Borrowing that sentence from Abba, eagles have always been a beautiful creature that if I believed in incarnation I would have been honored to be an eagle. When an eagle appears, you are on notice to be courageous and stretch your limits. Do not accept the status quo, but rather reach higher and become more than you believe you are capable of. Look at things from a new, higher perspective. Be patient with the present; know that the future holds possibilities that you may not yet be able to see. You are about to take flight.
I share the same view with the Native Indians, as they saw the Eagle as a symbol for great strength, leadership and vision. As if to seemingly mirror this, the eagle has been used as a 'banner' by many of the great empires throughout history, from Babylon to Egypt, through to Rome and even the United States. In early Christianity the eagle was seen as a symbol of hope and strength, representing salvation. The eagle appears twice in the book of Revelation; both times in a context that suggests it is on the side of God. In Islam, the eagle represents warlike ferocity, nobility and dominion. The eagle is the symbol of mercy (rachamim) in Jewish thinking (Zohar III, 233a). Mercy is not "blind" love, nor is it strict and impartial justice-love's contrast (in the scale of positive qualities). Mercy is a perfect blend of both love and justice, with love as the chief (but not sole) ingredient. It is a very important, perhaps the most important quality. In ancient Aztec tradition, the chief god told people to settle at a place where they find an eagle perched on a cactus eating a snake. This place is now Mexico City. Zeus changed into the form of the sacred eagle to help himself control thunder and lightning. The eagle was a strong emblem in the Roman Empire. The Hittites drew upon a double-headed eagle so that they would never be surprised. The Pueblo Indians associated the eagle with the energies of the sun - physical and spiritual - as well as symbols of greater sight and perception. It may not be coincidence that such different cultures across thousands of years have adopted the same symbol.
When I am saying, I am an eagle that rides on breeze, I am committed to symbolic values that carries on by being an eagle which are: wisdom, freedom, intuition, creativity, strength, courage, hope, resilience, healing, curiosity, vision and sexual power.
If you have ever witnessed Eagles mating, it is a sight to behold! It is a powerful sky dancing ritual. The Eagles soar through the sky looping, plunging and diving. At a certain point the Eagles grab each other’s feet and lock talons. They begin falling and rolling as they mate. They then separate, soar high and start the process all over again. This ritualistic mating process has been associated with danger, excitement, the power of sexual energy, and mystical joy. If the Eagle spirit animal brings me a message about sexuality, it is to open to new sexual experiences, thrills and heights of pleasure!
Japanese Culture Influence
As eagles have a big impact on my life, Japanese culture has influenced who I am as well. I’ve a special bond with many Japanese concepts and cultures, as I was one of them. I tried to become a samurai but because of my muscle illness, I could not pursue it. However, I did not give up and studied endlessly about Japanese cultures, which I am becoming as someone who you can meet east in the west. There are numerous Japanese cultural topics that have shaped who I am today; some of these topics are but not limited to: Shinto, Kaizen, Kanban, Omotenashi and Ikigai.
The essence of Shinto is the Japanese devotion to invisible spiritual beings and powers called kami. Shinto is not a way of explaining the world. What matters are rituals that enable human beings to communicate with kami. Kami are not God or gods. They are spirits that are concerned with human beings - they appreciate our interest in them and want us to be happy and experience a good life. Shinto sees human beings as basically good and has no concept of original sin, or of humanity as 'fallen'. Everything, including the spiritual, is experienced as part of this world. Shinto has no place for any transcendental other world.
“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” Khayyam
Ikigai is another concept that influenced me significantly. According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai. An ikigai is essentially a ' reason to get up in the morning’. A reason to enjoy and experience life. An experience that is joyful every morning perhaps like mushrooms.
Your ikigai lies at the centre of those interconnecting circles. If you are lacking in one area, you are missing out on your life’s potential. Not only that, but you are missing out on your chance to live a long and happy life. You are missing a true experience of living your life. I have had a long time obsession with outliers, and interestingly enough, there are some outlier communities in the world that live far longer than average. Watch Dan Buettner’s TED talk on How to Live to 100+ years. There are some surprising conclusions about the factors that create a long and healthy life. One of the most significant factors is ikigai. Albert Einstein encourages me to pursue my curiosities as courageous as an eagle. He once said:
“Don’t think about why you question, simply don’t stop questioning. Don’t worry about what you can’t answer, and don’t try to explain what you can’t know. Curiosity is its own reason. Aren’t you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure behind reality? And this is the miracle of the human mind — to use its constructions, concepts, and formulas as tools to explain what man sees, feels and touches. Try to comprehend a little more each day. Have holy curiosity.”
