Three Fall Books from NAMASTE PUBLISHING
Dear Readers, It is with the greatest of pleasure that I am privileged to introduce you to three outstanding new books from Namaste Publishing. When Namaste Publishing was born all those years ago for the sole purpose of introducing Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now to the world, I had no idea there would not only be additional books from Eckhart but also others authors whose works I, and now for some years my team with me, would be blessed to bring you. I can truly say that our fall lineup is an offering that simply couldn’t be more inspirational, nor indeed more transformational. May you be richly blessed through reading them. Constance Kellough, President and Publisher
Christopher Papadopoulos lives near Montreal, Canada, the city in which he was born. He holds bachelor degrees in education and history from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and has served as both a primary and high school teacher. Based on his desire to help create a better world, in 1993 he ran for parliament in the Canadian federal elections. Realizing that a world of peace and harmony begins within the individual, he then embarked on an inner journey towards greater self-awareness. In 2003 he experienced a permanent shift in consciousness from anxious thoughts about himself to the peace we discover when we are in touch with our authentic being. Since that time, Christopher has worked with individuals and groups, guiding others to experience peace through the process of his own self-discovery.
Namaste Publishing Interviews
Christopher Papadopoulos Namaste: We hear a lot about the need to bring about world peace. Especially today, with more and more adversarial organizations on the planet, ranging from whole nations like North Korea to the crisis of civil war in countries such as Syria, with more and more groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda arming themselves ever more potently and places like Mexico torn apart by gang violence, the need for peace has never been greater. Yet when you turn to the morning’s headlines, all you see are statements such as “the United States needs to get tough on China” or references to ramping up the arms race to stand up to Russia. Given the belligerence that’s presently endemic in so many quarters, what hope do you see for a world at peace? Christopher: Given our species’ history of violence over the course of millennia and the increasing availability of escalating firepower, many begin to feel that world peace is a pretty hopeless quest. If we continue to approach the matter in the way we have, I would agree with this. The selfishness, greed, and cruelty humans are capable of renders a lasting peace through peace talks, negotiations, and treaties more of a pipe dream than a realistic possibility. Namaste: The moment one crisis appears solved, several more seem to pop up. Why are so many of the talks we hold, the roundtables we conduct, and the agreements we sign so ineffective? For instance, look at the various accords in the Middle East, and yet there’s as much turmoil in that region as ever. Christopher: Our brutal human nature clearly prevents us from being at peace with one another for very long. We see this not only on the world scene, but also in our personal lives, in our families, places of work, and the
wider society. Reports released in September reveal that we can’t even send our daughters to college and know they will be safe, with a quarter of them experiencing sexual assaults of one kind or another. Conflict, frequently escalating into violence, is everywhere. Of course, just as we try to negotiate peace on the global scale, so too we put in place laws and rules in society to try to compel people to treat each other peacefully. Yet the reality is that we are a dangerously violent society. The reason is simple. Enduring peace can never come from taking this approach. Namaste: Then are you suggesting we shouldn’t work for peace but should simply give up and accept the violent nature of our species? For instance, a headline in late September proclaimed, “Colombia peace deal with Farc rebels ‘within six months.’” Isn’t that hopeful? Shouldn’t they try? Or is it all just a waste of effort because, in the end, the reality is that the world is becoming an ever more dangerous place? Christopher: Anything that temporarily reduces violence and suffering is worthwhile. However, peace isn’t something that’s achieved with a “deal.” The reason for this is that you can’t make peace. You can only be peace. Namaste: Everyone talks about the importance of “making peace.” Relatives who have fallen out, different factions of a religion that take up arms against each other, nations that threaten each other’s borders--they all believe they must try to make peace. Are you saying they are misguided? Christopher: I mentioned that many are convinced that our very nature will always prevent us from making peace. I happen to agree that it’s impossible to “make” peace. And yet I believe that peace is readily available to each of us both in the sense of personal peace and a peace that’s planet wide. Namaste: How is personal peace connected with world peace? Aren’t the two entirely different things? Christopher: What if our brutal behavior stems from being unable to connect with an aspect of ourselves that’s much deeper than most of us have ever explored within ourselves? In other words, what if at our center we are actually permanently peaceful? Far from our very nature
