Steve Jobs - Success or Failure as a Human Being
Is this the face of a successful and happy man?
We need visionaries who are entreprenurial. Jobs was
Last night I watched the best part of an hour-long documentary on the late Steve Jobs of Apple-McIntosh fame. Today I went to the movies and what movie was about to begin? Jobs, a feature film about the same man. Thought I’d buy a ticket. The movie pulled no punches, and it certainly concurred with the views of the real people – who had appeared on the TV documentary – about the character of Steve Jobs. It seemed he was downright despicable.
It's said Andrew Carnegie surrounded himself with top people
But should a driven man drive over people?
What came across was a man obsessed with an ‘open ended dream.’ Jobs was a man driven. In the driving he didn’t care much about who he drove over. Close friends, colleagues, anyone who was of no longer use to him became expendable. He appeared to have very few, if any friends, except perhaps the technical, hands-on electrical genius who was with him from the outset. And even this guy left him eventually.
Business success does not necessarily equate to a successful life
There was so much bitterness and rancor in Jobs’ life that it is difficult for me to see him as the success so often portrayed by some of my friends who looked to him as the Dion of business success. Business success – yes. At the end of the movie it stated that by 2012 Apple-McIntosh was the wealthiest business in the world. But as far as personal success as a human being, well…
Combining cathode ray tube and keyboard - a real breakthrough
Is there a correlation between business success and ruthlessness?
I wonder if there is a direct correlation between business success and ruthlessness. I hope it isn’t so. Still there seems to be a lot of evidence to suggest that the more egotistical a man is – and it’s generally a man rather than a woman – providing it is combined with intelligence and acumen, the greater the heights to which he will rise. This doesn’t really matter whether it’s the accumulation of power in business, in politics, or even in religious organizations. The world is seen as something into which they have been thrust so that they might exert their influence.
Continual inner tension took it inevitable toll
It was interesting to see Jobs get his come-uppance when his board of directors turned on him. It was equally so when he made a comeback under virtually his own conditions and demands. Yet, I feel the continual tension between ego-self accomplishment and what had to be, deep down, a self-loathing, albeit largely below his conscious level of comprehension, which led eventually to his ill health and contracting the cancer which killed him.
A beautiful Apple PC. Job's vision again
We have to approve of ourselves as human beings
Self-love is important. Famous author, Louise L. Hay has stated many times throughout her books on how critical it is that we first love ourselves; accept ourselves and like ourselves. If we don’t, we set ourselves up for ill health. The healthy mind and the healthy body are dual manifestations of a healthy soul. We are body, mind and soul. The soul is what we take with us when we die. It encompasses the talents, qualities and values. But the essential ‘I am’ – the Observer – is the spirit. This is our ‘god part.’ It is Love, immortal and unchanging. And as I said in an earlier essay, it is our spirit which is boss. Mind and body and even soul are the precipitates of it. Spirit is the raw essence of the ‘I am’ which we all are.
The modern laptop. Beautiful, light and compact
Love is always the answer - what is the question?
To use another quote, “Love is the answer – what is the question?” From the television and film I watched, it seems that Steve Jobs had a magnificent vision which would, in a very large way, bring benefits to humankind. Such thinking was founded in love. But somewhere along the way he lost site that the ‘means are just as important as the end.’ The means is the journey and the journey is so, so very important.
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