Ecolism: Spiritual Entrepreneurship

Posted on January 14th, 2009 by Mu

Innately as human beings, we desire 2 things whether consciously aware of it or not: to feel a connection to something greater than ourselves and to be able to benefit other people and the world around us. This is the essence of spirituality. If you can achieve these 2 things in life, you can cultivate true happiness and peace.

Life will always be a mystery, but can’t we agree the point is to be truly happy and free of suffering? And yet pondering this as an intellectual ideal or meditating on a mountain in Tibet for the rest of your life won’t cut it. We have to somehow feel it and incorporate it into the reality of our lives, which for good or bad largely centers around making money to provide a means to function in society. To many, money is perceived as the root of all evil and focusing on making a lot of it couldn’t possibly allow you to connect to something greater than yourself or benefit other people. It’s too competitive and you have to focus only on yourself or else you’ll be exploited by those that do.

But what if this is all wrong? What if focusing on spiritual growth, connecting to the force that powers you beyond your ego, and cultivating a sense of importance in benefiting other people, will actually give you an edge? What if the world is going through a dramatic shift from a linear system to a cyclical system, a renewable system, where a more, more, me, me mentality will lose, and a holistic, spiritual mentality will win? What will help traditional capitalism transcend into a new form of governance we like to call ecolism?

Currently, there are 3 types of entrepreneurship in our world.

Classical entrepreneurship is the essence of modern capitalism and engages a mindset of making as much money as possible within your business. Most entrepreneurs with this mindset are driven by status and materialism, and having great wealth to show a symbol of their personal power in the world. They tend to spend their profits on houses, cars, and luxury that they believe will buy them adoration and happiness. Classical entrepreneurs who reach the pinnacle, maxing out material indulgence, are ultimately reduced to the love of the deal and nothing more. Donald Trump is the prototypical classical entrepreneur. This method of entrepreneurship is not necessarily bad, in fact it was necessary over the past few hundred years to get us to the point we are at now. However, it tends to influence spiritual emptiness and results in the individual never truly finding the happiness or the inner peace they are looking for, no matter how much money they make. They always want more and don’t know why, and become confused as they gain more money and less happiness. This is what cultivates greed rather than love in peoples hearts and results in the chaos that our current economy is in. It’s this mentality built into the fabric of capitalism that is leaving our world in ruin with pollution, waste, depleted resources, and a stifled global economy. So to amend, this method has become obsolete and needs to evolve.

Social entrepreneurship on the other hand is driven by those who want to make a difference in the world, and are in a way, turned off by profits. The most practical example of successful social entrepreneurship is micro-credit lending, in which individuals create lending funds/banks solely for the purpose of helping communities and developing countries, while not focusing on profits. Muhammad Yunis and his Grameen Bank is probably the most successful example of social entrepreneurship to date. Yet the Grameen Bank has loaned out $5.72 billion since its inception 30 years ago and has only been paid back $5.02 billion. This type of enterprise is driven by a great social cause and hopefully will fulfill the individual in benefiting the world, but as a new form of economic governance how can it ever last if it doesn’t make money?

This leads us to spiritual entrepreneurship… the spiritual pursuit of profit. These types of entrepreneurs do not seek to make money to buy the fancy home or car or buy status and friends and fame. There isn’t a crave for more and more, but rather a cyclical, ecolistic way of perceiving the world. Instead they pursue money as a means to bring about great change to the world and become connected to the divine power. There’s a jewish term known as ‘tithing’, which means that you give away part of your wealth, whether it be to charities or other projects, because that genuine act of giving will come back around in the form of luck or serendipity to help you gain more profit. But it is crucially important to understand that this doesn’t mean you give solely to make more money and gain more self-benefit. You give so that you can make more money and continue giving. This has to be the drive to truly transcend from classical to spiritual entrepreneurship, and it entails a spiritual growth and humility within the individual in which they feel a connection to a force greater than themselves and their personal ego. They feel one with the world around them.

But, I can’t emphasize this enough… there is no linear procedure to find this authentic will in your life. There’s no secret path. It’s a matter of opening yourself up and feeling the connection for yourself. Think of it as being a medium… you aren’t a closed entity independent of the world around you. You breathe air, you need food and water, you are interdependent with your environment. You are not a separate entity here to amass large amounts of wealth and hoard money to buy material possessions. You are here to take in to simply give back in a better way, and when you can feel that and practice it in your life, you should be surprised by the success that gravitates to you.