preventing us from knowing peace, it’s not knowing what our true nature is that’s the problem. Because we grow up in a world that teaches us to ignore our deepest self, we live our lives with an incomplete experience of ourselves that distorts our perception of reality and makes us behave without serenity and compassion. Namaste: You’re saying that a more complete experience of our deepest nature would lead to personal peace, which would then be reflected on a global scale. Which is why you stress that we don’t “make” peace, but that we must be peace, right? Christopher: I can go one step further. If you once understand your true nature--the very essence of your being, not the way you have been programmed in a culture that doesn’t even know we have a deeper, more original, more authentic aspect of ourselves—you’ll discover that you are peace. This astounding insight is the topic of my new book, PEACE —And Where to Find It. Namaste: How do you know this? You speak with such certainty. Christopher: I used to think of myself as a “seeker,” always in search of an answer to my anxiety and a deep longing for inner peace. Then, as I describe in my book, one day that all changed. I was no longer seeking—I had found what I was looking for. A deep peace suffused my life, and I have never looked back. Quite simply, everything changed for me. Namaste: Can you describe this peace that you discovered at your center? Christopher: I can tell you that it feels wonderful and permanent—like it has always been here and always will be. Ultimately, no words can adequately describe what can only be known as a direct experience. It’s our thoughts and beliefs about peace that get in the way of the experience of peace itself. Have you ever noticed that there’s a voice in your head that rarely stops talking? Most of us believe this voice is who we are. Well, what I discovered is that this talkative voice isn’t the real me at all. Although we think of this voice as our identity, it’s just a story we’ve made up about ourselves based on our thoughts and emotions. I hasten to add that it’s
not a pleasant story much of the time, which is why we don’t feel at peace. Also, the fact that we manufacture group stories, forming a group identity that’s different from the group identity of others, is the reason we can’t get along as people, societies, and a world. Namaste: You’re saying that our incessant thinking and reacting distort our perception of reality, blocking an awareness of our true nature, which is at all times peaceful. This means that not only peace of mind, but world peace, are a simple matter of awareness, right? Christopher: Ultimately, yes. The vibrant peace I’m referring to is actually the essence of everything around us, not just ourselves. It’s the intelligence, the consciousness, that underlies all of creation. You might think of it as our Source. Because it’s in everything, and because it is peace itself, even the space around you is saturated with peace. It’s a peace that’s always here. Namaste: So all of our peace talks, summits, and treaties really have nothing to do with actual peace? Christopher: Not really—and yet, from a deeper perspective, they have a great deal to do with it! The fact that we keep trying to create peace is evidence that peace is something we yearn for. However, we yearn for it not because we lack it, but because it’s the essence of the nature we’ve lost touch with. Although peace isn’t something we can possess, our desire to promote peace in the world issues from the peace that seeks to surface within us but that’s crushed by all the false things we’ve learned to think and feel about ourselves. Namaste: So many of us are busy searching for peace that I don’t think it’s ever occurred to us that peace is bedrock to our being, simply awaiting our awareness that it’s our nature to be peace. Christopher: The peace we already are can’t be created any more than we can create sunlight. But if we simply step out of the shadow of our false self--the self based on all the talk in our head—we can bask in the light of pure awareness anytime we so choose. Indeed, the moment we step out of the shadows of our limited awareness, this ever-present peace reveals itself, illuminating our lives and those of the whole planet.
Namaste: What are the chances of this happening on a global scale? Christopher: As we become familiar with our own true nature, we begin to recognize the peace at the core of everyone and everything. Indeed, it becomes obvious that, at our deepest level, we are all expressions of one single, peaceful reality. As this awareness increases on the planet, the compassionate and peaceful behavior that results will transform how we live together. Namaste: Having entered into this peace for yourself, how do you feel about the many, many organizations and initiatives that advocate for peace in the world? Christopher: I applaud them all in their attempts to promote peaceful behavior. However, as long as we block awareness of our deeper being, we will only ever mimic peace, which means the effect will be temporary. This is because only that which springs from the heart isn’t subject to the whims of the fearful, isolated voice in our head, the “me” that can so easily rationalize why it engages in brutality. Nevertheless, the brief periods of relative calm that we typically mislabel as peace are still worth aiming for. They are harbingers of what we are capable of, whispers from our true nature. What we need to do is use them as a platform from which to launch ourselves into the depths of our being. When we do, we’ll discover that we are what we’ve been looking for—the vibrantly alive stillness that lies behind the changing scenery of what we think of as “our life.” We are all suffering from a case of mistaken identity, which is the reason that both inner peace and global peace have eluded us. It turns out that the road to personal peace is also the path to world peace.