Blue Zones Influence
Dan Buettner, Blue Zones founder, is a National Geographic Fellow and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has discovered five places in the world – dubbed “Blue Zones” – where people live the longest, and are healthiest: Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece, and Loma Linda, California. Ultimately, Dan and the team of demographers and researchers found that all “Blue Zones” areas share nine specific lifestyle habits that are called the Power 9. I’m committed to Power 9 and in the religion part I pick and choose practices that I like among: Mithraism, Judaism, Sufism, Buddhism, Atheism and Shinto. Also original thinkers such as Khayyam and Khwarizmi. Prioritizing family for me means friends which I need to have a few more close friends as of now just to have one who resides in Berlin, I need more in Saigon or Vietnam.
“To wisely live your life, you don't need to know much. Just remember two main rules for the beginning:
You better starve, than eat whatever. And better be alone, than with whoever.” Khayyam
Shams Influence.
Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet, has been called the greatest mystical poet of all time. His work covers deeply philosophical and mystical, with poems of fiery soulful expression to passionate love verses filled with yearning and desire in volume 1. And in his second volume, he switches to a work filled with anecdotes, life lessons, moral stories, stories from all three Abrahamic religions, popular topics of the day and even satirical tales. His work has an all embracing universality. A call from an independent soul yearning for true freedom from dogma and hypocrisy.
Rumi also writes about the abolishment of the established fear-based religious orders of the world. For Rumi fear-based religion is poison and his remedy is love-based doctrine- a life journey free of guilt, fear and shame. Totally different experience of being religious. Rumi is an exciting literary and philosophical force. Rumi deals with the human condition and that is always relevant. Rumi is able to verbalize the highly intimate and often confusing world of personal growth and soul evolution in a very clear and direct fashion. He does not offend anyone and he includes everyone. The world of Rumi is neither exclusively the world of a Sufi, nor the world of a Hindu, nor a Jew, nor a Christian; it is a state of an evolved human. A human who is not bound by cultural limitations; one who touches every one of us.
Rumi, born into wealth, power and world of politics, was a member of high society. He was known to pull and offer favors. His mother was a relative of the king in the province of Khorasan in Eastern Persian Empire, where he was born. His father was a respected court advisor on jurisprudence. Rumi indulged in personal contacts, favors and friendships. He was known to deepen his friendship with his favorite people by any means necessary. For example, he was close with a goldsmith in Konya, his last name was Zarkoob. Since it was socially unacceptable for a member of the elite class to socialize with merchant class, he arranged for his eldest son, Sultan Walad, to marry the daughter of the goldsmith to formalize his connection with him.
Shams, by the time he met Rumi was in his 60s. By then he was known mainly as a blunt, antisocial and powerful spiritual wanderer. His nickname was the Bird. The Bird, because he couldn't stay in one place for too long, also he was known to be in two distant cities around the same time, as if he could fly or transport his essence at will. This wanderer is known to have been seeking a "grandmaster student"--a student who would be greater than many masters at the time. He chose Rumi as his "master-student." Apparently he initially notices Rumi when he was 21, but judging the time inappropriate and the student not ready he waits 16 or so years to approach Rumi again.
They meet again when Rumi was in his late 30s and Shams in his early 60s. The initial spark of their connection inspires Rumi to take Shams into his home. Shams from then on becomes the new friend, the latest companion. As you can imagine, the problem is brewing from day one.
Shams, the same as the goldsmith wasn't from elite class, but far from it. He was a simple wanderer, a powerful spiritual figure yes, but still a poor, homeless wanderer. Also, Shams was terribly antisocial, drank, had a bad temper and used to curse often. The problem initially was put aside by Rumi's magnetism; however, it gradually grew into a much bigger issue. There was no room for Shams in Rumi's social circle. Rumi was number one citizen of that region; he was even above the amir (the ruler), since the amir was one of his students. Yet Rumi managed to use all his wit to keep Shams around as long as possible even by offering him an extremely hard to ignore gift.
After receiving repeated threats Shams decides to leave town. So, the first association between Rumi and Shams ends at this point. Soon after, Rumi falls into a deep state of grief. Rumi puts out reward notices for any news of Shams. Rumi never found out what happened to Shams. He thought his favorite Bird flew off again, but no amount of reward brought any news. While Rumi was waiting for any news of Shams he vehemently refused to accept that he was dead. He wrote about this experience in this quatrain from Divan-e Shams:
Who says that the immortal one has died?
