By David Baum
This text is the basis of Baum's keynote for the 2009 Annual Conference, minus the juggling and fire-eating that are difficult to recreate on a Web page.
The psychiatrist Scott Peck wrote, "The paradox of life is that we are all trapped inside of a box, and the instructions on how to get out of
the box are written on the outside of the box." Life can be a complicated process and figuring out a way through is often tough and confusing.
In a way, we are all looking for the “owners manual,” fumbling around
in complexity wishing we could make things clearer and more direct. It
doesn’t need to be this way. Angeles Arrien, a cross-cultural
anthropologist, has spent a lifetime studying this subject and created
four rules that can be found in many cultures world wide. I have found
them invaluable, and know that whenever I am in a self-made pickle it
is because I have violated one of them.
They are not complex. There is a reason for this. What Gandhi called,
“means to ends consistency.” He advised that one's journey must match
the destination. Thus, if you wanted a simple life, then a complicated
process contradicts the goal. A simple life means you must use simple
rules. But be warned. Simple does not mean easy. It just means clear,
and without equivocation.