Hi folks, today I want to right about student revolutionary energy and Silicon Valley, and what they have to do with each other.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrVC5dm5fFc

I watched again the classic from 5 years ago, Nicky Romero’s “Toulouse” and got inspired. It brought me back to that historical “revolutionary” times of Occupy Wall Street, Los Podemos, Zeitgeist Moving forward, Ron Paul, Tea Party movement and so much more.

 

 

A lot of stuff happened that time. A lot of “Energy of Heaven” was on the move and brought a lot of movements around the world.

 

However this was not the first time.

 

During the history of the times in every frequent space of time, around every 10-12 years, there are these kind of cyclical changes, that bring so “tremblance” to our societies. They always bring along “disruption”, “creative chaos”, and a lot of energy. Some of them end up into societal chaos, further disruption and even blood may be running for few. Some of them end up to constructive force to the society and end up building something new and positive. It’s also often a combination of both.

 

If this cyclical energy is fully squashed, it means that a lot of potential, momentum, spirit, innovation, creativity is wasted. If it is not “directed” to right direction, it may end up into serious disruption that like a wildfire takes of even the good stuff that have been built before. This is the energy of REVOLUTIONARY spirit.

 

This is something that George Washington and the Founding fathers, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Lenin, Mao Zedong, and many other iconic figures, have been channeling. They are either beloved or hated, depending at where you stand.

But this is also something that a lot of movements have had as their “Heavenly” basis. Let’s look at the Occupy Wall Spirit of 2011, and other movements that time crossing around Europe both in “left” and “right”. It’s also the same that brought Situationists and French revolutionaries on 1968 forward, the Czechs in Prague, the Maoists in China and so on forward.

 

In China it’s a spirit that brought two important youth revolutions (that ended up in Tiananmen Sq) up, one of 5/4 and one of 6/4. Two almost similar numbers, but very different set-ups. 1919 positive revolution of May 4^th, with artists, students and “revolutionaries” such as Lu Xun, Li Dazhao and folks got into “arms” by words and student mobility and went into streets – and brought the New Culture movement on. 80 years later it was the June 4^th, which we all know – the tank man and the hundreds of dead in the streets of Beijing. The second one was close to bringing the whole China into its knees.

 

Silicon Valley phenomenon was done mainly by the revolutionaries of 1960s-1970s sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll cultural youth revolution. These guys brought the modern Apples, Microsofts, eventually Google’s, Yahoo’s, Dropboxes and so on. The highpit of Silicon Valley started in the turn of 1980s onwards.

 

Philosopher and Innovation guru, Pekka Himanen, highlights 3 elements needed for innovation hubs, such as Silicon Valley, Ancient Athens or Enlightment Vienna:

 

1 ) Talents: Talented (young) individuals brough in one area

2 ) Culture: (crazy) Culture of innovation and openness

3 ) Mentors: Gurus, investors and masters willing to help

 

Even if government puts how much of money to “create” a new shift of innovation, it doesn’t help if you don’t have culture of innovation. You can eventually build it with decades, but you need to have social status that enables that. I.e. no wars, no harsh economic depression, no rigid authoritarian system and so on.

 

This is a challenge for the “King”, the “Emperor” who needs to channel the revolutionary energies of the Heaven, that the youth often most sensitively embody and which shakes them most. Where to channel that? What can you do? What’s possible? Do you squash it or give up, or do something wise?

King is like the boat on a water, water are the people masses. The wind and the shaking of the water can help the boat to go forward faster than ever – but too little preparation on the boat side may take the boat to the depths of the water and sink it.

 

Toulouse music video, like 1968, like 1919, like 1989, like 1789 represent that revolutionary spirit, the wind and the trembling water that starts shake the boat – and then we go. Either faster forward after the first shock – or drown into the water and sink.

 

We can’t much influence when the wind and storm starts blowing, but we can influence how well we are prepared in our boat – are the roarmen, the mest, ready and boat organized? Are we ready to take the wind and channel our boat through the storm and high wind forward? Shall we try to throw the anchor and stop the boat? Shall we do nothing? Shall we try to beat the wind and storm?

 

We can’t control Heaven. But we can control the boat, made from earth. And we can influence the people in it.

 

 

The Heavenly spirit, “the Geist”, and the Geist of the time (Zeitgeist) are present all the time. We need to sail in its frame and blowing. A good king connects people with Heavenly and channels the energy to the people and gets the boat running. Like the gongfu master diverts the spirit with small changes, so does the king divert the energy of God.

 

Red, green and blue.

 

Slush, the greatest European revolutionary startup movement, born from Finland to me resembles the same thing – the wind that blows your startup boat forward. Slush is not the boat, it’s the wind. Don’t think it’s a boat, it’s the wind.

 

What startup needs are both Heavenly spirit, mission and fire – the Yang, but it also needs wood and earth, Yin, to keep it intact. Slush is an artificial wind, that helps you to accelerate. Use it! But don’t mistake it’s a boat. You need to build it yourself.

 

 

Ok, that’s about it.

 

Youth energy, revolution, that’s present. That comes from Heaven, like every spirit. The electrician and engineer need energy to divert it to the right direction. So does the King, the engineer, need energy from the Heaven, the Geist, to bring his apparatus, the nation alive. Too much electricity shocks and breask the battery. Too little stops everything running.

 

How to balance? How to have a back up that doesn’t break the mast?

 

It ain’t easy to be the engineer of a nation, the King. 王.

 

Chinese know that.

 

So do Westerners.

 

So does any Captain of a Startup Boat.

 

The logic is same. It’s not about luck, it’s about diverting the power into right direction and being ready when the momentum – sooner or later – comes. And it comes.

 

Startups are waiting for the wind. Most think they fail, because the wind never came. But more likely is that it came, but already went and you were not able to grasp the momentums that went past you. And you have no wind in an open ocean. Bail-out and rescue yourself. Exit the boat.

 

If it gets into good speed, you may change the captain by flight – works also.

 

Other startup boats fail, as the wind is too big for the boat and squashed it down. Don’t go there where you have too big wind. But be prepared for all.

 

And if you sink the boat, don’t worry, so does almost everybody else. The bottom of the sea is full of boats! That’s part of the game. You gain experience on sailing only by going to the open sea. So go there!

 

 

What a nice trip of mind from the Toulouse video, thank you Nicky Romero and thank you all the energetic youthful people who shared the geist around that time 2008-2012 and are now doing whatever you are doing. Keep the mast high, examine the wind and use the momentum of the Heavenly Spirit, the “kamikaze” that will take you far.

 

Love and respect are needed and your senses and instincts very high. That’s the only way to read the Heavenly winds and spirits.

 

谢谢大家 ！

 

Greetings from the Heavenly Kingdom, the Middle Land, 中国！

 

See you very soon,

 

Let The sail continue,

 

I’ll let you know how the winds keep blowing !

 

 

Lauri