At Voxel, we aim to be a place where people can grow both in their work life as well as in their personal life. We call it “Great Places to Grow”. In this way, promoting self-awareness and consciousness are factors that can have an impact and are related, specifically, to people’s development.
12 July was a special day on which more light was shed on this topic. During the Quarterly (internal event), we shared the teams’ results and new challenges. It was here that we listened to a talk by Buddhist monk Shoukei Matsumoto. We finished the day by participating in the Festival of Consciousness.
Who is Shoukei Matsumoto?
Shoukei Matsumoto was born in Japan and, unlike many monks, did not come from a Buddhist family. In fact, he studied philosophy at the University of Tokyo and, due to his interest in Buddhism and temples, following his graduation he joined the Komyo-ji Temple. Later he completed his MBA at the Indian School of Business and established a temple management school for Buddhist monks and priests.
He became a member of the Young Global Leaders from the World Economic Forum in 2013. He has also authored various books, such as “A Monk’s Guide to A Clean House & Mind”, translated into 18 languages. Currently he is co-founder and chairman of Interbeing, a company promoting the alignment of people and businesses through consciousness to get the best out of them.
What topics came up during his session?
During the talk, questions from Voxelians for Shoukei included how he helps companies, what the secret to happiness is and what personal qualities he believes are essential.
“For me, companies are monasteries of self-cultivation and consciousness”, the Buddhist monk said. He added, the fact that he had studied how they are structured and how they work (both companies and monasteries), had led him to understand that they are not as different as they might seem. Both are places in which one can grow and learn from oneself and the community.
Shoukei expressed that “Happiness consists of enjoying life, and not achieving objectives. Having objectives is synonymous with not achieving them right now”. He also said that happiness is different for each person and is based around understanding who you are and looking within yourself (and consciousness is related to this).
As for personal attributes, he stressed generosity. “If you are altruistic with someone, you don’t have to think about it. You should be altruistic without being aware that you are”, he concluded.
After a morning of reflections and information, we went to the Festival of Consciousness.
What is the Festival of Consciousness?
Voxel is one the companies promoting and organizing the Festival of Consciousness (FoC). This is a not-for-profit international event, based in Barcelona, run collaboratively by over 60 organizations.
The FoC brings together opinion leaders to explore consciousness from different perspectives, such as scientific, spiritual, business, educational and cultural, through workshops, activities and experiences.
The festival took place over the weekend and some Voxelians participated as volunteers, participants or as both. “The event is a surprisingly enriching experience that creates a spectacular feeling of community”, said some colleagues.
