Thanks to my friend Michael Fleck, I just discovered Jeff Brown, the author of Soul Shaping, http://www.soulshaping.com and the producer of his upcoming film, Karmageddon.

At the heart of the SOULSHAPING philosophy is the belief that every individual came into this life with divine purpose, however humble it may outwardly appear. We are not random concentrations of stardust, nor are we accidental tourists. We are divinely inspired, purposeful, and essential to the dance of sacred imagination that is this life. Satisfying our purpose is entirely dependent on our ability to recognize and honor our soul-scriptures for this lifetime. Our soul-scriptures are the unique combination of experiences, callings and archetypal pathways that live at the heart of our transformation. They are the lessons we came here to learn, the soulshape we are here to grow into. When we embody our scriptures, we expand our soul one step closer to wholeness.

We made it through because we are needed here. We are each here to participate in this sacred dance, stepping on each other’s toes and turning each other toward God one clumsy step after another. Although the ultimate romance is with your own soul, it is our experiences together that give birth to the essential lessons. Every soul-scripture is a buried treasure, essential to the advancement of the collective soul. If we get off the dance floor, we postpone others’ lessons too.

Through this lens, we endeavour to make the presumption of essence in those we encounter. We look beyond the disguises and defenses, and honor the precious being living at the core. Rather than judging our seeming differences, we celebrate them as archetypal way-stations, unique and essential learning posts on the path to wholeness. There is a place for everyone on the trailways of transformation, in every soulshape, at every stage of karmic expansion.

Standing in our way are many factors that blind us to who we really are. They include our adaptations and disguises, unresolved emotions, misguided self-concepts, patterns of self-distraction. They also include external influences: an over-stimulating culture, economic reality, others’ opinions, the weight of the world. There can be a lot in the way. We have to be realistic about this, otherwise our spirituality will be ungrounded and our moments of ascension soon followed by a harsh thud on Mother Earth. We need to ascend with both feet on the ground, with one eye on the sky and another on the earth. From sole to soul.

It is my mission to help others identify and clear the obstructions in their way. It is my mission to remind others of their inherent magnificence and encourage them in the direction of their true-path. It is my mission to invite others to trust their truth-aches, excavate their soul-scriptures, answer the soulular phone whenever it rings. It is my mission to use my gifts as fodder for the mill of human expansion, to provide karmic nourishment to those who have momentarily forgotten their significance.

If my time at the School of Heart Knocks (the school of life) has taught me one thing, it is that we are so much more than we know. How small we sometimes imagine ourselves, how quickly we hide our light under a bushel of shame. Yet beyond the echo of our egoic distortions lives a bounty of wonder. We are each so brilliant, so gifted, libraries of unlimited possibility, soul-scriptures waiting for us on every inner shelf. Our divine purpose may be hidden from view, it may be covered in dust, but its’ still in there, sparkling with infinite possibility. We may have to work hard to bring it to light (divine perspiration!), but we must never lose faith in our brilliance, no matter what the world sends our way. When you are ready, look inside and your magnificence will rise to the surface on the wings of the inner dove. I tell you, it’s that close…

After years spent traveling on the pathways of self-avoidance, I am delighted to be embodying and humanifesting my divine purpose. If my work can help to remind you of your own, then I have lived well. I am grateful for the opportunity.

Worldwide Tipping Point has just posted an historic interview with Ken Wilber. The interview provides a glimpse into Kin’s brilliant mind and the stages of cultural development with an exploration of the emergent integral worldview we are presently entering.  Ken offers the best concise description of the sixth great shift we are living through I have heard. You can listen here.

And, Seth Godin’s new book, We Are All Weird, describes this same shift through the lens of a celebration of choice, of treating different people differently and of embracing the notion that everyone deserves the dignity and respect that comes from being heard. The book calls for end of mass and for the beginning of offering people more choices, more interests and giving them more authority to operate in ways that reflect their own unique values. For generations, marketers, industrialists and politicians have tried to force us into little boxes, complying with their idea of what we should buy, use or want. And in an industrial, mass-market driven world, this was efficient and it worked. But what we learned in this new era is that mass limits our choice because it succeeds on conformity. As Godin has identified, a new era of weirdness is upon us. People with more choices, more interests and the power to do something about it are stepping forward and insisting that the world work in a different way. By enabling choice we allow people to survive and thrive.

