look backward as you look forward. You must stand in the present as a dynamic integrator of the past and future. If you deeply reflect on past and future, you become more conscious, you see what others do not see — reality is a whole that is moving. You can see your place inside the whole and you can influence the movement.”
“As you expand in consciousness of the dynamic whole, you see both the past and the future in a new light. The past and the future both change because you are seeing them. When you recall the power of purpose and faith in your past, your faith increases, and you approach the future with optimism. You act in new ways.”
“As you orient to the future, it is as if you are discovering what is already there. Your vision is awareness of reality. The future that you see is real, it is inside your intuitive mind, if you believe in it, you act, and the future begins to emerge into the material world.”
“Each of us has the potential for increased consciousness. Yet each of us carries injuries. Each injury causes the ego to put out another layer of crust. Like the earth, we have a molten core covered by layers of crust. When we engage in deep reflection, we go to the core. Our light increases and we see what we could not previously see. We discover that we are knocking on the door of a building to get in, while we are already inside. When you go deep within, you can see the outside with new eyes.”
Reflection
- What does it mean to have one’s “cognitive structure cracked open,” and to more frequently “transcend ego?” Do you have an example?
- What does it meant to “engage in deep reflection,” “go to the core,” and “see what we could not previously see?” Do you have an example?
- What does it mean to “stand in the present as a dynamic integrator of the past and future?” Do you have an example?
- How could we use this passage to create a more positive organization?