I revived an ancient spiritual practice.
Recently, I encapsulated the purpose of my life in one sentence…
I have traveled to 13 countries. I have participated in hundreds of workshops. I have sampled tens of spiritual practices.
I am not satisfied. I do not believe existing spiritual practices are sufficient for enabling full human flourishing. I think there’s something beyond the gurus and mainstream philosophies. I think we need to dig deeper into our past and our physiology.
I am not saying stop meditating, stop chakra cleansing, or stop mantra-ing.
What I am saying is that we should ask what 20% of spiritual practices result in 80% of well-being?
There must be a practice out there that is sufficient for happiness alone. A practice so powerful, that it alone can deflect the toxic stress caused by our culture’s obsession with individualism, materialism, and consumerism.
This question still excites me today.
During the summer of COVID, I put my head down and started to reflect on this question. After months of reflection on my journey, I believe I discovered the answer.
This be-all-end-all spiritual practice is not done alone.
This all came to me recently. Last night, I went on a long walk through my neighbourhood. I was reflecting on whether I wanted my organization to have its WHY as the forefront of the brand or the provocative HOW. I was trying to answer the question: What do people think of when they think about VYVE?
I arrived home with no conclusions and started my evening routine. I took a cold shower. And here came an illustration of the paradox of effort.
While relaxing my mind, the answer came to me! In the form of a vivid articulation of the WHY of my organization.
My realization: The purpose of my life is to reintegrate community into western life. Community is the WHY of my organization, and my life.
THE HOW is by reviving the practice of ecstatic celebration. I believe this practice is sufficient for happiness alone. I believe this practice is far more important than any other health or spiritual practice that currently exists.
And my beliefs are informed by neuroscience.
But I have not stopped at just ecstatic celebration. I am leveraging the science of group flow and peak experience to develop a new practice for elevating vitality, mood, and performance. I want to upgrade the ancient ritual of ecstatic celebration.
This upgraded practice is called vyving.
vyv • ing (noun) / / a new practice for raising your vitality, mood, and performance, developed by party scientists and based on principles of group flow.
The all-rounded benefits of ecstatic celebration have been lost in our culture. The ritual has been commodified and corrupted by big alcohol, sports franchises, and fame-culture.
And the purpose of my existence is to reverse all this and renew our sense of community.
