So I began thinking about where the market’s headed (Seth Godin mentions this in his daily email. Sign up for it). Carnegie mentioned that those people who give selflessly, who consider others’ desires and then their own (not excluding your own, but be aware of both sets of desires), will succeed the most.

In today’s age, as the market moves towards more free access to material (Youtube, blogging, etc.), as consumers we expect more and more from producers. We value those who give selflessly, who care most about the growth and success of others. Slowly, more and more people care about one another, wanting to see each other succeed.

In this sense, I feel that the market is evolving towards our True Nature. In a way, True religiosity, True spirituality, True Love is winning out. We value those product that put more good out into the world. We object and fight those corporations who rape the land for temporary and fragile profits. We value independent farmers, caring for the livestock as well as the grass they graze on.

The market is evolving. We’d do well to evolve along with it.

These days, consumerism and media influence have us buying things to gain ‘inner peace’. We might travel to India to learn from a Guru, get a membership to a Yoga club, or just smoke weed and listen to really transcendent music. I think all of this things can aid in a journey to peace, but they’re hardly the end product of True Peace.

There’s a story where Guru Nanak Dev Ji, on one of his many long journeys, came across some yogis meditating high in the mountains. He asked them why they meditated there, impressed with their spiritual wisdom.

“We come here to escape the noise and dirt of the world, to seek peace among the mountains. We come here to get away from all of the bad things consuming the world below.”

“With all of your spiritual wisdom, why aren’t you spreading it to the people who need it most?” Guru Nanak Dev Ji asked.

In Sikhi, the highest form of living is not escaping the modern world to ‘find peace’. Rather. the highest form of living is that of a family person, working hard to make a living, raise a family and give back to the community. All while remembering and serving Waheguru. In this way, peace isn’t found by taking long trips to foreign countries or practicing yoga, but rather found in everyday life. Each of these can be used as aids in the journey to True, everlasting Peace. Yet we must remember that we have a duty in every moment to work towards Peace.

We attain Peace when we remain peaceful while others yell at us in traffic, while someone makes a racist or sexist remark, or when we’ve been wronged. Anger to injustice is a form of focusing our necessary and healthy human emotion, but lasting, eternal Peace is being able to control the emotion, rather than the emotion taking control of us.

Some ways to work for Peace include:

1. Remembering 5 things we’re grateful for
2. Smiling
3. Asking ourselves, “how could I handle XYZ situation with love”

At first glance, I thought Sikh Coalition made the shirts in protest of the words ‘towelhead’ and ‘raghead’. I thought, “Great! Where can I get one?” As I examined closer, I realized they were intended to be racist.

I told my mistake to a few friends, who all found it funny. Then I thought, “why not wear the shirts myself?” Honestly, it would be pretty funny to see a Sikh wearing the shirt, and would completely undermine the hateful nature of the remark. I’d find it pretty funny too.

When someone tries to be hateful, why not throw the hate on it’s head? When someone tries to give hate, why not give love? When someone tries to give anger, why not give happiness? When someone tries to give a frown, why not give a smile? These little things are SO effective, it’s crazy.

Next time someone gives you a hateful comment, try to give them a hug? It’s probably been a while since they’ve had one anyways, and I’m sure they could use one. We all could.

How could anyone hate on this?

We’ve exchanged a few emails about the future NGO event, and right now it’s in the planning stages. As I think about it though and ask myself questions about what I want it to be, I see it as a great platform to inspire law school students to think outside of the traditional options coming out of law school. At the very least, I feel that it could inspire students to consider the impact their lives have on others, and may make people more prone to take steps geared towards the greater social good. We’ll never know until it happens though, so until then I need to plan and put in effort to make it great.

I also missed two days of blogging. In part, it’s why I appreciate utilizing WordPress, where I can clearly see what days I missed. It’s a glaring reminder that the little short-term wants lead to lasting success where I simply put in effort.

I was able to talk with a friend a little bit about the future Sikh Law Students group here at the University. Talking is definitely an excuse to say I worked on it. That being said, I still need to put in effort towards that project. Even If I ask myself a question about it each day, it would be helpful in moving the project along. Again, it’s the reason I started this feature on the blog.