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In today’s turbulent world, few experience even sporadic peace, let alone a continual peace. We are so used to conflict that almost everything has become a “war against” something—against cancer, against poverty, against drugs, against the challenges in our everyday life. We’ve marched for peace, fought for peace, given for peace, protested for peace—and still peace evades us. In our personal lives, many of us get up every day ready to do battle. We fight with traffic, struggle to keep up with our schedule, and often have to deal with difficult people. This book is an invitation to step out of this battle mode and experience your day from a place of peace. It gives you a roadmap for how to handle the stresses, anxieties, and uncertainties of your day. As you find yourself becoming increasingly peaceful— calmer, more grounded, less anxious, and more hopeful —you become a bearer of peace in the world. Come, enter the labyrinth. Discover the peace you’ve been seeking.
The Search for Peace by Christopher Papadopoulos One morning in the fall of 2003, I walked into the kitchen and remarked to my mother, “You know what? I’m not seeking anymore.” A peace-infused clarity had moved from the background to the foreground of my awareness. Suddenly, feeling peaceful seemed quite normal. Other than my memories of a life lived mostly lost in thought or reacting to things emotionally, it felt as though peace had always been my natural state. It was as if I had come home to myself. Only now did I notice how deeply embedded the “seeking” me had been. I had no idea of the extent of my anxiety, and how desperately I had wanted to find peace, until aft er years of seeking, that morning my distress was finally gone for good. Everyone wants to feel peaceful, don’t they? People go out of their way to avoid stressful situations, or to bring about their dreams, in the hope of finding peace. Would it surprise you if I told you that feeling peaceful has nothing to do with your current personal situation, but everything to do with where your attention is? To illustrate what I’m talking about, if you are in a room right now, are there more things in this room, or is there more space? You may not have noticed until now, but there’s far more space in most rooms than there are things. The average room is, in fact, mostly space. Indeed, the world itself is mostly empty space—atmosphere, with shapes on the ground. Isn’t this also true of the universe itself? The apparent solidity of anything material is a perceptual illusion. Even the atoms that make up matter are almost completely empty space, since the nucleus and electrons constitute an infinitesimal part of the atom. The space between individual atoms is even greater, regardless of the material. We could lift the roof off a house and pour concrete until every inch from bottom to top is filled, but the resulting solid block would still be more than 99.99 % empty space. Did all of this space just arrive, or was it here long before us? Of course, it’s been here a very long time. We just weren’t aware of it.
Where should I be looking for peace? You may think you’ve looked everywhere for peace. You may feel quite frustrated, perhaps even exasperated, because you believe you’ve looked everywhere, tried everything, and come up empty. However, I’ve already shown you there is a reality around you that you likely haven’t paid attention to before now. You may not have even noticed this at all. The fact you’ve looked in so many places for peace and not found it is actually good news. Even though you believe you’ve looked everywhere, you have just experienced how easy it is not to notice something that’s in fact very, very obvious. Just as you didn’t really notice how empty everything is, so too you haven’t noticed that the peace you crave is actually right here already. In fact, the peace you have been looking for emanates from the emptiness of the space we’ve just been talking about, the space in which you exist. Peace has always been here, and indeed everywhere, without us knowing it. Once you learn how to tune into the peace that’s already here, you’ll have all the peace you could wish for. If you aren’t at peace with yourself, you certainly haven’t looked right where you are. How do I know this? Because to look here, you have to be here. What do I mean by “be here”? To be here, you have to be in the present moment, giving it your full attention. Sadly, instead of being here, in most cases our minds are elsewhere. When we aren’t completely here in this moment now, we don’t experience reality as it actually is. Instead, we view it through a heavy filter of beliefs, thoughts, and emotions. These are characteristics of the mind, which we might think of as an interpreting and measuring mechanism. If you pay attention to your thoughts, you’ll notice they are constantly evaluating everything, commenting on everything, drawing conclusions about everything. The problem is, the constant interpreting and evaluating that takes place when the mind is active tends to disconnect us from the aliveness of reality. In other words, the thoughts we use to try to understand reality have a way of removing us from the actual experience of reality. Let’s focus on thought for a moment. Are you aware there’s an almost constant monologue going on in your head? There is, though many of us aren’t aware of it unless we actually stop and pay attention to our thoughts.
