Vishen Lakhiani argues that excessive, escapist spirituality (retreating from life, suppressing desire) can stunt growth. He advocates embracing human experience—pursuing desire, creation, work, relationships—while using active forms of meditation (creative visualization, gratitude, compassion practices) to enhance real-world performance rather than to escape it.
Chapters
Stop trying to be spiritual. You don't need to be. The world doesn't need more spiritual people. The world needs more people who actually get things done. So stop it. I meet so many spiritual people who try to discover themselves but can't pay the bills, can't hold down a regular job. Stop this bullshit guilt about money, sex, fame, glory and success. That unraveling the secrets of the universe stuff. You will figure that stuff out when you die and become a soul again. But while you're here being human, be human. In the famous book Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsh, the writer speaks about this idea of the point of being human. You're here in a human body and if you believe you are a soul, you chose to be here in a human body for what reason? To experience being human. Neil goes on to write, seek sex, seek fame, seek glory, seek money, seek all of these things. Because we are here to discover our God given ability to create. And that which you seek, God seeks through you because you are a particle of God. Our desires are the desires of the Creator. But don't think that means being selfish. The book goes on to talk about the highest value that we need to abide to as we have these desires. And that is the value of unity. Unity is the understanding that we are all one. That as you are a particle of God, so is the person you are speaking to. The waiter you might be rude to, the lover you might break up with. Have a basis in unity. See yourself as deeply part of collective human society of our planet. Do good, but don't suppress your desire. Esther Hicks, another great spiritual writer, said the point of being human is to shoot out rockets of desire. To look at everything that the world has to offer you and decide I want that, I want that. Yet these so called spiritual people tell us that desire is wrong. No, you can't desire sex, you can't desire love, you can't desire money. That isn't spirituality, that's self suffocation. You are here to co create a world and to create you need to desire that which you want to attract into your life. So when we step out of human society to go into 12 day long spiritual retreats where you can't speak, I don't believe that's spiritual. I believe that's delusion. And that's why it feels hard. It feels hard because you're literally stepping away from what God wants you to experience in the first place. Being human. And let's go deeper. I'm not a big fan but of Meditations that tell you you need to clear your mind or focus on your breath. That is one type of meditation. Just like running is one type of exercise, and just like running is a suboptimal exercise, meditations that tell you you need to clear your mind are suboptimal. There are other ways you can meditate. I'm not a fan of hermetic meditation, which is about stepping out of human society. I'm a fan of active meditation, the meditation that Jose Silva or Osho speaks about. Meditation that's about creating a better world, about visualizing your goals, about healing your body. Active meditation isn't about clearing your mind. It's about using your mind to create the world and the experience of the world that you see. Active meditation is creative visualization. When you're seeing your life unfold beautifully, it is gratitude. When you are celebrating the greatness in your life, it is forgiveness. It is compassion practices. It is sitting still in meditation to let new business ideas flow to you. What Tom Bilyeu, the entrepreneur, calls tinkitation. In the words of Emily Fletcher, the great meditation teacher, meditation is about making you better at life itself, not better at meditating. So seek what your heart tells you you need to seek and stop feeling guilty about it. The most spiritual people in the world today are not people who are escaping human life. They are people who are creating, who are building. So, yes, nurture your spirituality, but do it while you're crushing it at a job, while you're celebrating life, while you're making love, while you're building an empire. Even Steve Jobs, when he went to India on his famous spiritual pilgrimage, came back and built the most successful company in the history of the world. So get out there and follow your desires. Don't suppress them. Don't seek to be spiritual. Be. Be an entrepreneur, be a creator, be a lover, be an athlete. Be human. You already are spiritual. As C.S. lewis says, you do not have a soul. You are a soul. What you have is a body. And while you have this body, seek to use this body to embrace, relish, desire and experience with full zest. Everything. Use meditation to make you better at being human, not to escape this human world. And if you see things about this human world that you feel aren't right, seek to fix it. So get off your damn yoga mats and go out there and change the world. Sa.
