Epress.am News from Armenia
Long before Steve Jobs became the CEO of Apple and one of the most recognizable figures on the planet, he took a unconventional route to find himself — a spiritual journey that influenced every step of an unconventional career, ABC News reports.
Jobs, who died Wednesday at the age of 56 of pancreatic cancer, was the biological child of two unmarried academics who only consented to signing the papers if the adoptive parents sent him to college.
His adoptive parents sent a young Jobs off to Reed College, an expensive liberal arts school in Oregon, but he dropped out and went to India in the 1973 in search of enlightenment.
Jobs and his college friend Daniel Kottke, who later worked for him at Apple, visited Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram. He returned home to California a Buddhist, complete with a shaved head and traditional Indian clothing and a philosophy that may have shaped much of his corporate values.
Later, he was often seen walking barefoot in his trademark blue jeans around the office and reportedly often said that those around him didn’t fully understand his way of thinking.
“I wouldn’t say Steve Jobs was a practicing Buddhist,” said Robert Thurman, a professor of Buddhist studies at Columbia University, who met Jobs and his “Tibetan buddies” in the 1980s in San Francisco.
“But he was just as creative and generous and went outside the box in the way that he looked to Eastern mental discipline and the Zen vision, which is a compelling one.”
“He was a real explorer and very much to be mourned and too young at 56,” said Thurman. “We will remember the design simplicity of his products. That simplicity is a Zen idea.”
Though details of Jobs’ funeral ceremony have not been announced, ArtLyst, a website resource for contemporary art in London, reported on Thursday that he will have a traditional Buddhist burial.
Earlier, members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, known to protest funerals of celebrities and American soldiers, announced plans to protest Jobs’ funeral — using Twitter for iPhone.
“Westboro will picket his funeral. He had huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin. MT @AP: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died at 56,” tweeted Margie Phelps, daughter of the small church’s founder.