Thomas Carlyle

Practical Spirituality

With the recent death of Steve Jobs, his speech to the Stanford University commencement class of 2005 has gained attention.

While many people have criticised him for his business practices, the way he lived his life showed spirituality in action.

He stated that he dropped out of college and "… trust that everything would be okay. It was pretty scary at the time…" Having faith that life will work out is a key aspect of spirituality. It affirms the only real security you can have in life; life itself.

He went on to say that looking back ten years later he was able to "connect the dots and see how choices made previously benefited him later. "You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking back."

This attitude of trusting "… your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever…" rather than doing what you 'think you should' is what trust is about. If you knew beforehand it would not be trust.

He then spoke about how he got fired from his own company, and how despite it being devastating he continued doing what he loved. "Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me… Sometimes life hits you with a brick. Don't lose faith."

He finished by talking about how in the face of mortality "… all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure … fall away… There is no reason not to follow your heart."

"Death is the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent… Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."

People say it was easy for Jobs to say these kinds of things as he was so successful and had everything. In fact, it is the other way round; he was successful and had everything because he followed his heart and trusted in life. In other words, spirituality in action.