Progressive Disruption

On April Fools’ Day, 1976, two college dropouts set up shop in a garage in suburban Los Altos. Fifty years later, that venture has become an iconic tech brand valued at a staggering $4 trillion. Apple’s founders—Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak—were ahead of their time. They built products people hadn’t yet imagined—and then they ignited the need for them! However you see it, they had a rare ability to turn the unfamiliar into the indispensable. Even a renounced monk, who was always more Android than Apple, now carries an iPhone. Jobs’ innovations permeate our lives; he dared to be different, overturned convention, and redefined the modus operandi. He was also reflective. In seminars, I still play his famous Stanford speech: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” He was a disruptor.

Nowadays, I try to invite healthy disruption into my life—perhaps being at Harvard is part of that. New environments, diverse people, fresh perspectives, interesting conversations. Yesterday, I sat through an uncomfortable discussion on patriarchy and its insidious effects. I thought I was beyond that critique—it was humbling. Disruptive. We can move through the world somewhat oblivious to what’s around us—and to our own behaviours, attitudes, and ingrained ways of thinking. When I first encountered disruption through spiritual teachers whose “bombs” of wisdom shook my world, long-held aspirations dramatically fell away, and the landscape of my life was reconstructed. I felt as though I had arrived. I thought I was done. I had, after all, woken up. I now realise I have to keep waking up, every single day. I still need to be disrupted.

Of all teachers, Śrīla Prabhupāda left the deepest impression—the consummate spiritual disruptor. I found him challenging, counterintuitive, unapologetically candid, yet deeply compassionate. His words made me uncomfortable. They still do. Spiritual disruptors operate from an entirely different plane of consciousness, offering perspectives which are fundamentally destabilising. Material disruptors search for better ways to do things. Spiritual disruptors flip the game and ask: are there better things we could be doing? Material disruptors find novel solutions to the problems. Spiritual disruptors problematise the problem and uncover a deeper issue that needs resolution. Material disruptors fixate on the how and the what, while spiritual disruptors intensely interrogate the why. Material disruptors innovate products and processes. Spiritual disruptors reshape philosophy—the foundation of truth, the architecture of meaning, and the core of what we accept to be real and valuable.

After nine months away, I’ve evolved—progressively disrupted in ways I’m still computing. Soon I’ll return—to familiar spaces, relationships, and responsibilities. It’s beautiful—I’m deeply grateful and excited—but I’m also weary about settling back into old patterns. When I emailed a mentor, he responded with thoughts that disrupted me further: “Once you step onto the stage again, the other actors will launch lines at you, and you’ll be absorbed in delivering your best lines back. And so the show goes on. But who is writing your script? Is it basically reactive? Image-based, and maybe not your identity? Has the culture of our community made space for deep spiritual needs, or are we a bit result oriented—numbers, achievements, events, celebrity hits, likes, and followers. It might be that you can write your script. Might you be one who is called to redefine the balance simply by leading a life that includes high thinking fueled by taking the time it takes to think? That would be interesting indeed.”

I’m sitting with these thoughts, inviting you into reflection with me: Who has progressively disrupted your life? More urgently, who is spiritually disrupting you right now?