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Mindstates
BIRTH: When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together
by Shari Arison
Like a researcher who dedicates his or her life to an effort to heal illnesses or discover new stars, I see myself as a researcher. A researcher of the self.
My research deals with consciousness, essence, and the discovery of new ways to reach them. There are countless paths for learning the lessons of life, and I have walked on many of them. Some of them are rocky and hard, some have many traffic lights, and some are like highways. All of these paths have ultimately led me to myself.
Everything that we see around us is, in essence, a reflection of something within us. We can no longer take from one another. We can no longer exploit the Earth’s resources and think that there will be no consequences—because if there’s no planet, there’s no bottom line. I believe that every business integrating true and genuine values, including giving to those in need, will profit in the long run.
Many years ago, I tried to understand what my calling was and arrived each time at the same answer: world peace. To achieve peace in the world, we must achieve peace within ourselves and with our surroundings. Peace begins within.
Today, I believe that I do indeed have a mission in this world, a mission to lead and to guide. Not out of vanity and not from political aspiration—but out of the understanding that I have the tools to bring change to the world, and that I have the ability to envision this change, to see the vision of the new world, and to influence people. And that I can use my personal example to show the way.
Through The Arison Group, I have set up a variety of charitable organizations and sustainable companies. For example, The Essence of Life organization works to arouse awareness and provide tools for attaining inner peace, running websites in Hebrew and English, an Internet radio station, workshops, and an interactive visitors center designed for both children and adults. I also initiated the annual Good Deeds Day, in which everyone is called upon to do one good deed for someone else (even giving a genuine smile is a good deed). The next Good Deeds Day will be March 16, 2010, and I truly hope that we can turn this day into an international event.
If we want to see a better world, each one of us must do his or her best to make it happen by helping one another. I’m not talking about the sort of help that causes dependency. Rather, it’s about providing the kind of help that leads to independence.
It is possible to give back to the community, to inspire the spirit of giving in all of us through everything we do—personal matters, business, philanthropy—in every aspect of our lives. We all have a stake in our community as much as we do in our own spirits and seeking avenues of generosity is the direct path to peace among us.
Portions of this article are excerpted from Birth: When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together, by Shari Arison, Phoenix Books, November 2009. Shari Arison is ranked as one of the world’s wealthiest women on the Forbes Billionaires List. Owner of The Arison Group, a conglomerate of global companies and charitable organizations, she has created a groundbreaking and humane business model that incorporates integrity, vision and spiritual knowledge to build a new global reality. Learn more at arison.com or eolife.org.