Entrepreneurship and Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence — 16 Principles
When Maharishi Mahesh Yogi brought Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) to the West, he knew he needed to speak in the language of the most practical, knowledgeable and progressive people. That language is science. Although T.M. has its roots in ancient Vedic wisdom, he was able to speak in terms of science, since the human ability to transcend thought and experience Pure Consciousness is universal. Maharishi encouraged the use of the scientific method to verify the effects of Transcendental Meditation and the use of objective language to describe the experience.
In the 1960’s Maharishi wrote Science of Being and Art of Living: Transcendental Meditation describing the practical effects in society of the Transcendental Meditation program. In the early 1970’s he created a 33 lesson lecture series called, “The Science of Creative Intelligence” (SCI), about the experience and expression of Pure Consciousness.
SCI became the foundation for the academics of Maharishi International University (now Maharishi University of Management). According to Maharishi, all knowledge is an expression of Pure Consciousness, the Pure Field of Creative Intelligence. Each branch of human knowledge, whether it be mathematics, physics or literature, expresses Creative Intelligence, using its own vocabulary. Students who experience Pure Consciousness in T.M. and have the understanding The Science of Creative Intelligence feel at home with any branch of knowledge.
A simple yet still profound expression of SCI is taught at the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, K-12, as sixteen principles.
Past The Successful Entrepreneur students of mine, Dustin Garlow and Gde Brawiswara Putra have been volunteering helping me with this site. Together we have brainstormed the application of these sixteen principles to business. Here is what we have come up with so far. (Your input is most welcome.)
1 The Nature of life is to grow.
Business principle:
For a business to survive and thrive, it must always progress.
Key question to ask about your business:
Do you have a dashboard of all key markers for growth?
2 Order is present everywhere.
Business principle:
There is structure to each component of a business.
Key question to ask about your business:
How can you make each aspect of your business more orderly? What systems need to be put in place or refined?
3 Life is found in layers.
Business principle:
A business can be viewed on the surface — day to day operations; at its depth – underlying vision; or anywhere in between – people, systems, strategies, and tactics.
Key question to ask about your business:
Are all layers of your business being nurtured?
4 Outer depends on inner.
Business principle:
The success of a business depends on how well it fulfills its underlying vision, mission, and values.
Key question to ask about your business:
Are your vision, mission and values front and center?
5 Seek the highest first.
Business principle:
An extraordinary business exceeds the expectations of each of its stakeholders, while fulfilling its highest purpose.
Key question to ask about your business:
How do you exceed the expectations of your stakeholders, and stay true to your highest purpose?
6 Rest and activity are the steps to progress.
Business principle:
A business progresses by acting and letting go, and through the natural cycles of expansion and contraction.
Key question to ask about your business:
How dynamic is your business activity, and how attached are you to the outcome? How well do you manage expansion and contraction?
7 Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Business principle:
A business continually refines its systems doing things better with fewer resources.
Key question to ask about your business:
What can you do to create new and better processes?
8 Every action has a reaction.
Business principle:
Business success can be measured by the positivity of the give and takebetween the business and its stakeholders.
Key question to ask about your business:
How does each stakeholder react to your efforts?
9 Purification leads to progress.
Business principle:
A business continually refines its processes to remove obstacles in the way of achieving its goals.
Key question to ask about your business:
How do you approach solving challenges in your business?
10 The field of all possibilities is the source of all solutions.
Business principle:
Any business problem can be solved by going deep enough and transcending the constraints of the problem definition.
Key question to ask about your business:
What business problems do you see as insurmountable? Can you reframe the challenge?
11 Thought leads to action, action leads to achievement, achievement leads to fulfillment.
Business principle:
A business idea becomes products or services that fulfill customer need.
Key question to ask about your business:
How well do you solve your customers’ problems?
12 Knowledge is gained from inside and outside.
Business principle:
When combined, analysis of results and intuition make for business success.
Key question to ask about your business:
How do you make decisions in your business?
13 Knowledge is structured in consciousness.
Business principle:
Each stakeholder (customer, employee, entrepreneur, supplier, investor, etc) understands the business from their perspective.
Key question to ask about your business:
How well do you understand each stakeholder’s point of view?
14 Harmony exists in diversity.
Business principle:
Marketing, operations and accounting are unique business functions that when working smoothly together create a great business.
Key question to ask about your business:
How well do your marketing, operations, and accounting work together?
15 Whole is contained in every part.
Business principle:
The entire business is represented by each employee, customer, and product.
Key question to ask about your business:
Are you happy the way your employees, customers, and products represent your company?
16 The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Business principle:
A business is the collection of the desires and activities of its various stakeholders – entrepreneurs, investors, employees, customers, banker, suppliers, community.
Key question to ask about your business:
How do the various stakeholders perceive your company?
This post is a work in progress. We plan to make the information presented here more actionable, by asking specific questions for each principle. We may also include examples of the successful application of the principle. Feedback welcome.
