HOW ZEN BUDDHISM SHAPED APPLE'S AESTHETIC

Best way to invent a super genius entrepreneur? Give a nerd some hard drugs...

Jobs Practiced What Now?

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Yup. You read that right. The man behind the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and most other Apple devices you can name, and built what is now a trillion-dollar company, practiced Zen Buddhism in his youth.

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Steve dropped out of college in 1972, at age 19. Feel free to add this to the list of people who dropped out and still achieved big things to either inspire you or tell your parents to prove a point.

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Steve took a job (laugh here) as a technician at Atari, and his goal was to gain spiritual enlightenment. Sorry. His goal was to save up money to then go to India to seek spiritual enlightenment. He wasn't seeking it from Atari, as far as I'm aware. After months of work, he had the money to make the trip.

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Before we dive into what this trip did for Jobs, here is a quote directly from Steve Job's biography, from the author Walter Isaacson, that summarizes its significance well:

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"Jobs' engagement with Eastern spirituality, and especially Zen Buddhism, was not just some passing fancy or youthful dabbling...it became a part of his identity, and it shaped the philosophical orientation of the company he would found."

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Finding Nirvana

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Mid-1974, Jobs and his friend Daniel Kottke made the trip to India for a whole 7 months. Their plan was to visit a renowned guru there named Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Maharaj-ji. Jobs hoped Maharaj would give him that spiritual enlightenment guidance that he craved, but he never got the chance.

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Maharaj had passed away just one year earlier, which they found out on arrival. Huge letdown. But this didn't stop their journey. Jobs experimented with psychedelics, meditation, and adopting a minimalist lifestyle.

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He began to solidify healthier views on life and death, not caring about what others thought, and being more in tune with himself. Something that, even after paying $100k+, you don't really get taught in college. Dropping out and moving to India could be (it definitely is) a better option, so I'll just leave that there.

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Jobs brought all of these beautiful findings in his mind, back to the US. Jobs picked up his gig at Atari a lot different than where he left it. He was in an entirely new state of mind.

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Steve Wozniak, a good friend of Jobs who shared the same love of technology he did, introduced him to the Homebrew Computer Club around this time. This club was full of computer nerds (I mean lovers) before computers were even mainstream. They shared ideas, information, and software with each other.

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A short while later in 1976, Apple began.

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Apple Is More Zen Than You Think

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Well, as you can imagine, going to India for 7 months for spiritual enlightenment has some lasting effects, luckily all good ones.

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The first finding that Jobs took from Zen and applied to Apple was simplicity. Apple is known for being slick, smooth, and let’s be honest; the peel-off on their boxes is at least 25% of the enjoyment, but I digress.

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The minimalism and ease of use of the products make Apple what it is. And what else is known for minimalism?

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Buddhism.

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It’s about living a simple life. There is no need for excess complexities.

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The second Zen pillar Apple follows?

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“Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion. That’s had a big impact on my work.”

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Jobs relied heavily on his intuition. He was constantly sitting in the silence (or loudness) of his mind, and listening for good ideas. He was also known to walk around barefoot to help with idea generation. This is a great way to stay fit and be a genius at the same time.

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He was also known for his ability to anticipate what consumers wanted before they knew they wanted it. I mean, did you know you needed a glass box that you could play Subway Surfers on?

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Now for the third Zen pillar. Are you ever overwhelmed on an Apple device?

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The answer should be no. In Buddhism, empty space isn’t seen as a lack or something negative. Rather, it is seen as an opportunity for infinite potential.

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For Apple, this negative space meant less clutter for the user, but mainly to showcase the main product at hand. The more things there are to look at, the more you lose focus on what’s important.

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So we now have the Steve Jobs blueprint for building an amazing company:

1. Simplicity - no need for excess

2. Follow intuition - the good ideas come from deep within

3. Focus on one thing at a time - everything else is a distraction

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Now Go Get Zen

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It would be really cool to build a company like Apple. For a lot of reasons. The trillion dollars. I’m sure there are other reasons, but I keep thinking about the trillion dollars. But nothing can be built without the preparation before the build.

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If Jobs had not met the right people, had the right mentors, and taken the trip to India, none of this may have happened. That means this newsletter wouldn’t have happened either, but here we are.

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If you want to do something as great as he did, I think it’s only fair that you go do some inner work. Maybe not India for 7 months, but at least turn off TikTok at some point in the day, close your eyes, and try to focus on your breath.

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Jobs shows us that good things are built only with the right foundation. His strong mind, and the beliefs he built around life, all were a cause for the creation of a company that now has affected almost everyone’s lives.

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For that kind of impact, you have to be pretty damn zen. So go get zen.

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