Who says that the "sun" of hope has died?
Look, it is the enemy of the "sun" who has come to the rooftops,
Closing both eyes shut, crying out, "O, the 'sun' has died."
(The word shams means the sun and Rumi routinely plays on this word.)
Rumi waited 40 days and after no news of Shams, he put on a black robe and wore black from then on and proclaimed Shams dead.
The core explanation of Shams and Rumi relationship is that Rumi without Shams would not have been known to history. Rumi used all his wit to keep this powerful, wandering, wild Bird in a cage for as long as possible and even tempt him with his young step daughter. And in the process Rumi becomes a major spiritual master and an artist of truly world-class stature. In the meantime, Shams achieves his dream of a "grandmaster student," and falls in love for the first and only time and pays dearly for it.
Rumi & Shams have influenced my life, I have always been seeking for my Shams. I searched for him so much that I might have become Shams myself. We live in a world of illusion bound by fear. To awaken the soul is to enlighten the mind. There is one eternal, simple truth: I AM. And because that is so, everything is because I AM. To illuminate the mind is to confront fear, to confront fear is to examine our limitations and boundaries. To open the mind is to invite the courageous soul into those places where once resided fear and worry. As the soul awakens from the slumber induced by being human, we are created, re-created anew. I AM is the spark of a God, all knowing, omnipotent (unlimited power), omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time), eternal and invincible. I AM always with God, in God, as God, of God.
Life Purpose. Ikigai.
I am an eagle that rides on the breeze, my ikigai is to relentlessly elevate local experiences.
- Causing people to be happier
- Causing people to enjoy life
- Causing founders and leader to be successful
- Causing better experience
As of now, it is clear to me that leaving Vietnam is not a choice that will make me happy; however there are times that I miss operation and execution especially when I see how some of the executives are wasting the opportunities by making mistakes that I did in my early 20s. This is why sometimes when I find opportunities I regret that I did not get to know them a bit earlier, their vision is exactly what motivates me. The challenge is the impact that I have on local experiences with some of these offers in Vietnam is quite limited but at a strong company with a strong platform I can elevate the local experience wider and faster among various industries and companies despite missing operation and coding as well as working with engineers which I truly love the most. Sitting back, coding, reading the codes, discussing software architecture and doing product work are things that I am truly passionate about but it isn’t my ikigai. So I believe, in order to be “an eagle that rides on the breeze, my ikigai is to relentlessly elevate local experiences” become reality.
There are plenty of experiences which are emerging in technology, product management and business; here I have put together some of the well-known experiences that are part of my ikigai.
- Time Experience. There are a number of what Ernst Pöppel (1978) calls ‘elementary time experiences’, or fundamental aspects of our experience of time. Among these we may list the experience of (i) duration; (ii) non-simultaneity; (iii) order; (iv) past and present; (v) change, including the passage of time.
- Experience Economy. Consumers unquestionably desire experiences, and more and more businesses are responding by explicitly designing and promoting them. As services, like goods before them, increasingly become commoditized—think of long-distance telephone services sold solely on price—experiences have emerged as the next step in what is called the progression of economic value. From now on, leading-edge companies—whether they sell to consumers or businesses—will find that the next competitive battleground lies in staging experiences. Welcome to the emerging experience economy.
- Employee Experience. Along with the notion of experience economy, employee experience is defined as what an employee received during their interaction with careers’ elements that affect their cognition and attitudes and leads to their particular behaviors. The employee experience is the sum of all interactions including microinteractions an employee has with their employer tangible or intangible. It is the structure and culture of the organization and how the employee perceives the company overall and their role in the company.
- Customer Experience. Customer experience is the phrase used to describe the relationship a customer has with a business. Customer experience refers to the total of all experiences a customer has with the business, based on all interactions including microinteractions and thoughts about the business.
- User Experience which is a subset of Customer Experience. User Experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products. But the interactions meant here are mainly focused on digital products. Both disciplines are important and complement each other. Conclusively, the User Experience has its main focus on the product itself, whereas Customer Experience focuses more broadly on the (overall) multi-channel experience that a user or customer has with a company, both online and offline.
- Digital Experience. A digital experience is an interaction between a user (customer, partner or employee) and an organization that is possible only because of digital technologies. Digital Experience is an emerging category of enterprise seeking to meet the needs of companies undergoing digital transformation, with the ultimate goal of providing better customer experiences. Digital Experience can be a single product, but are often a suite of products that work together. Digital Experience provides an architecture for companies to digitize business operations, deliver connected customer experiences, and gather actionable customer insight.
