In December, Ruslan Gafarov, founder of the San Francisco Innovation Hub, brought together community members for a trip to the MegaCampus Summit in Dubai—a major event with 13,000 participants and experts in business, marketing, sports, and media. The speaker lineup included Robin Sharma, Randi Zuckerberg, Casey Neistat, Mikhail Grebenshchikov, Luc Besson, Gary Vaynerchuk, and many others. In this article, we share Ruslan’s insights and reflections, which offered valuable discoveries for the community members.
At the beginning of the month, I flew to Dubai for the MegaCampus Summit to support my friend, Grisha Avetov. We’ve been friends for 10 years, and I deeply respect all his projects, considering him one of the brightest entrepreneurs in the Russian-speaking world.
I came for Grisha, but to my surprise, I was profoundly impressed by the speakers’ presentations. Since 2010, I’ve been organizing educational events, and since 1999, I’ve been dedicated to self-development: reading books, attending trainings, seminars, and conferences. Over the years, I’ve listened to hundreds of speakers, and it had gradually become less and less engaging.
But this time, Dubai and the MegaCampus Summit managed to surprise me. I noticed a shift: many prominent figures are now talking less about sales funnels and more about inner states, spiritual growth, and finding one’s true path.
Here are a few quotes that resonated with me:
- Robin Sharma: “Don’t let the song of your life remain unsung.”
- Randi Zuckerberg: “The people around you are the most important decision in your life. Surround yourself with those who don’t judge or discourage you!”
- Casey Neistat: “The truth is, nobody really knows anything. Invent your own path through creativity and resourcefulness.”
- Mikhail Grebenshchikov: “Working on your psyche and emotional patterns can transform both professional and personal outcomes.”
- Luc Besson: “Inspiration must come from within and everything around you, not from copying others.”
- Gary Vaynerchuk: “In the last 100 years, we’ve overtrained our brains and completely atrophied our feelings and intuition.”
“Freedom is the ability to embrace uncertainty.”
We often think of freedom as the absence of obstacles, but in reality, it’s the skill of not fearing emptiness, unanswered questions, and difficult choices. This was a key theme in my discussion with Leonid Talpis, who noted: “When we remain calm in the face of the unknown, we gain invaluable flexibility. We stop clinging to dogmas and stereotypes.”
I added: “If you can accept not knowing what tomorrow holds and still move forward, that’s true freedom. It’s different from what we’re often taught—to plan everything down to the smallest detail. A plan is a useful tool, but it’s not the ultimate truth.”
Instead of relying on familiar patterns and ready-made answers, we learn to trust ourselves and the world. Freedom isn’t about knowing everything in advance—it’s about enduring the state of not knowing and continuing to act.
When we accept what is happening, we stop wasting energy on resistance. Acceptance doesn’t mean passivity—it’s a conscious choice to let go of unnecessary inner struggle. Constantly arguing with reality drains us. We “create demons” out of internal conflicts. But once we agree that things are as they are, energy is no longer spent on a futile fight. Instead of justifying or proving ourselves, we can direct our energy toward growth, creativity, and love.
“Acceptance is not weakness. It’s a deliberate choice to abandon meaningless battles and take a step forward.”
Some may think philosophical topics like this have no practical application. But what if our way of interacting with reality highlights what holds us back from reaching the next level?
Living in Silicon Valley, I study patterns that help entrepreneurs from the Valley transform the lives of people worldwide—without exaggeration. What stands out about such people is their unwavering confidence, free from doubt. It’s as if they’re connected to their future selves, drawing strength from that state in the present to act and create change. They are undeterred by uncertainty because they serve a mission—and they’ve found it.
Looking at Silicon Valley leaders makes this clearer. For example, Elon Musk is known for decisions that are often ahead of their time. He doesn’t rely on existing frameworks but operates from an inner state of clarity about his path. Musk believes that if something feels truly important, it’s worth pursuing, even if the odds of success seem slim.
“The key word here is ‘FEELS.’ Looking back, I can say that when something ‘FELT’ right, but I ignored it and acted purely rationally, I often hit a dead end.”
This approach is evident in many leaders: Steve Jobs emphasized following intuition over meeting others’ expectations. Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google often mentioned that their breakthroughs came not from pragmatic calculations but bold experiments. Such confidence in their path enables them to break away from the norm and create new realities.
The ability to embrace uncertainty correlates with the capacity to transcend the known. This isn’t abstract philosophy but a practical skill—the ability to maintain inner calm and focus when external circumstances have yet to take a clear shape. This mindset helps us adapt, spot hidden opportunities, and act boldly. In essence, this is the key to reaching new heights. Acting only within clarity and comfort doesn’t create anything new—it’s like riding an escalator up while descending floors relative to your potential.