The qualities that many once thought of as “soft” – values, trust and reputation – are now the hard currency of success and the ultimate drivers of efficiency, performance, innovation and growth.

With in-depth insights and practical advice, HOW will help you bring excellence to your business endeavors – and your life – and refocus your efforts in powerful new ways.

If you want to thrive in our fast changing, hyperconnected and hypertransparent world, open this book and discover HOW.

Fortune Magazine said of HOW that “companies that ‘outbehave’ their competitors ethically will also tend to outperform them financially.

The author, Dov Seidman has taught hundreds of companies with over 20 million people in more than 100 countries how they can operate in both a principled and profitable way.In 2008, he became the exclusive corporate sponsor of The Humanity Prize in Ethics. He is a Harvard Law School grad who earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in moral philosophy from UCLA and a BA with honors in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University. He is the founder and CEO of LRN.

Q&A with the Author

Author Dov Seidman

Why is your HOW message today more timely than ever? 
All progress now depends on How. We have entered the Era of Behavior. Of course our behavior has always mattered, but in today’s world, it matters more than ever and in ways it never has before. We live in a more connected and interdependent world. Yet we tend to speak about the world in amoral terms. The single most profound implication of an increasingly interconnected world is that it has rendered us ethically, if not morally, interdependent.

How can HOW help us repair our faltering global economy? 
Only by getting our “hows” right can we ensure that we are sustainable. This can only be achieved when we are rooted in, and inspired by, sustainable values. The global economic meltdown supplied a perfect, but painful, example of how sustainability cannot be guided by situational values. The economic crash occurred because too many financial companies became disconnected from fundamental values and long-term sustainable thinking. Instead of nurturing sustainable collaborations, banks, lenders, borrowers and shareholders pursued short-term relationships founded on situational values. More than ever we need to get out of this cycle of crises and build long-term success and deep human connections so that we achieve enduring significance in today’s globally interconnected world.

What events in the news right now make your message all the more urgent? 
The news is frequently dominated by social, political, corporate and environmental crises. In a hyperconnected and interdependent world, local problems quickly metastasize into global ones. The rapid pace and global scale of our problems can make us feel that we’re facing existential doom every other day. Whether its global economic turmoil, the BP oil spill, the breakdown of culture at once-respected companies or the recent riots in London, these crises are all caused by human behavior and they can only be solved by changing our behavior. Take the situation currently in Europe where Germany is lending money to Greece for a bailout. It’s not just about economics. It’s about values. Germany is bailing out Greece on the condition that they behave more responsibly in future and get their Hows right.

So what exactly is HOW? 
For many, business and life has always been about the pursuit of What: “What do we do? What’s on the agenda? What do we need to accomplish?” Whats are commodities; they are easily duplicated or reverse-engineered and delivered faster and at a lower cost by someone else.

How is a philosophy. It’s a way of thinking about individual and organizational behavior. And How we do what we do – our behavior – has become today’s greatest source of our advantage. In this world, How is no longer a question, but the answer to what ails us as people, institutions, companies, nations. How we behave, how we consume, how we build trust in our relationships and how we relate to others provides us with the power to not just survive, but thrive and endure.

Can you elaborate further on The HOW Report that your company LRN is publishing in the fall? 
The results of The How Report, our study of over 5,000 employees working for larger organizations based in the U.S, will have significant implications for CEOs and other business leaders. HOW metrics will provide strong and compelling evidence that the right culture, governance and leadership system can drive sustainable performance and success. The HOW Report demonstrates the correlation between principles and profits in action. We have turned issues like self-governance, values and trust that were once considered “soft” into the hard currency of business.

What’s different about the new edition of this book? 
John Wiley and Sons decided to republish an expanded edition of HOW based on their belief that the ideas in it are more resonant and relevant than ever and that it intersects with the zeitgeist even more than it did in 2007. I have written a new Preface for this new edition of the book where I attempt to capture all that has occurred on the HOW journey since its original publication and to apply HOW more broadly to the events and dynamics of today’s post-crisis world. In addition, I’m honored that President Bill Clinton contributed a Foreword in which he describes his own journey in being in the “HOW business for the rest of my life.”