OUR ORIGINS ~ OUR DESTINY
Growing up in Brazil, I remember celebrating the beginning of a new year by hopping over seven waves at the sea shore, in the company of family, friends, and a bunch of strangers - all dressed in white. This ritual was a tribute to Yemanjá, a powerful water goddess originating from the Yoruba people of West Africa and later adopted in Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé and Umbanda, where she is revered as the mother of all orixás (divine spirits). Yemanjá is strongly associated with the ocean, rivers, and the moon. She is known for her nurturing and protective nature, her ability to heal and cleanse, and is broadly considered a symbol of resilience and hope.
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Why seven, you might ask. Well, why not? We have seven days in a week, seven colors in the rainbow, seven deadly sins, seven stars of Shaolin, seven chakras, seven days of tribulation, seven Samurai, seven alchemical operations, seven summits, and the seven pillars of wisdom. The number seven is widely recognized for its symbolic significance across various cultures and belief systems, often representing good fortune, perfection, a point of culmination, and the completion of a cycle. For the Ancient Egyptians, seven was the number of eternal life. The Pythagoreans called it the Septad, and said it was worthy of veneration. Muslims circle the Kaaba seven times during the Hajj. Shakespeare wrote about the seven ages of man.
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I became increasingly fascinated with symbols, archetypes, and human development more broadly, after discovering the work of Carl Jung, which then led me to Clare Graves' Levels of Existence theory, Don Beck's Spiral Dynamics model, and Ken Wilber's Integral framework. Perhaps not surprisingly, given my early interest in brands, creativity and advertising, I felt drawn to the Science of Memetics and the deeper meaning of Ideas. How do Ideas (Memes) influence our understanding of the world? How do they shape cultures and societies? Why do they evolve and take a life of their own? What is the relationship between Ideas, technology, nature and spirit? Where do Ideas even originate? All questions surrounding the mystery of consciousness have captured my interest and awakened my ever-growing curiosity about reality. Countless authors, philosophers, explorers, leaders and other characters have inspired me to keep digging. ​​​​​​​​​
It wasn't until later in life when I first heard from an astrophysicist that the Universe is expanding. It made me realize that, despite all my globetrotting, I had de facto been living under a rock! My instinctive response was to get serious about reading, learning, and looking at everything again with fresh eyes. This not only took a lot of discipline and humility, but actually turned into a mission. I attended conferences. I joined Socratic dialogue circles. I sought out training in a variety of topics. I traveled to China to broaden my horizons. More importantly, I taught myself to write. Blogposts, articles, essays, journals, books, etc.. I had to figure out how to organize my own ideas, observations, perspectives and critiques, and to the extent that I was comfortable with, share them with others.
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This website contains samples of my writing over the past decade or so. Though a lot is still scattered across different platforms, most of my favorite stuff is here, in one place. Some of my views expressed in these pieces have certainly changed. Some are work in progress. Some are more useful and actionable than others. Some could be inaccurate, incomplete or flat out wrong. The reader might deem some of them "controversial", to which I can only say: I don't require that you agree with me. Nor do I seek validation. But I do love feedback, counterarguments, and thoughtful commentary. And if you don't like what I've written, then write something else yourself. Dare to write it better!
I was lucky to fall off a cliff ....
You know those days you’ll never forget? For me, it’s June 25, 2016 - the day I fell off a cliff. Literally. One moment I was on a casual run, the next I was auditioning for a human pinball machine. I remember a loud crack in my chest, then another in my ribs, and thinking, “Well, this escalated quickly.”
Funny thing is, I’ve spent my whole life doing dangerous things on purpose: skiing, riding horses, summiting big mountains, racing cars. And yet, this near-death tumble happened in my own backyard. But here’s the twist - I consider myself lucky. Not just because I survived (spoiler alert: I did), but because of what the fall taught me.
See, life isn’t linear, no matter what we’re told. It throws us off cliffs - sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally - and demands we start over. My own journey has been full of unexpected turns: corporate mergers ending dream jobs, moving from Mexico to the US, rising to CEO when I swore I’d never want the title, then letting it all go after a divorce. I rebuilt brick by brick, embracing that scary thing called surrender.
That day in the creek after the fall, feeling the water wash away the dirt and fear, I realized something: life is fragile, unpredictable, and astonishingly beautiful. We spend so much time chasing happiness like it’s a finish line, but the truth? There’s no straight path. Sooner or later, you’ll stumble - you’ll lose something, someone, maybe yourself. The real question isn’t if; it’s how you’ll navigate the next turn.
This is a story of luck, loss, and new beginnings. And yes, a little gravity.