A transcendence into spiritual entrepreneurship is quite possibly what our new world needs to get through these tough times. Capitalism needs a major upgrade. My friend Lee Whitfield and I believe it to be Ecolism. Check out his stuff at Ecolism.org

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Tags: Capitalism, ecolism, Entrepreneurship, Grameen Bank, social entrepreneurship, spiritual entrepreneurship

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  • http://www.pmm.nl Ron C. de Weijze

    I like what you say though anything New Agy is still suspect in my book. I do believe though in ‘spiritual energy’ as Bergson described and explained it a century ago, and ‘spiritual entrepreneurship… why not? That Jewish ‘tithing’ seems like ‘paying it forward’ and in the new economy we do need to pay where payment is due, nothing more and nothing less. No more ‘easy money’ just for getting (into) cars and chicks. It is significant that the term is ‘to pay attention’ or as we say in Dutch, ‘to earn attention’. There must be something truly valuable in what we have to offer or pass on to others. This is strength of mind, strength of concept, understanding, even to and from the depths of our being. Well, I think so anyway. Like your style, will get here more often!

  • http://www.pmm.nl Ron C. de Weijze

    I like what you say though anything New Agy is still suspect in my book. I do believe though in ‘spiritual energy’ as Bergson described and explained it a century ago, and ‘spiritual entrepreneurship… why not? That Jewish ‘tithing’ seems like ‘paying it forward’ and in the new economy we do need to pay where payment is due, nothing more and nothing less. No more ‘easy money’ just for getting (into) cars and chicks. It is significant that the term is ‘to pay attention’ or as we say in Dutch, ‘to earn attention’. There must be something truly valuable in what we have to offer or pass on to others. This is strength of mind, strength of concept, understanding, even to and from the depths of our being. Well, I think so anyway. Like your style, will get here more often!

  • http://tastevine.com Greg

    Ron, thanks for the comments. It’s difficult to try to lay out a tangible path for people to find this spiritual energy inside. For me, it was riding a motorcycle down the west coast last year that finally helped me feel it to the core. After a few years as a ‘classical’ entrepreneur, I didn’t like the person I was becoming and decided that I would just go to Tibet and meditate for the rest of my life… lol. But instead, on my moto ride I felt this connection being in the element, and became very humbled. I’d always pondered holistics, zen, one with the world, etc as intellectual ideas, but had never actually felt them. Everything kind of changed at that point both in how I saw myself and the world. I guess we all need these humbling experiences in some form or the other to find what we’re looking for. I really enjoy your site as well. Keep in touch and let us know if we can help

  • http://tastevine.com Greg

    Ron, thanks for the comments. It’s difficult to try to lay out a tangible path for people to find this spiritual energy inside. For me, it was riding a motorcycle down the west coast last year that finally helped me feel it to the core. After a few years as a ‘classical’ entrepreneur, I didn’t like the person I was becoming and decided that I would just go to Tibet and meditate for the rest of my life… lol. But instead, on my moto ride I felt this connection being in the element, and became very humbled. I’d always pondered holistics, zen, one with the world, etc as intellectual ideas, but had never actually felt them. Everything kind of changed at that point both in how I saw myself and the world. I guess we all need these humbling experiences in some form or the other to find what we’re looking for. I really enjoy your site as well. Keep in touch and let us know if we can help

  • http://ecolism.org Lee

    I’m there with you on pretty much all of that, a good read all in all and plenty of food for thought.

    Here are some additional thoughts on ecolism adoption:
    A: The more you explain, the less you convince! Basically the simpler the idea the better. The more you try and force an idea on someone the more they will retract from it.
    B: The power of leading the reader to the conclusion, as opposed to providing it for them has much more impact. If you leave plenty to peoples own imagination it is often more likely to take root and for people to add their own thoughts to the initial idea.
    C: The Zen way of describing enlightenment which involves not saying what it is but by saying what it is not……..

  • http://ecolism.org Lee

    I’m there with you on pretty much all of that, a good read all in all and plenty of food for thought.

    Here are some additional thoughts on ecolism adoption:
    A: The more you explain, the less you convince! Basically the simpler the idea the better. The more you try and force an idea on someone the more they will retract from it.
    B: The power of leading the reader to the conclusion, as opposed to providing it for them has much more impact. If you leave plenty to peoples own imagination it is often more likely to take root and for people to add their own thoughts to the initial idea.
    C: The Zen way of describing enlightenment which involves not saying what it is but by saying what it is not……..