This “voice in the head”1 carries on a conversation with itself during most of our waking hours. It’s as if we’re talking to ourselves all the time. But this voice isn’t our own—isn’t the voice of our true self. It’s a foreign voice. Even if, unlike most people, you’re aware of this voice in your head, you may never have thought of it as a foreign voice. Because you’re so completely identified with it, it just sounds like your own thoughts. Until you step back from them, that is, and suddenly become aware that all of these thoughts and various emotions are arising without you doing anything to cause them. They aren’t you at all! They are just something happening inside your head, and you are the one listening to them, noticing them, observing them. It might help to think of the voice in your head as software that’s been programmed into you and is now running on your hardwiring, the neural circuits of your brain. This software goes under various brand names. The one I like to use was coined by Eckhart Tolle in his book The Power of Now. He calls this software the “ego.” Are you saying that my ego is different from who I really am? Ego is a term that’s been around for thousands of years. But over the centuries, it’s meaning has changed. It has been used to refer to everything from our authentic self to a false sense of self, and even to specific aspects of ourselves such as in the way Freud used it. Different people use the term ego to mean different things. When I speak of ego, I’m referring not to who we really are, but to a false sense of ourselves—an idea of ourselves, an image of ourselves, a picture of ourselves we carry around in our head. You can see what I mean if someone says to you, “I need to improve my self-image.” There’s an observer who sees the image and concludes it needs improving. Or someone might say something like, “I don’t see myself that way.” Their interpretation of how they come across is different from your sense of how they come across. As mentioned, the software that’s almost constantly running on our neural circuits drops a heavy filter of beliefs, thoughts, and emotions over reality. This conceptual filter goes largely unnoticed. It’s so subtle, it remains superimposed on our perception of reality for most of our lives unless something awakens us to its presence. The result is that the mental processes associated with this software consume most of our attention,
leaving little room for seeing the way things really are— including who we really are. Most humans suffer from a case of mistaken identity. We believe ourselves to be our thoughts, emotions, and behavior, each of which are products of the mind. We think of ourselves as “me” with a story about our likes, dislikes, what happened to us in the past, and what we want to happen in the future. In fact, we often associate life with“what’s happening to us.” If you pay close attention, you’ll see that all of our thoughts, emotions, and behavior—along with all the things that are happening to us—occur on the surface of reality. Hidden behind the scenes is a silent, invisible intelligence that observes these things. This invisible intelligence is pure awareness. It has no shape or form, but simply is. We might think of it as pure “being,” that which exists before actual things and events come into being. In other words, it’s the source of all shapes, forms, and everything that happens. It’s where objects, nature, people, places, events, thoughts, and emotions originate. This pure being—this intelligence from which everything has arisen— can’t be known through words or concepts. It’s impossible to describe it, or even imagine it. Instead, it has to be experienced. I liken it to a grapefruit. If you had never seen a piece of fruit of any kind, and I began describing a grapefruit to you, no matter how hard I might try, you would have little idea of what a grapefruit is. The only way you could know what I’m talking about would be to see a grapefruit, hold it, peel it, taste it, and swallow it. In other words, it must be experienced to be known. In effect, only when we become one with the grapefruit, so that we absorb its nutrients, do we really grasp what it is. In our essential being, each of us is pure awareness. So as long as we identify ourselves with the voice in our head, we are living with a case of mistaken identity. To be identified with the content of our mind is to inhabit a virtual world, which in effect means we live in the abstract realm of thought. To discover who we really are, we must step back from the thinker that pretends to be us, including the images we hold of ourselves. We must look beneath our mental clutter to find its source, which is the spaciousness of pure awareness. Only then can we detect this everpresent awareness as our true nature, which is pure being. Let me be clear what I mean when I speak of pure awareness. When we say, “I’m aware of the situation,” we are indicating that we are cognizant of our thoughts about a situation. This is the way we typically describe
