I seem to be dissing the Buddha a lot these days. But that’s not really the case.

Happily, there is no such thing as blasphemy in Buddhism so I don’t think Siddhartha would mind the title of this post. He might even be delighted at the dictum to forget about him. After all, this was the guy who encouraged us to take nothing on faith alone but to try things out for ourselves.

So how did this post take shape?

Recently I’ve had some coaching sessions with Pamela Slim, the author of Escape from Cubicle Nation and a truly inspiring model of a liberated life. You can find out more about Pam here.

I’ve been working with Pam because I’ve been feeling a need to tie together all the various creative efforts I have out there in the world. Pam invited me to consider the four core messages that I’m here on the planet to live and to offer to others.

This writing exercise turned out to be a wonderful a way to come to a better understanding of my own body of work and to identify my personal version of the “four noble truths” – the four teachings that are core to my life and work.

So here’s my first attempt at this exercise, where I also connect these truths to the work I do in the world. I’m sharing it here because I hope it might inspire you to do the same – and I’d love to see what you come up with. 

Truth #1: Freedom is an inside job.

There is a wellspring of nourishment, inspiration, and resilience available to all of us, at all times – no matter what our life circumstances. I believe this with all my heart because I have experienced it in my own life.

Sure – it helps to be able to go on a long retreat or live in a place like a monastery, some serene kind of setting, but we can access peace of mind and insights to help us live our lives with more freedom and kindness no matter where we are.

I am not saying that conditions don’t matter – they do. So many people are living in conditions of oppression, poverty and violence. And yet witness the amazing stories of folks like Aung San Suu Kyi, Jarvis Jay Masters, and Nelson Mandela. These are true testimonies to the fact that freedom is an inside job.

When I talk about freedom, I’m specifically talking about freeing ourselves from suffering and fear, and creating spaciousness in our lives to open up more possibilities. You can see my manifesto on the subject here: 9 Keys to a Liberated Life.

How my work relates to this truth:

I love helping people to figure out how to find freedom within the landscape of their particular life.

Through the Liberated Life Project, I write about this very topic every week and how freedom shows up in our creativity, livelihood, relationships, and engagement with the world. I also offer “Guidance and Encouragement” sessions to individuals, and e-courses to groups on topics like creating right livelihood and applying mindfulness to everyday life (that will be a future course!).

Truth #2: Relationship is everything. EVERYTHING!

This isn’t just a solo gig that we’re on… we live in an interconnected, interdependent world. We condition each other and we are conditioned by each other. Our “individual” choices have an impact far beyond what we can see or know.

I believe that the path to making any kind of positive change in our own life or for our planet is to become more aware of the connections between things, and more awake to our own choices. Our personal liberation is directly linked with the well-being of others.

How my work relates to this truth:

Through Five Directions, I advise and coach progressive nonprofit organizations on how to do what I call “relationship-based marketing” to effectively engage their supporters. This translates to better results in fundraising, volunteers, event attendance, taking action on your cause, and more.

On my blog The Jizo Chronicles, I write about topics related to socially engaged Buddhism and spiritual activism based on a deep understanding of our interconnection.

Truth #3: We’re One, but we’re not the same. And that’s beautiful.

Yes, I stole that line from a U2 song!

But this is actually a teaching I learned in the trenches. Over 10 years of working with people that society would call “mentally ill” showed me that there are other ways of seeing and being in the world than what we usually recognize, and that everyone has something to teach us. This lesson has been reinforced over and over in my years of studying and practicing anthropology and traveling in many parts of the world.

The differences between us are what give life its beauty and vitality. In fact, requisite diversity is necessary for a health eco-system – radical scientist and feminist Vandana Shiva wrote about this beautifully in her book, Staying Alive. 

I passionately believe that we have so much to learn from each other, and that we often learn the most from those who are not so similar to us. We don’t need to strive to make each other “One” or the same, we don’t need to always agree with each other. What we do need to do is talk with each other, and come together across our differences to build alliances and most importantly, celebrate!

How my work relates to this truth:

As a cultural anthropologist, I am trained to notice the diversity that exists in the human experience. Through Five Directions, I translate this skill into insights that can help organizations and businesses better understand the people whom they serve.

I also bring this perspective into the coaching work I do with individuals through the LLP.

Truth #4: Story is powerful medicine.

Each of us has a story, one that we can re-write at any moment. The power of stories is to affirm our place in the universe, to connect us to each other, and to heal us.

We have it in our power to write a new story and create a more liberating way of being in the world for ourselves and others.

Like any medicine, using it in the ‘wrong’ way or too much can become a poison. When we get hooked on a certain unhelpful aspect of our story or believe that we are slaves to our story and miss out on how we are in a continual process of creating and understanding them, they can become poisonous.

We give each other a gift when we listen to each others’ stories, deeply and carefully, for the jewels hidden in each of them. We give ourselves a gift when we get to know our own story more intimately, and when we realize that we can begin to rewrite our story and play with it in all kinds of creative ways.

One of my favorite quotes, from anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff about her grandmother:

“Sofie knew and taught me that everyone had some story, every house held a life that could be penetrated and known, if one took the trouble. Stories told to oneself or others could transform the world. Waiting for others to tell their stories, even helping them to do so, meant no one could be regarded as completely dull, no place people lived in was without some hope of redemption, achieved by paying attention.”

How my work relates to this truth:

In all of my work with individuals and organizations, I weave in the skillful use of story.

And finally, because my consulting business is called Five Directions, I’ve taken the liberty of adding one more “truth” to this list:

Truth #5: Reflection

Usually we think of the four cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. But in many other cultures, there is a fifth direction that often represents “here,” or the center.

I value stepping back to take a deeper look at what’s going on, and identifying hidden assumptions that may obstruct our ability to see more creative solutions to whatever challenge we are facing.

I believe that the best way to know how to get “there” is to understand more fully what’s happening right here where we are. This reflective capacity is at the heart of all of my work.

How about you? What messages or values are at the heart of your life? What are you here to share with the world? Maybe there are four of them, maybe more or less… feel free to share them in the comment section below.  

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