Responsible Wealth: Creativity and Spirituality in the Workplace
Sunday 9/25/22
May the world be blessed by more (former) billionaires like Yvon Chouinard 💖🙏🕊
In case you haven’t heard: the founder of the outdoor clothing retailer, Patagonia has donated his entire company valued at US$3 billion, to help reverse climate change and safeguard parts of our planet’s dwindling wild places.
Granted, Chouinard’s generosity and forward thinking does not take away from the fact that Patagonia clothes and gear are expensive.
Reflective of the significant price tag, friends in New York City refer to the global brand of the Patagonia label as “PradaGucci.” But my inner idealist has always justified the expense because, 1.) Their clothes and gear are of such high quality they last far longer than any other clothes and gear I own, hence cutting down on endless consumerism, and 2.) I subscribe to their company ethos of preserving the planet. And while some may have argued that their ethos was just company hype, for decades Patagonia have given away one percent of their sales to environmental causes. And now Chouinard has truly put his money where his mouth was.
As it so happened, before this amazing act of generosity was made public, I needed to speak with Patagonia’s customer service department about a return. (That’s another great thing about Patagonia: they stand behind their products.) Sitting at our pine wood rectangular kitchen table in our decades-old log cabin where I write (also referred to as command central—ha ha), I called Patagonia customer service and heard a recorded message that all the staff were out at a company off-site.
That same day I happened to read the New York Times article outlining the details of how Patagonia was to be given away to a trust and a nonprofit group and the company’s profits of some $100 million a year would go towards preserving our planet. How could anyone not be moved by such a benevolent impulse and act of innovative philanthropy?
The following day, when I was able to speak with a Patagonia customer service rep, at the end of our conversation I mentioned the NYT article and asked about their off-site. “I’ve worked for Patagonia for 10 years,” she said. “I love working here and we were all so relieved to learn the company isn’t going public so we won’t be reporting to share holders who would demand never-ending profits which would no doubt change our company culture.”
The authenticity in her voice gave me goosebumps.
There is something to be said about a company not going public; a merit in staying with its original grassroots intentions.
Perhaps it’s no accident that there is a correlation between extreme sports like rock climbing—one of Chouinard’s primary passions—and meditation and centering prayer: how they each provide a similar experience of spaciousness within one’s mind, where internal thought chatter is silenced, and it’s possible to sense into the depth and stillness within, especially within one’s own heart.
A sense of being at one with the Oneness of the universe.
A sense of being in Flow.
Are we moving into an era where more people want to show up in their workplaces and utilize their mind, emotions, and spirit?
Where they don’t feel like they’re selling their soul to satisfy a never-ending-need-for-profit by a corporation’s share holders? Perhaps working in a more sustainable way is possible. A way in which all employees are able to feel good about caring for our planet.
Perhaps this is the sound of the Rising of the Divine Feminine.
Perhaps we’re in the midst of the annihilation of the old patriarchal paradigm, while we simultaneously re-create and sustain an era where each and every human being is able to utilize both the sacred masculine AND divine feminine energies in all aspects of our human lives, including in love, play and work.
Only time will tell.
But in the meantime, I’m counting on the Rising of the Divine Feminine to help save our planet. 💖🙏🕊