awareness. But behind our mental content, our body, and the universe, there is an eternally awake, present, and formless source of everything that exists. This pure awareness has always been and will forever be. This is who we truly are. When we refocus our attention to become aware of awareness itself, we don’t identify with any thought, emotion, object, or event. We are not being “this” or “that.” As an expression of the awareness that precedes the emergence of all shapes and forms, we are simply being. We are one with the source of, and the silent witness to, all that can be perceived and conceived. I hear so many people say it’s important to “be here now.” Why? We’ve all heard expressions such as “be here now,” “be in the moment,”“stay in the now,” “just live in the present moment.” So when I talk about pure “being,” you’re likely saying to yourself, “Haven’t we heard all of this before?” Yes, millions have heard about the need to live in the present moment. Yet here we are, most of us still struggling, hurting, year after year. Obviously it’s not enough that we hear about living in the moment, and that everyone from sports figures to movie stars talk about it these days, or people wouldn’t be suffering as they are. It has to become an actual experience that we no longer talk about or even try to do. It has to be experienced as our state of being. Sometimes people feel they’ve had enough of all this talk about the present moment. They believe they know about the present moment, since they’ve read a lot of books and been to many retreats to deepen their understanding of the subject. After sometimes years trying to be in the present, they’re tired of it all. The actual present moment is never fatiguing or irritating. Quite the opposite, it’s the very definition of vibrancy, joy, clarity, and peace. The beautiful mystery of the present fills you with wonder as you experience relief and liberation. What you have “had enough of ” is the concept of the present moment, which teases you with its hopeful possibilities but always remains just out of reach. Whenever you feel this way, it’s because your mind is forcing itself up against reality, trying to extract an understanding of it through mental interpretation alone. In this way, your mind acts as an invisible barrier between you and reality. Like two magnets whose like poles are facing each other, whatever you reach out for, whatever you
seek to understand, is actually pushed further away by the very act of trying to grasp it mentally. The wonderful thing is that life is hardwired to bring us experiences that invite us to step into the present moment. In fact, life will keep on bringing us such experiences, repeating the message about living in the moment as it were, until everyone begins to embody what the words point to. When we make the shift into just being in the present, we experience a deep, vibrant peace that’s vast and intelligent—a peace that’s nothing to do with how we might attempt to rearrange our lives or alter what’s happening to us in the hope of making things more peaceful for ourselves. We discover peace as our primordial characteristic, which has always been there.
An Interview with Author
Catherine Bell
Namaste: You entitled your book The Awakened Company. What exactly do you mean by the term “awakened” when you use it in a business context? Catherine: You often hear it said that “business is business,” or that something is “just business.” All kinds of things take place in the name of “business” that aren’t necessarily beneficial in their impact on other aspects of life. Sometimes whole communities are destroyed. A fundamental premise of The Awakened Company is that business can never be “just business,” but is in some way connected to each and every dimension of our lives. An awakened company is therefore aware of its impact on the whole of life. To be aware of its effect on the whole of life, a company needs to be in touch with what’s occurring in real-time, which includes the needs of the moment, but also with trends that are on the horizon. For instance, it was one thing to build factories with chimneys that belched smoke into the air at the start of the industrial revolution, when we didn’t understand the impact of how we were polluting the atmosphere and what the long-term consequences might be, whereas it’s quite another to do the same today. An awakened company is one that’s looking at all the ways it affects our lives, including potential effects on the future. In a sense, it is continual awakening.