What if a person is a phone, and reality is a global server?
We don’t end with our personality. We are connected to something greater, like a smartphone to a network. Whether we like it or not, we’re constantly “downloading data” from somewhere beyond ourselves.
“Everyone has their own ‘apps’: psychology, religion, therapy, meditation. These are different communication channels. The broader the set of tools, the more finely we perceive reality, the clearer the signal.”
Instead of straining to solve everything with logic, we can tune ourselves like a device that catches the right wave. Imagine a smartphone with excellent reception. It works fast, doesn’t freeze, doesn’t glitch. Similarly, when a person’s connection to the source of reality is stable, they act confidently, without unnecessary doubts. Intuition, flow, ease—these are the results of proper tuning. The better we are “connected,” the less struggle there is and the more forward momentum we gain.
The goal is not to prove that we can handle everything on our own but to learn how to listen to the signal. By experimenting with different approaches, discovering our “apps,” and drawing inspiration from various sources, we stop being isolated objects. Instead, we become part of a larger, living system that helps us grow, evolve, and transform the world around us.
What matters in the end is the result. It doesn’t matter what we call it—what’s important is whether it works for us. If a person becomes braver, wiser, and calmer, it means something has truly shifted in their life.
Some describe this as “contact with higher forces,” mentioning saints, plant spirits, or angels. Others explain it through science: Carl Jung’s collective unconscious, quantum fields, self-organizing systems, morphogenetic fields, or the noosphere. Scientists and mystics may be seeing the same phenomena, simply interpreting them from different perspectives.
When a religious person talks about divine inspiration, a scientist might refer to cognitive brain models that suggest innovative solutions. When a shaman speaks of plant spirits, a neuroscientist might mention complex chemical compounds that alter perception. When a monk describes divine grace, a theoretical physicist might talk about quantum entanglement or the informational field. “Different lenses, different filters, different terminology—but we are all describing the same reality, trying to understand how to resonate with it. We can argue endlessly over words, but the ultimate goal is to find a way to tune into the world to live more fully, make clearer decisions, and move forward with courage.”
If both scientists and mystics find their language of description helpful—if it drives growth, bold action, and discovery—then it doesn’t really matter who is “right.” What truly matters is the tangible result and what we bring to our lives and the lives of others.
The result is what changes reality. Looking at the history of scientific breakthroughs, we often find that great discoveries didn’t come through calculations and formulas but seemed to emerge spontaneously in moments of insight.
- Dmitri Mendeleev saw the periodic table of elements in a dream. He had spent a long time trying to determine the order of the elements, but the solution came not at his desk but when his mind released control.
- Albert Einstein thought for years about how the universe worked, studying theories and experiments, but the key ideas for the theory of relativity appeared in his mind as images, which he later translated into equations. He famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” hinting that understanding reality isn’t always born from logic.
- Friedrich Kekulé, a chemist, discovered the structure of benzene by imagining a snake biting its own tail. This dream-image pointed him toward the ring structure of the molecule, not formulas.
- Nikola Tesla often “saw” his ideas as completed inventions in his mind. He described his process as connecting to a source of inspiration, receiving ready-made solutions, and then bringing them to life in the physical world.
We can call this intuition, the collective unconscious, a connection to the future, or subtle realms. We can describe it using the language of psychology, quantum physics, or divine revelation. But the fact remains: groundbreaking solutions often come when we stop relying solely on logic and allow ourselves to connect with the deeper layers of reality.
Examples from modern innovators further illustrate the link between unconventional practices and groundbreaking solutions:
- Steve Jobs (Apple): Described his experience with LSD as one of the most pivotal events in his life, broadening his perception and enabling him to implement bold ideas.
- Tim Ferriss (Investor, author of The 4-Hour Workweek): Openly shares his experiences with microdosing and regular meditation, which enhance his creativity, productivity, and decision-making.
- Ray Dalio (Bridgewater Associates): Practices transcendental meditation to gain a holistic perspective, helping him make decisions with clarity and composure.
- Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX): Speaks positively about the potential of psychedelics and regularly attends Burning Man, where he explores new ways of thinking and generates forward-thinking ideas.
- Sergey Brin (Google): Frequently attended Burning Man and integrated elements of its culture into Google’s offices, fostering an atmosphere of creativity and freedom reminiscent of the festival. Brin is rumored to experiment with perception-expanding methods, which help him embrace novelty and maintain flexibility for innovation.
These individuals aren’t chasing “magic for magic’s sake.” They aim to reach a state where new ideas emerge naturally, where risk becomes an engaging challenge rather than a cause for panic. They don’t get bogged down by terminology—they test what genuinely helps them make bold decisions without fear of failure or looking foolish.