Today, while a group of us chatted at my buddy’s apartment, I noticed a good friend engaged in conversation with my buddy’s mom. My friend talked on and on about social issues, listing facts and telling stories about the work that he’s done. I started to realize something at that moment. Sometimes I imagine social change as me talking about it, for instance like I do on this blog (though very abstractly at times). What I realized is that to be a true advocate and to truly address the issues that matter in a concrete way when talking with others, I need to be immersed in the change. I need to be doing the work. I also realized that I have a wonderful opportunity to serve others here at law school, and in the law field in general. I must make use of it.

Waheguru willing, I will.

It’s so easy to go through life just completing the task at hand quickly without much thought. It’s a product of the education system, where we’re simply told what we need to do next, and what kind of performance achieves what type of grade. Doing the minimum for the grade gets us through school just fine, and we’re gently urged toward thinking passively about life.

Yet how would we feel 5, 10, 20 years from now? Looking back on our lives, would we feel comfortable knowing that we did the bare minimum, trying to chug through each day to get to the next task to chug through?

Side Note

To note, I’m not suggesting we forego hard work. Everything in life takes effort, and often we must push ourselves past our own blocks and short-term wants to really achieve something in life, to be able to look back with satisfaction of a life well lived. I’m also not suggesting we sit on work until it’s perfect. Doing that can be crippling. It’s important to ship work almost as soon as we’re done, to let it impact the world.

The Solution

What I’m suggesting is doing work that matters. We need to put effort in regardless, but does a perfect grade on all of our papers matter in the long run? Will we think back and consider our lives well-lived for  a straight-A report card?

What I’m suggesting is taking the opportunity to write papers we’re writing anyways to write something with a potential to shake things up. Expanding our own knowledge. Bringing light to a little-known issue in the world. Making a difference in someone’s life. A good way to shift the mindset is to imagine the work we’re doing as a platform to do great things. How can you utilize your job as a platform?

An Example

I’ll using pledging in a fraternity as an example from my own life.

Now, many assume that pledging is about hazing. In my fraternity, we do not haze, and expressly prohibit it. Just a clarification.

In our fraternity, we take the opportunity during pledging to teach possible new members about our history, our values, and what it takes to be an outstanding member of the fraternity as well as of society. Many who take the role of pledgemaster simply go through the motions, giving weekly assignments without much thought to their impact.

When I took the position, I saw it as a platform to change the lives of the young men hoping to join our fraternity. They’re willing to go to great lengths to join the fraternity, as evidenced by horrendous stories of hazing. So why not take the opportunity to make lasting positive change?

Each week, I required the boys to read an article I sent them or watch a video I assigned, reflect on it, then send me a reflection along with ways they can implement the new perspective or understanding. I sent them an article about effort, a video about the importance of positivity, and I sent the last man standing a book about dating, with deeper implications for human interaction and leading a well-lived life. I also instructed him to quit smoking for a week before he could cross.

Sometime near the end of his run, he reflected with me about the process. I had just required him to step out of his comfort zone and strike up conversation with 5 girls the week before. He confessed to me that he truly felt alive for the first time in years. He told me about how before the process began, he had no direction in life. He told me that previously, he used to simply smoke all day, multiple times a day. He told that he battled with depression. He told me that he struggled with school, family and work.

Then, he told me that now he felt like he had a purpose in life. He explained that he never thought he could quit smoking. He felt excited to get up in the morning, passionate about challenging himself in new ways every day. He had stopped smoking as well. I saw him push himself harder than most people I’ve known my entire life. I sat there in the car, and all I could do was cry. I was touched that this kid, who many had doubted should even do the process, proved everyone wrong as one of the strongest members of our fraternity. It’s astonishing how much of an impact we can have on someone’s life if we care.

Actions

Doing meaningful work is simply a change of mindset. Ask yourself, what am I working on right now that can be used as a platform for something better? Also, why am I working on what I’m working on right now? What higher purpose can this work serve?

Anyone can make a video. But a video with the ability to change lives, that takes effort and courage. Be courageous.

A leader of want just wants to lead for the look. They want to lead for the resume. They want to lead to exert control and power over others. They might contribute to an organization, but only as long as it serves their purposes. The organization, to derive any benefit from a leader of want, must tailor to his needs. This gives rise to false forms of leadership.

The effects of leaders of want are numerous and almost all negative. We find different leaders of want clashing, often with the same goals. We find infighting in organizations. We find immoral behavior. We find organizations suffering from the selfish motives of leaders of want.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji initiated the Khalsa and formalized the Sikh faith, which today numbers over 22 million. After initiating the five beloved ones, he knelt down to them to be initiated himself. Leader of want or leader of need?