Namaste: When you speak of the “whole” of life, say more about the kinds of things you have in mind. Catherine: I am speaking of our lives personally, relationally, environmentally, technologically, communally, and globally. We think of companies as having stakeholders. Usually when we refer to a “stakeholder,” we have in mind those who have a financial interest in a company. However, the stakeholders in any company are much broader. They include the community in which a company operates, the people it sources materials from, the people it provides goods or services to, the people who work in the company, the environment in which it operates, and much more. An awakened company is in touch with the needs of all its stakeholders, not just those whose focus is the bottom line. Namaste: Would you say that companies are more awake or less awake today than they have traditionally been? Catherine: It’s a mix, but overall I see some promising signs that more companies are awakening, while others are becoming aware of the need to awaken, since they recognize that the way most businesses operate today simply isn’t sustainable. On the one hand we are seeing some extremely successful household names shift to awakened business practices, while on the other many companies seem to put in place more and more impersonal rules, give their people less and less power to make decisions, and increasingly function more like machines than communities of people. Rules trump personal service in all too many cases today. Namaste: Doesn’t a company need to have set standards, or rules, about how it functions and how it relates to the public? Catherine: Yes, of course. But this doesn’t justify a company becoming rule-bound and time-bound, so that it’s no longer relevant in terms of the customer’s needs or employees because those who are in touch with the public simply have no power to make wise decisions that are in the company’s best interests. An awakened company evolves to match the reality of this moment in time, as well as envisioning where the future lies. To achieve this, it seeks to empower its people, seeing everyone as a leader. In this way a company is responsive to the needs of the moment, as well as mindful of the future, and can switch gears when necessary. Awakening, then, isn’t a state but an ongoing process, so that the
awakened company is anything but a fixed entity. It throbs with the life of real people. Namaste: Speak to the individuals who work in awakened companies. How are they different from the workers in the majority of companies? Catherine: An awakened company consists of individuals who are aware of the big picture and where they fit into it. People are deeply self aware, the culture reinforces this self awareness, they have a deep understanding of the organizational vision, and have a learning mindset. They in essence combine mindfulness with self awareness. People who are aware are what’s going to transform the very nature of what we consider “work.” In those companies that are already awakening, the entire organization— from the CEO to the publicists, technicians, secretaries, and janitors— functions harmoniously. A collegial spirit prevails in which each values the other, engaging in interaction that regards colleagues as precious individuals, so that we each recognize and honor one another’s humanity. This in turn spills over to suppliers, customers, and the wider public in a manner that enhances the wellbeing of all, since all of these are a company’s real stakeholders. An awakened company is therefore an organization that has moved from “me” to “we” in its thinking and practices. The leaders of such companies no longer see those who work in the company, the communities they serve, or the planet itself in terms of mere resources to be merchandized. Namaste: What moved you to write this book? And why now? Catherine: As someone who has worked since I was young in an array of work settings, I have experienced anger, rage, fear, disengagement, and deep sadness over the behavior of many organizations. I have seen the pain people suffer in these organizations. The saddest aspect of many a corporate work experience is that such distress is entirely unnecessary. That it doesn’t have to be this way is clear from how companies thrive when they move away from the model of “business is business” that causes this distress. It’s because I’ve seen so much sickening behavior in organizations that I started BluEra. I saw how business could be fundamentally different and wanted to put these insights into practice. As the founder of a globallyfocused, multimillion dollar consulting firm specializing in executive search,
team transformation, and coaching, I helped build dynamic teams in a variety of organizational settings from small start-up companies to Fortune 500 firms. By interviewing thousands of senior executives on the hunt for talented leadership, our team uncovered common characteristics of awakened individuals: open-minded and open-hearted, yet have a sense of clear decisiveness; tenacious in their commitment to grow and learn both personally and professionally; compelled by a vision that overrides fear and incorporates different possibilities; not satisfied with the status quo, always exploring new possibilities; deeply aware of the interdependence and interconnection of all things. The book comes at a time when there’s a crisis in the business world. From an era of profits first and growth at all cost, businesses and the people within business are coming to the realization this is no longer working. The Awakened Company offers practical ways and useful examples from business, community, social, and academic leaders to take business to a new and awakened level through the merging of wisdom traditions, including mindfulness and yoga, with best practices in business. The depth, scope, and practicality of the book set it apart from other books on business. Namaste: Do you have particular qualifications that made you the right fit for authoring such a book about business? Catherine: In terms of traditional qualifications, I have a BA in sociology from Western University, an MBA from Queen’s, certification in the Enneagram, an advanced certificate in Executive Search Consulting from Cornell University, have completed the Institute of Corporate Directors NFP Governance Essentials Program, and am a certified yoga instruct or. I have started a company and worked for a large organization. Recently the firm that I founded was rated as one of the fastest growing organizations and as a best workplace. I’m currently doing research in mindfulness with a leading university. As well, I have done all of this while being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, active volunteer, and community member, perhaps some of the most potent qualifications of all. Namaste: Tell us about your collaborators.
