I don't know about you but as usual this year started with a bang and I have been running at quite a pace for the last 2 and a half months. It's been students, presentations, organising, networking and managing on a consistent basis with more and more demands from a ever-hungry world out there.
It really reminds me of a scene in Apocalypto, a film by Mel Gibson. If you have not seen it perhaps it might be a good time to watch and reflect on our place in this world. There is a scene where an old man tells a story around a camp fire and it goes like this:
And a Man sat alone, drenched deep in sadness. And all the animals drew near to him and said, "We do not like to see you so sad. Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it." The Man said, "I want to have good sight." The vulture replied, "You shall have mine." The Man said, "I want to be strong." The jaguar said, "You shall be strong like me." Then the Man said, "I long to know the secrets of the earth." The serpent replied, "I will show them to you."
And so it went with all the animals. And when the Man had all the gifts that they could give, he left. Then the owl said to the other animals, "Now the Man knows much, he'll be able to do many things. Suddenly I am afraid." The deer said, "The Man has all that he needs. Now his sadness will stop." But the owl replied, "No. I saw a hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day the World will say, 'I am no more and I have nothing left to give.'"
I look around me at entrepreneurs, students and leaders and it is clear that the majority is still trying to fill some kind of hole deep inside them with empty, vain, ephemeral things. I know that I also have to check myself - I am no different. I do however invite you on a path with me where we really ask ourselves if we are striving after emptiness to fill emptiness?
Shall we go from survive to alive?!
