Back in what seems to be a time long gone in a kingdom far far away when I first considered joining Knowmads I naturally had a good deal of doubts about the whole knowmadic journey. I think everyone does. It’s a leap into the unknown and even into a very vaguely described unknown. I chose to take a short trip to Amsterdam to check it out and remember being impressed by the people; that is mostly the story of how I ended up here.

A few days ago I went with those impressive knowmadic people into the forests which in dutch apparently means that you are still able to see concrete apartment-blocks. We were having a workshop called the Hero’s Journey which I basically knew very little about before going there. To give a brief and misguiding description it was about finding yourself in the nature based on the ideas of ancient traditions around the world where you would pass into adolescence or adulthood through a long period of time away from your normal environment. Think along the lines of american indians trying to find their totem in the patterns of the leaves or the rings in the water. Am I hearing you asking yourself: WHAT’S THIS SPIRITUAL CRAP?!

Go ahead and think that for now if that is your view. If it is not your view then…well we’ll get there. For now let me return to my initial doubts about Knowmads. It mainly went along the lines of professionalism. I was a little bit taken off when I first looked at Knowmads by the emphasize on personal development – I mean who the f*ck needs that, right? No no no I wanted to learn all the doing, all the projects, all the tools = the biz – man! I might be exaggerating a bit, but you probably get the picture – the slightly arrogant picture. All that did however started to change when I started at Knowmads.

To me it seems like we at Knowmads often attempt to maneuver between different distinctions that each of us consider differently. I see it between theory and action, between individuals and collectives, freedom and responsibility and also business and personal development. These distinctions are in my opinion something created in us by society but that doesn’t make them less real. And it might be something of what makes Knowmads so difficult to explain – that it is both personal development and business, individuals and collective, freedom and responsibility and so on. You can either get off the bus at this moment or stay with us…

What I realized in this dutch version of a forest was that one can not do or live as a Knowmad or in the world without being able to take care of oneself. In the middle of a stressed week there was nothing better than moving out and looking within, at myself. I still have hesitations and doubts about it, but I chose a long time ago to not get off the bus. That the synergy between things that is considered opposites in most of society is one of the most beneficial things that I am still learning at Knowmads. So to hell with choosing between spirituality and biz – the answer is that it should go hand in hand. For your own sake.

And in case you were wondering – I very much enjoyed my trip to the dutch woods. Thank you to Fight Club for the opening words.