Spiritual activism and money making

Spiritual activism? What is that exactly? This week I was attending a lecture given by Scotsman Alastair Mcintosh, author of Soil and Soul: People vs Corporate Power. He is part of the Inspired Action conference run all week by the Findhorn Foundation, nearby to me.

His lecture was about how he managed to stop Lafarge, a French cement company from desecrating a mountain in the Isle of Harris; took 13 years, but this inspired man managed to find a solution suitable for all, culminating in a piece of the mountain being cemented back on top again with Lafarge cement!

But what place does this have in this website? At the end of his lecture, I spoke in an emotional way as I asked him how he manages to not fall into the depths of despair about the condition of the world today, and the lack of integrity in so much of business. His answer brought me some sense of hope — he said ‘It’s not about success; it’s about raising consciousness’.

Thinking about this later, I realised that although I write about success here, and that is often about the results that people achieve, real success for me is the way in which results happen. What is the point of building up a big mailing list if it is full of people who don’t really want to be there and never open your emails? What is the point of making more money if you feel you have to sell your soul to do so? And what is the point of being in business at all unless you are having fun, making a positive contribution to the world, and bringing some sense of pleasure and joy into others’ hearts, as well as your own?

If you’re not doing this, then stop a moment. Reflect. Why are you doing your business? Take time out from your busy schedule, go for a walk in nature and ask the trees, the land, life itself to make it’s answer known to you. Reconnect with the essence of being alive and begin again to find why you are doing your business.