Good Morning, Jim

Good Morning, Jim


By John Taylor; 2010 July 23, Kalimat 10, 167 BE


Over the past few weeks I find myself watching this speech over and over again,


http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

The speaker repeats, "It is not what you do, it is why you do it." "It is not leaders we need, but those who lead, those who can inspire us to do it for ourselves."

A great leader or salesperson goes straight to what motivates us, to the "why" question.

I was therefore taken aback when I ran across my spiritual father, Jim, who accused me and Peter of "thinking different," in the wording of the advertisements for Apple Computers.

I hate to be tarred by the brush of commercialism, but you cannot deny that Apple has made a lot of money with that rather strange slogan.

When I read it, I ask, "Is that all they are after, to be different? Surely `think better' would make more sense."

Anyway, I called this posting "Good Morning, Jim," because Jim says that these essays are the first thing he sees when he picks up his iPhone in the morning.

To me, the lecturer in this TED video has caught the secret of greatness in, well, just about everything. He sets up a target chart with "why" in the center, "how" surrounding it and "what" on the outside. This power of the "why" is the secret power of belief in One God, as the Qur'an says,

"God puts forth a Parable -- a man belonging to many partners at variance with each other, and a man belonging entirely to one master: are those two equal in comparison? Praise be to God! but most of them have no knowledge." (Qur'an 39:29, Yusuf Ali tr)

This all explains why "Think Different" is such an effective slogan. It hints at the secret role of religion, and the secret power of teaching the faith. In "why" lies the spirit that the Master spread in His talks a century ago. In one of His Tablets Abdu'l-Baha pictures His teaching as "writing" on souls. This image struck me, and I think of it when I look at this guy's target chart of greatness.

Maybe a better slogan would be, "Let God write on us both."

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