Who this article is for...
People who got invited by me to work with me / support “my” projects / join “my” team.
Intro (to the article)
If you landed here that very likely means that you have received an invitation from me, to join “my” cause/projects/team. And not only to join the team but to go all-in. To fully commit yourself to this cause, to bring in your whole being, to contribute with all your life & soul force.
For all brave souls who are even considering this courageous leap to truly surrender into service:
This article is for you. 😍
The Choice
“If you want a smooth life, don’t follow me! If you want a pleasant life, don’t follow me! But if you want
thunder, if you want storms, if you want danger & continuing challenges, go against the current.”
- The Buddha
If you’ve been living in a world of rewards, fame & praise, and …
Then this will be the most absurd job offer you will ever receive.
Rather than earning money as a reward for your work, you’re work is rewarded with the invitation to invest all the money you have in greatest service to the world.
Rather than being able to buy new things, you’re invited to give away all the things you have and don’t really need.
Rather than promising a good “work-life” balance, you’re asked to make your life itself your work & completely give it away in service to the world.
So you can see… Not a typical job offer. At least not in our time.
If you had been alive in Gandhi’s times and would have crossed paths with him, showing interest in his work, then you could have expected him to say something like this:
“I can offer you magnificent rewards: Two years in prison, confiscation of all your property, work without respite every day of the week, and the increasing joy of knowing that your life really counts”
- Gandhi
Let’s be honest: In our times it’s that likely to end up in jail or get your property confiscated. Yet that doesn’t mean that you can’t also expect magnificent rewards when you join in the work with me.
Here are the magnificent rewards that I can offer:
Being confronted with all your triggers, limiting beliefs & deepest fears. Being disliked by friends & family who think you’re going crazy. Giving up all the things that currently give you pleasure & comfort. AND the increasing joy of knowing that your life really counts.
Sounds good? Then keep reading!
Here are some more things that come with this invitation (the “tremendous ten”):
The letting go of all expectations of how things will come
Facing increasingly challenging tasks
Giving up old deeply engrained habits
Total transparency (outside & inside)
Facing all the fears that will come with “total trust”
Putting in the hard work necessary to transform yourself
Hours of desperation, thinking you’re not strong enough for this
Hopelessness
Facing of setbacks & challenges you can’t even imagine right now
Giving up all egoistic desires
Or as Gandhi would call it: “Reducing yourself to zero”.
Not to become faceless. On the contrary, to become the shiny & colorful being that you truly are, as Eknath Easwaran beautifully describes in “Gandhi the Man”:
“Free from selfish desires” didn’t mean indifference; it meant not trying to get anything for yourself, giving your best whatever comes without depending on anything except the Lord within. And the goal clearly wasn’t the extinction of personality. Gandhi practically defined personality. He was truly original; the rest of us seemed bland by comparison, as if living in our sleep. He spoke of making himself zero but seemed to have become instead a kind of cosmic conduit, a channel for some tremendous universal power, an “instrument of peace”.
If the list above still wasn’t enough to scare you off, then let’s look at another 10 things. This time the things I can promise to NOT offer, that don’t come along with this invitation:
(a lot of) money
Valuable possessions
Smooth sailing
Superficial / fake self-confidence
Ego-petting conversations
Recognition & fame
Power over others
Any sort of superficially pleasurable things
Total freedom without responsibility
An easy life
Still here?
Then you’re apparently really up for the challenge. And you’re facing a challenge here! If you think that this is easy & the lists above were just “mere words” then you will be in for a nasty surprice. :)
Truly, this is serious! You’re facing a real “Choice of Hercules” here:
The Choice of Hercules
The story goes that Hercules, when a young man, found himself at an isolated fork in the road, where he sat to contemplate his future. Uncertain which path to take in life he found himself confronted by two goddesses. One, a very beautiful and alluring woman, was called Kakia, although she claimed that her friends call her “Happiness” (Eudaimonia). She charged in front to ensure she spoke first, promising him that her path was “easiest and pleasantest”, and that it provided a shortcut to “Happiness”. She claimed he would avoid hardship and enjoy luxury beyond most men’s wildest dreams, produced by the labour of others. After hearing this, Hercules was approached by the second goddess, called Aretê, a plain-dressed and humble woman, though naturally beautiful. To his surprise, she told him that her path would require hard work from him and it would be “long and difficult”. In fact, the path Hercules chose would be dangerous beyond belief, he would be tested by many hardships, perhaps more than any man who had lived before, and have to endure great loss and suffering along the way. “Nothing that is really good and admirable”, said Aretê, “is granted by the gods to men without some effort and application.” However, Hercules would have the opportunity to face each adversity with courage and self-discipline, and of showing wisdom and justice despite great danger. He would earn true Happiness by reflecting on his own praiseworthy and honorable deeds.
The one option I’m presenting you with here is the one of “going all-in” with your life, pledging your full commitment to the cause, pledging your full engagement, pledging to take 100% responsibility for your life.
It is choosing to be happy, choosing to be of service, choosing to live in abiding joy, regardless of what happens.
It is choosing to do whatever is necessary to wake up every single morning, inspired to jump out of bed & “get to work”, choosing to pay the price, choosing to do the work & let go of the fruits of your labor.
And it is choosing to trust. Trusting that you will be taken care of. That if you give your all, then no matter what happens is exactly what was supposed to happen. Trusting that even if you don’t receive the things you believe you need (like a certain amount of money) it is like that for a good reason, even if you might not be able to see it yet. It is trusting that life presents you with exactly the situations that you need to grow on your personal journey, on your unique way of reducing yourself to zero in greatest service to the world.
But: To let yourself fall into this trust-net you will need to let go first. To let go of your understanding of how the world works, of your current knowing what your gifts are and what you can & can’t do, of your beliefs how the future needs to unfold in order for you to be ok.
If you’re ready to do all that then, yeah then there truly is a chance of our working together being a success.
To be continued...
I don't know yet, what else will come, but it feels like this article isn't completely finished yet (even though it can stand for its own like that).
Once I know, I will add another section or two here at the end. 🙌
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