Catherine: I chose not to go it alone, but to work with Russ Hudson and Christopher Papadopoulos. Russ is a well-established author and lecturer who sold over a million copies of his previous book and has awakened hundreds of thousands of people. Chris, also an author and teacher, has seen the launch of his book PEACE—And Where to Find It this fall, also from Namaste Publishing. In a nutshell, The Awakened Company is a collaboration between three individuals well versed in and deeply concerned about the present state and future direction of organizations. Indeed a whole community has rallied around awakening in organizations. My editor, David Ord and publisher, Constance Kellough have been powerful forces in the book too, not to mention the amazing contributors! Indeed a community rising! Namaste: What do you see as the future of business? Catherine: From one-person enterprises to multinational corporations, organizations are the principal vehicle for supplying the world’s needs and have the potential to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Almost anything significant in the world is done in organizations. Namaste: You are saying that organizations are the solution? Catherine: We are the solution. However, despite being woven into every part of our lives, the approach to business often leaves much to be desired. For instance, no small number of companies tend not to be good at surviving. Witness the fact that the majority of businesses die before they are ten years old! With such a high rate of attrition, we have to wonder how the current “business as usual” mentality of many companies sets employees, clients, and customers up for success. Instead, it results in a bipolar boom-bust economy. How can such instability, with all the ups and downs it causes in the marketplace, create thriving communities? The production and distribution abilities of corporations have achieved marvels. But shouldn’t organizations that are so integral to every part of our day and every aspect of our lives reflect the highest values and the very best of what it means to be human? Is the current model really the best we can do? Namaste: You are seeing real change in the business world?
Catherine: In the course of writing this book, we were excited to discover just how many business leaders are aware of the severity of the problem— and how many of them share with us the simple realization that we not only can do better, but that some of the leading corporations are already pioneering a new business model, with amazing results. The writers talked with business leaders about what works and what doesn’t. They chose to interview those breaking new ground—leaders in organizations like Zappos, Queen’s University, Selco India, Me to We, Free the Children, USC Marshall School of Business and Culture Sync, McGill, MIT, Renewal Funds, and Patagonia. The companies we interviewed span the globe. Our desire is to launch a global conversation on awakening in organizations. We care.
Collaborating Authors
Christopher Papadopoulos and Russ Hudson
PRAISE FOR THE AWAKENED COMPANY
ABOUT THE BOOK The Awakened Company offers practical insights designed to take business to a new and awakened level through the merging of wisdom traditions with the best practices in business. The Awakened Company comes at a pivotal moment in the evolution of the modern business world. Fed by a drive for “more,” for decades a select class of investors in mercenary enterprises has increasingly used its clout to defang regulations and aggressively engage in high-risk activity. Far from being a one-off caused by a particular sector of the market, the financial meltdown of 2008, which brought the world’s most powerful economies to the brink of a narrowly-averted global depression, was a huge cry for help from a business model that’s so very evidently failing. Following an era defined by a philosophy of profit first and growth at all costs, we are slowly awakening to the realization that the profit model is no longer sustainable. Businesses need to turn a profit, but more and more of us are realizing that when we value the bottom line above people, society, and the planet, disastrous results follow. Thankfully, we are discovering that corporate culture is malleable, which means it can be developed and, when necessary, transformed. We have entered an era when a wholesale transformation of the way companies operate is imperative if we are to avoid a repeat of the 2008 crisis…this time with the total collapse of our economies. As awareness of a need for change gains momentum, it’s becoming clear that the world of tomorrow will no longer reward businesses that put profit ahead of those who produce this profit, let alone the wider community that breathes life into all commercial enterprises. As a consequence, in the shadow of the rampant greed and corruption that had such a