  • Ian

    Worthwhile comments especially in the present economic challenges. I was enlivened when I first saw the comments on Spiritual Entrepreneurship. We should remind ourselves that everything rests ultimately in the Spiritual Realm and ultimately God is in control of everything. Lets return to the simple way of living where the emphasis would be to get enough to keep body and soul together. After all those of us who are older must set the example for the younger ones. Peace every time.

  • Ian

    Worthwhile comments especially in the present economic challenges. I was enlivened when I first saw the comments on Spiritual Entrepreneurship. We should remind ourselves that everything rests ultimately in the Spiritual Realm and ultimately God is in control of everything. Lets return to the simple way of living where the emphasis would be to get enough to keep body and soul together. After all those of us who are older must set the example for the younger ones. Peace every time.

  • http://www.grapethinking.com/wine-is-elixir Wine is Elixir

    [...] What if they started planting more than just grapes… organic fruits and vegetables… terraform the soil with mycelium making it ultra healthy and inhabitable. Algae farms and the power of solar and wind on the vast expanse of beautiful land that encompasses a winery… more so, create an explosion of tourism to these spiritual meccas, where people come to feel their oneness with nature… to have an experience and to embrace the new global spirituality of ecolism. [...]

  • http://www.MyIISense.com Michael Stagg

    Wow! Spiritual Entrepreneurs. Ecolism. I’ve always thought of myself as being a spiritually-minded (as opposed to capitalistic-minded) entrepreneur in the first place. Ecolism is new to me but the concept is sound and very inviting … definitely something to keep tabs on and be part of. A great read. I’m hooked!

    Happy Holidays!

    Michael

  • http://www.MyIISense.com Michael Stagg

    Wow! Spiritual Entrepreneurs. Ecolism. I’ve always thought of myself as being a spiritually-minded (as opposed to capitalistic-minded) entrepreneur in the first place. Ecolism is new to me but the concept is sound and very inviting … definitely something to keep tabs on and be part of. A great read. I’m hooked!

    Happy Holidays!

    Michael

  • http://dharmapreneur.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/ecolism-its-importance-to-the-future-of-business/ Ecolism & Its Importance to the Future of Business « Dharmapreneur™ | Visualize – Pursue – Attain the Life You Want NOW!

    [...] a well paid PR person or an immense monetary settlement could not handle. As Greg Mullera over at Grape Thinking expressed it: “Capitalism needs a major upgrade … I believe it to be [...]

  • http://www.pjharmsworth.com PJ Harmsworth

    Hi, I hope you don’t mind, but I liked your article so much that I reblogged it to my blog ‘The Spiritual Entrepreneur’…. It fits in with my way of thinking perfectly…. Well done, I will be back to check out more of your wise words… Best Regards, PJ

  • http://www.pjharmsworth.com PJ Harmsworth

    Hi, I hope you don’t mind, but I liked your article so much that I reblogged it to my blog ‘The Spiritual Entrepreneur’…. It fits in with my way of thinking perfectly…. Well done, I will be back to check out more of your wise words… Best Regards, PJ

  • Greg

    No problem PJ, thanks for reaching out. Check out http://www.ecolism.org for more. We’re working to build a movement behind it. Keep in touch

  • Greg

    No problem PJ, thanks for reaching out. Check out http://www.ecolism.org for more. We’re working to build a movement behind it. Keep in touch

  • http://topsy.com/tb/bit.ly/6RF6SG Tweets that mention Spiritual Entrepreneurship — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Greg mu and Greg mu, Greg mu. Greg mu said: Ecolism: Spiritual Entrepreneurship http://bit.ly/6RF6SG [...]

  • Elitomusic

    Thank you so much for this article, my friend Mark and I are on a spiritual path that evolves so quickly that it cannot possibly encompass a single serving way of life. We were just on the steps in a park last night, talking about a new approach. Ways to use money that actually help people. Like buying the resources to build their own well, thereby disabling any possible corruption. It's got me thinking!

  • Joseph Geraghty

    Hi I really did like this, not too fussy and reasonably straightforward.I think there is a place for spiritual entrepreneurship where the goal is to help transform the workplace.

    Namaste,
    Joseph

  • http://elixirenvironment.com Greg

    Thanks for your comment Joseph. A popular phrase being coined is the triple bottom line, people, planet, and profits. By making money, you bring about social and environmental change. I’m most interested in new companies, in which the production of their products and growth of their organization naturally has a social and environmental benefit.

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