I was just watching a YouTube video of Sam Keen talking about his interview with Ernest Becker, author of Denial of Death. Towards the end of the video, Keen is noting how Becker did not exhibit the kind of removed intellectualism that one might expect from such a thinker. Keen, who has become visibly moved by this point, remarks in admiration, “He thought with his life.”

Ayn Rand proposed that man needs a philosophy from which to live his life, and that one’s ideas are integral to who a person is. As someone creating ideas, my primary motivation in creating ideas as tools has always been a personal one… who should i be? how should i live my life! The “should” arising not from a context of ultimate right and wrong, but from an Ayn Rand-inspired context: if I am to have a life of profound happiness, joy and exaltation, I must live true to my deepest values and honest convictions–even if the world stands in judgment. So then, how do I go about living such a visionary life?

As visionaries–as people who highly value independent thought, action and the creative expression and contribution of our values and vision in the world–as people who are not compromising to conform to the pressures of society–then don’t we each need some sort of philosophy from which to live our lives? Some sort of idea system or paradigm, which validates our individual visionary paths? In a sense, we each have an idea system that guides us, or that at least justifies our choices. What I aim to bring through the VisionForce ideas and tools is *not* an all-encompassing idea system for “visionaries” to subscribe to, but ideas as tools and models, which visionaries can apply in the formation of their own self-guiding philosophies and paradigms. The visionary, in my view, is not simply one who thinks new or radical thoughts, but one who does so in an effort to bring a new vision into existence (and vice versa). The ideas support the creation of a new reality.

Ultimately, the power of the tools VisionForce offers are to be judged through their effectiveness in the hands of visionaries. The tools we offer through our programs are nothing but that which I use in my own life. My investment in these concepts and tools is total. My life, the life of someone very conscious of his mortality, rests on the efficacy of these ideas. I’d consider it a very high acknowledgment, if at the end of my life, someone said of me, “He thought with his life.”

23-year-old Ugandan, Clovis Ategeka, and his Vision Cafe are thriving, and he is making plans to come to Austin for an upcoming VisionForce Boot Camp, possibly this November!

Clovis downloaded our VisionForce 101 program about a year ago from Uganda. Since then, he has been teaching VisionForce workshops, building business, speaking publicly on the radio about a new vision for his country and lots more. Recently he inspired a team led by Michael Blomsterberg from LA to make the voyage to Uganda, where they donated new computers and helped Clovis redesign his Vision Cafe. See Clovis’ new web site, Vision Force Uganda.

Congratulations Clovis! One day, hopefully in 2008, VisionForce will make the voyage to Uganda and Kenya to hold a Boot Camp.

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Changing the world–WHY? This post may ramble, as I intend to freely journal–with radical transparency…

I know for myself that life has transpired inside of a very serious context. The choices I make in this lifetime, I was told, have eternal consequences. I am proud that the mission I’ve chosen in my life is not one that was given to me, but one that I’ve freely created–born of my own vision. However, the intensity and seriousness with which I often find myself approaching my “mission” is in part a by-product of painful experiences and the serious life context I had as a young man. And while the power of the VisionForce tools is also a by-product of that same pain-inspired intensity and seriousness, what I am ever rediscovering is the extent to which fun and enjoyment can be a source and/or an integral part of much more productive strategies for achieving the mission.

Isn’t a visionary life, by definition, one in which a person faces the judgment and ridicule of authorities and the majority, who do not share the same vision and are often not following their own vision? Such a life can quite naturally be experienced as a lonely, serious battle or a path of martyrdom. However, to the extent that one can live freely from one’s vision, life can be an experience of play, peace and freedom. The VisionForce tools give one access to live so powerfully from one’s own vision and so liberated from the judgments and conditioned constraints of society that others can’t help but look to see what you’re seeing, and feel inspired to stand with you.

So much so does the VF technology liberate a person, that it can be quite challenging then to know where to draw the line–and succeed inside a society of conformity–when you are marching to your own drum.

I am currently entering a phase in my life, where I am exploring how much more productive I can be while operating from a place of play, full self-expression and simplicity. This has been a challenge thus far, because I have so many preconceptions about who I should be as a leader, a teacher, etc. Gandhi, Jesus, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Howard Roarke, John Galt–men such as these have been my role models. Thus, hard work, sacrifice, austere living, etc. are what I’ve been modeling. I’ve found it difficult to balance such ways of life with my propensity and desire for childlike play, teasing, silliness and wild abandon.

I watched some very old home movies the other day and found it very interesting that for one Halloween as a child I was a clown, and for the other I was a pirate. That pretty much sums up who I was as a child: the rebel loner who never took anything too seriously and was always joking and teasing. Even for all the seriousness that I bring to my work, especially when leading events for people, those who know me well, know that privately I am often anything but serious.

I quite unconsciously and often consciously buck the norms of society, and often times I show up as ignorant, rude, selfish and even immature–kind of like the kid who just says and does whatever is on his mind to do. I’ve found it a challenge to know where to draw the line. On the one hand, wanting to be an example of an ever-inspiring, high-minded leader (many regard me even as a spiritual teacher), and at the same time a visionary who operates free from the conditioning of a society that worships image and comfort. Finding the balance here has been a challenge, and has led to many awkward situations–many times when I’ve had to clean up the mess I inadvertently made.

Posting this to my blog is what many might consider an “unprofessional” move, but what I am standing for is being a creator of a new era, a new culture and a new vision for business and entrepreneurship–rather than support the old culture of business that so highly values image. We spend so much of our lives working–why should we spend it compromising our self-expression?

I’m finding it worthwhile to verbalize for myself that I value self-expression, fun and play far more highly than image… and I don’t want to try to fit myself into the mold of yesterday’s leaders, trying to manage all my choices to maintain an appearance that no one can judge. Yes, I do wish to protect the image of the company I am building, and I do wish to separate my personal life choices from the work and products we offer–and yet, for me, the business and the mission is not the end-all. This is my life. I want to live. To live fully. To be alive. To be free. AND, I suspect such an approach may just be what empowers and liberates me to even more powerfully attain the mission and generate the success for which I am aiming.

I am working hard to change the world and evolve myself to “be the change”–why? Cuz it’s hella fun! Who’s game?

I just read this article about a visionary Iraqi woman who has taken a stand for women in her country and the world over. Very inspiring. She sees change happening by starting a youth movement. Change… is gonna come.

Britains Got Talent – A Star Is Born

If we are birthing a new, visionary culture, where every child is raised in a world that completely honors one another and life itself… what kind of music would call us into the challenge of birthing such a world?

Here is a CNN news story that speaks to the crises of widows in India, whose tradition shuns women of all ages once their husband dies, and a visionary widow named Dr. Mohini Giri, who is working for change.

An excerpt:

Bent over by osteoporosis, 85-year-old Promita Das meticulously and slowly sweeps the floor just outside her door and then carefully cleans her dishes. “I came here when I couldn’t work anymore. I used to clean houses,” she says. “Nobody looked after me, nobody loved me. I survived on my own.” She married at 12 and was widowed at 15. Seventy years later, she finds herself at Amar Bari. “I used to live in front of a temple, but then I came here,” she says. She carries with her not only the pain of a life without love, but also the loss of her only child. She gave birth at 14; her baby lived a year.

Another visionary woman, Deepa Mehta has taken a bold stand to draw attention to this issue with her incredibly inspiring movie, Water. Films such as this one are recommended preparation material for our 5-day VisionForce intensive, the iStand Experience (also, VisionForce Boot Camp). The world is in need of visionaries–people who can stand for a better world in a way that calls even their adversaries to stand with them. That’s why VisionForce exists.