After inviting the audience to get a little closer and hold each other’s hands, Barry Stamos began his presentation by repeating the following mantra: “I am you, you are me, we are one.” He then acknowledged that he’s not a teacher but a participant in the 14 billion year cosmic experiment brought everyone together at the World Ayahuasca Conference in Spain.
Barry Stamos: Something magical inside
Stamos’ talk was aimed at sharing observations and insights to provoke something magical inside every one of us so we can spread around the world. His statement was enriched by the quote simultaneously projected onto the screen:
“The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.”
Years prior, Barry was a self-made millionaire. He founded a company and sold it, and was a very successful Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, with numerous belongings but a starving soul. He only realized who he truly was when he drank ayahuasca for the first time.
The former businessman compared drinking the brew with taking the red pill in the film The Matrix. But he also reminded the audience of another film, Avatar, a story of how we are at one with everything, including Mother Nature. Consequently, Stamos highlighted how we we are murdering our mother and that this is a challenge that we all share, not something to be dealt with by someone else.
According to Stamos, the way of solving these problems is through developing a higher collective consciousness, which can be achieved through a hyper-evolution to another level or dimension. Stamos believes that the ayahuasca ceremonies taking place around the world can help with this goal.
This Amazonian beverage can help align people with who they are meant to be so they can step forward in society. We need heart-led people who are not ruled by their mind, as is exemplified by the Japanese, who have a wonderful way of aligning values within work to achieve excellence in their workplace. Similarly, Barry believes that ayahuasca can truly change society.
Conscious capitalism
With that aim, he created an organization called 1Heart, bringing together a group of entrepreneurs working in a heart space to enrich the human race. One of them, Brandon Evans, got lost on purpose – ending up on a three-year spiritual journey with ayahuasca, a move that inspired many other founders to also upgrade their operating systems. They came up with the idea of conscious capitalism: companies that care about people, profit, and the planet. These enterprises are not only more successful but can also solve planetary problems. Evans and Stamos then decided to create 1Heart Journeys to share ayahuasca ceremonies with people who now form a soul family of more than a hundred people. One of them is Megan, who recently produced a film with Google about women’s rights.
In less than a year, and three journeys later, 80% of participants are leading purpose-driven organizations. They support a centre and also help indigenous populations. Stamos concluded his presentation by pointing to concepts that he considers key in developing higher consciousness: digital detox, suspending logic to embrace magic, spiritual beings having a human experience, and integrating oneness and loving everything.