devastating effect on economies planet-wide, a profound shift is now underway. Beneath the rubble of collapsing businesses, communities, and families— all suffering the side effects of the established economic paradigm—no small number of companies are finding their way out of this chaotic and unpredictable mode of operating. Indeed, some of the foremost bigname corporate enterprises have been taking a hard look at themselves and in the process discovering a truer calling. In The Awakened Company we lay out a path for the transformation of the whole of corporate culture—the path already being taken by a growing number of increasingly successful companies. Reinventing themselves from lessons learned, these companies draw on methods and approaches from various philosophical perspectives and wisdom traditions to positively influence corporate culture. The Awakened Company is an invitation to learn from these wisdom makers, academics, private equity builders, breakthrough renewable energy companies (even some traditional energy companies), entrepreneurs, and social enterprise that have discovered a mode of doing business that’s not only profitable but that feeds their soul and gives the lives of all concerned meaning. The depth, scope, and practicality of The Awakened Company set it apart from other books on business. Our fundamental premise is that work can no longer be separated from the rest of life in the way it has been and continues to be for the majority. The metrics for success in business need to change at a fundamental level. It turns out there’s another way of doing business that benefits businesses, those involved in them, and the planet itself. Contrary to what we have believed, profit, caring for our people and communities, and looking after the Earth aren’t mutually exclusive, but on the contrary feed into and support each other. When we awaken to this very different paradigm, we discover a purpose for our commercial enterprises that transcends profit alone. Instead of building a business in our own image, which is an incomplete and often distorted impression of who we are, we understand ourselves as part of the entire human enterprise with a unique role to play. Our special talents
and acquired skills are seen as gifts to be used for the benefit of all, so that they become our contribution to the evolutionary journey of humanity. Paradoxically, as we grow in awareness of our connectedness to everyone and everything and identify what we have to contribute, our profits increase and our businesses become sustainable. To awaken is to become aware that you are connected to everyone and everything on the planet. It’s when you don’t recognize this and consequently feel disconnected that you struggle to find meaning. It’s also why the experience of real fulfillment escapes you. Join us on this journey of awakening as we become aware of how we are all interconnected, and in the process discover our unique place in the scheme of things. You will be pleasantly surprised to see who’s walking alongside you on this journey of transformation—and even more surprised by how rewarding it is for your own business.
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Lessons on Loving in The Little Prince follows the storyline of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's beloved tale of how a little boy with a love of art is discouraged from being true to himself and instead grows up to be a pilot who finds it difficult to connect with people in a meaningful way and is therefore extremely lonely. When he crash-lands in the Sahara Desert, he meets the little prince, who has descended to Earth from a tiny planet. Through his contact with the little prince, the pilot discovers how, by the time he was six, he had already lost touch with his real self and had begun living his life in a manner intended to please others—a situation that’s common to humans and is the cause of so many of our later problems in life, particularly our inability to connect with one another heart-to-heart and to lead a meaningful work life. Paralleling the pilot’s experience is that of the little prince, who is a symbol of our inner being—our original authentic self as a child. His journey from the stars represents our birth from star stuff, and his romance with the rose on his planet depicts the struggles we go through when it comes to forming passionate, enduring relationships. This is a book about learning to reconnect with our deepest self, discovering how to be real with each other in our relationships, and beginning to rely on ourselves and trust ourselves rather than needing the validation and support of others. In summary, it’s a description of the journey each of us must take if we are to learn to be true to ourselves and make our lives fulfilling If you were raised on The Little Prince or have fallen in love with the story as an adult, you will enjoy this timeless tale all the more once you understand its countless symbols and how they relate to your everyday life and relationships—a depth of meaning uniquely unveiled in Lessons on Loving in The Little Prince.
Excerpted from
Lessons on Loving in The Little Prince Insights and Inspirations
[Chapter 1 continues in the book]
CONTENTS 1
When Life Puts the Squeeze on You Rediscovering Yourself
2
Stranded in the Desert A Life-Changing Loneliness
3
Please . . . Draw Me a Sheep You’re Not the Person You Think You Are
4
Taking Out Your Colored Pencils Learning to Hear Your Inner Voice
5
Straight Ahead You Can’t Go Very Far We Grow Through Detours
6
9
11
16
Discovered
Taming the Fox A Partner Can Help You Become Yourself
17
You’re Nothing at All Yet! Truly Knowing Each Other Awakens Love
18
Seeing With the Heart Handling Your Partner’s Faults
19
Beyond Sunsets There’s More to Life Than You’ve Yet
The Rose—Unique Among Flowers Finding That Special Someone
Little Glittering Things Determining What’s Truly Important to You
12
15
A Collection of Bottles The Transforming Power of Awareness
The Seventh Planet Was Earth Saying Who You Are
Do Me This Favor The End of Self-Doubt
10
14
A Universal Monarch We Each Live in a Different Reality
You’re An Explorer! Living Life to the Full
Lonely People on Lonely Planets Why You Don’t Connect
8
13
Ridding Yourself of Baobabs No More Settling for Mediocrity
7
Author David RobertOrd
A Singing Well Self-Discovery Is Painful
20
All the Stars Are Laughing Trusting Your Inner Voice