It’s Thursday, and I’m heading off to Essex today to do something I’m very enthusiastic about – more details below. Please let me know what you think via twitter at @jamiesmartcom, on my Facebook page here, or in the comment section. At the end, I’ll tell you how you can get one of your #enthusiasms featured in a future edition.
1. A quote I love
This quote is from one of the teachers and mentors who’s had an enormous impact on me and my understanding of the principles behind clarity – Chip Chipman. On the very first principles workshop I went on back in 2009 I heard him say, “There’s information in the feeling.” This statement hit me deeply, but also puzzled me. I’ve come back to it again and again over the years, and a couple of nights ago I asked him what he meant by it. What he said hit me right between the eyes…
“It’s impossible to know your true self through your intellect because you’re trying to look for it… from the very thinking that’s taking you away from it… and so, there’s no way to intellectually comprehend the true self… or the principles… OK, and so what are you left with? You’re left with listening at a deep enough level that you slip below thinking… and a feeling comes in and that beautiful feeling, what that is… is you… standing in your true self… being your true self rather than thinking about it… and that’s why the feeling is the guide, because we can think all kinds of ways and intellectually about… what true self is, what peace of mind is… but the experience of true self is characterised by a feeling… and that feeling has information in the sense of, that’s the only way you can know your true self, you cannot know your true self through the function of your intellect, it’s not possible… and yet at the same time… when you experience that feeling you look back, at the world, you look back at your intellect and you understand it… at a really deep level, you understand it with compassion… you understand it with humour because you see how funny we all are… running around in our thinking, you know, and so that’s information, it’s just not linear, it’s not made up of words, it’s wisdom… it’s wisdom… it comes from inside… not from stored thought…”
2. A man I love
I’m about to spend the next few days on a retreat in Essex with Keith Blevens, PhD. Keith and his wife Valda Monroe are another two of the mentors who have had a huge impact on me and my understanding, so I love getting the chance to connect with him in person and learn from and with him. A whole bunch of people from the Clarity Community are going to be there too, so I’m excited to unplug, relax and connect with dear friends as we learn together. Here’s a video of Keith telling it like it is.
3. A podcast I never miss
I’m an avid listener to the Exponential Wisdom podcast done by Peter Diamandes and Dan Sullivan. These guys are truly helping shape the future. You can tune in here.
4. A technology that blows my box
Virtual and blended reality is just round the corner. Take a look at the future of how football fans could experience HoloLens.
5. This week’s 3-minute miracle
In September 2007, I was exploring Sydney, Australia with my buddy Alex West. One night at the Sydney Opera House, I had my first experience of the amazing comedian and storyteller Daniel Kitson as he performed a one-man show called “C-90” (basically a show about a man whose job it is to store and catalogue the mix tapes people used to make for each other when they first started going out together). It was one of the most beautiful and moving performances of anything I’ve ever seen. My heart cracked open and I fell in love. At the end of the show, Kitson said “thank-you” then walked off the stage as this song filled the auditorium. As I listened to Chicago by Sufjan Stevens, I fell in love a second time. One of my favourite songs of all time.
That’s it for this week. If you have questions, suggestions or want to let me know what you’re enthusiastic about, just tweet one of yours and put my twitter name @jamiesmartcom and the #Enthusiasms hashtag in there so I can find it. If I’m enthusiastic about something you’re enthusiastic about, it might just get featured in a future TTE.
Big love
Jamie
P.S. The latest intake of Project Glasswing is now full, so if you’d like to put your name on the waiting list for next time, just hit reply to this email and type WAITING LIST.