Vishen Lakhiani compares lessons from the 13th-century poet Rumi and modern refugee Dreamer Starlight to separate socially conditioned desires from deeper purpose. A reflection exercise revealed Lakhiani's own seed: unity and transformation. He walks through how to find yours.
Chapters
So thanks to you guys, the Buddha and the badass just hit the New York Times. Thank you so much for supporting the book. And I hope you guys are getting incredible amounts of ideas from this book. Now what I want to talk about today is a really interesting idea. This idea is actually a lesson from two refugees who were born 700 years apart. Now, why talk about refugees? Well, this past Saturday, June 20, was World Refugee Day. Mindvalley is a big advocate of refugee rights. But I want to share with you wisdom, a powerful piece of wisdom from two refugees born 700 years apart. One in the Middle east, one in Africa. Now, the first refugee that we're going to talk about is the Rumi. I love the Rumi's poetry. And so I started my book, Chapter One, with a poem by him that transformed my life. But the thing is, the first time I heard this poem, it sounded cool, but I had no idea just how deep this was. So I'm going to read it out to you. And as I read it out to you, I want you to reflect on it. The roomie said this. When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety. If I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me and without any pain from this I understand that what I want also wants me is looking for me and attracting me. There's a great secret in this for all who can grasp it. It was Professor Sri Kumar Rao, the great MBA lecturer, who introduced me to that poem during a particular time in my life, maybe seven, eight years ago, when I was going through extreme difficulty. Now I didn't understand what that poem truly meant until a second refugee popped into my life. And he goes by the name Dreamer Starlight. He has sought asylum in Canada. So that's where he lives right now, in Toronto. What I learned from Dreama is that there are two types of wantings within us. The first wanting, it's our desires that come from growing up in this world. But the second wanting is different. It is a seed that has been planted in you. Call it the seed of your soul. And when you discover what this seed is, you activate the magic that Rumi was talking about. Now, I didn't really understand Rumi's poem. I didn't get what he meant by if I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me and without any pain from this I understand that what I want also wants me is looking for me and attracting me. There are two different types of wants here. There is wanting from the culturescape and wanting that is planted in you as a seed from your soul. Now, when you tap into that seed from your soul, what happens is your days no longer become a furnace of distress and anxiety. And what you need flows to you without any pain. So I did this exercise with Dreamer Starlight in 2016. The exercise changed my life. And I have a piece of paper here which is what he took me through, and I left it in my office. Gurin, would you be able to help me with that? Thanks, Gurin. I have this in my backpack here. Okay. So this was the exercise that Dreamer took me through. Now, you know, when he was taking me through the exercise, I didn't understand how important it was going to be. In fact, I didn't even give him a fresh sheet of paper. I just grabbed a used piece of paper, flipped it around. And so this exercise changed my life. It changed mindvalley because it made me understand why I was born. Now, the interesting thing is when you talk about Rumi, when you talk about finding your true wants, it sounds rather mystical, it sounds rather metaphysical, it sounds philosophical. But how do you bring that in life? The exercise that Dreamer showed me actually brought that to life. It's a reflection exercise that helps you understand why you are who you are, and then how to take that which you are and infuse it into everything you do. Your creation, your book, your business, your company, your personal brand. And when you do that, magic happens. I'd like to take you through the same exercise, and you're going to end up with a sheet of paper like this. And this piece of paper is going to transform everything about your life. This whole office in which I'm filming this, this is part of Mindvalley hq. The seed which I discovered in me was seeds that and you give these seeds name. Mine was unity, transformation. And envisioning those three things now infuse everything in mindvalley. It gives us a compass on what actions to take, what programs to create, what offices to build. It is infused everywhere. You will see those words across everything mindvalley. And so if you want to discover your seed and bring that to life and infuse your entire life with this, join me in this masterclass. The ideas are in the Buddha and the Badass. But in this masterclass, I'm going to personally guide you through this experience. The exact same exercise I learned from Dreamer Starline. The sign up page is either in the link below or in the link in bio and I'll see you there.
