The Myth of Individuality
Photo by Steve Johnson
"Somewhere inside, we hear a voice. It leads us in the direction of the person we wish to become. But it is up to us whether or not to follow."
— Pat Tillman
IN NATIVE AMERICAN BELIEF, HUMANS ARE IN NO WAY SUPERIOR TO THE NATURAL WORLD.
Accordingly, in Native American belief, there is no spiritual difference between a human being, a plant, a tree, an animal, or a rock, as all things are imbued by the Creator with the same resonant energy. Humans are in no way superior to the natural world but are expected to act as stewards and care for their environment as they would for their own family and community. The Native Bear Dance grew out of this understanding as the dancers, as they perform wearing the bear hides that have been gifted to them by their bear relatives, become those bears and offer to others the bear wisdom, healing, and power. Scholar/anthropologist Larry J. Zimmerman. (Try to apply this to your business model.)
Dr. Bruce Lipton, Ph. D biologist shares his transformational experience while at a teaching post at a Medical school on an island in the Caribbean. In the quiet contemplative of his remote location, being free of the “rat race” and able to see without blinders the restraint of civilization's dogmatic beliefs. More importantly free of the constant critiquing of the inner voice, something we should all recognize. It allowed a refreshing reexamination and re-experiencing of his life to date. He considered this recovery of his humanity as the breakthrough in his work as a cellular biologist. To wit: “I began to appreciate biology as a living, breathing, integrated system rather than a collection of individual species sharing a piece of the earth's turf.”
Just apply this to your business model.
I am building a macro perspective here that will come back to our micro day-to-day effort to have our work and life be effective and engaging. We think of ourselves as an individual, so let us start with the beginning, single-cell amoeba. Ultimately, as single-dividing cells began to exhaust resources, singles began to form multicell groups because it made surviving easier. (i.e., Apartment buildings accommodate more people on less geography than single-family houses.)
The multicell collections are what became life matter on earth, and as the collections became more complex humans evolved, for better or worse for the rest of earth, subject to opinion.
On a grander scale: The Gaia Hypothesis proposed by James Lovelock (1972) suggests that living organisms on the planet interact with their surrounding inorganic environment to form a synergetic and self-regulating system that created, and now maintains, the climate and biochemical conditions that make life on Earth possible.
The point I want to make is that we got here playing nice! In our business life, there is a lesson here, making things work for others makes things work for us. It is the foundation of the economics of decency business model/strategy.
“Hate has 4 letters, so does Love. Enemies have 7 letters, so does Friends. Lying has 5 letters, so does Truth. Negative has 8, so does Positive. Under has 5, so does Above. Cry has 3 letters, so does Joy. Anger has 5 letters, so does Happy. Right has 5 letters, so does Wrong. Hurt has 4 letters, so does Heal. It means life is like a double-edged sword.”
— From PM Lamb at Wizard Academy, Austin, TX
No matter what perspective you want to examine life from…personal, business, societal, global it means we are not alone, nor will we survive alone. Our individuality is as individual as the arms of an octopus.
A foundation of high-performance organizations is collaboration. That is a 360-application with our co-worker, our customers, our suppliers, our community, 360. Collaboration is the realization that everything I get done, gets done in a network of people. How I perform in the network impacts the efficacy of the network. Collaboration is not a selective process, it is 360.
As Lamb said “Life is a double-edged sword”, how you use it is a choice.
Who does your business serve?
Cheers and Blessings,
Fundamental of the Week #1: ACT WITH INTEGRITY
Integrity is the core of everything. Tell the truth, acknowledge and own your mistakes and clean them up with appropriate corrections. Do the right thing even when no one is looking.
Momentum Consulting offers executive business coaching, top-level executive consulting, team training, and team off-sites to build and transform your business to the next level. Inquire about business consulting and leadership coaching today.