A leader of need steps up when necessary. She surveys the scene, assesses where she might best fit, and steps up in the position where she might have the most benefit. She cares most of all for the betterment of the cause or the organization. She gives herself fully to the cause, heart and soul. She is the key to the organization’s resounding and sustainable success. She recognizes that often true leadership comes in the form of following and supporting. She listens.

The leader of need, small step by small step, changes the world.

What are some other characteristics of leaders of need? What steps can we take to shift to becoming leaders of need?

The Example

Recently, a speaker came to the UMN Law School to talk about Monsanto and legal issues surrounding their efforts to sue small-time farmers. She made a few Bible references to tie the Christian faith with a few of Monsanto’s actions. I appreaciated the references. The passages made it more likely for Christians to find reason to become environmental activists. Yet a fair number of environmental activists in the audience took issue with the Bible references. I was surprised, since we shared the same goal with the speaker.

The arguments against her were that she used the passages wrong, that they weren’t the right passages to use there, and a few other arguments that made little sense. They were delivered with an intense, passionate anger. It appeared to me that these weren’t arguments derived from sense or logic, but rather a deep-seeded fear and anger towards Christianity and the Bible. No matter how much I urged against focusing on the parables provided by the speaker, the select few continued to reference them. The legal arguments about Monsanto were entirely forgotten. They were left on the floor untouched, and the opportunity to join forces with a religious group to fight environmental destruction was lost.

It’s sad that we fight over things that dont’ matter, ignoring the positive work one another is doing in favor of expanding and focusing on our differences.

The Sikh Community

Sikhs are also largely guilty of this. We focus on small, minute issues. We criticize one another for not keeping our hair, for eating meat, or for using chairs in Gurudwara’s. It’s necessary that we have a standard of living for Sikhs, a standard of conduct. But that doesn’t keep us from working with one another on social justice issues, or from embracing one another with love, as brother and sister.

Humanity’s Downfall

The biggest downfall of the human race isn’t religion. Many people have utilized religion to make extremely positive results in their own lives and in the world. The biggest problem isn’t capitalism. Many people have utilized capitalism to also make positive change.

The biggest downfall of the human race is our ego. We resist admitting when we’re wrong. We insist on discounting those who disagree with us on a few issues. We fight tooth and nail when things aren’t done our way. At times, we act more childish than children, ignoring the gift of consciousness and allowing our hurt ego’s to take over. At time, I’m guilty of it myself. The ego is dangerous, which is why we must try to continually be aware, and be open to those who continue to give us honest feedback.

Suggestions to Check Your Ego

1. Spend time with people you wholly disagree with. Rather than engage them in argument, ask questions and try to listen with an open mind.
2. Pick up trash that you come across in the street.
3. Take a cold shower.
4. Remind yourself that everyone you encounter throughout the day is your brother or sister.
5. Give a compliment to someone you don’t like. Make it genuine, and look for something you really like about them.
6. Buy food for the next person in line at a coffee shop and don’t tell them.
7. Write down 5 things you’re grateful for (doing this daily is even better).

What suggestions do you have?

We must look past such petty worries. Offense has to do with the Ego. The act of being ‘offended’ is an act which inflates the Ego. It’s a dangerous thing, since the Ego is quite honestly the source of human suffering.

More About the Ego

To put it simply, if we accepted everything that happened to us in life, including death, with a smile on our face and a spring in our step, how could we possibly suffer? Our notion of expectations is a practice in the Ego, since we determine that we know what’s best for us, and that we have full control and direction over our lives. We, as humans, think of ourselves as the pinnacle of evolution, as the center of the Universe. Ask anyone about the story of the Universe. Whether they believe in creationism or Evolution, the story has a beginning, some stuff that went down, and finally us. The story always centers around and ends with us. Yet Evolution continues on, here as well as elsewhere in the Universe. We’re really not that special.

Bringing it Back to Offense

Anyways, The practice of being comfortable with offense is a good one, since it encourages us to check our Egos in at the door. It’s especially important because the Truth is often offensive.

My dad will yell at me, telling me I need to study harder. He’ll pick out small things I’m doing or not doing throughout my day and blow them up. I hate hearing it. Yet he’s right. And when I work to understand what he’s saying, I see that he’s on point and I haven’t been working hard enough. I haven’t been caring enough. And I haven’t respected myself enough.

Truth is often something we don’t want to hear, but that we need to hear. Thus, it’s imperative that we check our Ego’s and work to find the Truth.

Exceptions?

Now, there are instances where something may look like it’s simply someone taking offense. When a woman objects to the B word, when I object to be likened to terrorists, when someone makes a racist comment. These things may look like they’re simply offensive, but they’re more than that.

When society freely refers to women as B’s, it instills a subconscious belief in men that we’re better than women, that women are free to be subjected to domestic violence, to sexual crimes, to human trafficking. This may seem a little bit like a slippery slope, but big change happens with small steps. And referring to women as B’s is a significant step towards viewing women as less than human.

With racism, it encourages black children to view themselves as less than white children. It teaches them to be ashamed of their skin color. How can any person do well in school and life when there’re constant reminders that society views her as less than human, day-by-day?

Finally, with being likened to a terrorist, it instills fear in the US population as a whole. For me personally, I’m threatened when I walk into new situations where people have rarely seen other Sikhs. I instantly notice heads turning, whispers shared. I tense if there groups of guys are nearby or passing by. It leads to hate crimes in the US, where mis-guided and ignorant people take the lives of innocent Sikhs. Sikhs who care for the betterment of humanity.

Each of these instances is an example of a group of people being undercut or demeaned. Each of these is an example of a lose-lose situation. Each of these is an example of how sometimes what we equate with simple offense is more than that.

Re-Cap

Aside from these exceptions, we must remember that the Truth hurts. In that light, I believe we all benefit by checking our Egos and listening when we may not want to hear. Remember, it takes small steps. We all make mistakes, which is why we’re here, to remind each other.

It’s a hard question, but what’s an instance where you’ve allowed your Ego to muddy your perception of the Truth? What’s a step you can take to try to become more open to the Truth in the future?

This quote stuck with me ever since I saw the Peaceful Warrior.

I’ve thought about it often. Now, while in law school, trying to blog, and attempting to start other projects, it’s becoming more na dmore claer what this really means.

I’m also reading “One Small Step Can Change Your Life”. The book is premised on the fact that small steps taken daily produce big, lasting results. It drives the act of encouraging patients struggling with weight issues to simply stand in front of the TV and do high steps for a minute, and then stop. These small successes pass the brain’s fear-reactions, and help develop a new, healthy habit. Over time a person adds to this habit, thus changing her life.

The idea applies to regular work as well. It induces us to imagine projects not as single-day, week, or month excursions, but rather as works in progress. Thus, we strive for constant daily improvement, no matter how small.

Some might justify thinking of projects as projects, with a clear endpoint. That way, we have a goal to push for and can give 110% to finishing the project. It’s like a basketball game, in that if it never ended, the players would get tired.

Yet life’s more than a single game, it’s an entire basketball career. Giving 110%, without thought to rest, of off-season training, or family life induces us to burnout.

Take-away lessons/applications

1. think of day as tasks/projects rather than time we need to work
2. Imagine a continuum, focusing on small steps for every day improvement
3. Break big projects into small actions, and continue to take those actions, improving the project rather than finishing it.

A caveat is that we do have tasks that can be completed. For instance, I need to read for a class, and I just need to get x number of pages read a day. For bball, need to get x number of shots in a row. What I suggest is that we have these goals, and imbed them into greater self-improvement. Learning/preparing for my class, or getting better at basketball.

What projects can you shift in to long-term improvement thinking?

One includes setting up an event to encourage more law students to think about starting an NGO, and how to do that. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, including setting up an event time and inviting speakers who can bridge the connections between law school and the entrepreneurial spirit of starting NGOs, business, or social enterprises. Any feedback, including details, possible speakers, or about the topic in general would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve also become aware of a legal writing competition, though I may have to table that project for subsequent years. A possible research topic is the effects of environmental laws and regulations, and how much of a positive impact they really have. I’m not sure how much a potential legal paper needs to deal directly with legal issues or can deviate and discuss law’s effects. Either way, right now it’s simply an idea.

Finally, just for reference, each week I’ll be writing about the work I’m doing. This was suggested in an interview with Seth Godin (view able here), where he said that people should blog everyday about the work they’re doing. He also said that if the work you’re doing isn’t good enough to write about, to find new work. In response, I’m committing one post a week to this, since I generally write about social issues, self-improvement, lessons from life, etc.

PS this is going to last as long as it’s beneficial to the readers. Right now it’s just a test run. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.